The Elves of Cintra (Book 2 of The Genesis of Shannara)

“Those demons,” she interrupted quickly. “There were two.

But not now. After we reach your house. We can talk then.”

They set out once more, Kirisin leading the way. Angel stayed close to him, warding him like a protective shield. He was still in danger, more so perhaps than she was. She was still working through what had happened back there, why the demons had concentrated on killing Erisha, why they hadn’t tried instead to kill her. She was the one who presented the greatest danger to them, especially with Ailie gone. If she were really gone.

If.

But she knew. She knew it the same way she knew that Johnny was gone when he didn’t come back that night so many years ago.

They cleared Ashenell shortly afterward and made their way through a stretch of cottages and gardens along winding paths that took them close to the surrounding wilderness. There was no indication of anything out of the ordinary. No lights burned in the houses; no one walked the paths. Once, a dog barked. Once, an owl flew close. Nothing else. Here, at least, the Elves still slept.

When they reached Kirisin’s home, they paused to make certain that no one was waiting in the shadows, then slipped through the door and closed and locked it behind them. Kirisin led her into the kitchen, which was set at the rear of the home, and without asking poured her a glass of ale.

After pouring one for himself, he led her back through the house to a place near one of the front windows where they could sit and talk while keeping watch.

Kirisin tried to speak first, struggling to find the words.

“Angel, I don’t know…”

Angel seized his wrists and squeezed them.

“Let me tell you what I know before you say anything. It isn’t everything, but we can make a start.” She leaned forward, keeping her voice lowered.

“There were two demons waiting for us. I detected them when we came out of the underground, but I was confused because I wasn’t expecting any and then I couldn’t figure out why they seemed to be on both sides of me.

The one that attacked us was the one that tracked Ailie and me north on our journey to find you. The other, the one that stayed hidden, must have been the demon Ailie sensed in the chambers of the High Council. Somehow, they found each other and learned what we were doing.”

Kirisin tried to interrupt, but Angel squeezed his wrists anew, harder this time. “Wait. Let me finish. Just listen.” She relaxed her grip but did not release it. “Those demons were waiting for us. They knew how to find us and they were waiting. That was a carefully planned attack, Kirisin.

They knew exactly what they were doing. They were on top of us the minute we emerged from underground. Killing Erisha wasn’t an accident. She was their victim all along. She was the one who was meant to die.”

Their eyes locked. “I know this,” she said, “because of how quickly her killer got to her and away again, even with your sister’s dagger in its eye. No hesitation in its choice of victims. No interest in anyone else, not until it had made certain of Erisha. That demon has tracked me a thousand miles. It has tried twice to kill me. It was that determination that brought it all the way into the Cintra. But something happened to change its focus. That other demon, the one disguised as an Elf, somehow managed to influence the one tracking me. It has a different plan, a more complicated one, one that doesn’t appear to be focused on killing me. What do you think that plan might be?”

She nodded at him, telling him it was all right to speak now. Kirisin hesitated, then said, “To stop us from finding the Loden?”

“Then why not kill you both? Why kill only Erisha? You were the one who stirred things up before Ailie and I got here. You seem the more determined. Why was the attack made on Erisha rather than on you?”

Kirisin stared at her. “I don’t know.”

“I don’t know, either, but I don’t like it. Erisha is dead, and you still have the Elfstones. You can still use them to try to find the Loden and do what you set out to do. Attacking us in the graveyard seems almost pointless.”

She saw the look reflected in his eyes and grabbed his wrist once more. “But it wasn’t. It wasn’t pointless. There was a reason for it. We just have to figure out what it was.”

Kirisin shook his head in disbelief. “I don’t understand any of this. Why kill anyone? Why not just steal the Elfstones so that none of us could use them?”

There was movement in the shadows at the edge of the trees near the front of the house, and Angel held up her hand in warning. Seconds later, Simralin slipped from the darkness and trotted across the lawn, then onto the porch, crouching low in the gloom of the overhang.