If that were the case, Rau never would have set off on his own.

Nhaille glared at her, ordering her with a glance to action. She stared stubbornly back at him and watched his expression darken.

Nhaille's strategy made a cold-hearted kind of sense, but no way in the Seven Hells could Riordan stand by and watch Rau run his sword through Nhaille's heart. Images of his arms around her, the many ways he'd been both friend and mentor raced through her mind. With Nhaille gone she wouldn't have the strength to bear the Sword. She couldn't let Rau kill him, not even to save Kanarek.

The Prince was examining Nhaille much the way he might an exotic beetle. "The Great Captain Nhaille, after all. Well, I see the rumors of your death have been, shall we say, exaggerated."

Nhaille answered him with silence.

"And if I have the Great Captain at the point of my sword, then your companion must be..."

Riordan pulled off her helmet, letting her silver hair tumble about her shoulders in the moonlight. It was a chance, albeit a slim one, that confronting a myth might distract Rau long enough to give Nhaille a chance.

"Riordan-Khun-Caryn," she said, giving a passable version of a court bow. Fear flickered across Rau's face, quickly smothered.

But Riordan heard his gasp of surprise beneath the wind's whisper. "And you are?"

He stared at her in amazement, his sword slipping for a moment from its target. "Doan-Rau."

Riordan took that opportunity to kick him under the chin.

Rau's sword flew wide, landing in a clatter amongst his discarded armor. He scrambled to reach it. Nhaille leapt after him, but Riordan was closer.

A risk he wouldn't have wanted her to take. She'd listen to his recriminations forever. But she had to stop Rau from reaching that sword.

Riordan flung herself at Rau.

She smashed into him, knocking him flat on his stomach. Putting the blade of her sword against the back of his neck, she leaned on him with the sum of her weight. "One move, Prince Rau," her words dripped venom on the last syllable of his name, "and you're dead. And believe me, I will enjoy killing you."

"Leave the Princeling to me," Nhaille said, getting to his feet. "It would be my pleasure, Your Majesty."

"Oh no," Riordan said, raising her sword for the killing blow. "The duty is mine."

In a sweeping arc, she brought the sword down toward the back of his neck.

Searing heat shot through her face. She scraped at the flaming ember Rau flung against her eye. The world blurred. Then she was on the ground.

And Rau held her sword against her throat.

Somewhere in the darkness, Nhaille swore vehemently.

Damn it, Nhaille. Why didn't you teach me the dirty tricks? Though he'd taught her every possible technique with the sword, he neglected burning coals and knives in the back.

Rau seized a handful of her hair and hauled her unceremoniously to her feet. "Stay where you are, Captain. Or the mythical heir to Kanarek will rapidly become no more than a brief memory."

Her eyelid was beginning to blister and swell. Even moonlight made it tear. It would be days before she knew whether she'd lost her sight as well. If she lived that long.

"Kill him, Nhaille. It's the only way."

She couldn't see out of her left eye. With the cold blade of her sword against her throat, she couldn't turn her head.

"Do it. I'm quite willing to die, as long as I take this Haelian swine with me."

"Riordan, be quiet." She heard the strain in his voice, though she couldn't see him. She knew how it felt, since she'd been in Nhaille's position only moments ago. Nhaille could no more let her die than she could him. If I live through this, Nhaille will kill me himself. The thought was comforting somehow.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Rau brought his face down close to hers. Moonlight glinted off the whites of his eyes, illuminating the madness within them. His breath was warm against the side of her face. "Shut up."

Nhaille took a step toward Rau. She felt the shifting of sand against her legs, even if she couldn't see him.

A warm trickle of blood leaked down the side of her neck, pooling against her collar.

"No further," Rau warned.

"Killing her will gain you nothing." Nhaille's voice, further away.

"Oh, have no fear, Captain. I don't intend to kill her. Not just yet, anyway."

Her father's mutilated face hovered in Riordan's memory and she pictured the multitude of horrors Rau could inflict upon her before her death. Please Nhaille, don't let him do any of those things to me.

"Not until our good Queen Riordan leads me to the Sword of Zal-Azaar." Rau considered his own strategy. "Perhaps not even then. I may decide I like her." Rau pressed against her suggestively. Her body recoiled, but he held her fast. And she realized there were more humiliating ways to torture a woman than slitting her throat.

The thought occurred to Nhaille as well, for his eyes narrowed. But he said evenly, "The Sword of Zal-Azaar is nothing more than an entertaining myth."

"Really? Then what were you and the Queen doing in the middle of the desert?"

"Fleeing Kanarek."

"Neither of you were in Kanarek when it fell. I know. I counted the bodies of the Khun-Caryn clan myself."

Riordan ground her teeth together. "When I get my hands on you, Prince, I'll dissect you slowly, oh so slowly. I'll make you suffer for a very long time."

Rau laughed. A flat echoless sound, lost in the desert wind. "I shall look forward to your hands upon me."

Only the sword at her neck stopped her from spitting in his face.

"Wave goodbye, Captain." Rau dragged her backward.Nhaille took a step away, holding up his hands in a sign of defeat. Through her good eye, Riordan caught a glimpse of his anguished expression. She wanted to call out to him, to tell him to end it all now, but she knew he would never do anything to harm her.

And as long as I'm still alive, I've got a chance at Rau.

With the blade of his sword still pressed against her throat, he hauled her with him to his horse. He tossed the saddle at her feet.

Holding her by the hair, his sword still at the ready, he ordered her to put it on.

"Don't even think of it," Rau said as Nhaille took a step toward them. "If you're smart, you'll say your farewells now."

"If you're not going to kill him, Nhaille," Riordan said, wanting only to get him out of harm's way. There'd be time to deal with Rau later. "Just do as he says."

"That's right, Captain. Turn around and start walking in the other direction. Keep walking until the sun comes up." He yanked Riordan toward him until their heads touched. "If I catch you following us, I will kill her immediately. Do you understand?"

Nhaille nodded grimly. With a last pleading look at Riordan, he turned and walked away into the darkness.

# Trussed like a turkey, bound hand and foot, Riordan lay slung over Rau's horse and wished wholeheartedly for a moment when each step the animal took didn't knife into her ribs. Her left eye had long since swollen completely shut and the world swayed lopsidedly beneath her. Sweat stung the wound and the blowing sand only added to her misery. After two days under the blistering sun, she smelled only marginally better than Rau's horse.

Suddenly the world slid sideways. She hit the ground hard.

Thunk!

Riordan sprawled unceremoniously on the hard ground. Staring up through one eye at Rau's dark shape silhouetted against the sun, she realized she'd fallen asleep.

He kicked at her side. "Get up."

Making a scoop of her bound hands, she caught the edge of his boot and toppled him backward.

Rau hit the ground with a curse. Riordan scrambled awkwardly to her feet. In a zig-zagging hop, she raced for the abandoned horse.

He snagged her hair, yanking her backward.

"Just full of spunk, aren't you?"

She spat at him.

"Well, Your Majesty. Were I you, I'd save my strength."

Riordan answered him with a head-butt to the stomach.

With a vehement curse, Rau doubled up on the ground. Despite the pain, he refused to lessen his grip on her hair, and after a few more unsuccessful attempts to wrestle from his grasp, she sagged to the ground beside him.

"You Khun-Caryns have fire for blood," he said with grudging admiration. "And you, Haelian scum, are lower than a snake."

Doubling over again, Rau laughed despite his wounded stomach. "Were the situation different, I might actually like you."

Riordan offered him her finest glare. "Were the situation different, I would kill you, Your Highness. Mark my words."

He sobered then. Casting a glance at her, disheveled and panting with anger, he snorted. "I must say, you've looked better, Your Majesty."

"How in Hells would you know? No one's ever seen me."

"You were rumored to be very beautiful."

"Until I got a burning coal in the eye."

For a moment, Rau looked almost remorseful. "I doubt the damage is permanent."

Riordan shrugged. "No matter. I need only live long enough to kill you."

"Do you think of nothing else?"

"No."

Rau sighed. "Then I guess we have nothing to discuss."

"On the contrary." Riordan turned her good eye to face him. Under other circumstances she might have considered him handsome, but there was an intensity to his gaze that betrayed the madness hovering just below the surface. "I should dearly like to know what it is that drives a man to level an entire kingdom. What twisted ugliness inside motivates someone to defile the bodies of our dead? What breeds such wickedness? An unhappy childhood? Or were you born that way?"

"Enough!" Madness bubbled to the surface. He yanked her to her feet. "I was willing to be merciful and offer you a moment's rest.

But I've changed my mind. Wouldn't want your loyal subject, the late Captain Nhaille to come sneaking up on us." He shoved her toward his horse. "Be thankful you are riding. I could just as easily drag you along behind me."

Once again slung over the saddle, Riordan craned her head for a view of the horizon. Instead of the predictable featureless sky, a thin line of purple became visible.

The magenta mountains. At last.

Now would be a good time to begin formulating a plan. A vague memory of running through crystal corridors flashed through her mind. Was the vision destiny in waiting. Or merely one of the many cruel outcomes fate had yet to decide for her?

Riordan cast a glance behind them. Are you still there, Nhaille? What would you do in my place?

But there was only the endless wind and the shifting sand to answer her.

Nhaille would never have gone to Kanarek, her conscience whispered. Nhaille would have died for Kanarek's revenge. And she'd thrown the best of his intentions to the wind.

Don't you worry, she told the quiet desert. I'll find a way out of this. I'll find a way to fix it all. Somehow.

# When he found her, he would throttle her within an inch of her life. And then he would bury his face in her hair and weep with gratitude.Nhaille swore loud and long. No one could hear him over the ceaseless wind. Somehow it didn't make it any better. He had only to glance back at Riordan's riderless horse that trotted obediently behind him to feel a pang of unbearable remorse.

"Nineteen years!" he roared into the wind. "Nineteen years of watching and waiting. Not even five days on the road and all is lost."

Gods above, he'd spent all those years teaching her obligation, concern for others. And she'd thrown it all away, worrying about him.

"Why didn't I teach her selfishness?"

Images of what a madman like Rau could do to a young woman naive in the ways of men twisted in his gut. Her father's face flashed before his eyes, fierce and condemning.

Nhaille's eyes closed in a fervent prayer. "Forgive me, Arais. I should never have let her care for me."

# Rau's snores shattered the silent night. Riordan stared at him lying face up in the moonlight and swore. Oblivious to her venom, the Prince slept on.

Struggling with the leather thongs that bound her only irritated her chafed skin. Resigned, she wormed back under the blanket and tried to sleep.

Another snore shot her eyelids open. As good as shouting our presence to the world! Can you hear him, Nhaille? Are you still out there? There'd be hell to pay once he found them. Riordan wasn't sure whom she pitied more, Rau or herself.

She forced her eyes shut. Exhaustion won't help the situation. An awesome rattle issued from Rau's throat. Riordan groaned.

Throwing off the blanket, she contemplated heaving something big at him. An impossibility with her arms and legs bound.

Her sharp curse didn't register. Nor did the scoop of sand she flung after him with her heels. Finally, driven beyond the bounds of good sense, she squirmed until she rested on her knees and elbows and inched toward him.

A bolt of white fury shot through her as she gazed down at him. Arrogant swine! What gives him the right to sleep so peacefully after what he's done. Does he think me such a fool that I wouldn't consider smothering him in his sleep? Riordan shuffled closer. If I fell across him -- he could easily throw me off. He must outweigh me by at least three stone. She looked down at the sword in Rau's hand even as he slept. What if I kicked the sword away first? But what would I smother him with? A blanket?

Another thought occurred to her. In the darkness, Riordan smiled. Sleep soundly, Prince.