Rynn limped slowly across the crater, trying not to grimace with every step. She wished she'd asked Ebontyne to teach her some healing magic. Thinking of Ebontyne made her ponder the dome again. What if the other Bonded were dead? She and Arokh would be trapped here forever.
And Delon.
That made her forget the Great Spell of Protection. She staggered painfully to her brother's body and sat beside it, looking at the face she'd missed for so long.
She had an idea of how to get Delon's body and soul reunited, but it would have to wait until the dome was down.
Even so...
She held Runeblade and gave it an experimental wave in the air, willing a riftgate to open.
Nothing happened, as she'd guessed. Nothing could get past the Spell.
She looked up at where Arokh perched, still breathing fire.
"Can you hear me?" she thought.
His flame cut off and he blinked down at her. "I think," he replied slowly, not speaking aloud, "that casting the Spell together did more than we expected."
"Has this sort of thing happened before?"
"I don't know. With a very deep Bond, it sounds possible."
"Can you get back down?"
"I don't know," he thought again. "I think so." He jumped off the ledge and stretched his wings out. They held, but the injured wing trembled as its muscles burned with pain. Arokh landed a short distance from Rynn and Delon, and walked the rest of the way. Then he sank to his belly on the rocks.
"I've been waiting to see my brother again since the day the Dark Union took him from me," Rynn murmured. She brushed some hair back from Delon's brow, then absently tried to rub her sore (and non-existant) wing. "And here I am. Still waiting."
"We'll get him back," Arokh assured her. "When the others end the Spell."
She nodded. "I know. I just want it to be over."
"Just think of what we've accomplished," he went on. "We stopped Navaros. We saved Drakan."
Rynn rocked back on her heels. "We've done both of those things before. I'm more interested in Delon; he's the only victory that matters to me."
"I hope you'll forgive me if I consider Navaros and Drakan worthy of celebration as well," Arokh said with a wry grin.
Rynn smiled tiredly. "Arokh... thank you. For going through all this with me. You didn't sign up for my little rescue mission willingly, but it's over now and-" she broke off when she noticed the dragon was looking over her shoulder.
"It's not over yet," he growled.
Rynn slowly turned her head to follow his gaze.
Something glowing and orange had just topped the edge of the waterfall. It paused there for a second, then glided in their direction with alarming speed. Rynn's eyes widened when the soul shadow got close enough for her to see clearly. It was twice her height, had four arms, a draconic head, a sinuous tail and was covered in scales. She had seen a picture of this creature the night Delon had been taken, the night she'd first met Arokh, in a book about the history of the Order of the Flame.
"Navaros... and Kaeros?" Rynn whispered in horror.
"That's them," Arokh snarled. He'd risen to his feet.
The twisted spirit had slowed, but by now was only about fifteen feet away. It seemed to be having trouble advancing, as it jerked backwards every now and again, like something was trying to pull it away.
Rynn gripped both hands around Runeblade's hilt. "Arokh, get Delon away from here." She stood and faced the soul shadow. "You're not taking him!"
There was a hollow laugh from the orange shade. It glided nearer, towering above her.
"I'm not afraid of you," she whispered, and raised her sword.
The soul shadow twitched back and its face formed a snarl of annoyance. It came closer with agonising slowness, reptilian eyes fixed not on Delon... but on Rynn.
Then, without warning, it leaped at her with a ghostly shriek and all four sets of talons outstretched. Rynn lashed out with Runeblade, but her target suddenly vanished.
Where to soon became abundantly clear.
Rynn often remembered with chilling clarity what it had felt like in Shiv'arass Ravine, with that cold hand creeping through her mind. What she felt now was fiery talons tearing at the inside of her head, ripping thought and sanity to pieces.
She screamed, Runeblade dropping to the ground with a clatter as she grabbed the sides of her head. She couldn't see, couldn't feel beyond the blinding pain, couldn't rally enough of her shattered mind to even fight back. The whirlpool of agony went on and on until she felt a hideous wrench, then a dislocation.
Through an amber haze, she suddenly realised she was looking into her own laughing face.
"No!" she wailed, her voice sounding oddly distant to her own ears. "Arokh!" She grabbed for their Bond, relieved to find it as strongly linked to herself as ever. "Arokh! Help me!"
"I'm here," the dragon's thought-voice replied.
Together, they plunged back into her body.
Blackness.