The High Druid of Shannara Trilogy

“This isn’t open to debate.”


“I won’t put that monster on any ship I command. Get someone else, if you think you can.”

“I don’t want anyone else. If I wanted someone else, I wouldn’t be talking with you! Where is your backbone? Are you afraid? Think how it will it look if you stay behind after failing so badly the first time. Some will see it as a weakness, and you can’t afford that.” She drew her robes about her in a dismissive fashion. “Be smart about this, Druid. You are the best of the lot and you know it. I depend on you. Don’t make me question my faith in you.”

“You’ve never had faith in anyone but yourself, Shadea.”

“Think what you want. What matters is that you understand that Aphasia Wye is coming with you. Stop worrying. He won’t dare to cross you.”

The Dwarf snorted derisively. “Aphasia Wye will cross anyone if opportunity allows for it. He’s a monster, Shadea. There isn’t anything that creature won’t do—or anyone he won’t do it to. Shades, we don’t even know what he really is!”

She laughed. “He’s the most efficient assassin I have ever seen! What more do you want him to be? I don’t care what sex or race or breed he is! I don’t care how loathsome you find him! You’re not partnering with him! You’re putting him to work! Stop whining!”

Terek Molt was seething, his chiseled face turned red, the muscles of his forearms knotted. He was as dangerous at that moment as she had ever seen him, and if she was foolish enough to give him an opening, he would kill her before she could blink. But she faced him down, keeping his eyes locked on hers and making him see that no matter how dangerous he was, she was more dangerous still.

“Don’t even think it, Dwarf,” she hissed softly. “Remember who I am.”

He glared at her a moment longer, then looked away, furious still, but no longer threatening. “Someday you will go too far with me, Shadea.” His voice was eerily calm. “Be careful of that day.”

“Perhaps,” she replied, reaching past him to open the door. “But until then, you will listen to me when I tell you what to do. Go ready the airship. When the storm passes, you will sail at once.”

His big hands tightened into fists as he considered saying something more. Then, without doing so, he turned his back on her and walked away.


She waited until he was well away and her frustration with his recalcitrance had faded before she departed for the cold chamber to find Iridia Eleri. The sorceress would not be happy with what Shadea intended to tell her. Unfortunately, disappointing Iridia was unavoidable, because the sorceress was only as reliable as her control over her feelings about Ahren Elessedil, which meant she was not reliable at all. Iridia had set her mind on the matter long ago, and Shadea was not going to be able to change it, even if she tried.

Love was like that.

Denial only sharpened its edges.

Shadea entered the cold chamber and found Iridia standing at the broad stone basin set in its center, bending close as she read the movement of its contents. The scrye waters were shallow and deep green, shielded from the elements by the walls of the tower and the sides of the basin. Disturbances came solely from magic channeled through the earth’s lines of power. Just then they manifested themselves as concentric ripples fanning out from a point just west of center. Iridia’s slender hands moved in time to the ripples, as if to trace their liquid ridges back to her doomed love. Her perfect features radiated her intensity, a mix of light and dark, pale skin and black hair. Her Elven features were drawn taut by her concentration, emphasizing what could be both passionate and cruel about her. Shadea stood in the doorway and watched her for a long time, observing. Iridia, captive to her memories and her dreams, didn’t even know Shadea was there. It was possible that the madness Iridia had always seemed so close to embracing was finally coming to her.

“Iridia!” she called sharply.

The sorceress turned at once. “Have you heard?”

Shadea walked over to her. “Terek told me of it. Is there no chance that you are mistaken?”

The delicate features hardened. “What do you take me for? I don’t make mistakes of that sort. It was Elfstone magic, which means it could be him. I want to make certain of it, Shadea. You will have to send someone in any case. It should be me.”