When Darkness Falls by Mercedes Lackey

Author:Mercedes Lackey
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2006-06-24T16:00:00+00:00

THE cave-opening was clear, and the water was pouring through it, back into the bed of the Angarussa. The level of the water here in the selkie-cavern had dropped to their knees, though the force of the current, as it foamed through the narrow opening, had increased. Kellen was glad to see that the river was running swiftly through its channel—which meant that at least some of the water in the caves should be draining away—but the water level was beginning to rise again as well—swiftly—it was possible that this gallery might refill, even with the constant drainage, cutting off their only way out. If these caves were flooded, then any chambers below this level were also flooded. Since the cave floors were both level and even, the water was almost certainly the same depth everywhere in every one of the surviving chambers.

They were running out of time.

Had he made the wrong decision, to go deeper into the caves with only a skeleton force? He knew he hadn’t. If he had proceeded with his entire command, they would have been trapped here when the Shadowed Elves opened the spillways, with no time to open a line of retreat.

“Ambanire, it would please me greatly should you desire to take the Knights and cross the bridge to join up with Churashil’s force immediately. Direct him to send messengers back to the main force: We will need our horses brought to this entrance.”

The bridge itself was not trapped. Perhaps the Shadowed Elves themselves needed it. Perhaps trapping it was something they hadn’t gotten around to. Or perhaps they’d realized that if they left it alone, it would be a lure he simply couldn’t refuse.

“At once, komentai.”

Ambanire turned and began to wade out toward the bridge, through the rushing water.

Now Kellen could see the steady glow of Coldfire that meant the approach of his main force. He felt a wave of relief. Isinwen wasn’t an idiot, after all, needing Kellen to direct his every move. By the time the water had reached his ankles, he would already have begun to move the forces Kellen had left with him, and gathered Umacheriel’s men with him along the way—whether he had heard the horn-call or not.

Suddenly, from the darkness ahead, came the gutteral barking yelps of the Shadowed Elves.

There were no other exits from this gallery on the maps. They had been hiding in the darkness. Waiting.

Ambanire’s men had just reached the middle of the bridge. It was a narrow strip of smooth stone, just wide enough for two Elves to cross side by side. In normal times, the surface of the Angarussa ran several feet below it. Now the swiftly-rushing current was nearly level with the bridge’s surface. The wet stone was slick as ice. Any armored Knight who slipped from it would drown beneath the surface of the icy water before he had the chance to struggle free of his armor.

The Shadowed Elves came swarming out of the darkness, too many to count. They held the far side of the bridge, but they did not need it to cross.

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