make his thugs didn't bring any weapons onboard!'
'If Natrac was as eager to get Ashi onboard as he says, I don't imagine she had any trouble slipping it past him.'
Singe stood up to examine the sword in lantern light. The scabbard that it rested in was crude, but the sword was much more sophisticated work, fifty years old or more to judge by its shape and the design of its hilt. The pommel had been worn almost smooth, but hints of gilt clung to the metal and there was still a trace of some kind of symbol on it. He turned it to the light.
The faded remains of a lion, a ram, and a dragon stared back at him-the heads of a chimera. Singe gasped in surprise and whipped the sword free of the scabbard. Light flashed on a fine magewrought blade, patiently honed to razor sharpness. The years had not, however, obscured the inscription on the bright metal: Words teach and spirit guides.
'Grandmother Wolf!' said Geth. 'That's the sword Ner used when I fought him.'
'It's the sword of the huntmaster of the Bonetree!' Ashi raged. 'Sheathe it, outclanner, or I'll tear out your innards with my bare hands!'
'What it is,' said Singe, 'is an honor blade of the Sentinel Marshals of House Deneith. These aren't given out to just anyone.' He looked at Ashi. 'Where did a Marcher clan get this?'
The hunter closed her mouth and snarled at him.
Singe shrugged. 'It should be returned to House Deneith. They'll know who it was presented to.' He slid the sword back into its scabbard and looked at Ashi again. 'If it was Ner's weapon, why isn't he carrying it now?'
'Ner is dead,' Ashi said. She glared at Dandra. 'Medala killed him when we failed to capture you.'
Dandra's hands tightened on the pouch containing the crystal band. Vennet glanced at Ashi, then leaned in close to Singe and the kalashtar. 'I'd keep those safe if I were you,' he murmured. 'I have a strongbox in my cabin…'
Singe glanced at Dandra, then shook his head as he sheathed the honor blade. 'I think we'll keep both of these close.'
'What about her?' asked Geth, jerking his head toward Ashi. The hunter glared back at them, hunched over in her bonds.
'Two days to Zarash'ak,' Vennet promised. 'I'll put a watch on her and check in myself. You don't have to worry about her anymore.'
The next two days passed with a strange tension onboard the ship. Vennet's crew trod warily around Natrac's clients, who themselves seemed intimidated by the powers and strength that Geth, Dandra, and Vennet had displayed in taking down Ashi. Natrac remained locked away in his cabin, his absence causing great confusion among the other passengers. All of them knew about the brawl and somehow word got around that Vennet had confined Natrac to his cabin as punishment for bringing Ashi onboard. There were no more meals at the captain's table-the passengers took their meals with the crew or in their own cabins. Singe didn't see Natrac emerge from his frightened seclusion even for food.
True to his word, Vennet made sure two big sailors kept watch on the aft hold at all times. Ashi herself remained disturbingly silent. For his own part, Singe spent time with his spellshard, studying magic that he could use against the hunter-should she escape-without risk of setting Lightning on Water on fire. As she had on previous occasions when he had studied the arcane text captured in the fist-sized dragonshard, Dandra watched him with quiet fascination.
'Why fire?' she asked as he finished his studies in the ship's bow late in the morning of the second day.
Singe smiled at her, then looked out beyond the rail. Some time during the night they had entered Zarash Bay, the gateway to the Shadow Marches. The low marshy southern coast of the Marches lay across the horizon like a haze, drawing closer as the day passed. 'Fire challenges me,' he said. 'You have to be careful with it. Spells of fire only have one purpose: to destroy. And if you're not careful, you can destroy a lot more than you intend to.' His grin twitched to one side as he looked back to her. 'Most people, even a lot of other wizards, are afraid of fire for that reason.'
'But you're not?'
'Probably less than I should be.' He tucked his spellshard away in the belt pouch that kept it close to him at all times-the only reason it had stayed with him at Bull Hollow and through all kinds of battles over the years-and held out his left hand to show Dandra the ring he wore. 'This was an inheritance from my great-grandfather. I was given it on my sixteenth birthday. It protects me from fire. Probably not the best gift to give a rebellious adolescent, but I don't think my parents knew what it really was.'
Dandra examined the ring. 'I know a power that does the same thing,' she said. She reached out and took his hand, her fingers parting his to look at the ring from all sides. Her touch tickled.
'What about your powers?' he asked and immediately regretted it as Dandra stiffened. He felt blood rush to his face. 'I mean, what about Tetkashtai's…' he began again awkwardly but Dandra shook her head.
'It's all right,' she said. 'I know what you mean.' She released his hand and sat back. 'A psion's powers are a reflection of her psyche. Tetkashtai is… forceful. She's a fighter and she chose to follow a path suited to swift victory: the powers that she honed, her combat skills-' Dandra pressed fingers to her chest '-even her creation of me to augment her own resolve. Fire suits Tetkashtai.'
Singe hesitated for a moment, then asked a question that had lingered in his mind since Dandra had opened her memories to him and Geth. 'Is that why Virikhad loved her?'
'Loved? I-' Dandra winced, then shook her head. 'Tetkashtai would prefer we didn't talk about that.'
'Oh.' Singe glanced at the yellow-green crystal around Dandra's neck and shifted uncomfortably. 'Sorry, Tetkashtai.' He looked back at Dandra. 'She can hear me, right?'
'In a way, yes.'
'Is it very different being…' He gestured to the crystal.
Dandra nodded. 'To Tetkashtai, it's torture, able to see and hear but unable to do anything more,' she said. 'The only influence she has on the world is through me and even that's limited. We share our powers-we both have the knowledge, but I have most of the raw energy and she has most of the skill. Do you remember after the Bull Hole, when I was so drained? It was because Tetkashtai was trying to punish me by drawing away. Without her, I exhausted myself moving the stone that capped the Hole. But without me to work through, Tetkashtai can't use her powers at all.'
Singe cocked his head. 'How is Medalashana able to use her powers to communicate through the crystal band?'
Dandra's lips pressed together and she hesitated before answering. 'Singe, when I told you that Medalashana could only be alive if she yielded to Dah'mir, there was… something else. I couldn't say it because Vennet was with us and later, I wasn't sure how to tell you.' She looked him in the eyes. 'If Medalashana has her powers back, it's because she has been returned to her body, either by Dah'mir or by her own twisted will. Either way, it means it's possible to reverse what Dah'mir did.'
'That's good!' Singe said-then the underlying meaning of what Dandra was saying hit him. He struggled to keep a smile on his face. 'So you and Tetkashtai would switch back if you could?'
'It's her body.'
'I guess it is.' He stood up. 'What about Virikhad?'
'What about him?' Dandra asked, rising as well. Singe felt blood rush to his face again.
'I mean, do you think he's alive?' he said quickly. 'Like Medalashana?'
Dandra paused, then said. 'Tetkashtai hopes he is.'
'And you?'
She shook her head.
A shout interrupted them. 'Shallows ahead!' called a lookout. 'Approaching land.'
Up ahead, the long bay narrowed to the mouth of a meandering river, by no means large enough to allow Lightning on Water to progress at her full speed. As they came up on the river, the elemental gale that had howled in Singe's ears for five days faded away. The misty ring that bound the elemental to the ship shimmered and solidified once more and their speed dropped. Without the elemental's speed, the hull of the ship slid back down into the water, hiding the great running-fins once more. It seemed like they were crawling through the water, though Singe knew they were still making as good time as any conventional ship could hope for.
