She found a tent right at the edge of the camp and slipped inside. The tent was empty, and she quickly untied the ends of the blanket and rolled the boy out.
She noticed for the first time the strange metal band that was fastened around his neck. The conjure collar—Tesla had mentioned that he would be fitted with one. She reached into her tunic pocket, took out the key the Ulk Bog had given her on her first rescue attempt, slipped it into the lock, and twisted. The collar fell away.
“Redden!” she hissed, shaking him.
His eyes snapped open, widening as they saw the Goblin bending over him. He cringed, and squeezed his eyes closed again.
“It’s me!” she hissed, realizing she was still in her Goblin disguise. “Open your eyes. Look at me!”
She shed her disguise, returning to her true form, her young face peering down at him, silver hair spilling over her forehead. His eyes opened slowly, and he blinked rapidly. “Oriantha?”
His fingers went automatically to his neck, searching for the conjure collar. Oriantha reached down to retrieve it and held it up for him to see. “You’re free, Redden. But we’re still in the demon camp and we have to get clear. Can you walk?”
He didn’t seem to hear her. Tears filled his eyes and he began to cry. He broke down completely, and she reached out awkwardly and pulled him to her, cradling him as she would a small child. “It’s all right,” she said. “This is over now. You’re free, and you’re not going back. Hush, now.”
It took precious minutes for him to compose himself, and while he did she was envisioning hordes of creatures scouring the camp for them. But she needed him to be mobile and composed if they were to make it back to Tesla Dart in one piece.
Without further discussion or delay, she pulled him to his feet and braced him by his shoulders so he was facing her. “Can you use your magic? Are you strong enough?”
He shook his head hesitantly. “I don’t know. I don’t know what I can do at this point.” He looked down at himself. “I don’t even know if I can move. Everything feels numb.”
She sat him down again, took his hands and rubbed them between her own, first one and then the other, then spent several more precious minutes working on his feet and legs. “We’re being hunted. They’re out there looking for us right now. I don’t know if I can defend us both. I need you to help me. Can you do that? I’m sorry I have to ask this, but I don’t have any choice. I need you to be able to defend yourself.”
He stared at her as if she were speaking another language, and she slapped him hard across the face. “Can you do that?” she snapped angrily.
His hand went to his face, and he nodded slowly, the light coming back into his eyes. “I can do whatever I have to if it means getting out of here.”
She took his hands in her own and squeezed them. “Stay close to me. Follow my lead. I won’t leave you, I promise.”
He nodded. “I’m not going back, no matter what.”
“Then be strong, and you won’t have to.”
Still watching him, she shape-shifted back into her animal form, all muscle and sinew and rippling power. Drawing him after her, she moved to the tent opening, hesitated for a moment to peer through the flaps and make certain no one was lying in wait, then together they burst back outside.
Nineteen
Redden Ohmsford was still struggling with the idea that he was free. One minute he was locked inside that cage surrounded by thousands of creatures out of the Forbidding, dragged along on an endless slog by a merciless demon intent on accomplishing something that defied explanation, and the next he was rescued. He had lost all perspective. He was starved and dehydrated and his body was aching and raw from being poked and prodded by the creatures that kept him prisoner. He had heard Oriantha’s whispered words, saying that help was close, but he had half believed he must have dreamed them.
Now he was struggling with loss of physical strength and a psyche that was fragile and not altogether reliable. He kept drifting in and out of memories of the cage, of Tael Riverine’s madness and cruelty, of the death of Khyber Elessedil, and of his time imprisoned at Kraal Reach. A pervading sense of hopelessness kept whispering over and over that this was only temporary, that it couldn’t last, that his hopes were destined to turn to ashes faster than the setting of the day’s sun.