When they flew over the Angarussa, he saw that its surface was cracked and marred by the passage of thousands of Elven Knights. His worst suspicions were confirmed when he reached the camp. It was fully set, but not fully tenanted. There was a deep path beaten in the snow between the campsite and the main entrance to the caverns. Near the trees, he could already see a few bodies wrapped in white.
"I will find a place to land," Ancaladar said.
The clearing Ancaladar found was a little distance from the main camp. After unsaddling Ancaladar, it took Jermayan a good half hour to make his way through the snow to the edge of the camp.
Artenel greeted him.
"I See you, Jermayan."
"I See you, Artenel. I expected to find you still upon the road for Halacira."
"Come, take tea. We might well have been, but we have made good time. And just as well, else the Shadowed Elves that Kellen encountered in the caverns below would have had more time to complete their work, and the day would have gone more wretchedly than it has. I would have welcomed the opportunity to have studied the engines they used to flood the caverns, but I believe they have now been smashed beyond all discerning."
"It will please me to hear all that you can tell. I came to warn Kellen that there was an Enclave here but I see my warning comes too late."
If he had flown here directly the moment Idalia had told him of Vestakia's visions
If he had not stopped to bring Keirasti back to Redhelwar, or put off his flight to the Crowned Horns
"Our losses were light, so I am told," Artenel said simply. "The Wild Magic warned him that there was Taint in the caverns below, but we did not suspect that our poor brothers would be able to call the river into them. Umerchiel believes we have slain them all this time, but it will be many days before we are certain."
Artenel's words did much to reassure Jermayan, but little to comfort him. He had simply forgotten how fast Kellen could move when he decided there was a need to hurry.
And Jermayan still didn't know what it was.
"I am grateful for your offer of tea, but I must speak with Kellen as soon as I can," Jermayan said.
"Then you should go to the cavernmouth. Go first to the horse-lines. Casanilde is there, and will find you a mount to take you swiftly."
"My thanks to you," Jermayan said.
* * * * *
A few minutes later Jermayan was riding toward the horse-lines along the beaten path through the snow. Along the way he passed groups of weary riders heading back from the cavern mouth, and Elves leading more strings of horses back to the entrance to mount those yet to depart.
When he reached the cavernmouth, Jermayan saw that a series of hasty shelters had been erected, offering shelter and tea to those who had just come up from the depths. Kellen stood beneath one awning, holding a mug of tea in one hand and leaning over a flaming brazier.
Jermayan felt a deep pang of relief. Kellen looked exhausted, but uninjured.
"You'll burn yourself if you stand any closer," Jermayan said.
Kellen glanced up, first looking pleased to see his friend, then wary at the possibility of bad news.
"I bring no ill tidings," Jermayan said quickly. "I came to bring you warning. I see now that it is too late."
Kellen shook his head slowly. "I made too many mistakes. I can't think of anything I could have done differently, but…" He stopped. "I sent Keirasti back over the Mystrals with a message for Redhelwar. Jermayan "
"I have already brought her and her message before the Army's General, and returned her to her command. She asks me to tell you she will be with you soon."
Kellen smiled at that. "I just bet she will."
"It would please me greatly to know what news she carried that was of such urgency," Jermayan said.
Kellen looked around. "I don't see Ancaladar."
"He is there." Jermayan pointed in the direction of the clearing where he had left the dragon. "Let's go."
Kellen paused to give last orders to a few of his commanders, then mounted Firareth, and the two of them rode off toward Ancaladar's clearing. When the two of them were out of sight of the cavernmouth, Kellen spoke again.
"When we were at Ondoladeshiron, I had an audience with Rochinuviel. She'd had a private message from Sentarshadeen just after you left. There's plague in Sentarshadeen, and Andoreniel is very ill. Too ill to give orders. She didn't think a messenger had been sent to Redhelwar, and even if one had, nothing was getting through the pass. There was a Shadewalker."
Jermayan barely heard the test of Kellen's words.
"The King is ill?" he asked, with blunt rudeness.
"I don't know what will happen to the army if Andoreniel can't give it orders," Kellen said, sounding as close to despair as Jermayan had ever heard him. "I asked Redhelwar to move the army to Ondoladeshiron, but… I don't know if he will."
"He is doing it now," Jermayan said. "Though to move an army across the mountains in the depths of winter is no quick matter."
* * * * *
"DON'T I know it," Kellen said.
A combination of uneasiness and relief filled him. He knew it was the right thing to do, but having Redhelwar take his advice… well, that only meant that he'd have to figure out what to do once the army had reached Ondoladeshiron, that was all.
"This speaks to why you moved in such haste to reach Halacira," Jermayan went on. "Sentarshadeen was your true destination."
"I wanted to see for myself what was going on there and help Andoreniel, if I could. And I thought I might be able to send back Unicorn Scouts to the army. Even with Keirasti's head-start, they'd still get there faster than she would."
"But now that need not be done," Jermayan observed. "And there is news from Ysterialpoerin that you do not know, for much has changed since you left."
By now they had reached the clearing where Ancaladar waited.
The dragon's radiant heat though Ancaladar swore he had no control over the magic for which he was such a mighty reservoir of power, he did seem to be able to control the amount of heat he radiated had melted the snow around him in a wide circle, and steam rose from the bare ground in plumes. Kellen dismounted and moved forward gratefully into Ancaladar's pocket-summer.
"Kellen," the black dragon greeted him. "I am glad to see you safe. We were worried about you."
"Not as worried as I was about me," Kellen said fervently.
"There is bad news, Bonded," Jermayan said. Quickly he related what Kellen had told him.
"Bad news indeed," Ancaladar said, stretching out his long neck so that Jermayan could rub the sensitive skin beneath the hinge of his jaw. "Perhaps you can Heal him. But there is good news as well. The people of the Northern Cities are safe among the trees of Ysterialpoerin. Further, Cilarnen has discovered a source of power, and masters the spells of the High Magick."
"It worked?" Kellen asked.
"It did indeed," the dragon agreed. "Without Cilarnen's spells, we would not have found Keirasti. He recognized her horses, you see."