anew, rising and falling, filling the air with sound.
Then the light burst forth within the valley, spears of it
breaking through the earth’s crust, rising up through the terri-
fied men. Wren gasped at its brightness and felt the Elfstones
digging into the flesh of her palm as she gripped them tightly
in response.
The light sped this way and that, yet not at random as she
The Talismans of Shannara 429
had first believed but with deadly intent. It caught the Creepers
first, tore them asunder, and left them smoking and ruined and
lifeless. It caught the Seekers next, enfolding them in shrouds
of death, draining them of life, and leaving them in piles of
smoking ash. It raced through the Federation army, weeding its
ranks of Shadowen-kind, and in doing so stole away its pur-
pose and courage, and the soldiers who remained turned and
fled for their lives, throwing down their weapons, abandoning
their fortifications and assault machines, giving up any hope
but that of staying alive. Within seconds it was finished, the
Creepers and the Shadowen destroyed, the soldiers of the Fed-
eration army in flight, the grasslands littered with the discards
and leavings of battle. It happened so fast that the Elves, free-
born, and Rock Trolls did not even have time to respond, too
stunned to do anything but stare after and then to glance hur-
riedly through their own ranks to make certain that the light
had not touched them.
On the bluff at the head of the valley where she had
watched it all happen. Wren Elessedil exhaled slowly into the
following hush. Triss stood next to her openmouthed. Stresa’s
breathing was a rasp at her boot. She swallowed against the
dryness in her throat and then looked out across the Valley of
Rhenn in astonishment as one final miracle came to pass.
All across the parched and barren plains, for as far as the
eye could see, wildflowers were blooming in the sunlight.
XXXVI
What was inside the light. Walker? ” Coil asked.
It was midmoming, and they were gathered in the
shade of the trees on the slopes leading down from
the Runne north of the ruins of Southwatch. Below, the
Shadowen keep continued to steam and smoke and bum, its
walls collapsed into rubble, the once-smooth black stone
turned brittle and dull. Walker sat alone to one side, wrapped
in the torn remnants of his dark robes. Par and Coil sat acrosh
from him. Morgan was leaning against the broad trunk of a red
maple, chewing on a bit of grass and looking at his boots.
Matty Roh was propped up next to him, her shoulder touching
his. Damson lay sleeping a few yards off. They were battered
and worn and covered with blood and dust, and Coil had bro-
ken an arm and ribs. But the tension had left their bodies and
the wariness had faded from their eyes. They weren’t running
anymore, and they weren’t afraid.
“It was magic,” Par said with quiet conviction.
They had fled the cellars of the Shadowen keep through the
tunnel Walker had chosen, stone crumbling and falling in
chunks all about them as they raced through the underground
gloom with only the Druid fire to guide them. The tunnel
twisted and wound, and it seemed that they would never get
clear in time. They could hear me sounds of the keep’s de-
struction behind them, feel the thrust of stale air and dust
against their backs as the walls collapsed inward. They feared
they would be trapped, but Walker seemed certain of the way,
so they followed without question. At last the tunnel opened
out through a cluster of brush onto a low hillside above the
430
The Talismans of Shannara 431
keep, and from there they scrambled upward into the shelter of
the trees to watch the conflagration of fire and smoke that
marked the keep’s demise. Damson was unconscious again,
and Walker labored over her intently, using the Druid magic,
healing her as he had healed Par weeks earlier when the
Valeman had been poisoned by the Werebeasts. Her injuries
made her feverish, but Walker brought the fever down, cooling