38
Toby’s chest heaved as he descended the White Tower’s staircase. The last half hour had passed in a blur. Having seen that Oberon was about to win, Stella had tackled him. That part was real. It actually hurt too and, at that point, he’d really believed he had been betrayed.
Then Stella stopped fighting. Hidden by the Trinity’s dust cloud, she had revealed her plan. She would use changeling magic to take Toby’s place and give the other elves a chance to escort him unseen through the chaos. It was a gamble but he chose to trust her.
Smuggled into the White Tower, he had led a crack team of elves to the warlocks’ impromptu workshop where they were repairing Oberon’s Immortapiece. Thankfully, the technicians were more scholarly than the warriors he had met on the battlefield. Thinkers,
