3 When Darkness Falls.8 Read Online Free PDF Page A

manage to find Them a way in. When Andoreniel had first realized that Shadow Mountain might be moving against the Elves, he had ordered all the Elven children of the Nine Cities moved to the fortress, purely as a precaution, there to be guarded by a coterie of hand-picked defenders, Elven Knights and unicorns both. Elven children were few, and when Kellen had visited there, most of the Crowned Horns still stood empty.
    But now Andoreniel was proposing to fill it.
    And that told Kellen that Andoreniel was certain the Allies were going to lose.
    Of course, if the Allies lost, nobody in the Fortress of the Crowned Horns was going to survive anyway.
    But that's not right! Kellen thought angrily. For the first time since this all began, we've finally got a chance of winning. We know what They want — what They have to have — and where it is. For the first time, we actually have a chance!
    "It won't work," Kellen said bluntly.
    Redhelwar gazed at him, his brows raised in mild reproof. Kellen knew he'd been rude — much more than rude, by Elven standards — but he couldn't help it.
    "Knight-Mage wisdom?" Redhelwar asked, dropping into War Manners.
    "Simple common sense," Kellen answered. "They won't all fit. The pregnant women and the children of the Herdsfolk, the Centaurkin, the Mountainfolk… humans and Centaurs live shorter lives than Elves. I don't know about Centaurs, but humans certainly breed faster. You're talking about not a few dozen children and women, or even a few hundred, but a couple of thousand at the very least, and probably more, scattered throughout the Wild Lands and the High Reaches. If you choose to do this, you can't leave anybody behind. And if you do choose to do this… Redhelwar, it is as good as saying we have already lost. There will be panic. And… how are they to get there? Ancaladar can bring the women of the Nine Cities, I guess, but the others? If they have to come overland, in winter… either the Army will have to protect them — and we can't split the Army — or they have to come unprotected. Either way, anyone on the ground is a feast for anything They want to throw at them."
    The longer he spoke, the more problems crowded into Kellen's mind. Getting word to everyone. Preventing panic. Gathering them for the journey. Protecting them at every stage — keeping them from freezing would be the least of everyone's problems; these were children they were talking about.
    Kellen shook his head wordlessly. It wouldn't work. It was well-intentioned, but it wouldn't work.
    "Surely Andoreniel has thought of this," Redhelwar said, sounding puzzled and weary.
    "The message came very fast," Kellen suggested tentatively.
    "I will send again," Redhelwar said after a long pause. "This time, the message will go by Unicorn Knight. Meanwhile, of your courtesy, perhaps you will oblige me by thinking of some way to protect the children of our Allies that does not involve feeding them to a pack of Coldwarg."

    * * * * *

    IF only I could think of one, Kellen reflected sourly, leaving Redhelwar's tent. The problem was the same one it had always been — the Demons wouldn't stand and fight. Although of course if they did, they'd probably slaughter the entire Allied Army…
    The trouble is, we need all our strength, and our Allies, to have any hope of winning. And why should they stay here in the Elvenlands if the Demons are attacking them at home?
    Kellen sighed. The weariness he'd held at bay in Redhelwar's tent had come sneaking back, making it hard to think clearly.

    * * * * *

    ISINWEN, Kellen's Second, was waiting for Kellen when he got back to his tent, and the look of disapproval on the Elven Knight's face made Kellen wish — just for an instant — that he'd stayed out in the wind.
    "I observe," Isinwen said quietly, "that many would lose heart should we lose you, Kellen."
    The oblique rebuke cut more sharply than any outright scold could have. Kellen shook his head, acknowledging the barb, and