"So they banished you," Falken said from aback his horse.

"It would seem that way, Falken Blackhand."

Travis studied Larad's face. For a time yesterday, while the chorus recessed, Travis and Grace had spoken with Larad in an alcove near the chorus chamber.

So you set everything up, Travis had said. Getting me to break the runestone, then showing that escape from the null stone wasn't impossible.

Yes, Larad had said. The Runespeakers had to learn how to forget that word.422 What word Impossible.

41 4 * mark anthony Larad nodded. "It was important for you not to like me."

"Well, you did a good job of that." Travis's smile faded. "But why didn't you just tell me what you wanted me to do? Wouldn't that have been easier?"

"And if I had told you the truth, and what your punishment would be, would you have done it?"

Travis thought about this, then answered with the truth. "I'm not sure."

"Nor was I."

Travis hesitated, then held out a hand. "It's all right, Master Larad.

I'm not mad at you."

"I did not ask for your forgiveness, Master Wilder."

Ignoring Travis's hand, Larad started away. Then he paused to cast a glance back over his shoulder, his dark eyes gleaming in the shattered mosaic of his face. "I wish you well on your journey. Runelord."

"You too," Travis whispered, but Larad had already disappeared around an outcrop of stone.

Travis let out a soft breath, then turned toward the others. They all sat on their horses. It was time to go. He moved to Patch, grabbed a handful of mane, and climbed into the saddle. He looked up to see amber eyes upon him.

"Are you all right, dear?" Melia said.

423.

Travis gripped the reins. "Let's get away from this place."

They kept close to the Fal Erenn as they journeyed, and with every league that passed, Grace's spirits rose higher. Maybe it was Travis they had helped to save at the Gray Tower, but Grace felt like she was the one who was suddenly free. The road to the tower had been shadowed, and marked by fire and death Rnf all 415.

of that was behind her now. Despite Falken's admonition to the contrary, the air grew cooler and moister as they traveled east and--if Grace recalled her maps rightly--nearer the ocean.She spoke little that first day of riding, instead content to keep Shandis back and watch her companions. One by one, her gaze alighted on each of the others. Travis laughed at one of Beltan's bawdy jokes. Melia bowed her head toward Falken as the two spoke in low voices. Aryn gazed at the world with brilliant blue eyes, her visage pale but exquisite, while Lirith rode nearby, her expression as calm and deep as still water. Then there was Durge--good, kind, true Durge--spurring his charger ahead and searching so very hard for any signs of bandits, monsters, or unlikely natural disasters.

A small hand reached up to brush Grace's cheek. She looked down into Tira's half-melted face. The girl nodded, as if she had merely wished to remind Grace of her presence, then turned her placid gaze forward again.

Fingers tightened around Grace's heart, but it was a good pain. You're never alone. Grace. Even when sometimes it feels like you are. You have to remember that.

Just after midmorning, Melia and Falken guided their mounts close to Travis's to ask him what seemed a never-ending series of questions. At the Gray Tower, the same evening they had freed him, Travis had told his story. All of them had listened in rapt attention, shuddering as 424 they learned the fire evil walked not one world, but two. Grace couldn't hear much of their conversation now, but the bard and the lady seemed to be probing Travis for finer details of his story, especially about the man in the black robe who had come to Travis's saloon. Grace shivered as she remembered Travis's description of the other.

Beware--it will consume you.

41 6 * mark anthony Plague? It was the only answer that made sense. She almost wished she could go back to Denver, so she could study one of the plague victims at the hospital--to run blood tests and biopsies, to take X-rays and MRIs, to probe with modern tools and see if she could comprehend the nature of this disease.

Then she thought of the man in the farmhouse, the one she had ended with an iron poker, and she knew no tools or tests, however advanced, would be able to truly explain this affliction. Besides, if a door to Denver were to open before her at that moment, Grace was not so certain she would step through. How would it feel to put on a stark white lab coat again after wearing bright gowns of violet and gold? Her eyes moved again to Lirith. The Tolorian woman sat straight atop her palfrey, not as stiffly as Melia, and perhaps not as regal, yet commanding all the same. No, commanding wasn't the right word.

Compelling--that was it. Lirith didn't order you to do things, not like Melia did. Instead she made you want to do them.

It had been interesting observing the two women these last days. At the Gray Tower, Melia and Lirith had stared at each other like two women who had worn the same expensive dress to a party. Now, as they rode, Lirith cast surreptitious but frequent glances at the amber-eyed lady, and while Melia didn't look up, there was something about the set of her shoulders that made Grace think Lirith's looks had not gone unnoticed.At last curiosity won out, and Grace guided Shandis toward the 425.

Tolorian woman's palfrey. "What is it, Lirith?" she whispered without preamble.

"What do you mean, sister?" Even as Lirith spoke these soft words her eyes moved past Grace to the lady on the white horse.

"That," Grace said. "You can't take your eyes off 417.

"It's nothing," Lirith said far too quickly.

Grace's lips twisted into a wry smile. "Of course. I always stare at other people for absolutely no reason."

Lirith raised a slender eyebrow. "I see you learned much indeed from the Lady Kyrene."

"Oh, no you don't," Grace said with a fierce grin. "You're not going to get out of this by throwing it back to me. You know something about Melia-- something you're not telling."

Again Lirith's eyes moved past Grace, and she spoke in a quiet tone. "If I know anything, it is only what she chooses to reveal to all of us."

Before Grace could ask anything more, Lirith lightly touched the neck of her palfrey, and the horse leaped into a canter, leaving Grace behind.

They made camp as the long shadows of the mountains reached into the east. Beltan had brought down a small mule deer with a snare, and while Grace's heart had fallen to see the young animal get captured, her stomach was more than happy to give purpose to the creature's death.

That night there was an almost festive air around the campfire. Beltan told colorful anecdotes about drunken warriors, Falken sang songs, and Lirith astonished them all by performing tricks of magic with a coin.

These feats relied on sleight of hand rather than the Weirding, but 426 Grace gasped all the same as Lirith made the coin vanish in her hand, then pulled it from the ear of a wide-eyed Durge. Tira clapped her hands and laughed, and Grace hugged her.

This is dangerous. Grace. You know it is. You're letting yourself get used to Tira being here. You're letting yourself get too close.

But suddenly it was hard to remember exactly ^vhat her reasons were for keeping others at a distance. She tightened her arms around the girl, and T';-- _i- i . .

41 8 * mark anthony Melia fashioned the fresh venison, along with herbs collected by Aryn and Lirith, into a fragrant stew, and once bowls were passed out Lirith lowered her gaze and spoke in a reverent voice.

"oy from pain, life from death. In endings are beginnings born. MayYrsaia bless the gains of this hunt."

When she looked up, Lirith's gaze fell on Melia.

"What a lovely prayer, dear," the regal lady said with a smile, then ate her stew.

After supper, Beltan began to tell another joke, this one involving a hapless knight who couldn't manage to remove his armor in time when the fair maiden he had rescued wished to express her gratitude. Then Falken spoke, and while his voice was not loud, it silenced the mirth all the same.

"It's the Stone of Fire that's creating them somehow."

"The Burnt Ones," Grace said without thinking.

Firelight glinted off Travis's spectacles. "Of course, it makes sense.

Krondrim. Krondisar. I should have guessed it sooner."

427.

"What is it you have learned, Falken?" Durge said. "It is not so apparent to some of us as it is to others."

"It was Melia's friend who told us," the bard said.

Melia smoothed the folds of her kirtle. "The Great Stone Krondisar has been found. And it is in the possession of one who would use it for evil. Who does so even now."

"But who is it?" Grace said.

Falken met her gaze. "That's what we have to find out."

"All right," Beltan said, speaking the question on everyone's mind, "so where are we going?"

Firelight played across Melia's visage. "To the place from which Krondisar was stolen."

* 419 cept for Tira, who stretched small hands toward the fire and laughed.

They woke before dawn the next day to continue their journey. Now that they knew something of their destination, the holiday air of yesterday's ride had given way to a more somber mood. However, the rugged landscape about them was beautiful, and while a shadow had touched Grace's thoughts, they were far from dark.

It was only when Beltan mentioned that they were nearly to the southern border of Perridon that Grace remembered the mission King Boreas had given her. She had been so focused on reaching the Gray Tower and saving Travis that she had forgotten entirely about her orders. But one did not dismiss the commands of a king on this world. Not and live long to regret it.

Grace moved Shandis closer to Falken's jet stallion. "We're riding into Perridon, aren't we, Falken?"428 The bard frowned. "Is something wrong, Grace?"

There 'will be if Boreas finds out I've gone AWOL on him.

"I was just wondering if we're going to Castle Spardis. King Boreas gave me a task to do there, and I'd like to finish it."

Falken turned his faded blue eyes north. "I've been hearing some dark news out of Spardis lately, ever since old King Persard died. Queen Inara is only sixteen, and her son, Perseth--Persard's heir--is still at her breast. It's not a good position to be in. At least not in a Dominion where every five-year-old peasant has a dagger and a plan."

He glanced at her. "I take it you agreed to survey the situation for Boreas?"

Grace nodded, lifting an unconscious hand to her neck.

"Don't worry." The bard grinned now. "You'll get 420 mark anthony Radiance. After we make this one stop, we'll be heading straight for Spardis. We're supposed to meet Melia's friend again there. I think we'll each be very curious to hear what the other has learned."

That evening they camped inside a broken circle of stones that tilted like a crown atop a hill. As they ate leftover stew, Falken explained that these were the remains of a watchtower built by explorers from Toringarth over a thousand years earlier.

Durge stroked his mustaches. "I did not know men of Toringarth ever sailed this far south."

"And farther," the bard said. "They were the greatest mariners ever to navigate the four seas. Many towers they raised near the sea, all up and down the coasts of Falengarth."

Grace thought back to her lessons in politics. She remembered seeing 429.

Toringarth on Aryn's map--a jagged finger of land north of Falengarth, across the Winter Sea--but she recalled no other reference to the kingdom, save in Falken's stories when he told how long ago King Ulther of Toringarth helped defeat the Pale King with the help of Elsara, Empress of Tarras.

She glanced at Falken. "Why didn't anyone from Toringarth attend the Council of Kings at Calavere?"

"No word has come across the Winter Sea from the kingdom of Toringarth in many centuries, and no ship made in Falengarth can navigate the churning ice that fills the Winter Sea, not as the ships of the Toringarders could of old, bound with runes of strength andswiftness."

Grace chewed her lip. The bard's answer was wholly unsatisfying. An entire kingdom couldn't simply vanish. What had happened to Toringarth after Ulther slew the Pale King and helped found Malachor?

Maybe you'll just have to go there yourself someday and find out. Grace.

421.

inside the ruined tower, but sleep eluded Grace. Instead she watched meteors streak across the star- strewn disk circumscribed by the ruined walls of the tower.

She must have drifted off at some point, because she blinked, and the stars jerked across the circle. Now a crimson spark had joined them: the red star. Something pressed uncomfortably against Grace's bladder. She sat up. Black fur blended with night, but amber eyes shone in the gloom.

"What do you think you're doing?" Grace whispered.

The kitten only purred as it continued to knead with small paws at her stomach.

430.

Grace removed the kitten, considered what to do with it, then placed it in the crook of Tira's elbow. The kitten turned three times, then lay down, resting its head against the girl's arm. Tira sighed in her sleep.

Lying back down, Grace shut her eyes, but she opened them again a moment later. The kitten's cruel paws had done their work, and there would be no chance of sleep if she didn't pay a visit to a conveniently located bush.

As quietly as she could, she rose and picked her way among the sleepers, then passed through a gap in the wall. She circled around the ruined tower until she finally found her bush. Once finished, she kept circling in the same direction, since she was already "lore than halfway around the tower.

"I should never have left you."

Grace froze at the sound of the soft, tenor voice.

"I've been fine," another, cooler voice whispered. "Besides, we talked about this, and we both agreed it was for the best."

Grace edged around a jumble of mossy rocks. In Ae starlight a half-dozen paces away two figures sat 422 * mark anthony on stones. One was small and slender, her dark hair merging with the night. The other was tall and rangy, his mail shirt and fair hair glowing in the shine of the just-rising moon."Well, regardless, I'm here now," Beltan said. "And I'm still your knight protector."

Melia touched his hand. "I hardly wish to turn you away, dear. I don't 431 know what I would have done without you these last years. When I met you, Falken was lost in a dark pit into which I could not reach. Without you, I might never have done so. You will always be my protector." She drew her hand back. "But, in time, you might find that you wish to be other things as well."

"My duty is to you, Melindora Nightsilver."

"Your duty is to your heart, Beltan of Calavan. And you must never forget that."

Beltan grinned, but it was a sad expression. "In this case, I don't think it's my heart that's requested of me."

"And how do you know that? Have you asked?"

Beltan said nothing, but Grace knew she had already heard much more than she should have. She moved back a step.

Beltan's hand started toward the hilt of his sword. "I heard something."

Melia stayed his hand with a light touch. "It is nothing, Beltan. A startled animal, that's all."