"What is it?"

Nhaille signaled urgently for silence. Riordan scanned the low dunes around them. Nothing.

Desperately searching for a source of refuge, he motioned toward a low outcrop of rock. Dismounting, she led Strayhorn toward it. The ever-present wind drilled sand at the shallow opening, obliterating their footprints. They huddled in the indentation, urging the horses in behind them. The shadows were impenetrably dark after the sun's blinding light. Nhaille's eyes flickered in the darkness, warning her to silence. He clamped a hand over Stormback's nose. She mirrored his actions with Strayhorn. Crammed in beside the horses, they waited a veritable eternity.

Then, among the dunes, nearly tracing their own footsteps, there was movement. Riordan sunk deeper into the recess, pressing herself against Strayhorn's flank. Her heart hammered in her ears. She was certain even her shallow breath could be heard above the wind.

A rider passed in front of them a short distance away.

For one disorienting second, Riordan saw her premonition superimposed upon the scene before her. She blinked gritty eyes. No, this was reality. From her hiding place, she peered out at him into the glaring light of the sun.

Wind tore at his black cloak with angry fingers. It billowed out behind him like great wings. The crimson plume on his helmet waved back and forth like a flag. But it was the flash of amber at his throat that froze the gasp upon her lips.

Riordan's eyes slid sideways, locking with Nhaille's. He held her gaze, willing her to silence.

Several paces away, the rider paused, listening intently. Her heart froze in her chest. Indrawn breath burned to be released.

Indigo eyes flickered over the landscape, sweeping by the shadows that concealed them.

Don't see us, Riordan flung the sum of her will at him.

A wall of sand blew momentarily between them. The rider wiped a hand across his face, then spurred his horse onward.

Riordan slowly released the breath she'd been holding. Shutting her eyes in a fervent prayer, she sagged weakly against Nhaille. The rider plodded steadily away from them, his black form a dark smudge in the brilliance. Together they watched him go. The horses whinnied nervously, unhappy at being forced into such tight quarters.

"Doan-Rau," Riordan whispered. A statement, not a question. Without a doubt, she knew him from her vision.

Nhaille nodded. "He hopes to be heir to Hael and all its conquered territories."

"He is not heir to Kanarek," she said with venom. "And if I have my way, he'll not live to be heir to anyone's territory."

Nhaille offered no answer to that, merely stared at the rider's rapidly disappearing tracks. "Let him put some distance between us."

Riordan watched as he disappeared out of hearing range and flung the sum of her wrath after him. "Nhaille?"

He looked down at her in the shadows.

"Do you think I'm losing my mind?"

She watched the hard line of his mouth soften into tenderness. "Of course not. Why would you think such a thing?"

"It would be a likely conclusion for someone who admits to seeing things that aren't there."

Placing his hands on either side of her head, he gazed down into her eyes. "It stands to reason that if you carry Shraal blood in your veins, you might also have the capacity for Shraal magic."

"You think what I saw was real? That it may come to pass?"

"I am not an expert in Shraal sorceries, but we must prepare ourselves for the possibility."

"I don't care at all for that answer."

"Many difficult events lie in your future, Riordan. I wish I could will it otherwise."

"So do I." She stared after the black cloaked rider. "Speaking of unpleasant choices, what are we going to do about Doan-Rau?"

Nhaille followed her line of sight. "We have no choice but to kill him."

CHAPTER SEVEN

"I don't see anything." Riordan squinted into the sun. Shuffling over on her belly atop the low ridge on which they were lying, she followed the line of Nhaille's arm.

Placing a hand on the back of her neck, Nhaille gently turned her head in the right direction. "There."Riordan blinked sand from her eyes. On the horizon a black speck moved against the glittering sea of sand.

"Okay, I see him. Now what?"

Nhaille's eyes flickered up to meet hers. "Now we rid ourselves of this troublesome obstacle."

"What are we going to do, sneak up behind him and lop off his head?"

"That's one way to tackle the problem."

"Nhaille!"

He grinned wolfishly and held up his hand for silence. "I said it was one way, not the best course of action. What I had in mind was more along the lines of a night ambush."

Then he won't have to see my face, Riordan thought with a sudden pang of cowardice.

Since she'd stood among Kanarek's still-smoldering ashes, she'd dreamed of nothing but vengeance. Two days ago Nhaille would have had to use physical restraint to stop her from leaping from the ledge and dashing after him.

But the eerie vision in the magenta vault unnerved her. Not only the mindless killing, but the horrible feeling that followed, as if an abyss had opened in her soul.

Her father's dead and clouded eyes swam before her mind's eyes. You'll have no rest until I put a stop to these monstrosities. The task was hers, whether she wanted it or not, she thought, staring at the moving speck silhouetted against the featureless sky.

"It doesn't make sense." Nhaille rubbed the skin on the back of his neck that was chafed by sweat, sand, and the constant rubbing of his helmet. "Why, if he had an entire army on the march -- toward Kholer would be my guess, why would he break with his company and set out alone?"

"You're assuming Doan-Rau is sane," Riordan offered. "A dangerous presumption, don't you think?"

Nhaille shrugged. "He could very well be a raving lunatic, though his father was a rational man."

"Razing Kanarek and turning its dead into an army of ghouls was not a rational action."

"No--"

"And what does it matter anyway. We'll ambush him, as you say, and be done with the problem."

But Nhaille was still wandering the path of his own thoughts. "Is he so convinced of his victory to leave his company in the hands of his commander?"

A thought occurred to her. "Unless he's looking for the Sword as well."

Nhaille pursed his lips in contemplation. "Unless he's looking for you..."

"Me?"

"It does stand to reason that if word of a man and woman fleeing Kanarek reached Doan-Rau, he might draw the obvious conclusion."

"I am not an obvious conclusion! I'm supposed to be a myth."

"I do believe the myth is rapidly becoming reality." He offered her a pointed stare.He didn't need to voice the accusation. Riordan felt a sharp stab of guilt. Doan-Rau might never have known of her existence if she hadn't insisted on going to Kanarek. Her selfish indulgence jeopardized Kanarek's salvation.

"I should never have made you take me there." It tore at her heart to admit her first order might have already caused their downfall.

Nhaille held her gaze a moment longer. "The deed is done, Riordan. Forget it."

# The nighttime desert was a play of blue shadow against bone-white light. Arid wind tossed the sand like waves on the surface of a vast sea. Its frigid fingers combed through Riordan's hair and cast a dusting of sand into her eyes.

I hope I never see another grain of sand in my life!

Riordan blinked away the offending irritation. The moon shimmered through her tears, but she couldn't risk the movement to wipe at them.

Hells of a bad night for it. The moon's nearly bright as day.

But they couldn't wait until the moon was on the wane. The consequences of letting Rau escape were obvious.

Nhaille's right. He must be completely mad to venture out here on his own. Her hand tightened on her sword. Or does he think us so incompetent? Riordan's eyes fastened on her target. Well, Prince Doan-Rau, we shall see.

Like a shadow, Riordan glided through the darkness, inching toward her target. Know your enemy, Nhaille told her. She was close enough now to study him.

He -- she found she didn't want to name him now, not even in her mind, not when she was about to kill him -- was sitting with his back to them. Reaching into the fire's light, he prodded the glowing coals. That small fire can't be taking away much of the chill, Riordan thought, creeping closer. Then again, maybe Doan-Rau's heart turned to ice long ago.

Pale skin gleamed in the moonlight as his hands worked at cleaning his armor. If it wasn't for the fire, she would have thought him part of the scenery, black upon white.

The odor of charred meat wafted back toward her on the breeze. Lizard? Mouse? Whatever he'd eaten for dinner smelled a lot worse than their journey rations. His resourcefulness impressed her. Mad or not, Rau would be a challenge. I'll know your measure soon enough, my Prince.

Behind her Nhaille's barely audible footsteps moved into position. She didn't need to turn to know where he was. She knew his technique almost as well as her own.

A horse whinnied nearby. Rau's, she realized with relief. Their own were tethered some distance away, safely beyond range.

Rau glanced up, disinterested, then went back to his work. Riordan released the breath that caught in her throat.

Nhaille's shadow bled into deeper darkness. Careful to keep his shadow from the circle of light around Rau's fire, he took refuge behind an outcrop of rock and motioned her forward.

Riordan eased her sword from its scabbard, certain Rau would hear the whisper-soft scrape of metal. But the object of her hatred was busy staring up at the diamond points of the stars.

Such a wistful gesture. In profile he looked youthful, thoughtful. Like any other young man contemplating his future. She hadn't expected him to be handsome. That was a disconcerting surprise.Riordan yanked her thoughts back to the task at hand and slid into position.

The desert paused. Rodents ceased their scurrying between shadows. Moon, stars froze in position.

Nhaille sprang.

Riordan leapt after him. The desert rushed by her in a blur of silver and indigo.

A rush of wind must have alerted him. Rau whirled to meet Nhaille's onslaught. Too late.

The impact knocked Rau into the glowing coals of the fire. Sand and ashes scattered in a whirlwind of searing dust.

Riordan flung herself into the tornado of flailing limbs, desperately trying to separate Rau from Nhaille. They rolled beyond the ring of scattered coals.

Rau snatched his sword from the pile of gear. It came free of its sheath with a screech of metal.

Swords clashed together in a flash of moonlight. Nhaille parried Rau's thrust easily. His return caught Rau in the shoulder. The Prince swore.

Gripping Riordan by the arm, Nhaille thrust her away. "Stay out of it."

"Hells I will. He's mine." She took a step toward them.

"I mean it." Nhaille's look was brutal.

Wait a minute, I give the orders here. Riordan raised her sword.

But Rau noted even that small lapse in Nhaille's concentration. With a lightning twist of his wrist, he caught Nhaille's sword, knocking it from his hand. It landed with a whoosh, point down in the sand.

"Nhaille!" The warning was squeezed from her throat before she could call it back.

Nhaille leapt after his sword and stopped short. The tip of Rau's sword rested against his breast. The Prince grinned. Moonlight gleamed on his even white teeth.

Sensing her terror, he grinned wider, a twisted expression that warped his handsome face. Sapphire eyes blazed at her from under a shock of long, brown hair. Her eyes flickered to full lips she guessed could be as sensuous as they were now cruel. At that moment she wanted nothing more than to issue her most brutal kick to his strong jaw.

Riordan froze in position, afraid to startle Rau and send the point of his sword through Nhaille's heart.

"Ah, the good Captain Kayr-Alden-Nhaille it is," Rau said. "Great protector of the kingdom of Kanarek."

"Let him go," Riordan ordered.

Rau's eyes darted sideways. She watched them widen slightly as he caught a glimpse of the strands of silver hair that escaped from her helmet. Whatever he thought of her, he swiftly deduced she wasn't a threat.

"Not likely." The tip of his sword cut into the leather of Nhaille's vest. Apparently her orders were obeyed only by her own subjects. Had she really thought to intimidate him?

Nhaille's expression warned her to silence. His eyes shifted to the sword at his breast, imploring her to sacrifice him to get a clear shot at Rau.Not what Rau was expecting. That would surely throw him off guard, long enough for her to slice off his head and be done with the whole affair. Who knew? Perhaps even the Haelian army would be lost without its commander.