THE VOYAGE OF THE JERLE SHANNARA : Morgawr (BOOK THREE)

“No,” Bek said at once.

“If we take her, they will keep after us, all the way inland to wherever we run, to wherever we hide. If she could find us earlier, they can find us now. Sooner or later. She’s a weight around our necks and not one we need carry.”

“We promised Walker we would protect her!”

“We promised it so that the Druid could die at peace.” Truls Rohk spit. “But it was a fool’s promise and given without any cause beyond that. We don’t need her. We don’t want her. She serves no purpose now and never will. What she is has destroyed her. She isn’t coming back, newly born, your sister returned; you’re not going to be a happy family reunited. Thinking otherwise is foolish.”

Bek shook his head. “I’m not leaving her. You do what you want.”

For just an instant, Bek thought that Truls Rohk was going to do just that. The shape-shifter went as still as the shadows on a windless night, all dark presence and hidden danger. Bek could feel the tension in him, a sort of singing sound that was more vibration than noise, a cord become taut on a bow drawn back.

“You persist in being troublesome,” Truls Rohk whispered. “Have you no capacity for rational behavior?”

Bek almost laughed at the words, spoken with such seriousness but rife with irony. He shook his head slowly. “She is my sister, Truls. She doesn’t have anyone else to help her.”

“She’s going to disappoint you. This isn’t going to turn out like you think.”

Bek nodded. “I don’t suppose it will. It hasn’t so far.” He kept his eyes locked on the shape-shifter as the sounds of approach intensified. “Can we go now?”

Truls Rohk stared at him a moment longer, as if trying to decide. Then he came forward, all blackness even in the early morning light, picked up Grianne like a rag doll, and tucked her under his arm.

“Try to keep up with me, boy,” he said. “Carrying one of you is load enough.”

He sprang atop the nearest remnant of wall and began to navigate its length like a tightrope walker in a street fair, crouched low and moving swiftly. The feel of his sister’s hand in his a lingering warmth, Bek watched him for a moment, then hurried after.





Ahren Elessedil listened with growing concern as the snarls of the caull leading the Morgawr’s party deeper into the ruins grew more anxious. Clearly, it had come across something, tracks or scent that it recognized and wanted to pursue. Its handlers had not released it, however. Nor was the Morgawr giving it much attention; his focus was on Ryer Ord Star as they walked next to each other, engaged once again in close conversation. What was it she was telling him? The boy was encouraged by her whispered words, but suspicious of her actions. She was asking him to trust her, but doing nothing to warrant it. He had thought she might at least try leading their captors in the wrong direction; instead she was taking them the way she had come, directly toward the entrance that led underground to where they had left Walker.

It appeared she had become the Morgawr’s ally in his business, and the Elf was having trouble convincing himself that he should trust her at all.

They moved more quickly now, navigating the rubble to where the opening led downward into Castledown. Judging from the sounds emanating from the caull, its snout lowered to the ground as it tugged and pulled its handlers ahead, whomever they were tracking had come this way recently. He wondered briefly if it might be their own scent the caull had come across, but that would make the beast a good deal more stupid than the Elf was prepared to believe. Since it was the Ilse Witch the Morgawr was seeking, Ahren had to assume the caull had been given her scent. She could easily have come the same way they had and still managed to miss them in the catacombs.

They passed through the entry in a cautious knot. Creepers lay in heaps just inside, unmoving. Flameless lamps still burned, casting a weak yellow glow from the passage walls, but the Mwellrets lit torches anyway. The smoky light lent the empty corridors an eerie, shadowy look as the group moved downward into the earth.