"I lifted my hands in the air and tried to look harmless while I explained that I merely needed to buy food. My French must have more of an English accent than I thought because she cut me off and said she didn't want to know more."

"She probably thought you were a British aviator." Nick cut a ragged piece of bread. "My brother said there are Frenchmen who secretly help downed pilots escape."

"That would explain it. She didn't say much, but she wrapped up the cheese and bread and gave me the wine and told me to leave quickly and quietly." Allarde put a piece of cheese on bread and bit in with pleasure. "She said something odd. That I must be careful not to be seen since there are no men in St. Christophe."

Nick frowned. "I've heard there are towns where the only males left are little boys and old men. All the men in between were shipped to Germany to do forced labor."

Tory sucked in her breath. "Are you sure your century is more civilized than ours, Nick?"

"No," he said bleakly. "But it reminds me why we need to keep fighting rather surrender to Hitler."

Allarde opened the wine bottle and took a sip. "A light table wine, but it goes rather well with the bread and cheese. Nick?"

Nick wiped the mouth and tasted. "Nice. This will make a dashing and romantic tale for our grandchildren." He passed the bottle to Tory.

"Assuming we live long enough to have grandchildren." She tried not to think how Allarde had drunk from the same bottle. They were comrades, not lovers, and this was just wine.

Nick reached for more bread and cheese. "A few pieces of this and I'll be ready to go find Dr. Weiss."

"We shouldn't travel by daylight," Allarde said. "Even this late, I had to avoid several German army trucks on the road. Better we rest through the day and head for Castle Bouchard when it's dark again."

"Will you be rested enough to return home by then, Tory?" Nick asked. "Or will you wait to see how our mission goes?"

"I'm going with you, of course," she said calmly. "I have no intention of sitting here in this cave and wondering if you two fools are dead or alive. I'm a mage, not a helpless schoolgirl."

Allarde looked appalled. "It's male nature to protect women and children."

"If you're saying that Tory needs protection, you'll be in trouble," Nick said with a grin. "I'll be glad to have her along. She's one of the most powerful mages in the Irregulars, and her talent for blending power from all of us could be useful. Having her increases our chance of success."

Allarde caught Tory's gaze, his gray eyes troubled. "I can't persuade you to the wiser course?"

"No, but you can give me one of those pears."

He gave her a pear and she polished it on her sleeve before sinking her teeth into it. The pear was ripe and sweet and juicy. "Lovely. This is the best picnic I've ever been on." She took another bite.

The best, and also the strangest. But she couldn't regret being near Allarde even if an impassable barrier remained between them.

CHAPTER 22.

Tory and the others slept most of the day. She awoke to soft rain and early dusk. After eating again, they set off into the night. As the rain increased, she was grateful that Allarde had thought to acquire coats and hats for them. Though her hearth-witch magic kept her warm, the rain was still wet.

A pity they didn't have a weather mage to push the rain away. Hiking through unknown territory in darkness, mud, and rain was an adventure she could do without.

Nick led the way, never hesitating except when choosing the best way to detour around a farmhouse. They passed one farm close enough to set off a chorus of barking dogs, but there was no sign that humans noticed them. If the women and children were working the farms, they were probably too tired to wake easily.

After an interminable walk, Nick said in a low voice, "Dr. Weiss is very close. Just the other side of the hill, I think."

They headed up a hedged lane just wide enough for the three of them. Tory was tiring, though she'd rather drop in her tracks than admit that to her male companions.

They reached the hilltop and got their first sight of Castle Bouchard. "Dear God," Allarde whispered.

"No wonder your father said it was impossible to rescue Dr. Weiss," Tory said, stunned by the massive stone escarpment. The stone castle rose from the crest, well above their present height. A sheer cliff dropped to the small village below, while a lake glinted to the left of the escarpment.

The village was surely as old as the castle, but the weathered stone buildings had been transformed into a military camp surrounded by barbed wire and guards. A road snaked up and around the cliff, probably climbing to the castle by a less impossible route.

The perimeter fence was swept by searchlights and a guardhouse controlled the main gate. Other guards could be seen stolidly patrolling inside the compound. "It might be possible for us to get into the castle," Tory said doubtfully. "But I don't know how."

"Dr. Weiss isn't in the castle. He's in that long low building at the base of the cliff." Nick frowned as he sought more information with his finder's talent. "It might have been a hospital. Now it's a combination of prison and laboratory. I think he lives and works there along with some other captive scientists."

"Are you sure, Nick? That building doesn't seem quite as impossible as the castle." Allarde studied the laboratory, which had barred windows and its own barbed-wire fence within the larger enclosure. "Though bad enough."

As they watched, a motorcar came sweeping through the darkness to stop at the main guardhouse. Two guards emerged immediately and saluted the passenger before opening the gate to admit the vehicle.

"That's an SS vehicle," Nick said softly. "The Shutzstaffel. Hitler's protection squad. They're known for ruthlessness and absolute loyalty to der Fuhrer. A nasty lot. The officer in the car is probably the commandant of this camp." The motorcar cut through the village and onto the road that climbed up and around the escarpment.

Tory studied the fences. The laboratory enclosure was at the far right end of the compound, not far from the main fence. "I can get inside. I've been counting the seconds between sweeps of the spotlights, and I could float over the fences and get to the laboratory without being seen."

"No!" Both her companions spoke so quickly they sounded like one voice, Allarde's louder than Nick's.

Allarde continued, "If you safely reach the laboratory door, you might be able to unlock it, but you'd have trouble finding Dr. Weiss without Nick. If you find him, you'll have to get him out of the laboratory and over both fences. Can you lift a grown man twice your size and carry him that far in the interval between light sweeps?"

She frowned as she calculated. "You're right. Carrying a person bigger than I am would be slow and difficult and dangerous. So much for that idea."

"Nick, have you thought about how you'll convince Dr. Weiss to leave with a sixteen-year-old stranger?" Allarde asked. "A scientist will have trouble believing in magic. And he might not speak English."

"Which is why I'm grateful you volunteered for this mission. You'll have to come with me to do the talking." Nick sighed. "I have thought about this. Dr. Weiss will certainly be startled, but he'll want to escape. Performing some simple magic, like mage lights, should be enough to persuade him. I hope."

"Then what, assuming you convince him?" Allarde asked. "Did you originally plan on cutting through the fence wire? You don't have the tools."

"I thought I'd be better prepared," Nick admitted. "I didn't expect to come tumbling through the mirror so soon. Luckily you're here. With your talent for lifting heavy weights, we won't need wire cutters."

"My skill is best at lifting inanimate objects. Tory is better at living beings," Allarde said with a swift glance at her. "If we blend our powers, we should be able to lift several people and move them fairly quickly."

Tory winced as she thought of how they'd shared energy when they danced on air at Kemperton. It had been joyous. Intimate. How could she bear to allow him in her mind again? How could either of them bear it?

She turned her gaze back to the compound. "With several of us together, I doubt we could move fast enough to avoid the spotlights. If we're seen leaving, they could shoot us out of the air like pheasants."

"So we can't do anything even though we're so close," Nick said tautly. "I have an itchy feeling that we must work fast because Dr. Weiss's situation might change. If it does, it won't be for the better."

"Think of this as a scouting expedition," Allarde said. "We need as much information as we can gather through observation if we're to have a chance of success when we make our move."

"The voice of reason speaks, and is right," Nick said. "Once we know what we need, we can send a message stone to Lackland for supplies. Since flying would make us easy targets, we'll need those wire clippers. Powerful ones."

"You won't find those in our time," Tory said.

"I can get cutters from Polly. She promised to check the mirror every day I'm gone." He frowned. "I can get a message to her, but I don't know if she has the mirror magic to send something back."

"Since you have mirror magic, there's a good chance she does also," Tory said. "It would be more reliable if you or I went to Lackland in person to get what is needed, but who wants to do that if it can be avoided?"

"Magic is wonderful, but it doesn't remove all obstacles." Nick frowned at the compound. "If the fence is electrified, cutting it won't work because anyone trying would get a dreadful shock. Likely an alarm would go off, too."

"Going over the fence would be best if we can manage it safely. I wonder if it might actually work better in daylight, when there aren't any spotlights. The laboratory is in a fairly isolated corner of the compound." Allarde's gaze methodically scanned the area. "I've only seen two guards patrolling. They should be easy to avoid, especially with our stealth stones. A gray, rainy day would be ideal."

The rain had slowed, but thunder boomed nearby and the rain increased. Tory jumped at the sound. The guns of Dunkirk had made her skittish about loud noises.

Thunder. Lightning.

An idea struck. "Nick, where does the electricity for the spotlights and the military facilities come from?"

He scanned the compound, then pointed. "The power lines come in through that pole over there."

"If the pole is destroyed, would the electricity fail long enough for us to get in and out again?"

"That depends," he said, looking intrigued. "If they have an emergency backup generator, the lights would come back on almost immediately."

"Then we call down lightning and blast that pole to tinder!"

"Interesting thought," Allarde said approvingly. "Do any of us have enough weather magic to direct lightning like that?"

"Nick isn't as strong as Jack, but he has some weather power. We can increase that by working together. We couldn't call a storm very far, but this one is right on top of us," Tory replied. "If we can knock out the electricity, how long will it take to restore?"

"Hard to say. At least half an hour, I think. Probably longer. Maybe much longer." He glanced from Tory to Allarde. "Shall we try?"

"We'll have to move quickly before the storm passes," Allarde said. "Which means going down this hill and moving as close to the laboratory as we can. Then we try to channel the lightning."

"With the help of you two, I think I can do that," Nick said. "If we fail, we're no worse off than we are now."

"If the power goes out and stays out, Nick and I will go over the fences with Tory's help," Allarde said. "I'll unlock the laboratory door and Nick will lead us to Dr. Weiss. God willing, we persuade him to leave before the power is restored. If we all make it out, we head back to the cave as quickly as we can."

"They probably won't realize Dr. Weiss is gone till tomorrow, and we'll be back in Lackland by then," Nick said. "Let's do it!"

"A good plan, except I'm going with you two over the fence," Tory said. "Don't protest, Allarde. My ability to lift people is strongest if I'm touching them. We'll have the best chance of getting in and out again if we hold hands when we go over."

"You make me long for the days when a duke could just lock an unruly wench in a tower!" Allarde said with exasperation.

"But she's right," Nick pointed out.

"I know," Allarde said glumly. "Very well, let's get moving. If this is to work, we'll have to move fast."

He caught Tory's hand and headed down the hill. She felt a shock as intense as the lightning they planned to bring down. Reminding herself that he just wanted to help her over the rough ground, she matched her pace to his.

She'd known they must join hands if they traveled over the fence, but this felt dangerously romantic. Fiercely she reminded herself that nothing had changed. She cared too much for him to ruin his life.

Better to concentrate on her breathing and her footing as they raced down the hill.

CHAPTER 23.

The ground had been cleared for several yards around the fence, but they found a concealed position in dense shrubbery just outside that area. The storm was already moving off. After Tory caught her breath, she said, "Nick, you have the most weather magic and you understand electricity best, so you lead."

She took his hand and let her energy flow into him as he turned his face to the sky. Allarde joined hands with Nick and poured his smooth, deep power through their connection. Tory was far too aware of him whenever they touched and this was much, much worse. The passion and deep understanding hovered so close ...

Focus on the job that must be done. Shutting out her personal feelings, she blended their power into one powerful force. "We're ready, Nick."

Nick stared at the power pole. "Now!" He sent his energy into the heart of the storm, and he carried the other two with him.

Giddily Tory soared into that raw, exhilarating power as Nick sought the lightning. They were one with the fierce winds, slanting rain, bone-shaking thunder.

There! For an instant, Tory was lightning, a searing energy that destroyed all in her path. A volatile force that coalesced, struck, transformed. White sparks exploded into the sky on the far side of the compound. The power pole shattered and she sensed power lines melting away in white hot coils.

All the lights vanished, leaving absolute darkness. As they waited to see if power would be restored, another slash of lightning illuminated the faces of her companions. Allarde was calm, Nick excited. "Ready to jump, Tory?" Allarde asked.

"Nick, you be in the middle since you haven't done this before. I'll take your left hand, Allarde your right. You don't have to do anything but make your power available to us. We'll take care of the rest." As they positioned themselves to enter the compound, Tory rebalanced their energy, then changed the focus from weather to flying. When the energy was right, she gathered it together. "Now!"

They rose swiftly into the air. Nick made a strangled sound and his grip became bruising, but he didn't falter even though wind and rain tore at their clothing.

Supplementing her power with Allarde's allowed her to manage their combined weight handily. They should be able to add a fourth person and escape with Dr. Weiss.

The main fence was barely visible with the spotlights off. They skimmed over. Wise of Allarde to choose dark clothing for the three of them. In the middle of the storm, they must be almost invisible. Plus, she and Allarde had stealth stones that were spelled to make people's gazes pass by them.

In the distance voices called out in German. Though Tory didn't speak the language, the tone sounded like furious curses.

They moved silently over the empty ground between the outside fence and the laboratory fence. The laboratory was light-colored, easy to see in the dark.

"Down now," she murmured, and brought them down in front of the building's main entrance. Unused to flying, Nick stumbled but recovered immediately.

There were no signs of life, only wind and rain. Anyone imprisoned in the laboratory was in his bed unless woken by the storm.

Dropping Tory's hand, Allarde stepped forward and placed his palm over the door lock. After a long buzz of magic, he opened the door. Its faint squeal sounded painfully loud, but probably couldn't be heard more than a few feet away.

Allarde stepped back and gestured the other two inside. Tory's saturated clothing dripped on the cold tiled floor, but it was good to be out of the pounding rain. The chilly air contained odd, medicinal scents.

When they were all inside, they waited to see if their entry had been noticed. All was silent except for the rain pounding on the roof. When he was sure they were unobserved, Nick created a very faint mage light and aimed it at the floor. Then he started off without hesitation, leading them down the long corridor until they reached a set of swinging double doors.

Cautiously Nick opened them. Ahead was a shorter stretch of corridors with the medicinal scent diminished.

Once again Nick led the way. The corridor ended in a tee junction. Nick turned into the short passage on the left and stopped in front of a door. Carefully he tried the doorknob. Locked.