Elvenborn

mizzle in the face, and it seemed as if there were entire trees just waiting until they passed beneath to drop a load of water on their heads. They didn't have to worry about moving quietly, though—there were so many frogs calling in a dozen different tones through­out the woods that they could have blundered about thrashing through the bushes and never been heard.

Presumably Aelmarkin came up with something that worked equally well, since they didn't run right into the back of his group. Triana was dreadfully afraid for some time that Kyrtian was going to ride all night, for he showed no signs of wanting

to halt. The rain poured on past dusk, and only slackened to the usual mist long after dark, but still Kyrtian road on.

By this time she was convinced that Kyrtian had gone quite mad, but her best forester assured her that no, not even some­one as driven as Kyrtian was going to be foolish enough to press himself and his men that hard. And the slave was proved right; after what seemed like half the night, her foremost scout came back with the intelligence that both Kyrtian and Ael-markin were settling in for the night, and with the profoundest relief, Triana directed her own men to do the same.

But the moment that the first thin light showed among the trees, the scouts who watched the camps came back and roused them, and they were out of bedrolls that had just gotten com­fortable and off again into the fog of pre-dawn. Kyrtian was pushing hard, and Triana needed to make a decision. She called her best man to ride alongside her.

'Can we outflank my cousin—get ahead of him without him realizing that we're out here?' she asked. Not for the first time, she was glad she had bought these men from Lord Kyndreth. Whoever had trained them had done such a good job that she didn't have to give them exact instructions—she had only to ask for what she wanted done, and they worked out a way to accomplish it if they had the skills. Unfortunately there was one thing that they did not have the skills for. They weren't very good cooks. They didn't seem to mind eating squirrel and hare that was half raw and half burned, but she had begun eat­ing the leathery journey-bread in preference to the game they provided.

The slave pondered her question, then nodded. 'I believe so, my lady, but—' he looked uneasy, and wiped a film of moisture from his forehead that wasn't from the mist. '—it isn't the for­est that's the problem. It's what's in the forest. We know of al-icorn herds at the very least, and the outriders have seen signs of other things. Worse things, my Lady, than alicorn stallions.'

'Worse things?' She wrinkled her brow. 'What sorts of signs?'

'One of them came across signs that something had killed

and eaten several alicorns in the past week or so.' He grimaced. 'I would not care to encounter anything that could do that.'

'And I suppose he didn't see it? Had no clue as to what it was?' If she knew what they needed to guard against, she could perform some specific magics—magic that would either re­pulse the creatures or at least give warning of their presence. But without knowing what it was she was trying to ward off— she could waste her energy and skill shooing away spiders, only to have a giant slug descend on them.

'Nothing we've ever seen or heard of, my lady—the scout didn't get near; he said the place looked like an ambush in the making. From what he told me, the alicorns were torn in pieces, and I wouldn't even expect one of those dragons we've heard about to do that.' She gave him a suspicious glance, but he didn't look as if he was exaggerating.

Well, that did fit in with what she'd been warned about this place. Kyndreth himself had been none-too-eager to go looking for purported Wizards in these hills, and had jumped to accept Kyrtian's offer to track them down. She'd probably lose some men in this. Now she was glad she'd bought them outright from Kyndreth instead of borrowing them. When an accident hap­pened to a borrowed slave, it was amazing how the value of that slave suddenly increased....

'Do it,' she ordered him. 'Send the outriders ahead, find us a clear path so we can get around Aelmarkin and run along­side Kyrtian. You're supposed to be Lord Kyndreth's best, aren't you?'

He bowed. 'Yes, my lady,' he said. No hesitation, no ex­cuses, no objections. Just obedience. Exactly what she had paid for.

Well, not all that she had paid for. She'd also invested in ex­cellence; so far, these slaves had been most satisfactory, but now they had better well prove that they could go beyond 'satisfactory.'

Or when she got back, she'd be having some words with Lord Kyndreth.

But right now, she had better keep her own mind on the job at hand. If these slaves couldn't rise to the challenge, she might

have to abandon them to their fate and narrow her goal to get­ting her own self out intact.

They'd just paused long enough to pass around rations for lunch, eating in the saddle, before the afternoon downpour ar­rived on schedule. By nightfall, they should be at Keman's cave-complex. As rain drummed on the hood of her cape and a few cold drops slipped around the collar and got down her neck, Shana was grateful that her 'mount' was Keman, and not a real horse. She couldn't have fallen off if she'd wanted to, not even on the steep trails he was taking, and at the moment, she needed to be able to concentrate on holding the mental line of communication with Lorryn as tightly as possible. There was a lot of distance between them—and something unexpected had happened, something that made all the discomfort she felt com­pletely irrelevant.

Caellach Gwain had vanished from the Citadel.

:... so when he didn 't turn up for breakfast, either, Hala thought it was more than odd,: Lorryn told her. :He's pulled sulks before, usually when he's managed to squirrel away food in his room, but missing three meals in a row was exceptional. The door was bolted from the inside; it wasn't hard to get it open, not with a half dozen Wizards working on it— but he wasn 't there when we opened it.:

Caellach Gwain gone! It was so tempting to allow herself to wallow in sheer relief, but—Caellach Gwain vanished out of his own room was a puzzle that only promised more trou­ble.

She wiped rain from her face and closed her eyes, concen­trating. :You don't suppose he's learned the transportation magic, do you?: she asked, apprehensively.

-.That's exactly what I'm afraid has happened,: was the grim reply.

Well, that made perfect sense. You didn't have to attend les­sons to get the advantage of them. The miserable old toad could simply have sat in his room with a scrying glass and learned everything any of the other Old Whiners was learning.

:You've got a good reason, I'll bet.:

She felt Lorryn's nod. :His room was full of things from the old Citadel— a good many of them not his property, so many of the Old Ones tell me. By the way, that's put him beyond the pale, if that's any comfort to you. Even the Old Whiners who were his most vocal supporters were wild with rage when they found their property in his room. There's no way he could have known where some of those things were without going back in person, because there were a lot of small, valuable trinkets that were hidden away in drawers and chests he 'd never seen the in­side of:

Her heart sank. :So he could be anywhere.: If he knew the transportation spell, all he had to do was be familiar with a place to go there. She supposed it was even possible to become that familiar using simple scrying.

:The old Citadel, some new hideaway of his own, even out spying on you,: Lorryn