painted on the wall. “Do you see any mistakes?” he asked Sarth.
The tiefling studied the drawing as intently as he had. “No. I think it is done.”
“Then let’s see where it leads.” Geran waited for Hamil to join them in the alcove, and focused on the last set of words he’d drawn, the activating phrase of the portal. With one more glance at his comrades, he read them aloud: “Illieloch ser Selûnarr adhiarran!”
The silvery runes glowed even brighter. Geran reached out to set his hand squarely in the center of the diagram, and willed himself forward; the light grew blindingly bright, a cool silver curtain that poured down over him as if he’d stepped under a waterfall of moonlight. Then, in the blink of an eye, he staggered forward into a dark clearing and stumbled to all fours, his eyes still filled with the brilliant radiance. I’m not in the cell anymore, he realized. But am I where I’m supposed to be? He tried to blink the bright afterimage from his eyes and started to stand, only to stumble again as Sarth and Hamil piled into him. When he finally regained his feet, he found that he and his friends were standing in a small open space before an old elven ruin. A complicated design of silver lines and Elvish lettering glowed brightly within an arch of white stone, one of several arches that made up the ruin’s wall. He looked around, searching for something familiar.
A quick elf laugh interrupted him. “You succeeded!” Alliere said. He turned and found her in the moonlit clearing opposite the doorway they’d just come through. Daried Selsherryn sat on a log close by, smiling broadly. Alliere came forward to embrace him, and quickly drew back. “Well done, Geran! I knew you’d manage it!”
He shrugged awkwardly. “I couldn’t have done it without your help. Thank you for aiding us—both of you. I sincerely hope that you don’t wind up taking our places in the tower.”
Daried stood. “I suspect that the coronal won’t be unhappy with your escape. She did not care for the idea of Rhovann Disarnnyl causing mischief in other lands after she’d banished him from her realm. We shall see.” He clasped Geran’s arm, and nodded to Sarth and Hamil. “Come, you cannot linger here. I will seal the moon-door to bar pursuit, but the coronal’s mages will be able to discern the door’s destination easily enough, and we are only a couple of miles from Myth Drannor. You’d better go while you can.”
Alliere took Geran’s hand and led him and his friends to a trio of horses picketed in the shelter of an old courtyard, while Daried began to chant words of closing, interrupting the doorway behind them. As she’d promised, their belongings were gathered in tidy bundles by the horses; Geran belted his sword to his hip as Sarth tested his rune-marked scepter and Hamil rearmed himself with his seemingly endless store of daggers. When they’d finished, she handed Geran a wooden tube. “The manuscript you brought from the Irithlium,” she explained.
Daried returned from the moon-door. “That should suffice for now,” the bladesinger said. He nodded at the forest outside their small clearing. “There is an old road that strikes the Moonsea Ride not far from here, but if you’ll heed my advice, you won’t go that way. Any who pursue you will certainly expect you to fly in that direction. I would instead suggest that you make for the Silverleaf Trail and head due north, through the woods. Three to four days of hard riding should bring you to the Hillsfar–Yûlash road, a day’s ride west of Hillsfar.”
“Sound advice that I think I’ll follow,” Geran answered. He set his hand on Daried’s shoulder. “How can I ever repay you for the help you’ve given us?”
“Give Rhovann my warm regards,” the bladesinger said. His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Our paths will cross again before too long, I think.”
The swordmage released his old mentor, and turned to Alliere. Strange, he thought. Only a year ago, and I would never have been able to turn my back and ride away from her, yet now he meant to do exactly that … and his heart was content. He took her hands in his, and looked into her face. “I am truly sorry for what I did before,” he said to her. “But I’m glad that we part in friendship now. Sweet water and light laughter until we meet again.”