The Infinity Gate: Darkglass Mountain: Book Three - By Sara Douglass Page 0,184

shocking moment, a column of water reared up from the lake a pace or so away. It had eyes and features, although none of the features were clearly distinguishable, but Eleanon recognised it instantly.

It was what Inardle had turned herself into when she’d attacked Eleanon and his small group.

And Eleanon realised, as more and more columns reared up before plunging back under the surface of the water, that all the Skraelings had transformed themselves into these terrifying creatures, and that there were millions upon millions of these things in the water, and they would undoubtedly attack him as Inardle had once attacked.

With stunning, deadly force.

Ozll, or whatever he was now, had tricked him. He had only claimed to be peaceable so that Eleanon would grant the Skraelings free access to the lake.

No, they would attack, and they would do it within moments.

Eleanon panicked.

The One, watching, almost panicked himself. He realised what Eleanon was about to do, and knew that it would be the death of him if he were caught.

Damn it! Why hadn’t he killed Eleanon a long time ago, when he’d had the chance? The man was incapable of responsible action!

The One had no choice now but to leave the comfort and safety of the Dark Spire. It was earlier than he’d planned, but needs must.

His hands pressed against the tip of the spire, bringing the full force of Infinity to bear on the structure.

He may as well make a grand entrance.

Chapter 19

Elcho Falling

Eleanon stumbled backward, one small part of his mind petrified that the water creatures would murder him as Inardle had murdered his fellows, but the major part engaged in the one activity he was certain would save him and the rest of the Lealfast.

He communicated with the Dark Spire, screaming at it, demanding that it attack the creatures now within the lake surrounding Elcho Falling.

Ozll might want to murder the Lealfast, but the Skraeling had severely underestimated the power now at Eleanon’s disposal.

The Skraelings had always been stupid.

The River Angels frolicked in the water. They had been reborn only a short while, but they felt that their life as the Skraelings was so far behind them it was scarcely a distant memory.

The lake was deep and wide, and it contained the millions of River Angels easily, but even so, the River Angels began to whisper among themselves about perhaps investigating some of the small streams that fed into the lake . . . and if those streams might somewhere connect with larger rivers .

Their reborn lives were filled only with happiness and relief and hope, and that was all they desired.

Until something rose from the lake bed.

At first the River Angels ignored it, this dark-tentacled creature that reached toward the sunlight, but then the tentacles began to snatch at the River Angels and squeeze them and pain them.

Many of the River Angels so caught managed to slither free, but some did not, and they died crushed within tightening dark coils and then left to drift broken and lifeless in the lake’s currents.

The reaction of the River Angels was instant and it was as if they acted as one entity. They were under attack for no other reason, it seemed, than that they existed and this dark creature wanted them dead. They had done nothing to provoke or warrant such an attack.

And so, they defended themselves.

Tens of thousands of them clung to each of the Dark Spire’s roots. The roots cracked through the water, trying to dislodge the River Angels, but to no avail. The River Angels clung with tenacious purpose, running their strangely-shaped hands along the surface of the dark roots, further and further along, and everywhere those hands touched, so the dark root crumbled.

As the dark roots crumbled one by one, so the River Angels slithered further along, seeking as yet untouched parts of the roots to destroy.

“What is happening?” Maximilian said, leaning as far as he dared over the edge of the balcony. “What in the gods’ names is happening?”

Below, the surface of the lake churned. The roots of the Dark Spire broke the surface, each covered with some sort of gelatinous substance. As those within Elcho Falling watched, it seemed that every time the roots broke the surface, they were just that little less . . . intact.

“Eleanon commanded the Dark Spire to attack the River Angels,” Inardle said. “He panicked. He remembered the time I had attacked his group and thought the River Angels would thus attack the Lealfast.”

Axis stared at her,