between him and Singe and hurling himself toward the woods once more.
'No!' howled Singe. There was another gasp from the folk of Bull Hollow. Geth glanced back over his shoulder in time to see the wizard charging after him, not around the fiery sphere, but through it.
He emerged from the flame without even a scorch mark on him. A ring on his finger shone with a sudden, hungry light.
But the trees of the forest were ahead. Geth flung himself into them as a second bellow rolled through the night.
'Adolan,' asked Dandra, 'where is Bull Hollow?'
We don't have time for this, Tetkashtai hissed.
We need directions, Dandra replied.
Once again, a frown flickered across Adolan's face, as if he was somehow aware of the silent communication. The druid crossed the cabin from the door to the open cupboard, reached in and took out the bread and cheese Dandra had glimpsed. 'Just down the path,' he answered. 'It's very close.'
'No, I mean where is it in relation to other places. Like Yrlag in the Shadow Marches, for instance.'
'Yrlag?' Adolan turned and looked at her. His eyes narrowed. 'Yrlag is a week and half's travel to the southwest. We're in the west of the Eldeen Reaches.'
You came too far! I told you we had missed Yrlag!
Shut up, Tetkashtai! Dandra gave Adolan an embarrassed smile. 'I'm lost,' she said. 'I was traveling from Yrlag to-' she searched her memory hastily for the name of a town or city in the Eldeen Reaches. '-Erlaskar.'
Adolan's eyes didn't shift. 'Through the Twilight Domain and the Gloaming?'
'Well, not through them, obviously,' Dandra lied.
She had no idea what either place was, but the man's voice made them sound dangerous. Inside her mind Tetkashtai was tensed like over-wound clockwork, but she forced herself to remain calm as Adolan took a knife from the cupboard as well. He cut big pieces of bread and cheese, setting them on a grill by the fire to toast, then turned back to put plates out on a rough table. He worked without saying anything, though Dandra had the sense that he was only looking for the right moment.
Finally she broke the silence before he could. 'Do you have a map of the Eldeen Reaches, Adolan?'
'A map?' He turned and looked at her.
Dandra swallowed hard. His eyes were sharp, but also compassionate.
When the druid spoke again, his voice was soft and cautious. 'You're not going to Erlaskar, are you, Dandra?'
Tetkashtai gave another silent hiss, but to her own surprise, Dandra shook her head. 'No,' she murmured.
'I didn't think so.' Adolan gestured to the table and said, 'Sit down. Eat something.'
'I can't,' she told him. 'I have to go.'
Adolan's eyebrows rose. 'Go? Go where? Dandra, it's dark.'
'I know. I slept too long.' She pushed herself up off the bed. 'Show me the map,' she said. 'Please.'
He nodded slowly. 'All right,' he said, crossing back to the cupboard. 'Dandra, if you need help, all you have to do-'
Before he could say anything more, the air shivered under a deep bellow. It came from outside the cabin but not, Dandra thought, from somewhere close by. Adolan spun at the sound, his feet striking the grill and sending the bread and cheese sliding into the fire. He barely seemed to notice, instead leaping across the cabin and wrenching open the door. Dandra, eyes wide, turned to follow him as he leaned out into the darkness, twisted around to look up, and whistled through his clenched teeth. 'Breek!' he called. 'Breek! Find Geth!'
There was a squawk from up on the cabin's roof and the sound of a bird launching itself into the night. Adolan pulled himself back inside and turned back to her. Any compassion in his eyes was gone, replaced by a harsh urgency. 'There's trouble,' he said, reaching for a spear, longer and heavier than her own, that stood by the door. 'Something unnatural has entered the valley. You'll have to stay-'
They're here. Tetkashtai's voice was sharp-and frantic. Dandra, they're here! We need to run!
I know. Dandra looked at Adolan as another bellow rumbled in the darkness. 'I'm sorry,' she said.
She reached out to Tetkashtai through the connection that bound them together, drawing the presence close. As if she had turned a key in a lock, she felt power stir within her. With Tetkashtai's yellow-green light surrounding her, she drew on that power, shaping it with a disciplined will. The droning, disembodied chorus of whitefire swelled in her ears. Adolan's eyes went wide as the sound throbbed against his ears as well. With a flick of thought, Dandra gave the whitefire form.
Pale flames flared around Adolan. They lasted only an instant, but in that instant his mouth opened in a scream that never came out. He slumped to the cabin floor, stunned by the sudden, shocking heat, little flames licking at his clothes. Dandra focused her will and the whitefire chorus changed in pitch as another whisper of power snuffed the flickering flames.
Snatching up her spear, she fled into the night, running once again.
CHAPTER 3
'No! Singe howled. He shoved off from the ground and lunged back to his feet, sprinting after the fleeing shifter. The fiery sphere of his spell was in the way. Ignoring the startled cries of Toller and the folk of Bull Hollow alike, he dove through it without hesitation. The fire tickled his skin, but no more-the ring on his left hand shielded him, devouring any flame that touched his body. Momentarily light blind, he peered into the darkness ahead. Geth was a shadowy figure disappearing into a wall of trees.
The strange bellow sounded again, but Singe barely registered it, just as he barely registered the calls from the people left behind on the common. 'You're not getting away again, Geth!' he hissed-and plunged into the trees.
The bare earth of a path glimmered briefly in the moonlight, then the silver illumination was cut off by the thick branches overhead. For long moments, Singe's only guide was the thrashing of Geth's progress through the bush. Jaw clenched, Singe followed as best as he could, rapier held low and one arm up in front of his face to ward off lashing branches.
Then he realized that the only thrashing in the woods was coming from him. He froze instantly, breath catching in his throat, as a thin silence spread out among the dark trees. He held up his rapier and murmured a cantrip over it. Clear, steady light spread out from the blade-but penetrated less than half a dozen paces in any direction around him. Leaves and trunks, branches and bushes, all cast shadows that made seeing any further impossible. Singe turned slowly, trying to spot the trail that he had made as he crashed through the undergrowth.
The shifting shadows made that impossible, too.
'Twelve bloody moons!' he breathed. He was alone and lost in a dark forest-with an angry shifter somewhere close by. Glowing rapier held high, he moved slowly forward.
With every few paces, the deep, mysterious bellow rolled through the night again and again. Singe gritted his teeth against it, then hesitated for a moment. Without a point of reference, he could end up walking in circles.
'Twelve bloody moons!' he cursed again. He turned and began moving in the direction of the bellow's source.
Geth emerged onto a trail while Singe was still crashing around among the trees. With any luck, the Aundairian would take precious moments-or even longer-to find his way clear. Nine years ago, Singe had been a skilled swordsman and he was still clearly every bit the wizard Geth remembered him to be, but unless a great deal had changed in nine years, he was no woodsman.
The shifter looked down at his thick, hairy hands. They were shaking. Geth clenched them into fists and darted along the trail. The roaring bellow continued to echo as he ran. He tried to put it out of his mind. He was lucky that it had distracted Singe and given him the chance he needed to break away, but of all the times…
