Tavo never hesitated. One by one, he began to destroy them, vaporizing them with the wishsong. But by the time four were gone, Clizia, still untouched, had formed a diamond-hard disk of razor-sharp magic. From a kneeling position, she cast it. He might have been able to block it, had he been thinking clearly. But caught up in his rage and grief, he failed to do so. The spinning blade nearly cut him in half, and he collapsed in a heap, screaming with pain.
Clizia took her time leaving her platform and walking down to where he writhed. The way was slick with rain, and it would not do to slip and fall at this point. When she was standing over him, the boy in such pain he was not even aware of her, she bent down and said, “You should have stayed with me, Tavo.”
Then she took the Stiehl from her robes and cut his throat.
* * *
—
When his struggles had ceased, she walked over to the edge of the cliff and peered down at the jumble of rocks, undergrowth, and the rushing waters of the Mermidon several hundred feet below. There was no sign of Tarsha Kaynin. She searched for the girl carefully, making sure she wasn’t mistaken, needing to know that Tarsha had gone to join her brother in the netherworld.
When she was satisfied there was nothing to be found, she straightened and turned back toward the black-damp walls of Cleeg Hold. One more thing remained to be done, and then she could leave.
She walked back inside and went down the tunnel to the place where she had trapped and banished Drisker. The hallway was empty, the magic she had employed gone—the triagenel, the liquid night, the walls at either end of the space in which the Druid had been enclosed, all of it gone.
Because a banishing to the Forbidding required an exchange, what had come out to replace Drisker Arc would be waiting.
She found it lurking back in the shadows on the other side of the killing ground, deep in the darkness of the tunnel. She called softly to it. “Come out, my pet. Come meet your mistress. Come, now.”
Her words were soft and cajoling, pitched to encourage obedience. Movement caused the shadows to shiver, and a figure began to take shape. The nightmare that appeared in response to the magic she had used to dispose of Drisker drifted into view on all fours, its loathsome face grinning in a mass of razor-sharp teeth.
“There you are,” she purred, the pleasure in her voice evident. And the Jachyra gave a long, high-pitched whine in acknowledgment.
Hunter Brooks Alba,
As Grandsons Go, He’s Got The Right Stuff.
BY TERRY BROOKS
SHANNARA
SHANNARA
First King of Shannara
The Sword of Shannara
The Elfstones of Shannara
The Wishsong of Shannara
The Scions of Shannara
The Druid of Shannara
The Elf Queen of Shannara
The Talismans of Shannara
THE VOYAGE OF THE JERLE SHANNARA
Ilse Witch
Antrax
Morgawr
HIGH DRUID OF SHANNARA
Jarka Ruus
Tanequil
Straken
THE DARK LEGACY OF SHANNARA
Wards of Faerie
Bloodfire Quest
Witch Wraith
THE DEFENDERS OF SHANNARA
The High Druid’s Blade
The Darkling Child
The Sorcerer’s Daughter
The Black Elfstone
The Skaar Invasion
The Stiehl Assassin
PRE-SHANNARA
GENESIS OF SHANNARA
Armageddon’s Children
The Elves of Cintra
The Gypsy Morph
LEGENDS OF SHANNARA
Bearers of the Black Stuff
The Measure of the Magic
The World of Shannara
THE MAGIC KINGDOM OF LANDOVER
Magic Kingdom for Sale—Sold!
The Black Unicorn
Wizard at Large
The Tangle Box
Witches’ Brew
A Princess of Landover
THE WORD AND THE VOID
A Knight of the Word
Angel Fire East
Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TERRY BROOKS is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books, including the Dark Legacy of Shannara adventures Wards of Faerie, Bloodfire Quest, and Witch Wraith; the Legends of Shannara novels Bearers of the Black Stuff and The Measure of the Magic; the Genesis of Shannara trilogy: Armageddon’s Children, The Elves of Cintra, and The Gypsy Morph; The Sword of Shannara; the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy: Ilse Witch, Antrax, and Morgawr; the High Druid of Shannara trilogy: Jarka Ruus, Tanequil, and Straken; the nonfiction book Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life; and the novel based upon the screenplay and story by George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. His novels Running with the Demon and A Knight of the Word were selected by the Rocky Mountain News as two of the best science fiction / fantasy novels of the twentieth century. The author lives with his wife, Judine, in the Pacific Northwest.
shannara.com
terrybrooks.net
Facebook.com/​authorterrybrooks
Twitter: @TerryBrooks
Instagram: @officialterrybrooks
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