'But the Seron, and the Malakasian guards how can we-?'

'I'll scare them off for you,' Milla said, stealing another piece of gravy-dipped bread. 'But they won't stay away for long so you two have to hurry.'

'What a negative outlook on human emotion,' Ramella went on, now staring into the space left empty when Hoyt rose to follow the little girl back to reality.

'How are you doing this?' Hoyt asked. 'How is this possible?'

'Some things I can just do,' Milla said. With that, Hoyt felt a band wrap around his chest. It tightened, hardening to iron and threatening to suffocate him.

'Not too tight, Pepperweed,' he warned.

'Sorry,' Milla grinned, her hair an endearing scribble.

'Is this how you kept Gilmour from falling?'

'Uh huh,' the little magician said smugly, proud of her work.

'Good job.' Hoyt stroked her curls, and said, 'Let's go.'

'One moment, I have to chase the Seron away first.'

On the highway south of Pellia, with three wagons in flames, most of their cargo lost and more than a few of their number dead or dying in the fire, Prince Malagon's Seron warriors were undeterred; no one fled, no one wept and no one dallied over the bodies of fallen comrades. They formed ranks around the final wagon, salvaged what they could from the burning carts and resumed their journey towards Welstar Palace. When the aerial firestorm slowed, they conducted a search of the fields, but they found no sign of terrorist archers, no Resistance army, and no reason to dig in or to return to Pellia.

Their lieutenant, a big female with a grisly burn on her forearm, climbed to the driver's bench and barked orders at what remained of her platoon. The others fell in step and the wagon rolled on, quickly leaving the fiery devastation behind. Soon the burning wagons and bodies were little more than flickering lights in the distance.

The woman checked the perimeter, checked the sentry lines, checked the squad assigned to the wagon itself, and then settled on the bench beside the driver. 'Welstar,' she growled.

The driver, shook out the reins and the team started off while the last of the Seron took up their positions. He shouted at those Malakasians in his way; they had emerged from their homes, still in their nightclothes, to view the carnage. This bunch ought to get back inside, bunch ought to get back inside, he thought, he thought, they don't know what these Seron might do. they don't know what these Seron might do. 'Go on now!' he cried, 'back to bed with you all!' 'Go on now!' he cried, 'back to bed with you all!'

A few complied, but others, possibly unaware they were risking death, continued to watch the Seron monsters, some snarling with smouldering rage, as they marched towards Malagon's legendary keep.

When the first of the dogs howled, he squinted into the darkness. 'Now that's a big dog,' he said. 'A herder, that one, and with a bull's set of pipes on him, too.'

The Seron lieutenant ignored him as she bound the wound on her arm with a strip of cloth torn from a blanket beneath the bench.

'You know, you ought to-' the driver began.

'Welstar!' the Seron repeated, cutting him off.

'All right, all right. I'll shut up, but you're going to get some kind of nasty infec-'

Another dog howled, this one from across the highway, a lingering wail, an unnatural sound sustained too long in a shrill, threatening cry. It was answered almost immediately by a macabre echo, this from the south, somewhere ahead of the wagon team.

'Now that's not something you hear every day,' he said shakily, but a withering glance from the lieutenant silenced him again.

She stood and shouted a quick string of orders to her platoon: Stand fast! Don't be drawn into the fields. Stand fast! Don't be drawn into the fields.

The howls and barks came from all around them now. Some were low and resonant, rumbling deep in broad, powerful chests; others were like screams, pitched high and wailing, dangerous even from far away. 'I don't like this,' the driver said, trying unsuccessfully to quieten the horses. He peered left and right, trying to move only his eyes, as if sitting still might keep danger from spotting him.

Something moved, low and fast, just out of sight, crunching through frost and brittle cornstalks.

'Oi! What's that then?' He jumped, and cried out, 'Rutting whores, there must be fifty of them gods, but I wish they'd stop yelping so. What could have them so fired-?'

'Shutap!' The lieutenant cuffed him on the temple, nearly knocking him from the bench. She grunted more orders to her platoon: Look sharp! Be ready! Look sharp! Be ready!

A dog appeared in the highway, its eyes glowing red, even in the dim light of the torches carried by the Malakasian guards. It was a wolfhound, the biggest the driver had ever seen. Its mane bristled as it growled through clenched teeth, its jowls dripping froth.

'Great whoring-' The driver drew his sword and twisted the reins around his free wrist as the wolfhound charged the horses, snarling and biting at their forelegs. The lieutenant gestured to a Seron guard, urging him forward to kill the animal, but before he could comply, the roiling din of barking, growling, yelping and shrieking choked to a sudden, unnerving silence. Only the dog attacking the horse team continued to bark.

The lieutenant shouted down at the soldier, 'Ahat dog! Ahat!' Her voice carried over the snowy field like a thunderclap.

The Seron came abreast of the rearing horses. The driver tried to calm the animals, keeping a steady grip on the reins, as the Seron moved in for the kill, raising his knife and then leaping for the dog.

As if the Seron's action was a cue, wolfhounds similar to their leader attacked from all sides, materialising out of the darkness. One sprang onto the attacking Seron's back, biting first at his neck and then at the hand holding the knife. Another, an ebony copy of the first two, used the struggling Seron as a springboard, leaping from his back onto the first horse in the wagon team. It snarled at the driver, then sank its fangs into the horse's neck. The animal screamed, reared in terror, kicked the Seron warrior in the head and then bolted, dragging its teammates and the cart through the ditch into the cornfield.

'Whoring mothers!' the driver shouted, slashing at a dog trying to climb the side of the wagon. The animal fell away, its jaws snapping audibly, and the frightened driver hauled back on the reins until the wagon crashed through a plough rut and he was jounced from the bench, landing with a bone-jarring thud in the frozen soil. He dropped his sword but kept a grip on the reins, which was a mistake, for no amount of tugging slowed the horses and he was dragged halfway across the field until he finally let go and fell face-down in the snow.

Back on the road, what remained of the Seron platoon was engaged in an epic battle with a seemingly endless number of inky-black wolfhounds. For every dog they slashed, stabbed or clubbed to death, another appeared, hurtling out of the darkness like a phantom. They stood their ground, hacking and stabbing to all points of the compass; any that fell were soon covered with snarling beasts; three and four at a time climbed onto the fallen warriors, snapping at arms, necks, ankles and faces, until the Seron, exhausted or dead, finally lay still.

As the wagon thundered across the cornfield Hoyt pushed his way through the canvas bags, then cleared several more for Alen.

'What just happened?' he shouted. 'What was that?'

'Milla,' Alen said, checking his forearm.

'You hurt?'

'Her dog, that cursed hound bit me.'

'Me too.' Hoyt pulled his boot halfway off, exposing his lower leg. 'It hurt like a motherhumper, but look: no blood. None on you either.'

'We'll worry about it later. For now, let's get the blazes out of here.'

'Fine by me,' Hoyt said and started up the side of the cart, climbing the slats. 'We're going to have to jump. It'll hurt.'

'No worse than staying around to see what the Seron plan to do with us.'

'Good point,' Hoyt said. 'I think most of them are back there. Milla's sent some kind of- Ah!' he screamed as the Seron lieutenant stabbed him in the shoulder. She had been aiming for his neck, but a lucky jolt as the cart bounced over uneven ground sent her blow wide of the mark. Alen shouted as Hoyt tumbled backwards and fell beside him, neither in any position to defend themselves. Alen fired a spell, a wild blast, hoping to get lucky and kill the angry warrior, but he missed, and blew out the upper slats instead.

'Rutters, that hurts!' Hoyt tried to roll away from the knife-wielding soldier. 'Look out, Alen! Get back!'

'Over here!' Alen tugged Hoyt's good arm, looking for a safe corner, but there wasn't space enough in the wagon bed. The Seron woman adjusted her grip and sprang towards them.

The wolfhound hit her in mid-air, driving into her from the abandoned driver's bench. It clamped its jaws around her forearm, the bones snapping with a sickening crack, and the two creatures slammed into the side of the cart, each more furious than the other.

It was a fight to the death, but neither Alen nor Hoyt planned on staying around to see the end. 'This way,' Alen said, raising his hands at the wooden tailgate. An explosion rocked the night and the end of the cart was blown away, scattered across the cornfield in splinters. 'Now, jump!' he cried, grabbed Hoyt by the elbow and shoved.

When he landed, Hoyt tore the wound in his shoulder more deeply. Whose idea was this? Whose idea was this? he thought, lying on the freezing ground, resilient stalks poking him in the back. Nearby, he heard Alen groan. 'You all right?' he wheezed. he thought, lying on the freezing ground, resilient stalks poking him in the back. Nearby, he heard Alen groan. 'You all right?' he wheezed.

'Fine,' Alen chuckled. 'Never better, really. I'm actually thinking I would like a bit of corn about now.'

'Stop it.' Hoyt hugged his sides. 'Don't make me laugh.'

Alen knelt beside him. 'Whoring virgins, you're a mess. That shoulder's going to need some stitching.'

'I'll be all right.' Hoyt sat up. 'Let's get out of here. Those dogs were a nice trick, but they won't keep the Seron away all night.'

'You think they were real?'

'They seemed real enough to me,' Hoyt said. 'Remind me to take Milla shopping tomorrow for whatever her little heart desires.'

'I hope they were apparitions, you know, fighting the Seron from within, figments of our collective imagination,' Alen said, helping Hoyt to his feet. 'If they weren't, the city is going to be a tough place to live.'

'A highway full of dead soldiers?'

'Not exactly how we had things planned.'

'It was bark.'

'I know.'

'But it was different this time.'

'I know.'

VERSEN AND SALLAX.

The southern edge of the Falkan plain rolled beneath them as Gilmour and Steven, riding in tandem, encouraged the horse just a bit further before stopping to camp for the night. They were in no hurry to reach the fjord; they had eight days yet to arrive at their rendezvous point if Garec and Kellin even survived the flood tide and there was ample time to locate Mark's boat, sail west and, on the appointed day, make for open water. Gilmour had assisted the stolen skiff with a Larion tailwind when he, Garec and Mark had navigated the twists and turns of the great granite cleft the previous Twinmoon, so he was sure he and Steven would be able to do the same on the return journey. A hearty northerly wind freshening behind them made him wonder if he could come up with a spell to turn periodic gusts westwards behind the skiff; it would be a tricky manoeuvre, but with nine days to reach the open sea, they would have time to experiment.

'I think this poor horse has had just about as much of us as he can take for one day,' Gilmour said. 'There's a place not far from here where we can tuck ourselves in for a couple of days, always assuming we don't run into any occupation soldiers in there.'

'A popular vacation spot, is it?' Steven asked wryly.

'Not really, but you never can tell where those rutters'll turn up.'

'I wonder why we haven't seen any since the Medera did her thing,' Steven mused.

'I've been thinking that as well, and I don't know.' Gilmour patted the horse, whispering, 'Not much further, my friend. We'll rest soon.' They had found the animal wandering along a hillside north of the river, Lessek's spell book and the far portal still tied safely to the saddle. Though battered and bruised, the animal had come through the devastation without serious injury, and after walking beside them for a day, it finally permitted the two sorcerers to ride.

'Don't the Malakasians patrol this area?' Stephen asked as they moved from a field lying fallow into a thick patch of cottonwoods lining a draw at the base of a gully. The gully separated the field and a rolling meadow that looked like it had been left for spring hay. There was a row of mature trees lining the draw-end of the meadow and Steven watched for the shallow stream he was sure they would cross before climbing into the dry, waist-high grass.

'Of course they patrol. We haven't used any major roads, but we also haven't been too deliberate about hiding ourselves either. I can't understand it, but if we get where we're going without running into an entire brigade of soldiers there enjoying a professional lecture on the finer points of sword sharpening, I'll be content to call it a great mountain of very good fortune.'

'Drunks' and children's luck,' Steven said.

'I'll drink to that.' The horse broke through the thin ice of the stream and they began their climb into the meadow.

'Do you think Mark's boat will still be there?' Gilmour didn't sound as confident as he had when he initially presented this course of action to the others.

'I don't see why not,' Steven said. 'It was well hidden, and any snowfall would only add to its camouflage. Who on earth would be sailing for pleasure during this Twinmoon, anyway?'

'Only fools,' Gilmour laughed.

'You and me, cousin,' Steven said, then asked, 'what if Kellin and Garec don't make it?' They had found no sign of the others after the flood waters receded.

'Then we attempt the crossing on our own.'

'You've been in the fennaroot again, haven't you, old man?'

'Not me, though there's no doubt my horse and I both could use a bit of root right now.'

'Your relationship with your horse is your own business, but I'll reiterate, in case you didn't hear me: cross the wide ocean, on our own, in that catboat?'

'Any other suggestions?'

'How about finding a clean, comfortable inn with a big fireplace, a well stocked bar and a squad of randy coeds next door?'

'A lovely thought, Steven, truly.' Gilmour sighed. 'If only we had that kind of time ...'

'Yeah, I know, but it's nice to dream,' Steven acquiesced. 'Fine, then, I'm going to figure on Garec and Kellin having survived the wave.'

'You and me both, cousin.'

'There's the spirit,' Steven laughed. 'I am worried, though I saw the water swallow them, and then I never saw them again. Of course, I was preoccupied at the time.'

Gilmour changed the subject. 'Regardless, we have a few days, and I need to look for something the Larion Brotherhood misplaced long ago.'

'Why don't I like the sound of that?'

'Oh, this doesn't concern you. Just think of it as a learning experience.'

'That's what my stats professor called the two-by-three-way analysis of covariance; we all called it "that fucking nightmare".'

'Nonsense,' Gilmour said, 'an aven or two in and out. We'll be back on the road before nightfall.'

'Where are we?' Stephen asked as they crested the highest point in the meadow. He looked across a patchwork of fields at a jumble of dilapidated buildings marring the pastoral landscape.

'At school.'

'So you were with him; he made it here to Orindale?' Garec sipped his tecan, considered it with a frown and motioned to the barman. 'A beer, please, a big one.'

Brexan waved at him too. 'Make that two, please.'

Kellin raised a hand. 'Three.'