Through Stone and Sea - By Barb Hendee & J. C. Hendee Page 0,128

of pale spikes.

Slowly breaking the surface, webbing followed at their bases, stretched in a crest over a bald scalp. Black-orb eyes, fully round and too large to be human, watched Wynn. Translucent membranes in place of lids nictitated over them.

The being was covered in slick, smooth skin tinged blue or perhaps more teal. Its face appeared distended, making the orb eyes look slightly pushed to either side of the hairless head. Its nose was only two vertical slits. When its lipless mouth parted, Wynn saw needle-sharp opalescent teeth like those of a sea predator.

When it—he—stood to full height, he was long and slender, but as solid as a full-grown male elf. More web-separated spikes ran along the outside of his forearms to match those cresting his skull. Wynn’s breath caught as three slits on each side of his throat flexed like gills beneath a long jawline.

The strong hands and arms that held her suddenly slackened.

“Frey, please,” the woman whispered, and then cried out, “Chuillyon, Tristan . . . help me!”

Wynn didn’t know who held her. With the spear aimed at her throat, she couldn’t twist her head to look.

“We’re coming!” someone called, and more splashes came from the pool’s chamber.

Chane erupted from the water again, just beyond Shade.

Before cascading droplets settled, three teal-skinned beings burst up and were on him. With a grating hiss, he shouldered one into the tunnel’s wall. Shade twisted back, lunging and snapping at the first being’s forearm. That one turned at the dog’s assault, and his spear wavered.

Wynn jerked free and spun partway, groping for her staff. Then her gaze caught on a man’s face pressed hard between the gate’s bars.

The anguish there made her falter.

His half-mad eyes might’ve shed tears, but any such were obscured by water running down his face from his drenched dark-blond hair. His mouth gaped as he stared into the tunnel, but not at her. He looked only at the teal-skinned being holding off Shade with a spear.

Wynn had seen that expression, or ones so similar.

It showed on the faces of peasants in the worst corners of this world, such as Leesil’s birthplace in the Warlands. Starving, dying of thirst, or beaten down, for them hope had become a lie. Worse, the man looked at the teal-skinned being as if his relief dangled tauntingly just beyond his reach.

The woman’s voice shouted, “Chuillyon! Get the gate open!”

A woman had her arm wrapped over the madman’s shoulder and across his chest, pulling on him to no effect. When she turned her head back from crying out, Wynn looked into the panicked face of Duchess Reine.

“Frey, stop it!” the duchess ordered.

“Wynn . . . get away from them!” Chane rasped.

He slapped away his assailant’s spear. Shade clawed along the tunnel wall, floundering as she tried to get around her own opponent. With two companions desperate for help, Wynn could only try for the closest. She took a step to grab for Shade.

The point of a long, narrow blade struck the tunnel wall before her eyes.

Wynn’s feet slipped as she tried to duck. She toppled against the curved wall to keep from sinking. The long blade levered in, and its edge set against her throat.

Duchess Reine had her arm thrust through the gate, pinning Wynn in place with a saber.

Shade let out a wild snarl, and then all sounds of struggle quickly lessened.

The duchess’s enraged eyes turned away.

Wynn could barely move with the sharp edge at her throat, but she followed that gaze to Chane.

“Yield or she’s dead!” the duchess commanded.

Chane froze in place, surrounded by the trio of strange beings, while a fourth held Shade off with its spear.

Wynn nodded once at Chane and turned only her eyes toward the gate.

As the duchess withdrew her saber, the white- robed elf tried to pull the wild-eyed man away. The captain, sword in hand, jerked the gate open, forcing both to retreat a little.

“Inside,” he ordered, leveling his long sword at Wynn.

Wynn hesitated. Amid the confusion, her pack had sunk. She wasn’t sure she’d be allowed to fish it out, but she wasn’t leaving the sun crystal’s staff behind. She reached for it.

The captain surged in, grabbed her tunic front, and jerked her through the open gate. She floundered, swallowing a mouthful of water, and another Weardas dragged her to one side. Shade came splashing after her, snarling and coughing. The captain ducked into the tunnel, sword out toward Chane, and grabbed the staff.

Chane came through next, all the teal-skinned newcomers herding him. He paused,