As I went through the entrance, I said in an authoritative voice, "I don't need an audience. Wait here, I won't be long."

To my delight they remained outside. I scurried to the far wall where, hidden from view, there was another entrance. The guards might work in the manor house, but I'd grown up here. With a child's curiosity and free time, I had been able to explore almost every corner of the house. Only Brazell's private suite, office and Reyad's wing had been off-limits. Unfortunately once I turned sixteen, Reyad's wing became my daily nightmare. Pushing away the thought, I concentrated on the present.

I pulled the handle of the door and encountered my first unwanted surprise. It was locked. No problem, I thought, reaching for my picks. The mechanism popped with ease, the door swung open, and I discovered a second nasty shock. One of the guards waited in the hallway.

He smirked. I rushed him. Using my momentum, I shoved him off balance and punched him in the groin. A dirty Valek move, but I didn't care as I raced down the corridor, leaving the guard far behind.

Slipping out the south entrance, I retrieved my cloak, and then headed west to find my pack and bow. Bright moonlight illuminated my path, and I could see where I was going; however, my true path was less evident. I knew I couldn't help the Commander from a locked room, but I was unsure what I could do from the outside. I needed to talk to Valek. Deciding it would be too risky to go to the barracks, I took to the treetops. Only Valek knew this trick. Once he learned of my escape, he would track me.

When I reached the open area reserved for the annual fire festival's visit to MDa5, I stopped for the night. Shivering in my cloak, I huddled against a tree trunk, blowing clouds of steam from my mouth. Once, I heard the baying of dogs and distant shouts, but no one came close to my makeshift bed in the tree. Sleep eluded me; I was too cold and nervous. Instead, I envisioned the bright fabric of the festival tents in the clearing, hoping to warm myself by remembering the hot energy of the festival nights.

I imagined the big tops in their proper places. Dancers, singers and acrobats lined up in the middle of the clearing. Food stands huddled in and around the big tents, scenting the air with mouthwatering treats. I went to the festival every hot season when I had lived under Brazell's roof. It had been the highlight of my existence. Although my memories of those last two years, when I had been Reyad's laboratory rat, were dreadful.

Unable to resist, I climbed down from the tree and walked through my imaginary festival. I stopped where the acrobatics tent had stood, wondering if I could still perform the tumbling routine that had won me first place and the fire amulet. Without thought, I tossed off my cloak and started a warm-up. In the back of my mind, I knew I should be hiding, that it was stupid to be this exposed to discovery, but the desire to relive my one moment of true joy was too strong to deny.

Soon all thoughts of Brazell, Reyad and Mogkan were banished as I spun and soared through the air. My mind settled into the mental zone of pure concentration I used when I fought. I relished the release, brief as it might be, from my days of tension and threat.

As I performed my routine, I discovered that I could push my heightened awareness beyond my body to encompa.s.s the trees, even sense the animals in the forest. An owl, perched high on a branch, tracked the movements of a field mouse. A family of possums slipped without sound through the underbrush. A woman, crouched behind a stone, watched me.

Stealing into Irys's mind was as easy as slipping on a pair of gloves. Her thoughts flowed into my mind like silk. I reminded her of her younger sister, Lily, and she longed to be back home with her family, not sneaking around in cold, horrid Ixia. The situation in the north was getting dangerous; she would be safer in Sitia. But for how long? she wondered. As a master-level magician, she couldn't allow the abuse of power that she had felt emanating from this area to continue. Kangom, who called himself Mogkan, was producing Theobroma at alarming quant.i.ties. He had also rigged a way to intensify his power.

Irys's thoughts returned to me, and I felt a tug on our mental connection.

Yelena, what are you doing in my mind?

I'm not sure how I got here.

Haven't you figured it out by now? You're focusing your magic when you fight. That's why you instinctively antic.i.p.ate your opponent's moves. I felt you at the castle when you were fighting your friends. Now that you have learned to harness your power, you have taken the next logical step by expanding it beyond the immediate area.

My surprise broke our link. I stopped, panting in the cold night air as Irys emerged from the woods.

"Does that mean I'm not going to flame out?" I asked.

"You've stabilized, but you won't get any stronger unless you receive the proper training. You don't want to waste your potential. Come south now; your pursuers are miles away."

"The Commander..."

"Is ensorcelled. Nothing you can do; his mind is probably gone. Mogkan has been feeding him Theobroma. I've smelled it since I arrived."

"Theobroma? Do you mean Criollo? The brown-colored sweet that Brazell's manufacturing."

"That sounds right. It opens a mind to magical influence. It relaxes the mental defenses, allowing easy access to someone's mind. We use it as a training tool in controlled situations where a fledgling magician is close to the subject. The Commander has a strong personality, very resistant to magical suggestion. Theobroma breaks down that barrier, which helps when a student is learning, but using it on the Commander to gain control of his mind is the same as rape." Irys pulled her cloak tight around her shoulders. "Even with Theobroma, a magician shouldn't be able to reach the Commander's mind from this distance, but Mogkan has. He has found a way to boost his power."

Irys rubbed her arms with her hands, trying to warm up. "I'm guessing Mogkan's visit to the castle was to lock himself into the Commander's mind so he could lead him out here."

"What can we do to break the lock?" I asked.

"Kill Mogkan. But it'll be difficult. He's very powerful."

"Isn't there another way?" I recalled my conversation in the woods with Valek about murder as a solution. My formula, he had said, and it still annoyed me. He'd probably never been in the lose-lose situation I was always finding myself in.

"Block Mogkan's power supply. That might work. He'll still have his magic, but it won't be enhanced."

"What would his extra power look like? How do we find it?"

"My guess would be that he's either recruited a number of magicians to pool their power, or he's devised a way to concentrate the power source without warping it." She paused, considering. "Diamonds."

"Diamonds?" A cold knot of anxiety churned in my stomach. There was so much I didn't know about magic.

"Yes. Very expensive, but they will gather and store power like a hot coal holds heat. He might be using diamonds to enhance his magic. He would need a man-size circle of diamonds, and that's not easily hidden. If we could find this circle I might be able to use it to block his power or, at least, redirect it long enough for you to awaken the Commander."

"What if the source is a group of magicians? How would I recognize them?"

"Unfortunately, Ixia doesn't have a uniform for magicians," Irys said, her voice sharp with sarcasm. "Instead of searching for them, look for an empty room with a wagon-wheel design painted on the floor. To link magical power, each magician must be perfectly aligned along the edge of a circle."

"I can search the manor, but I need help," I said. "I need Valek."

"You need a miracle," Irys replied with a wry twist to her lips.

"Can you direct Valek here?"

"He's already on his way. You two have forged a strong connection, although I don't know if it's of magical origin." Irys pursed her lips. "I'd better go before Valek arrives. When and if you discover the source of Mogkan's extra power, chant my name in your mind. I'll hear your call because we, too, have created a bond. Our mental link grows stronger each time we communicate. I'll try to help you with the Commander. But no promises. I'm after Mogkan." She disappeared into the forest.

While I waited for Valek, I paced on the packed dirt and tried to think of a way to find Mogkan's power source. Irys's words about needing a miracle were, indeed, an understatement.

To distract myself, I focused on my surroundings. The tread of many feet had rubbed out the gra.s.s and trampled the earth until it was worn smooth and shiny. I remembered digging my heels into this same hard dirt the last time I was here, when Reyad dragged me to the manor house to punish me for disobeying him and winning the amulet. I had pressed that prize so tight against my skin it had left a mark. Then I had hidden it to keep it out of Reyad's cruel hands.

Two years had pa.s.sed since I had buried my amulet. Someone had probably discovered it by now. For an exercise, I tried using my new magical skill. Directing my awareness downward, I circled the clearing. I made many circuits and was growing bored, when suddenly, the soles of my feet felt hot. When I continued they cooled. I moved here and there until, once more, heat stabbed my feet.

Taking my grappling hook from my pack, I dug at the spot. My efforts revealed some fabric. I tossed my hook aside and clawed at the ground with my fingernails, uncovering my lost amulet.

It was dull and covered with dirt. The ribbon that held it was torn and stained. Pressing the flame-shaped amulet against my chest, I felt warmth emanating from it. I put it down to fill the hole, humming a tune. Cleaning the palm-size medal on my pants, I strung it onto the necklace chain with Valek's b.u.t.terfly.

"Not the best hiding place. Wouldn't you agree?" Valek asked.

I jumped. How long had he been standing behind me?

"They're searching for you. Why did you run?" he asked.

I briefed Valek on the Commander, Mogkan, the factory and the advisers, hoping he would draw the same conclusions I had.

"So Mogkan is using Criollo to take control of their minds, but where's he getting the power?" Valek asked.

"I don't know. We need to search the manor."

"You mean, I need to?"

"No, we. I grew up there. I know every inch." The first place I wanted to look was in Reyad's laboratory wing. "When do we start?"

"Now. We have four hours till dawn. What are we looking for?"

When I explained that we were seeking either a circle of diamonds or a painted wheel, Valek's thin eyebrows puckered as if he wanted to question me about how I had come by this information. He held his peace and headed back toward the barracks.

I hid outside while Valek changed into his black skintight sneak suit. He brought me a dark-colored shirt to wear over my bright red uniform shirt, and carried an unlit bull's-eye lantern. My cloak would be too c.u.mbersome for creeping through the halls, so I hid it in the bushes.

We found a back door near the servants' quarters. Valek lit the lantern. Pushing the slide almost closed, he allowed only a thin ray of light to escape. Inside the manor, I took the lead.

Reyad's suite was in the east wing on the ground floor, opposite the laboratory. The entire wing had been his, and there were a number of doors that he'd kept locked while I had been the resident laboratory rat.

Old horrors haunted me as we searched. My skin felt tight and hot. I recognized the faint acidic aroma of fear that mixed with the dust stirred by our footsteps. It was my smell. I had worn it like a perfume whenever Reyad dragged me to his test.

The thick air pressed down on me, filling my mouth with the taste of ashes and blood. I had bitten my hand without conscious thought. It was an old habit, a way to stifle my cries.

Exploring the laboratory room, the thin lantern's beam spotlighted instruments hanging from the walls and piled on the tables. Each revelation sent a cold numbing pulse through my body, and I shrank away from the large shadows of equipment unrevealed, unwilling to even brush against them. The room resembled a torture chamber rather than a place for experiments.

Feeling like an animal pierced in the metal jaws of a trap, I wanted to scream and bolt from the room. Why had I brought Valek here? Brazell's advisers were housed on the second floor. Mogkan's diamond device, if there was such a thing, was probably hidden near his room, not down here.

Valek hadn't said a word since lighting the lantern. In the hallway outside Reyad's bedroom, a physical force prevented me from entering. My muscles trembled. An icy sweat soaked my uniform. I waited at the door while Valek went in. I could see the dark malevolent shape of Reyad's s.a.d.i.s.tic "toy" chest lurking in a corner of the room. If I burned that chest to cinders, I wondered, would my nightmares cease?

"Not if I can help it," Reyad's ghost said, materializing beside me in the hallway.

I jerked back, hitting the wall. A yelp escaped my lips before I could shove my hand into my mouth.

"I thought you were gone for good," I whispered.

"Never, Yelena. I will always be with you. My blood has soaked into your soul. You have no chance of cleansing me away."

"I have no soul," I said under my breath.

Reyad laughed. "Your soul is drenched black with the blood of your victims, my dear, that is why you can't see it. When you die, that heavy blood-filled essence will sink to the bottom of the earth where you will burn in eternity for your crimes."

"From the voice of experience," I whispered with a rage that made my voice hiss.

Valek came out of Reyad's room. With a face pale as bone, he stared at me with a horrified expression so long that I wondered if he had been struck dumb. Finally, closing the door, Valek walked past the ghost without seeing him, then stopped at the next locked room, pausing a moment with his head bowed to press a hand to his forehead.

"There's someone who really needs to be haunted," Reyad said, stabbing a ghostly white finger at Valek. "It's a shame he doesn't let his demons bother him, because I know a certain dead King that would love to plague him." Reyad looked at me. "Only the weak invite their demons to live with them. Isn't that right?"

I refused to answer Reyad as I followed Valek. We continued our search but it was obvious that, other than the laboratory, the wing had been abandoned. There were three doors left.

While Valek picked the two locks, Reyad chatted on. "My father will soon send you to me, Yelena. I'm looking forward to spending eternity with you." He leered and wiggled his fingers at me.

But I was no longer interested in the ghost. The contents of the room before me riveted my attention. Inside, dozens of women and a few men flinched from the yellow beam of Valek's lantern. Greasy hair obscured their dirt-streaked faces. Rags clung to their emaciated bodies. None of them spoke or cried out. To my increasing horror, I realized they were chained to the floor. In circles. One outer circle and two inner rings with lines painted between them.

When Valek and I stepped into the room, the foul stench of unwashed bodies and excrement wafted through the air. Gagging, I covered my mouth. Valek moved among them, asking questions. Who are you? Why are you here? His queries were met with silence. Their vacant eyes followed his pa.s.sage. They remained where they were chained, staring.

I began to recognize some of the grubby faces. They had lived in the orphanage with me. They were the older girls and boys who had "graduated" and were supposed to be employed throughout the district. The sight of one girl, her ginger hair dull and matted, finally made me cry out in pain.

Carra's soft brown eyes held no sign of intelligence as I stroked her shoulder and whispered her name. The free-spirited girl I had cared for in the orphanage had become a mindless, empty sh.e.l.l of a woman.

"My students," Reyad said. His chest puffed out in pride as he floated in the middle of the room. "The ones who didn't fail."

"What now?" I asked Valek with a shaky voice.

"You're arrested and thrown in the dungeon," Mogkan answered from the entrance.

Valek and I spun in unison. Mogkan loomed in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest. Valek charged him; fury blazed in his eyes. Mogkan stepped back into the hallway. I saw Valek stop just past the doorway and raise his hands in the air. d.a.m.n, I thought, racing to help him.

Mogkan stood like a coward behind eight guards. The tips of their swords were aimed mere inches from Valek's chest.

30.

AS SWORD POINTS p.r.i.c.kED my back, I watched Valek, expecting him to spring into action during the whole miserable trip to Brazell's holding cells. I waited for him to blur into motion as they stripped and searched us, enduring the humiliation of being prodded and poked by rough hands as they confiscated my backpack, switchblade and necklace. Losing my clothing didn't upset me as much as losing Valek's b.u.t.terfly and my amulet.

I prepared for a sudden jailbreak when we were led down into the prison, and was still waiting as we were shoved into adjoining cells.

I held my breath as the heavy metal lock clanged shut on our underground chambers. The soldiers tossed our clothing in through the bars. Then they left, abandoning us to blackness. I fumbled with my uniform, trying to b.u.t.ton my shirt in the dark.

Here I was again. A nightmare turned real as we went through the guardroom, down one flight of steps, and into Brazell's small dungeon, which only contained eight cells, four on each side of a short corridor. Valek and I were in the two cells closest and to the left of the steps. A familiarly loud, rancid stench permeated the prison. The thick, silty air so overpowered my senses that it took me a while to realize we were the only occupants.

Unable to bear the sudden quiet, I asked, "Valek?"

"What?"

"Why didn't you fight the guards? I would have helped you."

"Eight men had drawn swords pointed at my chest. Any sudden movement and I would have been skewered. I'm flattered that you think I could win against those odds. Four armed opponents, maybe, but eight is definitely too many."

I could hear the amus.e.m.e.nt in Valek's voice.

"Then we pick the locks and make our escape?" My confidence was based on the fact that Valek was a master a.s.sa.s.sin and trained fighter, a man who wouldn't stay confined for long.

"That would be ideal, provided we had something to pick them with," Valek replied, dashing my hopes.

I searched my cell with my hands. Finding nothing but filthy straw, rat droppings and unrecognizable muck, I sank to the floor with my back against the one stone wall I shared with Valek.

After a long moment, Valek asked, "Was that your fate? If you hadn't killed Reyad, were you slated to be chained to the floor, mindless?"

The image of those captives burned in my mind. My flesh crawled. For the first time, I was content to have failed Reyad's tests.

As I thought more about them, I remembered a comment Irys had made regarding a magician's ability to steal magic from others. Finally, the significance of the women and men sitting in circles. .h.i.t me. Mogkan's extra power came from those chained captives. Brazell, Reyad and Mogkan must have screened the children of the orphanage for magical potential. Then, while experimenting on them, Mogkan had wiped their minds clean, leaving them mindless vessels from which to draw more power.