'Keep trying,' Iceshadow urged, in a low, compelling voice. 'Keep trying, I'm tracking it down.' Iceshadow was seeking the root of the compulsion, and reversing it; since Falconsbane had changed his father's will rather than placing a simpler block, it was not a matter of removing a wall. Instead, Starblade's mind had to be altered, set back to normal bit by bit as each compulsion was found and changed, so he could regain the use of all of his mind.
The internal struggle, mirrored in Starblade's face, ceased as Iceshadow found the series of problems, and corrected them one by one.
Darkwind dropped to his knees beside his father, and took the poor, wounded hand in his own. Blood leaked through an improvised bandage. but Starblade managed a faint ghost of a smile, fleeting, and full of pain.
'I made you my enemy,' he whispered. 'I made you hate me, so that anything I told you to do, you would do the opposite. Then, when M-M-' his face twisted with effort.
'Mornelithe,' Darkwind supplied.
Starblade sighed. 'When he twisted my thoughts, so that they were no longer my own, I knew that he would want you to take up magic again. If you did, eventually he would find a way to take you, too. through me. And blood of my blood, you would have been vulnerable.'
'He almost had what he wanted,' Darkwind replied grimly, thinking of all Nyara had told him.
Starblade nodded. 'The only way I could think of to protect you was to drive you away from me. So that the more I tried, beneath his compulsion, to bring you back to magic, the more you would fight it. Then when my mind was not my own... you were safe.' He looked up tearfully, entreatingly, at his son. 'Can you... ever forgive me?' Darkwind blinked away tears. 'Of course I can forgive you,' he said quickly, and took a deep breath to calm himself He looked up at Iceshadow.' How clear is he?' he asked.
Iceshadow shook his head. 'I've only begun,' the Adept replied, exhaustion blurring his words a little. 'It's going to be a long process.
The bastard set the compulsions in a few days, but they've had all this time to work and develop. We'll have to keep him under shield the whole time.'
'Put him in the work area,' Darkwind suggested. 'It has strong shields, and there aren't any apprentices who need it right now. Those shields are the best we have.'
'which is why I was not-permitted-to go there,' Starblade whispered.' The bird would not let me.'
'Then that is a good indicator that the shields will hold, don't you think?' Darkwind responded. He started to let go of Starblade's hand, but his father clutched it despite the pain that must have caused.
'Wait,' he coughed. 'Dawnfire-' Darkwind froze. Iceshadow asked the question he could not manage to get out.
'What about Dawnfire?' the Adept asked. 'She's dead.'
'No,' Starblade said urgently. 'The bird was never found, but M-M-his sign was on her body. I think he has her-trapped in her bird. Still alive, but helpless. A-another toy.' Starblade's face was twisted, but this time with what he remembered. 'It would-please him-very much.'
*Chapter Twenty one ELSPETH
The sky burned blue, but eight hooves pounded their own frantic thunder on the earth of the Plains; grass stems lashed their legs and the barrels of the Companions as they fled. Elspeth risked a look back, her hair whipping into her face and making her eyes water. The pack of fluid brown shapes streaming through the grasses behind them seemed a little closer. It was hard to tell for certain; they were visible only as a flowing darkness in the grasses, and the movement of the vegetation as they disturbed it. Then the lead beast leapt up, showing its head, and she was sure of it.
'They're gaining on us!' she shouted at Skif. He looked back, then bent farther down over Cymry's neck like a jockey. She did the same, trying to cut her wind resistance.
The Companions were running as fast as they could-which was very fast, indeed. The ground flowed beneath their hooves at such a rate that after one look that made her dizzy, she kept her eyes fixed ahead. She could not imagine how any creature could be capable of keeping up with them. It seemed impossible that they could be moving this fast.
'What are these things?' she asked Gwena who flattened her ears a little more and rolled her eyes back at her rider.
'I don't know,' the Companion replied, bewildered. 'I've never heard of anything like them.' Sweat streamed down her outstretched neck, and the ends of her mane lashed Elspeth's face and got into her mouth.
