What saved him was the axe. He held it up in front of him like a torch and followed its flickering amber light. The trap was sprung as he moved deeper into the crevice, he was never sure how he had triggered it. Three triangular blades came at him from either side of the tunnel to cut him into quarters. The higher blade struck the axe’s head, the middle struck the shaft just above his gloved fist and the last one gouged into his shin, but got no further. The three blades must have been connected upon a single axle and when one stopped they were all halted. The axe proved harder than steel and the whirring blades chipped and were stopped dead, as a carpenter’s saw is halted by a nail.

  Behind Brand, the others gasped in dismay. He did not apologize, nor cry out in fear. Brand felt a wave of fury instead. He could not free the axe from the two blades that held it pinched against the walls of the tunnel. He tugged and roared.

  He heard shouts behind him. Glancing back, he saw the others were in battle. A dozen shambling figures had risen up from the gold-glittering sandy bottom of the abyss. They shuffled forward, intent on doing harm. Was this entire abyss a trap then? Had they climbed down a league or more into the earth to find nothing more than a swarm of wild dead-things?

  Telyn drew her blades while Kaavi stepped back near Brand, taking her bow from her back. Puck moved forward to meet the monsters. More and more of them rose up from the floor of the abyss. Many of the Dead could not move quickly, as their bodies were broken. Few had legs that functioned properly. Most of their limbs hung at odd angles. One crawled upon the ground, using a pick to thunk into the sands and drag itself forward. Brand stared at the pick and knew in an instant of clarity that these creatures had once been like his own party. They were adventurers who had made it down to the bottom of this strange pit only to be slain and turned into beasts to feed upon those that followed. By the broken state of their bodies, Brand figured many of them must of fallen to their deaths on the treacherous stairs.

  Brand turned back to his axe, which was still stuck fast. He tugged and wrenched at it, but could not free it. Neither could he let it go and turn to help his friends. His love for the axe and its hold over him in this moment of battle was too great. He raged and ripped at it to no avail. He put his boots upon the walls, but could not get a good purchase.

  He glanced over his shoulder toward the others again. Puck had one monster diced upon the floor of the cavern. Bits of it flopped about, grasping at his boots. The next two of the Dead lunged for him, but he danced between them, slicing away dry fingers. Puffs of dust fired up from them as his flickering blade struck and their bodies disintegrated under the assault. Kaavi fired arrow after arrow into those that followed. Each one sunk into a skull or a chest. They were thrown back and often spun to the ground, but they usually got back up and kept coming.

  Telyn held Puck’s flank. Her twin daggers flashed. She’d practiced often over the years, after their hard trip into the Everdark. Brand knew she thought someday she might need her skills again. He was vaguely proud and yet felt panicked all at the same time as he saw his wife slash apart a thick-shouldered creature. Its belly opened and gray dust that had been guts centuries earlier poured out in a choking cloud.

  The next two caught her, however. She was lifted up as one had her by the hair and the arms, the other clutched a foot. She slashed away an arm, but they kept grasping. Kaavi threw down her bow and charged in to help, taking the head off the one that had Telyn’s foot and had been drawing it slowly toward bony jaws.

  Brand turned back to his axe. He howled and raved. Bunching his shoulders, he heaved, then shoved, then heaved again. It was the second shove that did it. By pushing the axe forward, rather than attempting to pull it back against the gears of whatever devilish trap had been built here for this very purpose, he managed to free his weapon.

  He whirled, and held the axe high. He called upon it for strength, for fury, and for sweet revenge.

  Ambros flashed more brightly than the sun, and afterward everyone in the party save Brand himself had a sunburn to nurse. Fortunately, all of them had their backs to him at the moment, or they might have been blinded.

  Brand charged to Telyn first, and hacked down each of the monsters that had dared touch her with a single stroke. Kaavi helped Telyn to her feet while Brand charged into the mass of those that surged closer. He burnt them and hacked at them with spittle flying from his lips and eyes rolling in his head. Soon, a hundred desiccated corpses lay quivering in smoking ruin on the floor of the cavern.

  He walked back wearily to the others, who had withdrawn into the mouth of the tunnel he’d been caught in. They huddled inside, more fearful of his rage and the axe’s blazing rays of brilliance than they were of further traps.

  Brand slumped down against the stone walls and let go of the axe. His fingers felt like rubber. His face was sticky with sweat which evaporated as soon as it formed upon his brow.

  Puck clapped slowly, mockingly. “Well done, axeman,” he said in a droll voice. “I thought you’d found something bigger to concern yourself with in this side-passage.”

  Brand grunted. “I faced my worst fears in here.”

  Telyn came and sat beside him. She narrowed her eyes and she ran her hands over him, looking for injuries. She found nothing serious and bound up the minor ones. Of the whole group, only Telyn herself had been injured by the things that had held her. She could still walk, but with a slight limp.

  “Brand,” she said while tending to him. “You’re worst fears? You mean when you saw those things had me?”

  He looked at her and nodded. “That,” he said, “and the fact I could not release the axe to come save you.”

  She kissed him. “It’s all right. You saved us all in the end.”

  “But I tried,” he said. “I tried to let it go. I couldn’t do it. Not to save your life or mine. When there is a fight near at hand, it lusts for battle. Its hold upon my mind is never stronger than in such a moment.”

  “I understand, Brand,” Telyn said. “It’s not so terrible, I had Kaavi here. She came to my rescue when you could not.”

  Brand ran his eyes to Kaavi, and then back to Telyn. They smiled at him and at one another. At least their struggle was settled, he thought to himself.

  He closed his eyes then, and he slumbered.

  * * *

  When Brand dreamt of the Shining Lady, he was hardly surprised. He was not sure if his calm demeanor was a result of the odd mood of dreams, his exhaustion, or a new found confidence in her presence.

  He first recognized the cold glow of her as it impinged upon his dreaming eyes. Next came the scent of lilacs and daffodils filling his head with fine fragrances. He turned to where he knew she must be: in the crack where he had almost met his doom.

  The blades that had caught his axe were gone, and being a dreamer, he did not think this was odd. He stepped forward rashly, letting his axe droop from his fingertips. She reached out to him, and he felt a familiar burn of desire, but this time it was different. This time he was in control of himself. He did not weep with lust and wanting. He smiled instead, and stepped forward closer still. His free hand reached out toward her, even as she reached for him. Behind him, the axe still trailed as if forgotten. He dragged it with his right hand and reached with his left.

  She beamed at him, confident he had finally come to his senses. He thought that in a way, she was right.

  “Finally you come to me, Brand,” she said. “I can be complete at last.”

  He stepped closer, and his grin broadened. It became predatory.

  She did not seem to notice, and it was not until their final step that brought them into one another’s grasp that she understood something was amiss. His gloved hand did not reach to caress her locks or cup her breast. Instead, his fingers curved like the talons that served her as feet and locked upon her white throat.

  Brand raised the axe then, from its forgotten place dragging behind him. He lifted it high.

  “I’ve had enough of your games, fair lady,” he said to her. “Each time we meet, I shall cleave you apart, in hopes you will come to understand the new nature of our relationship.”

  The Shining Lady’s eyes widened in sadness, fear and hopelessness. He knew in his heart he was a beast, an evil thing, a slayer of the helpless. He felt the burn of tears beginning to sprout from his eyes but he tried to maintain his resolve. She was manipulating him, he knew this. He squeezed harder and raised the axe higher, threatening her.

  Her face melted and changed into a new form. He blinked as he recognized her. She was Telyn now.

  “Stop,” he said. He did not loosen his grasp, although it hurt his mind to hurt her, she who looked like the twin of his beloved wife.

  She changed a second time. Now her face was that of another he had not seen for so long. She was Oberon’s daughter who he had slain. A tiny elf maiden with silver hair, a lock of which he’d carried for years.

  “I shall strike!” he shouted at her. “Let us talk as equals. No more tricks.”

  She changed again, and for a moment, he saw a hag of a woman, a thing of surpassing ugliness. He was so surprised, he almost let her go.

  “We are not equals!” she screeched at him.

  He did let her go then, and pushed her back. “Oh, but we are. If you cannot manipulate my mind and I can’t slay you with my axe, we are only capable of irritating one another. Now, kindly state your purpose.”

  She was the Shining Lady again, and for once, Brand was glad of the change. “I’ve already asked you once. I would have you be my champion. I would have you take up the Black and the Amber. They are a perfect combination.”

  Brand snorted. “For whom? I should have no will left at all with such powers running through my mind. I would be like a man riding two galloping horses at once, with a foot upon the back of each.”

  She came a half-step closer. “Be my consort, Brand. I’m not a jealous woman. You may keep your wife and your elf-mistress both.”

  “Kaavi’s not my…never mind,” Brand protested. “Why would I want a hag as my mistress at any rate?”

  The Shining Lady, at his words, glared at him with such hate he felt repelled by her. He had finally struck a sore point.

  “You dare?” she breathed.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “You are quite lovely to my eyes at the moment. I’m sure the axe has affected my sight.”

  Her hateful stare subsided somewhat. “I find it hard to believe any woman desires one such as you,” she said. “You are heartless, cruel. A killer who leers joyfully as he strikes.”

  Brand shrugged. “You’ve been eager enough for my embrace.”

  She hissed at him, then walked back into the crack until she was only a glimmer. She vanished and after a time, he awoke.

  * * *

  Brand sat, thinking hard. The others chewed upon dry rations and drank their final drops from their canteens.

  “Glad to see you’ve rested, axeman,” Puck said, coming near.

  Brand barely acknowledged his existence.

  “We’re running out of water, you know,” Puck said, trying to speak to him again.

  Brand glanced up, and saw in the other’s eyes a certain wariness, as if he doubted Brand had yet come to his senses. Brand snatched up his axe and jumped to his feet. Everyone else startled and stared at him quietly.

  He waved the axe at them all as he spoke. “I’ve had enough of this nonsense. We’ve been led from the start on a pointless quest down here. I suspect a grand trick—and we are the fools at the butt of it.”

  “What evidence do you have?” asked Puck.

  Brand turned toward the crack nearby. He strode inside. “Be wary for further traps, if you would. I tend to walk directly into them.”

  “In that case, let me go first, and let me take my time,” said Puck.

  Brand assented and they all crept into the crack. Soon, once they had ducked under the blades in the walls, they found the tunnel led to nothing but a blank wall.

  “You see?” asked Brand. “A trap within a trap. There is nothing here, nothing at all.”

  “But my father has been in these chambers. There is a hall of bones somewhere.”

  “Well, it’s not here. I’m beginning to think we’ve been shunted aside, led here and left to flounder about. Someone planned this.”

  “For what purpose?”

  “To take us from the real threats back home. And with luck, we might have died.”

  Puck and the others pondered his words.

  “Grasty was the start of it,” Telyn said. “He brought us here under false premises.”

  “Yes,” said Brand. “He was the start and the Shining Lady was the end.”

  “You’ve met her again?”

  “As I slept just now.”

  “You do not seem perturbed,” Kaavi said. “She seems to have no hold over you.”

  “Well, she’s gotten me to wander around down here for days.”

  “What shall we do?” asked Telyn.

  Brand looked at her and thought of that witch changing herself to resemble his love. It made him angry. He sucked in a great lungful of air, closed his eyes tightly and roared at the walls, which rang with his berserk cry. “Shining Lady! Come to me! I demand it!”

  There was no response. Everyone fell silent. The others exchanged glances. Telyn dug into her tunic, seeking her ward. She pulled it out and wore it openly upon her chest.

  “I would have words with whoever is mistress or master of this place!” shouted Brand. “Have you no interest?”

  “Brand?” said Telyn behind him.

  Brand turned, and he saw where his wife pointed. A glimmering figure had appeared at the back of the crack they had so recently explored and found empty.

  “Come out, ghost,” he said. “It is time we talked plainly.”

  “You called to me. What is your wish?”

  Brand forced himself to gaze upon her openly, even though her aura was even more powerful and causing of lust when she walked in the real world. In his dreams, he had been able to scoff and strive with her. He doubted he could do so while awake. But he knew he must keep up a strong front.

  At his side Puck stepped forward and stared. Even the elf was affected, Brand could see it plainly. The charms of this Dead woman could not be underestimated.

  “You want me to become your champion. You want me to wield the Black. Before I agree, I must know why.”

  “Because it is time,” she said. “King Arawn plants seedlings in every graveyard. The Dead are ripe for harvest. It has been too long.”

  Brand nodded, thinking this thing might be avoidable. “If I slay the King and take his Jewel for my own, will the Dead return to their graves?”

  “Oh yes,” she said. “Should you command it.”

  Brand drew himself up. “Very well, witch. I know what you are and you know me as well. We can thus strike a bargain. I will not become your consort. I will, however, slay King Arawn and take the Black from his dry fingers. I will swear this, if you will in turn swear to help me.”

  The Shining Lady hung back in her tunnel. Brand could not recall ever having seen her appear indecisive before.

  “What is it you wish me to do?” she asked at last.

  “Careful Brand,” Telyn said to him. “Everything this creature says or does is a trick of some kind.”

  “I’m aware of her nature,” Brand said. He turned back to the lovely form that shimmered in the darkness. He wondered briefly if he went in there to slay her, if she would vanish. And if she did not, could she be slain? She was not like any of the Dead he’d ever encountered.

  “Lady,” he said. “You must provide us transport out of this place to our own lands. You must devise no further plans against us. Lastly, you must stay out of my dreams for the rest of my days.” As Brand spoke this last requirement, Telyn looked at him in surprise.

  “Done, done and done!” said the Shining Lady. “The way out is less than a mile southward. There is a Fae mound there, which your own father, elf-child, used recently to exit this place.”

  “For this I will bring down the Dead King before his armies can march upon the world,” Brand said.

  “Too late for that, fool!” shouted the Shining Lady. Her voice broke into a cackle that was almost hysterical with glee. “You have released him!”

  “What do you mean?” Brand demanded. His brow was stormy and he strode into the tunnel. His axe ran with yellow light and the Jewel winked. Nothing angered it more than duplicity.

  “He has planted seedlings for decades. His army can only rise and march in its entirety when he has a challenger. Why do you think I’ve stalked the biggest imbecile among those who wield power? Not even Tomkin was fool enough to take up my challenge!”

  Brand strode toward her, recalling that he had not promised to leave her alone in the bargain. He commanded the axe to burn her, and it did shoot forth a ray which caused rock and cold flesh to turn to vapor. Still laughing, however, the ghostly creature faded from view and was gone before he could reach her.

  When at last he had finished tearing at the walls of the tunnel, he left with the rest and headed southward. If the armies of the Dead had been unleashed, there was no time to lose.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Morcant’s Army

  Mari’s mother had often said she didn’t like fools and she didn’t plan to raise any of them. She’d often said this directly before she drew her belt from her dress or took up a wooden spoon to give the children one of their regular thrashings.

  Mari herself had never beaten Trev, although he occasionally gave her good cause. She thought about her mother’s words as she spoke with the boy. She wondered who her mother would have called the fool: six-year-old Trev, or Mari herself for listening to him.

  “You’ve been going out at night again, Trev,” she said.

  “Not always.”

  “Once is too many times. You’ve been forbidden.”

  “Dad’s out there somewhere. And there are other things, too.”