The High Druid of Shannara Trilogy

Iridia was still standing by the door, listening. Everyone was waiting on her now, watching silently. “What is it?” Shadea asked finally, irritated and impatient.

The sorceress stepped back and stared at the portal as if it were an enemy that needed dispatching. Her distrust of everyone and everything ran deep and unchecked. Even Shadea herself merited Iridia’s suspicion. She was beautiful and talented, but deeply flawed. Her personal demons ran loose through her predatory mind, and someday they were going to turn on her.

“I heard something moving,” she said, turning away, dismissing the matter. “I just wanted to be certain the warding was still in place.”

“You set it yourself,” Shadea pointed out.

Iridia did not look at her. “It could have been tampered with. Better to be sure.” She returned to the bench and sat down. For a moment, she said nothing more. Then she glanced up at Shadea, as if remembering her. “What were you saying?”

“She was saying she has found a way to solve our problem with the Ard Rhys.” Traunt Rowan picked up the loose thread of the conversation with his calming voice. “Without posing any danger to us.”

“There is a potion I have a chance to obtain,” Shadea told them. “Mixed with a spell, it produces a magic strong enough to work against anyone, no matter how well prepared they are. The potion is called liquid night. Together with the spell, it will dispatch the intended victim to another place. It doesn’t kill them; they simply disappear. No blame attaches because there is no body. There isn’t even a residue to tell any searchers what happened. Everything disappears in a few hours, victim and magic alike.”

Pyson shook his head. “There is no such magic. I know most, have read about the ones I do not know, and I have never heard of liquid night.”

“That is because it isn’t from this world,” Shadea said. “It is from the world into which I am sending the Ard Rhys.”

They stared at her with a mix of expressions. “What world would that be?” Traunt Rowan asked finally.

She shook her head. “Oh, no, Traunt. I don’t give you anything more until after I have your word that you are committed to me and to what I am proposing. I am the one who sought the potion out, and I intend to keep the particulars my own. All you need to know is that once I have implemented it, you will never see the Ard Rhys again.”

“But she will not be dead,” Pyson Wence persisted doubtfully. “If she is not dead, there is always a chance she can find her way back. She has more lives than a cat. You know her history, Shadea. She is not like anyone else. I like her no better than you, but I respect her ability to stay alive.”

Shadea nodded in agreement. Idiot. “She won’t be coming back from where I intend to send her, Pyson. No one comes back from where she will be going. Besides, she won’t stay alive long enough to do much about her situation in any case. There are things there far more dangerous than the Ilse Witch. Once gone, she will never come back.”

They were intrigued, interested, but still hesitant. Except for Terek Molt, who was nodding vigorously. “Do it, I say. If you have a way to eliminate her, woman, do it!”

“When will this happen?” Iridia asked.

“When she returns, two or three nights from now. I can have everything in place before then. It will happen while she sleeps, so smoothly and silently that she will not wake again in this world.”

“If you have this all ready, or can make it ready, why do you have need of us?” Traunt Rowan asked. “This was begun as a joint endeavor, but it seems to me that you have taken over the effort yourself. We no longer have anything you need.”

She had been anticipating the question and was pleased to know that she was still able to keep one step ahead of them. “It might seem that way if you didn’t think it through carefully,” she said. “This effort will not succeed if we don’t look beyond eliminating Grianne Ohmsford.”

“You would have us make you Ard Rhys in her place,” Traunt Rowan declared softly. “Wouldn’t you?”

She nodded. “I am best suited for it. I command the most respect among those who must be convinced of the necessity of choosing a new Ard Rhys quickly. But do not be fooled, Traunt. I do not see myself as another Grianne Ohmsford, a leader standing alone and apart, needing no one. This is exactly what set us against her in the first place. She isolates herself. She sees herself as wiser and more capable, better able to determine what is best for everyone. If I were to take that route, how would I be any different?”