that murk down into himself; with every breath, the gray light grows a little dimmer to his eyes. If he stays too long in the shadows, the darkness will fill him completely; he will lose himself to his blindness as surely as Jayk has – or as I might have, had I not seen the treachery of Poseidon's gift.
Before Silverwind has finished swaddling Tessali's stumps, the black bandages are soaked with blood. The weary bariaur can do nothing about it. He has already cast spells to ease the elf's pain and slow the bleeding, but he has no more healing magic until he has rested.
Tessali spreads his stumps, looks between them. 'I can't see my hands.' He frowns at the red drops falling from the ragged bandages; his eyes grow vacant, he looks back to Silverwind and asks, 'Why can't I see my hands?'
'The Lady took them.' Silverwind's reply is weary, impatient, even gruff. 'It'll do you no good to confuse the issue now; I saw what I saw, and you can't change it. They're gone.'
The elf shakes his head, frantic. 'I feel them!'
'You imagine you feel them. But I imagine they're gone, and since I am the One, they are gone.' Silverwind palms both stumps, rubs them hard enough to draw a gasp of pain. 'You see?'
Tessali squints, leans forward and stares at Silverwind's palms covering his wrists where still he feels his own hands. Slowly, the elf struggles up through the darkness, back to the gray light; the glassy sheen vanishes from his eyes. His mouth gapes open.
'The Lady took my hands!' He jerks the stumps from Silverwind's grasp, crosses them over his breast. 'What am I to do? Without hands, I cannot heal!'
Jayk kneels next to the elf, wraps a consolatory arm around his shoulder. Her head is pounding, but she knows when she has been called. 'Do not fear, my friend. I can help you, yes?'
'You can?' Tessali looks more hopeful – even relieved – than wary. 'How?'
Jayk smiles. Her pupils elongate into diamonds. She presses close to the elf. 'We make kiss, yes?'
Tessali leaps to his feet, tears free of her embrace. 'No!'
Jayk pouts, fangs dripping venom on her lower lip. 'There is no need to be afraid; you are already dead. If you admit this, nothing will trouble you.'
'I'm not ready to admit anything – especially that!'
Tessali eases from the tiefling, fixes his gaze on Silver-wind, who is looking down the thorn-walled corridor. The passage continues about thirty paces before rounding a sharp comer. Behind them, it joins a cross passage.
'Silverwind?'
The bariaur turns, but says nothing.
Tessali holds his stumps before Silverwind's face. 'You're the One Creator. You can make me a new pair of hands.'
Silverwind shakes his head. 'No, I cannot.'
'Of course you can.' Tessali's expression has grown sly. 'If you're truly the One Creator, you can make whatever you want'
The old bariaur gives him a reproachful sneer. 'By that logic, I would create only what I want – which, since I had never intended to create you or your friends, would hardly be good for you.' He pushes away Tessali's stumps. 'Count yourself lucky I have limitations. It is better to lack hands than not to exist at all.'
Again, the elf thrusts his stumps toward Silverwind. 'You don't understand. Without my hands, I can't cast spells. I can't restrain the bannies, or protect myself from the Menaces. I'm nothing!'
'Then you are nothing.' Silverwind shrugs. 'If I had something to work with, perhaps I could restore what you have lost-but even I cannot create something from nothing.'
Tessali's eyes 'grow wide. He glances up the hedge, sees the two divots where Silverwind's hooves scraped the top. 'Jayk,' he says, turning to the tiefling, 'if you go back and fetch my hands, no one will ever try to lock you in the Gatehouse again. I'll see to that.'
The tiefling narrows her eyes, suspicious. 'How?'
'It doesn't matter,' interrupts Silverwind. 'You can't go back – not by climbing. There's no telling where you'll end up, but it won't be in the ash maze.'
With that, the bariaur snorts and turns down the passage.
'Wait!' Tessali calls. 'Where are you going?'
'If you are so determined to have your hands back, we'll have to go and look for them, won't we?'
'You know the way?'
'I'm as lost as you are.' Silverwind continues toward the corner. 'But now that the Thrasson is gone, what else is there to do?'
'We must wait here!' Jayk stamps her foot, brings the bariaur to a stop. 'If we are gone when Zoombee jumps over the wall, what will he think? That we have left him, yes?'
'Jayk, come along.' Tessali arches his brow. 'The Amnesian Hero won't be jumping over the wall. He's dead.'
'So are you.' She glares at the elf's wrists. 'And did I leave you behind? No!'
'You know that's different' Tessali has assumed his patient mind-healer's voice. 'The Lady only maimed me. She kill – er, annihilated – the Amnesian Hero.'
'How do you know? Did you see this?'
'What else could have happened?' The elf stretches a stump toward her, as if he still had a hand to extend.
