Cabe's gaze narrowed. In the dim light of the moon, he could see the once fine iron fence, parts of which still stood tall. Beyond that fence, some distance away, a turreted estate house-one turret collapsed in-beckoned.

The wizard searched his memory for who this might belong to, but failed to find an answer. He watched as the ghost flitted through the wreckage and headed toward the crumbling edifice.

But as Cabe once more followed, Bertran growled under his breath. The mage turned to see the big man staring wide-eyed at their destination.

Bertran took hold of Marilee's arm. This time, he would not let her pull away. "Marilee. You ain't going in there . . . "

She was as confused as Cabe. "Why, Bertran?"

"That there's Vale."

VII.

The name meant nothing to the wizard, but Marilee swallowed hard. "I never saw it. Only heard it. That's his place?"

"Aye, and if there's ghosts that mean us ill, the outcast will be one!"

"Who is the 'outcast'?" Cabe asked, simultaneously probing the estate grounds.

Bertran nervously shrugged. "My pa, he only just warned me never to go too near Vale. He said the outcast might steal me away!"

Marilee visibly shivered. Cabe, who thus far sensed nothing, wondered what connection this had to the phantasm. He also cursed himself for allowing this pair to follow him rather than do as he should have and first seen them safely to their companions.

Shrieks a.s.sailed them again. The ruins around the trio burst into flame . . . or rather, once more, the memory of flame. Shadows flitted here and there that the wizard decided represented the fleeing populace. His guilt mixed with his growing curiosity. Why were the dead of Mito Pica so violently awake? They had never been like this in previous visits.

"There's light in there!"

Following Marilee's astounded gaze, Cabe saw that illumination did indeed fill the Vale house. He wondered at that name, nothing about the estate showing much that would match the descriptive t.i.tle. While clearly there had once been many trees, that was as close to a vale as an estate within Mito Pica could manage. The landscape otherwise had no similarity, the only other features a set of crumbling statues the outlines of which made Cabe believe they had once represented various forest creatures.

Without warning, Marilee plunged ahead. Bertran grabbed at her, but too late. Cabe decided that a spell might not be the best thing for everyone in such a place-not unless absolutely necessary-and hurried after.

He managed to seize her arm. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I heard her! She called to me!" The woman looked past him to the house. "Momma!"

Cabe saw that he had let things go too far. "Bertran! Take her with you! I'll provide-"

But as he spoke, Bertran ran past him. "Pa!"

Marilee slipped free. Now entirely heedless of their own prior concerns, she and her companion hurried on toward the house.

Cabe started a spell intended to send the two far away, but hesitated. Instead, he grimly pursued them. Somehow, the mage was certain that this revolved around him. One way or another, this force wanted Cabe to come to it.

Alive or dead, I'll make you regret that if any harm comes to those two, he warned the mysterious power.

Make way for the Lady Asrilla! a ghostly voice abruptly cried in his head.

Simultaneously, an ethereal carriage drawn by six white and clearly transparent horses rushed along the crumbled street. The speeding wheels paid no mind to the stone and other rubble filling the street. The rounded carriage raced pa.s.sed a gaping Cabe, who caught a glimpse of a crest the center of which was a wyvern wielding a lance. The crest meant nothing to the wizard, but the name, although one he had not heard in almost two decades, struck him to the core.

Lady Asrilla. Of Mito Pica.

His grandmother.

Cabe had never known her, for she had died giving birth to her second son, his father. With Mito Pica destroyed, he had never bothered to seek that part of his family. He had a.s.sumed that they had perished with the rest.

But whether they had or not, Cabe knew that his grandmother had died long before, which made this phantom coach a very, very strange specter.

He wanted desperately to follow this new trail, but Marilee and Bertran were almost at the house already and Cabe believed that if he let them go alone they were at far more risk. If he had to trade his life for theirs, then so be it.

But he would do so fighting all the way.

No longer willing to hold back, Cabe transported himself to the front entrance just before the pair reached it. Marilee and Bertran paused.

"Your loved ones are not within," he bluntly told them. "You are bespelled."

From Marilee, he saw some understanding. Bertran, however, started forward again.

She blocked his way. "Bertran!"

He gave her a befuddled look. "Pa?"

"Stay here," Cabe ordered. He drew an arc. A transparent golden sh.e.l.l formed around them.

That done, the wizard created another glowing sphere, then stepped through into what had once been a wide front hall. Cabe peered left and right, but only saw more evidence of the great house's collapse. He moved deeper into the structure, finally entering areas where there still remained something of a ceiling.

A tattered tapestry fluttered on a far wall. Cabe would not have even noticed it save that in the light of the sphere he saw that just enough of the image remained to reveal a landscape.

A vale.

He made his way to the tapestry. For some reason, the landscape looked familiar even though the wizard was certain that he had never been to such a place.

The sobbing began anew.

Cabe wended his way out of the room, then hurried after the sound. At the far end of the hall, near where a huge double staircase had collapsed in on itself, the female figure slowly climbed into the air.

The wizard took another step . . . and the floor gave way.

It happened so quickly that he barely had time to shield his landing much less even stop his fall. Cabe hit hard, but not enough to do more than briefly knock the breath out of him. Even then, he was ready for the expected attack.

But nothing happened. Cabe summoned the sphere to him, possibly casting the first light on this chamber in decades.

The wall bore the sign of the vale, the image carved by some very skilled artisan. It stretched across the stone wall, but where it once would have been the focal point of the chamber, now what had burst through the wall itself more than stole that role away.

The roots were immense . . . and black even in the sphere's glow. Cabe could have sworn that they briefly shifted when first the illumination fell upon them. He waited, but when they did not move again, he turned to study the rest of his surroundings.

The dark-haired woman stood watching him.

He gasped, but not merely because she was there. As surprising as the roots had been, they were less shocking to him than the fact that the woman's feature were now visible to him. More to the point, that her eyes were visible to him.

Crystalline eyes that glittered even in the least light.

Cabe had seen eyes like those before. They were the eyes of a Vraad, the ancient race of sorcerers from whom all humans were descended. Very few knew of them or that the only known survivor-if he could be called such-was the cursed warlock called Shade.

But father, she began, talking to the air. he still thinks me only his servant . . . a servant fond of him, but nothing more. I can prove his duplicity to Uncle and then he can convince the Dragon Hunter! Nathan will listen to Uncle!

The wizard stood at a loss. First, here was a phantom bearing the mark of the Vraad, but speaking of another time . . . a time when Cabe's grandfather Nathan had lived.

Still speaking to some silent, unseen memory, she vehemently shook her head and added, No! Whatever I felt for him doesn't matter! He'll bring everything down on us! The Kings already suspect you might not be as loyal as you seem. If they knew that you and Uncle did still speak- There came a shifting behind Cabe. He whirled- This time, there was no question about the roots moving.

The sobbing renewed. Feeling as if he were in the middle of a tug of war, Cabe looked back at the spirit.

Now, she was swollen with child.

If it was possible, the dark-haired woman was even more pale than before. She lay on some cot or low bed that the mage could not see, one arm reaching out and the other holding her belly. In place of the golden dress, the ghost now wore a simple ivory birthing gown, the color of which only served to make her look even closer to death's door.

Please . . . please keep him alive! I . . . I beg you . . . you have the power . . . the power, Nathan! Forget me . . . forget his father . . . forget that thing I still fight in my head . . . save my . . . save my son . . .

Cabe Bedlam forgot about ghosts, forgot about huge roots, forgot about all else. He knew exactly what was playing out here. This was a significant birth, one at the end of the ill-fated Turning War. In its way, it would decide the outcome for two more centuries of Dragon King rule . . . stunted rule, but still rule.

As with Mito Pica, the blame fell upon him. The impending birth hinted at before him was the wizard's own.

And this woman . . . this Vraad . . . was evidently his mother.

It was at that moment that he was struck hard from behind. As Cabe fell to the floor, he heard the unmistakable hiss of a drake.

Barely conscious, Cabe tried to push himself up . . . and as he did, he looked directly into the face of his mother.

The ghost smiled with sinister satisfaction, a smile most definitely aimed at Cabe.

I've waited so long . . . she murmured in his head. And now I have you . . . my darling son . . .

VIII.

Bertran pounded against the sh.e.l.l. "It won't break! I can't break it! Blasted wizards!"

He received only silence from behind him. While he considered himself a fairly adaptable man, Bertran was always glad to have Marilee's quick wits at his side. She usually had a plan or could come up with one on the spot.

"What do you think we should do?" he finally asked. Forgotten was the enchantment that had made him think his long dead father had called to him. Once more, he only saw how manipulating a wizard could be.

Hearing nothing from her, he turned. "Marilee, are you-"

Bertran found himself alone.

Cabe never completely blacked out, but neither did he remain conscious enough for several precious seconds to know what was happening. All he could think was that the ghost of his mother was trying to kill him . . . or worse. Yet, he could not fathom why.

There also remained a niggling doubt. He missed some vital clue, some truth. There had to be more than what appeared on the surface. He had lived too long to not have learned to never take anything at face value, not even ghosts.

Slowly, he regained his senses . . . and only then discovered that he was bound tightly by the huge roots. Cabe immediately concentrated- The roots tightened, cutting off his air and threatening to break his bones.

The moment he ceased his efforts, the roots loosened just enough to let him breathe. Cabe found no relief in the fact that he had not been slain outright; that meant that his captor had other intentions for him.

A low hiss from his far right suddenly warned him that he was not alone. The sphere he had cast remained floating a few feet above the center of the chamber, giving the wizard sufficient light. The vines granted him the luxury of shifting his head just enough to see the iron drake standing in the shadowed corner. The drake stood utterly still and if not for his low, steady breathing, might have seemed dead.

If not dead, he was certainly under control of the same force keeping Cabe a prisoner. The drake provided it with some actual hands. That he had gotten near enough to the spellcaster to hit him had to be due to the obviously weakening but still somewhat potent power of the Aramite device.

A clinking sound echoed through the chamber. A tiny object rolled into view below the sphere.

It was the shattered chess piece from the vision involving Azran and Hadeen.

So cold, so alone for so long . . . then given freedom only to feed some contemptible wizard's little plot! He thought he controlled me, but I was stronger . . .

The vision of Cabe's mother formed again. The crystalline eyes stared hungrily at the captive mage.

This isn't my mother, Cabe realized. It wore her form, but the eyes were not hers. They represented something else inhabiting her.

So clever, the little half-blood, the phantasm said without moving its lips. She drifted toward him. Played right into his hands and his hands played into mine! He wanted all that power in a malleable vessel, one from which he would eventually draw everything to him . . . but I was stronger . . .

She gestured and the chess piece rolled closer to Cabe. He could better see the top, where it was clear something within had escaped. What had Azran unleashed and why? Cabe still did not understand, save that it was Vraad in origin.

He remembered something his captor had said. His mother was a half-blood?

Hadeen! the wizard thought, imagining the half-elf who had raised him. Did you know?

The drake suddenly lurched forward. However, he did not walk toward either Cabe or the apparition, but rather the crest to mage's left. As the scaled warrior stepped up to the wall, the roots there pulled away. Cabe could not make out the exact details, but saw now that there was a face carved below the crest.

This was a crypt.

The drake pulled back a fist, then struck the wall. The crash of his fist against the stone resounded through the chamber. Cracks already created by the roots spread farther.

Without hesitation, the drake struck again. This time, not only did the stone crack, but so did some of the bones in the drake's hand.

Despite what should have been a horrific injury, the scaled warrior continued to pound at the wall. Cabe felt actual pity for the drake, who was killing himself for the apparition's desires.

The roots stretched out, carrying Cabe forward, then turning him toward the task at hand.

No sooner had that been done, then some of the stone fell in, revealing a darkened area behind the wall. The drake now tore at the hole, making it bigger. His breath grew ragged and blood dripped from his hands, but he had no choice but to continue.

And at last, what lay within was revealed.

The tomb was a simple one, with the house crest evident over the silver and stone casket, which itself stood upon a waist-high marble platform. Someone had placed a vase of white roses by one end of the coffin, which Cabe a.s.sumed was where the head was.

But the simple elegance of the tomb was ruined by the insidious roots, which sprouted from the casket itself. Cabe frowned, wondering about the contents.

The ghostly female joined the drake as he entered the tomb. She turned to smile at Cabe, who was revolted by the fact that it wore his long-lost mother's form. They thought they sealed me in, she mocked. but I would not be sealed in again! I fought. I raged . . . and was rewarded when all fell around me . . .

At some unspoken command, the drake worked as best he could with his ruined hands to open the coffin. With a long moan, the top slid back.

Cabe was not certain what he had expected. The true body of his mother, he supposed, either intact or decayed. Instead, a familiar golden substance covered the entire interior and whatever remains might have been placed first place.