The whispers grew in intensity again. Marilee thought she made out a few random words, but before she could make sense of them, the area grew bright with flame.

The drake cursed and instinctively drew his weapon. Only as that happened did both he and Marilee see that although the fire burned strong, the trees remained untouched.

The city is reliving its final throes, she realized, feeling Mito Pica's suffering. Marilee had witnessed several supernatural visions during her pilgrimages to her former home, but there was something different happening. It was as if Mito Pica's dead were stirring as they never had before.

With another frustrated hiss, the drake sheathed his sword. "Thisss city should ssstay dead inssstead of crying ssso much."

Marilee felt her blood boil at the callous remark. Her parents, her brother and sister, and so many others had been slaughtered out of hand. She fought against her bonds in a futile attempt to reach the warrior.

Her attempts only earned his mockery. "Ssstruggle hard! Let the wizard sssee and hear that you live . . . that he can ssstill sssave you!"

Marilee's gag cut off her epithet.

The eerie fire ceased as abruptly as it began. The trees to the south ceased thrashing.

Another low chuckle echoed in her ears. "And even your pathetic ghostsss play to my advantage! They announce hisss arrival a.s.ss good a.s.ss a loud war horn!"

He slipped between the trees, vanishing from her sight. Marilee twisted as best she could in order to see the wizard's arrival. She had to give warning.

The other trees stilled. A silence more unnerving than the all the visions Marilee had thus far experienced tonight covered the area.

And then, ever so slowly, a dark-haired human figure approached from the darkness. Marilee made out enough of the face to recognize Cabe Bedlam. The wizard was not as tall as she recalled and he moved with a hint of hesitation. Even the great mage seemed small compared to the cursed souls haunting the forest.

Marilee shook her head, but he did not notice the warning. Her m.u.f.fled cry also failed to gain any reaction.

Cabe Bedlam remained a half-shadowed figure as he neared, but Marilee could still not believe how youthful the man looked. She had only glanced at the mage previously before her own capture. This latest irony did not escape her; Cabe Bedlam not only lived while hundreds of others had perished, but he also had the benefit of enjoying the bloom of life longer than most humans.

Her bitterness quickly faded as the wizard drew closer yet. He looked around as if searching for something even though Marilee was quite visible. The man was walking into an obvious trap. She wondered if he was that confident in his power and, if so, would that prove to be a fatal mistake?

Painfully aware of the range of the drake's possession, Marilee noted when Cabe Bedlam paused just a few yards beyond. She tried to give some sort of warning not to advance, but he continued to utterly ignore her. Marilee tipped her head in the direction that her captor had hidden, only to have the wizard turn away from her to look at something else.

The drake attacked . . . leaping out from a location behind Cabe Bedlam. He easily wielded the sharp blade with one hand while keeping the other a tight fist.

With one mighty stroke, the drake cut a deadly arc across Cabe Bedlam's throat.

The sword slashed through without pause. Marilee tried to scream.

Cabe Bedlam dissipated.

"What by the Dragon of the Depthsss?" rasped the drake as he recovered his balance.

A sound like a crack of thunder made both look in the direction from which the apparition had come. In the gloom, they saw a huge tree with long, draping branches toppling toward them.

Marilee struggled to escape, but the drake simply stood his ground. He stared at the oncoming tree with clear disdain.

She realized that he thought it another apparition, like the flames.

But as the falling tree neared, the drake obviously realized his error. He tried to fling himself away, but did not succeed. As the tree crashed, the ma.s.sive crown engulfed Marilee's captor.

At the same time, the limbs of the tree where she was bound twitched despite there being no wind. Marilee stilled, hoping that she was not about to join the drake's fate.

The limbs paused. When after several seconds they did not move, Marilee dared take a breath and try to make sense of the situation. Despite previous evidence and the drake's a.s.surances, the ghostly presence in the forest had finally managed to overcome the device. True, the tree had fallen from beyond the thing's protective range, circ.u.mventing its power, but the illusion of Cabe Bedlam could have had only one source.

Yet, the illusion confused her in another manner. She had never heard tales of the ghosts doing such things. This bespoke of a conscious, active mind. Marilee considered the fact that it might actually have been the wizard's work after all, but when first one minute, then another, and then another pa.s.sed without Cabe Bedlam's grand entrance, she dismissed that notion.

There was no movement from the crown. Marilee hoped that the drake was dead, but knew how hardy the race was. She struggled against her bonds again and finally felt some slight loosening.

A woman screamed.

Marilee jerked her head toward the sound. Once more she beheld the woman in the gown. The other female knelt as if trying to pick up a small bundle.

There was no other sound, but suddenly the gowned woman whirled as if discovered. She put her hands up in protest and in doing so revealed her face to Marilee again.

As before her eyes glittered as if crystal.

There was a shout from the south. Marilee recognized Bertran's voice and forgot all about drakes and apparitions.

But her pleasure at his arrival dampened when she saw who was with him. Marilee's earlier hope that the wizard would come to her rescue faded, replaced by the hatred built up over the years.

Bertran rushed up to her, the big man dropping what she recognize as the staff used to subdue Cabe Bedlam and trying with his bare hands to tear her free.

"Step away from her," the wizard ordered.

Bertran obeyed. Cabe Bedlam stepped near Marilee.

The slight rustling of leaves made Marilee look beyond both men to sudden movement at the crown. She tried to give a warning, but the gag prevented her from making more than a moan.

"Something's dampening my power," the mage informed Bertran. "I think I can free her, but it'll take me a moment more."

The rustling increased, but neither of her would-be rescuers noticed. Cabe Bedlam shut his eyes in concentration.

Summoning all her strength, Marilee screamed as best as the gag allowed her.

But her cry was drowned out by the clash of arms and the cries of several beasts. Bertran and the wizard joined her in peering to the east . . . where suddenly a horde of earth-brown drakes as aglow as the gowned maiden rushed forward seeking battle.

VI.

The scene upon which Cabe had arrived had proven to be a curious one. He and Bertran had heard the crashing tree and feared the worst for Marilee, only to find her bound but whole.

No ghost had seized the young woman, that was obvious. As to who her captor had been, Marilee would be able to answer that. Of course, seeing where the tree lay, Cabe had suspected the point was moot.

It should have been simple for him to release the woman, but Cabe's first spell faded even before it could come to fruition. He knew it was not the work of the staff and wondered if the supernatural presence in the forest had something to do with it.

Focusing his concentration, the wizard had attempted another spell on the captive . . . and that was when the drakes had come charging through the trees.

It took Cabe only a moment to realize that these were not living, breathing warriors, but apparitions. They glowed of their own accord and some literally charged through those trees. Yet, what more struck him was the coloring of these drakes. They were of an earthy shade, marking of them of a clan not only far flung from this land, but one that had already been decimated two hundred years earlier during the ill-fated Turning War.

And certainly not a clan that had had anything to do with with razing of Mito Pica.

The ethereal warriors vanished. Cabe hesitated for a second, then returned his attention to Marilee. This time, the ropes fell away. Bertran caught the woman, then helped her get her footing. The big man was slow to release his hold and Marilee did not rush him.

Then, her eyes widened. Pushing past Bertran, she pointed at the fallen tree's ma.s.sive crown. "He's still alive! He's still alive!"

Cabe glared at the crown. Nothing dampened his spell this time. The leaves burst from the branches and the branches twisted away, revealing what lay beneath.

Nothing.

Marilee looked around. "He's got to be near-"

The wizard cursed himself for underestimating their mysterious adversary. "He's not human, is he?"

"No! It was a drake-"

"The color of iron, I a.s.sume." After she nodded, Cabe shut his eyes and concentrated. He could not sense the drake's nearby presence, but suspected he knew the reason. "Did he carry some artifact, some talisman?"

Marilee nodded. Cabe did not bother to ask what it looked like. That it was of wolf raider make like the staff would make sense. The Aramite sorcerers needed gold to finance their efforts and more than a few of their macabre creations had made their way to the Dragonrealm.

He noticed that both of his companions were eyeing him with increasing suspicion. Cabe sighed, understanding that their long-bred hatred of him was on the rise again now that they were under the mistaken belief that the drake had fled. Retreat he had, but the warrior was still near. If the drake managed to survive the forest, he would seek once more to fulfill his mission . . . which Cabe knew was his death.

The forest . . . to the wizard, of more importance than either the would-be a.s.sa.s.sin or the vengeful survivors of Mito Pica was what was happening to the forest itself. Why are there apparitions that have no relation to the city's destruction?

Given the moment to think without incessant pain coursing through him or the need to rush to rescue someone, Cabe knew the answer. It was one that both made perfect sense and yet startled him as few things could.

He started in the direction from which the drake horde had charged, only to have the Aramite staff suddenly thrust before his face.

"Stop right there," Marilee growled, the weapon now in her possession. Behind her, Bertran looked torn. Cabe had saved the woman Bertran loved, but her bitterness toward the mage was evidently stronger than her grat.i.tude.

"That's ill-advised," Cabe muttered.

"You saved my life, but that doesn't make up for the hundreds of others lost here, including my parents-"

Bertran put a hand on her shoulder. "Marilee. I've been thinking. I don't think we-"

She shrugged off the hand. A sheepish Bertran looked at Cabe.

The wizard frowned. Marilee let out a yelp and dropped the staff, which in her mind had grown as hot as a red poker. Cabe had actually not burned her, but simply let her feel the illusion of intense heat.

He gestured and the staff came to his hand. The woman gritted her teeth and grabbed for an empty area by her waist where presumably she usually kept a knife. Then, her expression turned to one of intense exhaustion.

"I've imagined . . . I've thought of taking you down most of my life," she murmured.

"Not that it'll matter to you, but every night I relive the destruction of Mito Pica. I lost someone very close to me here." As Cabe said this, he felt some more guilt. The statement was and was not true, if what he imagined was in part the reason for this evening's events.

Marilee eyed him. "Didn't know that."

Before the conversation could continue on into an area uncomfortable for Cabe, a woman's sobbing echoed through the forest. The wizard noticed that it startled Bertran and him more than it did Marilee. "You've heard that before?"

"I've seen her, too-there!" She pointed past his left shoulder.

Quickly looking, Cabe swore. The glowing, vaguely-defined shape of the gowned woman he had also seen earlier drifted among the trees. While the rich, black hair still obscured her features, her stance indicated some dire need.

But something else confused him. If what he believed was true, then he would have expected her to be heading the same direction that he had intended. Instead, she was moving toward the actual ruins of the city.

Despite that contradiction, Cabe chose to pursue the apparition. The vision headed toward what was left of the city wall. Beyond the wall, the silhouettes of several jagged sh.e.l.ls that had once been towering buildings seemed to hungrily await Cabe's long-overdue return. Marilee's overriding hatred for him despite the rescue had stirred up his own guilt more than ever. Every fragment of Mito Pica still standing looked to him like the outline of a tombstone.

He expected her to walk through the wall, but instead she turned and began to hurry along its length. The mage picked up his own pace. His curiosity was only matched by his frustration. Despite his best efforts, he could never make out her face. Her hair continued to drape over whatever features should have been visible, as if the long tresses had a life and purpose of their own.

At what had once been one of the great gates but was now a mangle of rusted, scorched metal and shattered stone, the apparition entered Mito Pica. As Cabe attempted to follow, the branches of the few remaining trees ahead shifted in an attempt to block his path.

Behind him, Marilee swore. Cabe knew that she and Bertran had followed him, but since they no longer represented a threat to his safety, he had deemed that they were better off near him.

"We're safe for the moment," he whispered. "Stay close to me and nothing will happen."

"But you saw what the trees did to the drakes!" she whispered back.

"That's because they were drakes." Cabe frowned. He wanted to go after the spirit, but also wondered why the force he suspected behind all this would stop him. Was not the apparition part of his message, a message possibly for Cabe himself?

A woman's scream echoed from the ruins ahead.

Despite aware that the trees probably sought to keep him back for good reason, Cabe gestured. A wind thrust the branches aside, allowing the trio to continue through into the city.

There was no hint of animal life in the darkened ruins, not even the small vermin one would have expected. The areas above were devoid of birds, the ground of any small, scurrying forms. There should have been some inhabitants, but the wizard even noted an absence of insect sounds.

"We shouldn't be in this place," Bertran rasped. "We shouldn't disturb the dead . . . "

They appear very disturbed already, Cabe thought sourly. Or at least one in particular, if I'm correct.

Cabe was fairly certain as to the ident.i.ty of the force ultimately responsible here and knew that he should have gone directly to the other's last resting place, but the female vision continued to demand the mage's attention. There had to be a particular reason for her materializing again and again.

There came renewed sobbing. Cabe pushed his way through two centuries of vegetation-overgrown rubble, moving deeper into the city. More than once, the mage thought that he would finally catch up, but the gowned woman always remained just far enough ahead.

And still he could not see her face.

Bertran swore as he stumbled over an unstable piece of stonework. Cabe looked back at the pair. "I shouldn't have let you follow me. I never thought to journey this far into the city. If you retrace our steps, you should be all right."

Marilee shook her head. "I need to find out about her, too. I saw her. I want to know who she was, why she's in more torment than the others. What is she and why we can see her . . . "

Now the wizard understood why she followed so docilely. Hinted at was that the woman was actually hoping to find other spirits that might be active. Cabe had suspected the reason, but now had his verification. "You want to find your parents."

For a brief moment, Marilee looked much younger, much less a.s.sured. Cabe saw the child left alone after the city's tragic fall.

"I know that sounds mad," she finally answered. "But I thought with everything so alive this time, maybe there was something going on. Maybe this ghost knew about others . . . " Her expression revealed how foolish that notion now seemed even to her.

"I'm sorry-" the wizard began.

Bertran interjected himself between them. "There she is! By the fallen inn!"

Even as they looked, the apparition moved on again. She continued to seem to have a reason in her journey. She headed toward the tilted remains of a roofless house, then suddenly veered toward the right down a narrow stone avenue.