rock. He blinked, and then squinted into the almost impenetrable darkness.
There was a faint, rough oval of light ahead.
A cave mouth.
―We have arrived, I think,‖ Drago said, ―in the cave in which you and yours were so
cruelly trapped, Theod. Be careful now.‖
There was a scrape of steel as Zared and Theod drew their swords, but Drago motioned
the lizard forward. He would be their best protection.
―It‘s cold,‖ Leagh murmured, and, like Faraday, hugged her cloak tight about her.
Drago motioned them to remain still as the lizard snuffled about the cave—gradually
becoming less featureless as everyone‘s eyes adjusted to the night gloom—and then, as the
lizard‘s body relaxed, led them towards the mouth of the cave.
―The twenty thousand were scattered throughout the ranges,‖ Theod said. ―How will
you—‖
―They will all be relatively close,‖ Drago said. ―This cave was the lodestone, the trap,
and they would all have been caught here.‖
―But wouldn‘t they have started to move elsewhere?‖ Zared said. ―To Carlon, perhaps?‖
―Not enough time,‖ Drago said. ―They would have waited until the entire twenty
thousand had been turned, and that could only just have been accomplished. Theod…how long is
it since you left the cave?‖
Theod calculated swiftly. ―Six or seven days, or thereabouts.‖
Drago nodded. ―A week? Then all groups must have come through, but only just.‖
―But they still must be scattered—‖ Theod began.
―Then we must ‗unscatter‘ them,‖ Drago said. ―For what I am about to do, I need them all
close.‖
Theod turned away, raising his hands in frustration, but Drago ignored him. He squatted
down before Katie, and took her shoulders in his hands, staring into her face.
―Katie?‖ he asked softly. ―Will you do it?‖
She nodded silently, her face sober.
―I will protect you,‖ Drago said, and the girl smiled and flung her arms about his neck,
planting a kiss on his cheek.
Taken aback, Drago disentangled the girl‘s arms.
―We will need a large open space,‖ he said. ―Theod, was there anywhere near here that
can fit a crowd?‖
―There is a grassy flat at the foot of this hill,‖ Theod‘s voice was becoming harder by the
moment. ―But it will not fit twenty thousand.‖
―No,‖ Drago said, keeping his own voice even, ―but enough for a crowd of some
thousands at least? Yes? Good. And there are gullies leading towards this grassy flat?‖
―Yes! Gods damn you, Drago, what are you going to do?‖
Drago stepped up to Theod and took his shoulders as he had just done Katie‘s.
―Theod,‖ he said, and gave the man‘s shoulders a little shake. ―Just believe.‖
Drago wore a gentle smile on his face that lit his eyes with warmth, and far more than the
words it was that which relaxed Theod.
He nodded slightly. ―I am worried for Gwendylyr,‖ he said. ―All this time, running about
the hills…and in what state?‖
―Theod.‖ Now Zared spoke up. ―Whatever else we have seen, it has not been corpses
lying about. The Demons seize their minds and their souls, but they leave their bodies…intact.‖
Zared had been about to say ―alive‖, but alive did not quite describe the state of those
held in the Demons‘ thrall, did it?
―We will find her, Theod,‖ Drago finished, and Theod gave another nod.
―Good.‖ Drago walked over to Katie and held out his hand. She took it, her face once
again sober, and together they walked towards the entrance.
The feathered lizard ambled after them, but when the others made also to follow, Drago
asked them to stay.
―You can see well enough from the mouth of the cave, and for the moment I would like
you to remain there.‖
Drago and the girl walked carefully down the slope of the hill, occasionally stumbling
over a rock hidden in a tussock of grass or night shadow. When they reached the bottom, Drago
spent a few minutes studying the terrain.
The grassy flat spread in a rough oval shape perhaps a hundred paces east and west and
some sixty paces wide. At the far western end a ravine stretched back from the flat into unseen
darkness, and four or five steep-sided and narrow ravines snaked into the flat from the east and
west.
―Perfect!‖ Drago murmured, then he squatted down beside Katie. He was nervous, for
this would be not only dangerous for all concerned—and especially Katie if he didn‘t get the
protective enchantment right—but would tax his own skill considerably.
Katie studied him, then reached out and took his hand. ―You have come a long way from
your pastry magics,‖ she said.
―You know about that?‖
―I know everything. You know that.‖
Drago sighed. Katie might only look like a tiny girl, but she was as old as the land itself.
―Yes. I know that. But I thought some small details might have escaped your attention.‖
―Do this,‖ Katie said, ―for whoever still roams raving when Qeteb is fully resurrected will
be beyond all of our help.‖
Now Drago looked truly startled. ―I did not know that! Gods! I should have done more
to—‖
Katie covered his hand in both of hers. ―You wasted too many years in self-recrimination,
Drago. For now, you can only do your best.‖
He nodded, then stood up, hefting the staff in his left hand. He glanced up the hill.
Everyone was standing at the top of the slope looking down: both women waited in st illness, the
men shifted impatiently.
Drago looked back to Katie, who had now sat herself cross-legged on the grass. He
thought of the enchantment he would need, and almost in the same moment Drago felt the
movement of the staff under his left hand, and with his right sketched the enchantment in the air.
He opened his mouth to ask the lizard to make it visible, but the lizard also acted almost
without conscious thought. He lifted his right foreclaw and re-sketched the symbol in light.
Above, Leagh took Faraday‘s arm in a tight hand. ―Do you know,‖ she whispered, ―that
symbol almost means something to me.‖
Faraday frowned…what could she…ah! She too could somehow feel the symbol
reaching out for her, communicating with her in some undefinable way.
―Protection,‖ both women muttered at the same time.
―It is an enchantment of protection,‖ Faraday added, then shook her head slightly. What
was going on? It felt as if that enchantment was reaching out fingers into her mind, doing
something, or appealing to something, but she couldn‘t—
―It‘s the Acharite magic in us!‖ Leagh said, still keeping her voice low. ―We can
understand it because we have both seen the field of flowers!‖
Faraday‘s frown deepened, and she placed a hand over Leagh‘s where it rested on her
arm. Was Leagh right? When Drago had included her in the vision, had he somehow forged the
final link to her forgotten blood magic? She looked back to Drago.
He had taken the enchantment in both hands, and had now stretched it to over three times
its original size.
Then he lowered it gently over Katie so that she was surrounded by it.
It glowed a deep crimson—and then vanished.
―It is still there,‖ Leagh said to her husband and Theod, who had moved in surprise. ―But
invisible. The child is protected.‖
The child sat very calmly, her eyes downcast, and Drago sketched another symbol in the
air.
This was stunningly complicated, and it seemed to Faraday that it would never end. The
five fingers on his right hand seemed to move completely independently of each other, while the
hand itself danced and wove through the air.
The feathered lizard watched, a frown of deep concentration on its face. Finally Drago‘s
hand jerked to a halt, and he drew a deep breath.
―My friend,‖ he said to the lizard, and the lizard began the tiring task of retracing the
enchantment in light.
When it hovered complete in the air before Drago, it was of a strange light, almost a grey
light, and to those watching from above it was very, very hard to see in the night air.
But from what they could see of it, it was composed of hundreds, if not thousands, of
intertwining lines.
Drago put down his staff and took the enchantment in both hands.
Then he began to compress it. It took considerable strength, for occasionally he grunted,
and his shoulders visibly heaved with the effort, but finally the enchantment, now a small ball of
grey light, sat in the palm of his left hand.
With his right, Drago drew an arrow from the quiver, pausing briefly to run his fingers
through its beautiful bluedyed feathers.
Then he placed the enchantment on to the arrowhead, shrugged the Wolven off his
shoulder, and fitted the arrow to the bow.
―What is he going to do?‖ Theod asked.
―He is springing a trap,‖ Leagh said. ―That is all I know. A trap.‖
―I can tell no more,‖ Faraday added at Theod‘s querying look. ―Just trust him, please.‖