The Druid of Shannara

“Morgan,” the girl said softly. She tried to take his hand, but he stepped quickly away.

“No. I want this settled. What’s going on here? I leave the room for just a moment, just long enough to make sure Horner isn’t … and when I come back I find you close enough to … He choked on the words, his brown face flushing as the impact of what he was saying caught up with him. “I …”

“Morgan, listen to me,” Quickening finished. “We have to recover the Black Elfstone. We have to.”

The Highlander’s fists clenched helplessly. He was aware of how foolish he looked, how young. He made a studied effort to control himself. “If we go back there, Quickening, we will be killed. We didn’t know what we were up against before; now we do. Uhl Belk is too much for us. We all saw the same thing—a creature changed into something only vaguely human, armored in stone, and capable of brushing us aside like we were nothing. He’s part of the land itself! How do we fight something like that? He’ll swallow us whole before we have a chance even to get close!”

He forced his breathing to slow. “And that’s only if he doesn’t call the Maw Grint or the Rake first. We can’t stand up to them let alone him. Think about it, will you? What if he chooses to use the Elfstone against us! Then what do we do—you without any magic at all that you can use, me with a broken sword that’s lost most of its magic, and Walker with … I don’t know, what? With what, Walker? What are you?”

The Dark Uncle was unfazed by the attack, his pale face expressionless, his eyes steady as they fixed on the Highlander. “I am what I always was, Morgan Leah.”

“Less an arm!” Morgan snapped and regretted it immediately. “No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

“But it is true,” the other replied quietly.

Morgan looked away awkwardly for a moment, then back again. “Look at us,” he whispered. “We’re barely alive. We’ve trekked all the way to the end of the world and it’s just about finished us. Carisman’s already dead. Maybe Horner Dees as well. We’re beaten up. We look like scarecrows. We haven’t had a bath in weeks, unless you want to count getting rained on. We’re dressed in rags. We’ve been running and hiding so long we don’t know how to fight anymore. We’re caught in this gray, dismal world where all we see is stone and rain and mist. I hate this place. I want to see trees and grass and living things again. I don’t want to die here. I especially don’t want to die when there is no reason for it! And that’s exactly what will happen if we go looking for the Stone King. Tell me, Walker, what chance do we have?”

To his surprise, Walker Boh said, “A better chance than you think. Sit down a minute and listen.”

Morgan hesitated, suspicion mirrored in his eyes. Then slowly he sat, his anger and frustration momentarily spent. He allowed Quickening to move next to him again, to wrap her arms about him. He let the heat of her body soak through him.

Walker Boh crossed his legs before him and pulled his dark cloak close. “It is true that we appear to be little more than beggars off some Southland city street, that we have nothing with which to threaten Uhl Belk, that we are as insignificant to him as the smallest insects that crawl upon the land. But that appearance may be an illusion we can use. It may give us the chance we need to defeat him. He sees us as nothing. He does not fear us. He disdains to worry about us at all. It is possible that he has already forgotten us. He believes himself invulnerable. Perhaps we can use that against him.”

The dark eyes were intense. “He is not what he believes, Highlander. He has evolved beyond the spirit creature he was born, beyond anything he was intended to be. I believe he has evolved even beyond the King of the Silver River. But his evolution has not been a natural one. His evolution has been brought about by his usage of the Black Elfstone. It is ironic, but the Druids protected their magic better than Uhl Belk realizes. He thinks that he stole it easily and uses it without consequence. But he is wrong. Just by calling up the Elfstone’s magic, he is destroying himself.”

Morgan Leah stared. “What are you talking about?”