Page 79 of The Dragonrider and the Void
“I understand more than you think.”
The King turned slowly, his eyes clearing of the silver starlight momentarily. In that brief window of lucidity, Lark saw genuine fear in his gaze.
“Then call off your dragon,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Perhaps we can still?—”
A tremor passed through his body, and the starlight returned to his eyes. When he spoke again, it was with his commanding voice.
“Call off your dragon, or we will be forced to deploy our full aerial force of Paragons against him,” the King commanded. “He cannot stand against twenty riders at once, no matter how powerful he may be.”
Lark measured her words carefully. “I’ll need to connect with him fully to send such a command. These bindings,” she raised her shackled wrists, “make that impossible.”
The Archmagus stepped forward. “A convenient excuse.”
“It’s the truth. You’ve suppressed my bonds. I can barely sense White Eye, let alone command him to retreat.”
“Then perhaps we need a more direct approach,” the Archmagus said. He withdrew a small crystal sphere implanted with Sapphires from his robes, its surface etched with familiar runes. “This will amplify what connection remains. But be warned, it cuts both ways. If you attempt to use it to order an attack, the backlash will be severe.”
He held the sphere out toward Lark. The King watched silently, the silver starlight in his eyes pulsing with an unnatural rhythm.
Lark hesitated. The sphere was clearly designed to interface with a dragonrider’s bond, but there was no telling what other effects it might have. It could be a trap, a way to further control her.
But this could also provide an opportunity. If she could establish a stronger connection with White Eye, she might be able to share what she’d learned about the gateway, about Barrik, about the ritual pages being incomplete.
“Very well,” she said, extending her bound hands.
The Archmagus placed the sphere in her palms. Its surface was cool to the touch, but as her fingers closed around it, warmth spread through the crystal. The runes etched into its surface began to glow, first with green light, then shifting to a deeper blue.
Lark closed her eyes, focusing on her bond with White Eye. The sphere did indeed amplify the connection; the thin thread widened to a proper channel. She felt White Eye’s presence surge closer, his rage momentarily giving way to relief at feeling her more strongly.
White Eye,she projected through their strengthened bond.Listen carefully. I’m being held in the central tower of Vermillion Keep. The pages Venrick took don’t detail the wholeritual, they’re incomplete. Barrik is after the rest of it in Wintermire.
She felt White Eye’s acknowledgment, his mind working to absorb this new information.
There’s more,she continued.My prison may be a gateway to the fae realm. I may be able to use it to escape, but I need to get back there. Have Venrick and the others?—
A sharp pain lanced through her head as the Archmagus snatched the sphere from her hands.
“Enough,” he said coldly. “You’ve had sufficient time to issue a simple retreat command.”
Lark blinked, focusing on the Archmagus’ face through her pain. “It’s done. White Eye will withdraw to the north.”
It wasn’t a complete lie. She had included that instruction amid the more important information.
The King’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “If you’ve betrayed this gesture of good faith?—”
The chamber door burst open, a guard rushed in clearly alarmed.
“Your Majesty, the rebel forces, they’ve breached the outer wards of the city. Multiple points of infiltration reported,” he said in haste.
The King and the Archmagus exchanged a grim look.
“It seems your friends have decided to launch a rescue mission,” the Archmagus said to Lark. “Foolish, but not unexpected.”
“Return her to her cell,” the King ordered. “Double the guard. If the rebels somehow penetrate the Keep, she is not to be taken.”
“And what of the half-elf Squire, Your Majesty?” the guard asked. “The reports say?—”
“What reports?” Lark interrupted, unable to contain herself. “What about Venrick?”
