Half a tairen length away, the Mages stood together, arguing over something. After a furtive but thorough look around, Rain estimated there were about five hundred Eld soldiers and bowmen gathered in the surrounding trees, weapons in hand but not aimed. Rain turned his attention back to the Mages, focusing on the blue-robed Primages. They were the greatest threat, the strongest source of enemy power. The other Mages were powerful—no Mage advanced beyond green robes without mastering the ability to wield dangerous levels of his own innate magic—but they were only apprentices to the darkest secrets of Azrahn.

The Primage called Keldo was the obvious leader. There was both arrogance and temper in the haughty arch of his blond brow and the unmistakable snap of command in his voice. A sash bedecked with sparkling jewels attested to his many victories, and rings of power gleamed on each of his fingers, including two thumb rings set with large black selkahr the size of Soul Quest crystals. Which Fey, Rain wondered, had died—or worse—so this Mage could wear those rings?

The Mages were still arguing. Keldo scowled and said something, but he kept his voice too low to carry far. Rain strained his ears to catch the tail end of what Keldo was saying.

“… You think Primage Garok could ever have conceived—let alone carried out—the capture of the Tairen Soul and his mate? Don’t be such fools. Master Maur is the greatest Mage in the history of Eld, and thanks to his vision and leadership, we stand on the eve of the greatest victory Eld has ever known.” Keldo made a slashing gesture. “No. We deliver Master Maur’s prize to Boura Fell, as ordered. If Garok believes he is the better Mage, let him issue challenge. I, for one, will never bet against Master Maur.”

So… there was apparently dissension in the Eld ranks. Rain wished there was some way to put that knowledge to use, but once the High Mage had Ellysetta in his control, he’d be able to put his last Marks on her, and there would be nothing and no one with the power to defeat him.

He dragged himself closer to Ellysetta and reached out for her hand, but before his fingers could touch hers, the soldier holding Rain’s chain gave his collar a vicious yank. Rain fell backward, choking and grabbing at the collar.

The Eld soldier smirked. “Not so almighty without your magic, are you, Tairen Soul?”

Rain narrowed his eyes. Even with all the sel’dor in him, he could still summon enough magic to weave the Air out of a pair of lungs.

The sight of the man’s shocked, bulging eyes and sudden terror was worth the vicious beating Rain received as half a dozen soldiers leapt on him and bludgeoned him mercilessly until he released their comrade.

The choking soldier fell to his knees in the dirt, coughing and wheezing. Rain flung his hair out of his bruised and bloodied face and sneered. “Not so arrogant with no air in your lungs, are you, Eld rultshart?”

“Ah, you’ve awakened,” the Primage observed in a cool voice. “And still full of defiance, though I’m sure the High Mage will rid you of that soon enough.” His eyes went cold as he turned them on the still-wheezing Eld soldier. “Get up. You are a fool to taunt a Tairen Soul, even if he is sel’dorpierced and bound. Unlike your friends I would not have intervened while he killed you. If you bait him again, I’ll kill you myself, and I promise you, your death at my hands will be far more painful than mere suffocation.”

The choking man blanched and lurched to his feet. “Understood, Primage Keldo.” He saluted briskly and resumed his station, standing stiffly at attention.

“As for you,” the Primage continued, piercing Rain with a cold stare, “bringing you back alive will add a substantial jewel to my sash, but your mate is the true prize. Cause me trouble, and I’ll slit your throat without a second thought. Captain!” An Eld officer snapped to attention along with several of his men. “Prepare him.” As the soldiers moved forward, the Mage told Rain, “These men are going to clean your wounds and pack them with sel’dor powder. We’re all going to take a trip to the High Mage’s palace, but in your current condition you’d never survive a journey through the Well of Souls. The smell of your blood would drive the demons mad with hunger.”

Rain suffered the ungentle ministrations of the Eld as they doused him in water to wash away the blood, then rubbed his wounds with powdered sel’dor to soak up any fresh blood that might ooze from them. Keldo himself cleansed and packed Ellysetta’s wounds, then stroked a hand over her cheek when he was done.

Rain’s chains rattled. “Do not,” he hissed.

The Primage arched a brow. For a moment, Rain thought he might dare some other, graver indecency, but apparently he remembered his own warning about baiting Tairen Souls. The Primage removed his hand, and Rain crawled over to pull Ellysetta into his arms. This time, the soldier holding his leash did not try to stop him.

At his touch, Ellysetta’s trembling lessened. One arm crept up around his neck, and she turned her face into the hollow of his throat, flinching back when her skin touched his sel’dor collar, then settling against a spot on his chest instead.

His embrace seemed to draw her back from whatever nightmare had gripped her mind, and he felt her return to full consciousness. “Rain…”

“Shh. Las, shei’tani. I am here.” He feathered a kiss on her pale brow, another in her bright hair, and kept his wary gaze on the enemy that surrounded them.

“Touching,” the Primage sneered, but he made no move to separate the pair of them. Instead, he turned sharply to two of the yellow-robed apprentice Mages. “Gelvis, Harryl, open the portal.”