Shadows Return

badly, until he realized it was someone scratching at his door.
    He went to the door and pressed an ear to it, whispering, “Who is it?” He had an idea, but was careful not to betray any potential ally if it was Ilar out there, playing with him out of spite.
    “It’s Rhania.” She spoke so softly he could hardly hear her.
    “What do you want?”
    “Are you a ‘runner in the night,’ as they say?”
    “Did you wake me just to ask me that?”
    “Does a runner in the night know how to run away from this house?”
    Seregil waited, saying nothing.
    “Can you get out of here?” she whispered urgently.
    “As you can see, I can’t even get out of this room.”
    “But if you could?”
    “Perhaps. But they cut off the feet of those who run away. Zoriel told me so.”
    “Only those who are caught.”
    “You want me to help you escape?”
    “Shhhh!” A pause, then, “Yes! Until now I have had no hope, but I heard Khenir speak of you to some of the others, bragging how he had brought low so clever a man as you.”
    “Did he, now?”
    “Yes. You hate Khenir, do you not? Perhaps even as much as I?”
    “Oh, I think I have more practice at it than even you, my lady. Do you know how soon he is leaving this house?”
    “I don’t know. A few weeks, perhaps? A house is being made ready for him.”
    “Have you seen a blond half ’faie here? In the workshop, perhaps?”
    “Yes, he’s there. He’s closely watched.” She paused, then whispered more softly still, “Someone is coming! Think on what I have said.”
    Seregil didn’t hear so much as a whisper of a footstep, but when he heard several pairs of heavy feet pass by a moment later without incident, he knew she was gone.
    He went back to bed with his heart racing. It was too soon to get his hopes up, but this was the start he’d hoped for. He whispered a blessing aloud across his left palm, “
Marös Aura Elustri chyptir!
Hang on, talí. I’ll be with you soon!”

CHAPTER 29
    Cross Purposes

    KORATHAN APPEARED AT Thero’s door without warning one morning as the wizard was sitting down to breakfast. He rose, intending to invite him to share his humble meal, but the look on the prince’s face killed the pleasantries, unspoken.
    “You’ve had news.”
    “Of the worst sort. The khirnari of Gedre has sent word. It appears that our friends and their escort were ambushed less than two days out of Gedre. The escort was killed. Seregil and Alec are missing.”
    “When did he learn this?”
    “Only recently. The bodies had been hidden, and no one in Bôkthersa knew to look for them until some trader stumbled across them. Zengati arrows were found with the bodies.”
    “I see. What does the queen say?”
    “She is upset, of course, and means to send a second delegation.”
    “That’s it? What about Seregil and Alec?”
    “My guess is that they were taken by slavers. I was hoping that you could be of assistance and look with that wizard eye spell of yours.”
    Thero had to take a quick breath to calm himself; why was it that everyone thought wizards could just snap their fingers and do anything that was needed in a heartbeat?
    “With all due respect, your Highness, they could be halfway to Khouimir by now. Or in any of the hundreds of Zengati slave markets between there and the border.” He sat down, overwhelmed by the enormity of the task. “Or in Plenimar, for that matter. I have no firsthand knowledge of either place, aside from a bit of the western coast of Plenimar.”
    But his mind was already racing. “But if it is Plenimar, then they’d most likely be taken to Benshâl or Riga first, from what I’ve heard. But again, there’s no way to know which direction they were taken, or to what land. Such a search would take a hundred wizards months, if not years, to accomplish. I’m sorry, Highness, but it’s virtually impossible that way, like looking for a couple of lentils in a crib of corn.”
    “What would you suggest, then?”
    “If it were anyone else we were looking for, I’d say to send Seregil and Alec,” Thero replied grimly. “Or Micum Cavish.”
    “We still have him. I suggest you send for him at once.”
             
    Thero sent off a message sphere to Watermead, and had word back in an instant that Micum was on his way.
    Breakfast forgotten, he locked his tower door and went into the casting room. He chalked the proper circle, then knelt in the center and paused, considering his next move. He suspected that