at work throughout Faerie. Mab's Einswrath is only a symptom.'
He began breathing quickly. 'There are the religious fanatics: the Arcadians and the Chthonics. The rebels in the Western Valley. There are certain actions that must be taken that might seem shocking. Things that will cleanse.'
'What are you talking about?' said Silverdun.
'When you're ready, you'll understand,' said Jedron. 'But don't you dare question me in my home. Do we understand one another?'
He didn't wait for Silverdun to answer, but instead stormed upstairs to his office, and didn't emerge for the rest of the afternoon.
It was dark when Silverdun returned to the dungeon carrying the tray for Ilian's supper. Than stood against the wall of his cell, eyeing Silverdun with a curious expression that Silverdun couldn't fathom.
'That was a nice shot you took earlier,' he said, pulling back his hair to show off the crescent-shaped welt where the tankard had struck his forehead. 'I didn't see it coming.'
'Your master trained me well,' said Silverdun.
At this, Than smiled. 'You've been an apt pupil,' he said.
Silverdun reached through the bars and placed the fresh bread and water on the floor while Than stood against the far wall. 'Eat,' he said.
Ilian ate, looking at Silverdun all the while.
'Would you like the pisspot now?' Than asked politely.
'No. I want to show you something.' Silverdun took the bone from his pocket and held it up in the dim witchlight of the cellar. 'What do you make of this?'
Ilian's frustrating smile returned. 'I suppose you could make a necklace out of it, or a very small whistle.'
Silverdun ignored the witticism. 'I found it in the pit, the one in which you claim no one was murdered. And yet this is a bone, is it not?'
Ilian's smile faded. 'Let me see it,' he said.
'Tell me what it is.'
'Give it to me and I'll tell you what it is.'
Silverdun sighed and reached carefully through the bars, the bone in his fingers. Than reached for it, then instead grabbed Silverdun's wrist and pulled, hard. Silverdun had no way to brace himself and so plunged face-first into the cold iron bars.
The pain was intense and immediate. Just as he'd remembered, it felt as though a legion of lightning-fast ants were fleeing from the points of contact, down through his body, away, away from the cold iron. This time, however, they didn't stop; the ants continued down his arm and leapt from his wrist into Ilian's hand. Here was a different kind of pain, a pain of rapid depletion, as if something inside him was draining out of him.
It was re. Than was stealing his re, using the cold iron bars to flush the magical essence out of Silverdun's body.
Silverdun felt the way he did after overusing the Gifts in too short a time; physically depleted, yes, but emotionally and spiritually depleted as well.
Before Silverdun could react, Than had taken what re he needed and used it. Silverdun felt a nauseating sway, and the world tilted sideways and backward. Than let go of Silverdun's hand and Silverdun fell back. There was a deep, sickening feeling of vertigo. He looked around and realized that he was inside the cell, not outside it. Than had used re to do this. Than possessed the Gift of Folding.
Silverdun breathed heavily. Than was no mere manservant; that was for certain.
Silverdun backed as far from the bars as he was able, until his back was pressed against the cool stone wall of the cellar. He'd been behind iron bars before, trapped in the wastes of the Contested Lands with Mauritane and his merry band of fools, by humans of all things. If he could get far enough away from the iron, concentrate, he could breathe in enough re to get himself out of the cell.
But it was no use. The bars were too close, and there was no re to be had.
'Dammit!' shouted Silverdun, smashing both fists against the wall behind him. Than was loose in the tower, and perhaps this time Jedron wouldn't be able to best him. And there was another part of Silverdun that knew that Jedron would be furious with him for allowing Than to escape. Maybe it would be better if Jedron didn't make it.
Shut up, Silverdun.
He eyed the bars of the cell glumly; he could almost feel their repulsion, even from here. There was something curious about the way the dim light in the room hit the bars at chest height. They looked as though viewed through
