It took them another day to reach the wide dirt road that lead to Harkol. Bathed in the afternoon sun, Fay stared at the sign that pointed the way. She sighed, and turned to Tavis. "I guess this is where we part company."

He looked at her, biting his lower lip slightly, thinking. "I- Could I come with you, Fay?" He hesitated, then his words rushed ahead. "I just don't feel right, letting you go off alone. I've heard the kinds of thing that can happen to a young woman alone."

She was amused by the implication that she needed his protection. But his question had been a strange echo of her own feelings. She was enjoying his company, and didn't want to watch him ride away. After the previous night's revelation, she thought this was partly her magic prompting her about a potential partner, but she wondered if there could be more to it. Her desire for him to continue with her felt genuine. She thought he might be experiencing the same subtle push from within, though it occurred to her that he might not recognize it as she had. She thought about explaining the things he was likely feeling, only to find she couldn't, not if that might lead him to leave. "What about finding your mother? I don't know how long I'll be, or where I'll be going afterward."

He opened his mouth, and closed it again, frowning. He looked up the highway in the direction of Rianza, then shrugged, turning back to her. "She can wait. I don't even know if she really wants to see me. She never came back, after all."

"Well, you can come with me at least as far as Harkol. I don't know exactly where this Eliar lives, and I was hoping that someone in the village could tell me. Beyond that, we'll work it out later. I don't want to keep you from the academy for too long." She turned Rain off the highway. As she did, she thought she heard him mutter something about being too old for the academy. Fay decided in that moment that she would take him there herself and refuse to let them deny him a place. The vehemence of her determination startled her.

She wasn't entirely sure when the sensation began but it was fairly strong when she finally became fully aware of it. The feeling was like riding through spider webs that became stronger the further they went. She pulled on the reins to halt the stallion. Tavis, not expecting the sudden stop, rode several paces beyond her, then turned the mare, who he had introduced to her as Swift, and rode back to her.

"What's wrong?"

She shuddered. Now that she was standing still, she could feel something different, more unnerving, like a warping around the edge of her senses. Her hearing and vision were amplified already by her magic, searching out any sign that someone was following or about to attack them. The thought had been in the back of her mind since that morning that Neoro and his guards had probably reached Rianza already. How long would it take them to discover she wasn't there and turn back, she had wondered. The thought made her nervous, though being off the highway had helped some. She was sure that this had nothing to do with them though. She could almost taste magic in the air as she nudged Rain around in a circle. Shifting her perceptions, she gasped. The woods and road were crisscrossed with traces. The trail wasn't from one person either. She could see traces of different colors and thicknesses. Though this made her more nervous still, it wasn't the worst part. For no reason she could explain, the sickly yellow trace that ran back and forth across the forest and pulsed in front of her eyes made her afraid.

"Fay?" Tavis tried again, his voice edged with concern. He was nearly close enough to reach out and touch her now.

She brought a finger to her lips, but didn't take her eyes from the throbbing yellow trace closest to her, only a couple of feet from where she had stopped. She slid from Rain's back and held the reins out to Tavis without turning. When she felt them leave her hand, she slowly walked to the ugly yellow trail across the road and knelt beside it. Behind her, she heard him hiss and ask in a soft voice that wouldn't have carried much beyond her, "What is that?"

"All magical beings or those with magic born in them leave a trail in the world where they walk. We call these traces. If you know how to look for magic, you can see them," she said, her words as quiet as his own had been.

"Why don't I see one where you were riding? I only see it from where you got off Rain."

"Like I said, it's where we walk. Our feet have to touch the ground to leave it. Riding hides our trace." She didn't mention that there were other ways to track a Magicia. Instead, she gathered her concentration and courage. Fay wasn't sure if what she wanted to do was within her grasp, but she had to try. Reading a trace was usually something that required partners working together, but she didn't want to ride further without some idea of what had left this trace. She closed her eyes and laid her fingertips on the pulsing yellow in front of her, ready to yank them away at once.

A very faint sense came to her, wind redolent with scents. Buoyed by this success, she pushed it aside and let another come to her, a bounding feeling. Running, she thought, the one who left this trace was running through the forest. In wonder, she pushed that aside too and let something else come. Dirt, between toes and claws. An animal, she realized, not a human, and probably a predator. She pushed that away but then nothing replaced it, though she was still aware of the things she had already sensed.

She knew she should feel good to have gotten even that much, but it wasn't enough. Though she knew the creature had to be magical in nature to leave a trace, she hadn't gotten anything that would tell her what it was. She needed more. She couldn't rush them into the situation blind. She ignored the tingling in her fingertips and placed the rest of her hand, the palm and full lengths of her fingers, down in the trace. It was like a floodgate opened to her. A torrent of sensations blazed through her, fleshing out the things she had seen. The scented wind became the telltales of prey it could hunt, deer, squirrels, rabbits and others. The running became the lower vision of a beast, leaping through the undergrowth, darting around trees, snapping at a rodent startled into movement by its pa.s.sage. The feel of dirt became the give of soil under four feet as it pounded through the forest. There was more though, something deeper than those sensations and visions. She could feel it just beyond her senses, but not out of her reach if she tried.

The tingle was racing up her arm and her fingers felt flayed but she pressed down hard on her hand, clawing her burning fingers into the dirt, and then it was there, the more she had wanted. Thoughts ran through her mind, their tenor marking them clearly as not her own. Its real prey was close, not these pitiful things that were no challenge. It raced through the forest as the midday sun warmed its back through the occasional break in the canopy overhead. The creature knew that the old man would be destroyed this day.

Just as this thought electrified her own mind with understanding, hands grasped her shoulders. They pulled her up to her feet and shook her until she opened her eyes. Tavis' green eyes were angry under his worried, furrowed brows, grounding her back in her own senses. When he spoke, his fear-filled voice was like a slap, bringing her all the way back to herself. "Fay, are you all right? Why did you do that? How could you take a risk like that? I mean, your arm looks..."

As he trailed off, she struggled to make sense of his words. Her mind felt turned inside out, her head squeezed by giant hands and she knew she was letting him hold her up far too much, but her legs didn't seem to want to do the job. His gaze shifted and she followed it down to the hand she had laid on the trace. What she saw filled her with horror. Her skin and tunic were the same yellow as the trace, solid all the way to her elbow, then beginning to fade away down the length of her upper arm. It almost looked like her arm had been dipped in the trace and it made her more aware of the way her arm burned everywhere, as if she had thrust it into a bonfire.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she watched the color continue to retreat down her arm, the flayed sensation going with it.

His eyes returned to her face and the anger went out of them. "You didn't know."

"That it would do that?" she nodded at her arm, then shook her head. "No. I've never tried that before. And I think I can manage standing on my own now. Thank you, Tavis."

He flushed at her words, then slowly released her from his grip, his hands hovering close for a minute, ready to catch her if she faltered, before falling back to his sides. "I couldn't- You were making such strange noises. It was- Don't do that again, please."

She gave him a small, rueful smile. "Not likely, and no need. I-" She broke off, shock choking her words as she remembered what she had learned. She ran to Rain and scrambled into the saddle. "Come on, we have to hurry. I think it's after Eliar!"

Fay didn't wait for him to react, simply booted Rain into a gallop. Following next to the trace, she barreled through the woods. She was dimly aware that there was a track of some kind nearby because the wind sounded different there, but was too intent on the trace to look for it. She heard frantic hooves beating the ground behind her and knew Tavis was with her. Part of her screamed to send him away, not to put him in this danger, but she didn't dare stop. The beast had gone through here hours earlier. It could already be attacking the old man, and she suspected it was dangerous enough that she might need the help.

Ahead of them the wind again sounded different to her amplified hearing, no longer flowing through the trees but across a wide, open s.p.a.ce. She slowed Rain down until he was walking, and brought him up to a halt just before the forest gave way to a broad meadow. It was a beautiful spot, with flowers and gra.s.s everywhere, and a fast stream flowing past a cottage on one side. There was no sign of life in the meadow save the occasional bird and smoke rising from the chimney. The creature, whatever it might be, was nowhere to be seen.

Fay slid from the saddle just as Tavis brought Swift up behind the stallion. She let the reins fall to the ground, not wanting to tie Rain to a tree in case the creature came after him. Her senses reached out as far as they could for any sound that might hint at the creature's location, and she crept forward slowly, edging out just into the meadow. Tavis' breathing, right behind her, was the only sound she heard that was out of place. Nothing else moved. She took another crouched step into the meadow, clearing the trees entirely, but still, nothing happened. She swept her eyes around every part of the meadow she could see. There was nothing but the trace that went across and back into the forest on the far side.

Maybe I misinterpreted what I read in the trace, she thought as she straightened and started walking toward the cottage. Suddenly, Tavis grasped her arm and pulled her back, falling to the ground with her in his arms as a vicious snarl ripped through the air. She saw a gray-green blur streak through the air over them toward where she had been only a moment earlier. She landed on top of him and turned to see what had attacked them. It landed and whipped around to face them. Golden eyes glowed above three pairs of large fangs, easily visible with its lips pulled back in a continued snarl. The creature was enormous, the tops of its shoulder blades as high as Swift's back. It looked like some sort of feline, but Fay had never heard of one so large as this. Its paws were larger than her head and the claws that sprouted from it gouged the earth deeply as it flexed its toes, ready to launch again. A long twitching tail, held high in the air, was tipped with a tuft of green fur that matched the crest running from the top of its head down almost to the base of its tail, growing shorter as it went. Large ears, laid back against its head, were also tipped with green tufts. The rest of the sleek, muscular body was covered with short, charcoal gray fur. She was certain it was the same thing that had left the trace she read, and she was suddenly afraid.

It stalked toward them a step as they both scrambled to their feet. I have to protect Tavis, she thought, because I'm the one who knows what they're doing with magic. The creature let out a yowling cry and started to circle around her. Knowing she couldn't let it get behind them, she stepped around Tavis, keeping herself between him and the creature.

He put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Fay, don't. It's too-"

She hissed at him without turning around and shrugged his hand off. He tried again, both hands on her shoulders as she continued to keep her body between the circling beast and him. "I don't want-"

She shook him off more forcefully this time, and cut across him, saying, "Look, I'm the one who knows how to use magic here. I'll be okay."

She heard a soft, frustrated growl behind her. "I'm not totally-"

The creature let out another screaming cry and bounded in toward them. Fay had been waiting for this and caught the creature in the middle of its second leap from the ground with the force of her will, interwoven with the air itself and her intent to push the creature back. It flew backward, screaming again, but this time she heard pain in the sound as well as rage. Before it could hit the ground though, another spell struck the creature from the side, slamming it into a large tree it had been about to fly past. She felt shock course through her. It took all of her control not to turn around and stare at Tavis. That had been his work, she was certain. She didn't understand where he had learned it though. Surely not from his mother.

The creature picked itself up out of the large impression it had made in the ground and shook its head, then turned to face them. It let out a loud roar of defiance.

What if we did that together, she thought frantically, how far could we send it flying? "Tavis, can you do that again when I tell you to?"

"I think so, yes."

She could hear both strain and determination in his voice. We'll only get one shot at doing this, she thought. "Okay, be ready. We have to time this right."

The beast had begun to pad forward during their exchange. Suddenly it coiled and sprang forward in a blurred, bounding run. It was so fast that, for a split second, Fay doubted they could do it. Her hand darted back and, as soon as she made contact with Tavis' body, she yelled, "Now!"

Her own spell hit the creature just as its paws touched the ground a short distance from them, and an instant before Tavis'. She thought the effect might actually have been better than if their two spellworks had landed at the same time. Hers tossed the creature up into the air a short way before his connected and increased the speed it was building as it flew backward. It arced up and over the trees. It was just starting to fall back toward the ground when it dropped behind the trees at the edge of the meadow. Even with her senses amplified, she didn't hear it land, though she saw a few birds shoot into the sky in the distance after a while.

A minute pa.s.sed in silence before she turned to Tavis, delighted. His own eyes were shining and the broad smile was back. She realized how much she liked that smile. He took her hand in his, his eyes never leaving her face. Before she could decide what to do or what she wanted, the sound of a door slamming open came from behind them. She turned and saw an old man stalking toward them. His long white hair was tied back, and the ankle-length dark red robe he wore was fluttering out behind him with the speed of his advance. His lined face was thunderous and his mouth set in a hard grimace. In one hand, he carried a stout club.

"What did you do with Ganson? Left him behind? Gave him the slip?" His angry yell shocked Fay, but she heard a surprising edge of hope threading through it. "Where is he? Where's your mentor, Derrion?"

She edged back from this man and the acid that dripped from his voice as he called her by the name of her House. Stammering and uncertain, she asked, "Are you Eliar?"

"You wouldn't be here if you didn't already know the answer to that, girl." Her question seemed to have inflamed his anger and the hope was so completely gone that she thought she must have imagined it. "Did you do something to Ganson? Trick him into telling you about me? Or was it your father? Where is he?"

"I'm not here with or because of my father. Professor Ganson sent me to you. He- I- I don't know what happened. He told me you would help. He- How do you know he was my mentor?" she asked, changing the subject, trying to keep her grief under control.

"Was your mentor?" he asked after a long silence, and she thought she heard the slightest shake in his voice. His words became more gentle as he asked, "What happened to him?"

Tears started to well up in her eyes and she knew the battle was lost. "I- I don't know. It was all so confusing, I don't understand. But I think he's-"

She couldn't make herself say the word, couldn't make it real that way, but even left unsaid, the word undid her precarious control and tears begin to leak down her face. She felt Tavis put his arm around her shoulder. She saw Eliar nod stiffly, as if he didn't want to hear it anymore than she could say it. His head bowed with his own grief for a moment while she struggled to regain control of herself. As Fay wiped her face, the tears dammed up for the moment, he turned to Tavis, and said, "Thank you for help-"

He abruptly cut off and his eyes widened until Fay thought they might fall out of their sockets. His mouth worked and the hand not holding the club went slowly to his chest. He started shaking his head in clear disbelief. When he spoke, the words were barely audible. "Lydia and- You're Lydia's child."

Fay turned to Tavis, who looked nearly as shocked as Eliar. "How did you know my mother's name?"

Instead of answering, Eliar grabbed the sleeve of Tavis' tunic and started dragging him toward the cottage. Fay turned, retrieved their horses and crossed the meadow. She felt entirely confused by what had happened, sad and worn out from trying to keep her grief from overwhelming her. More than anything, she hoped that Eliar would explain to her what was going on.

The cottage was small but when they got closer she saw that it was in surprisingly good repair, despite being owned by such an elderly man. Eliar led Tavis inside and left the door open. She tied Rain and Swift to the stake set in front of the cottage, took down their bags and went inside, closing the door behind her. Tavis got up from the small table where Eliar had evidently seated him and took the bags, setting them in a corner after waving her to a seat. Eliar was busy by his fire, boiling water from what she could see. Fay sat down and Tavis joined her.

Over his shoulder, Eliar's voice remained softened as he said, "Tell me, Visconta, what happened to my former student? Why did he not accompany you? To send you to me alone, I know he would never take such a risk with any alternative available. He was not to ever- Tell me everything."

Tavis turned to stare at her, and she felt her face heat at the use of her t.i.tle. "No one calls me that. Please, call me Fay."

"What I might call you or not call you doesn't change my question. Tell me."

Fay considered for a moment how to explain something she didn't understand. "I'm not sure what happened. We were having dinner a couple of nights after my graduation. Professor Ganson's partner, Dal Brinds, burst in and he was yelling about something. The professor introduced him and was trying to get him calmed down when suddenly one of the bell jars in the study burst and this awful darkness poured out. It attacked- Took them- He tried to stop it, to save me. I don't know-"

She lost control utterly then, sobbing and unable to continue. She buried her face in her arms on the table and surrendered to her grief. It hadn't occurred to her until that moment how important Ganson had become in her life, but the idea of him being gone forever tore her apart. Even her mother's death hadn't hurt this much, perhaps because she had been very young at the time. Tavis' hand rubbed her back as she cried, but she was surprised when a different hand touched her arm and she heard Eliar's voice above her, gentle and consoling.

"I'm sorry. I know he was at that academy for you, and that you and he spent a lot of time together. He was a good man, though he took quite a risk, trying to stand between your father and what he wants. I told Samell it would be dangerous before he agreed to the request."

They let her cry herself out, which took a long time. Eliar provided her a handkerchief to clean herself up with when she finally stopped. Once she had herself back under control, he said, "Now, tell me about this darkness, everything you can remember about it. What jar it came from, any detail about it, no matter how small. I need to know as much as possible to help you."

She told him everything she could remember, about the pendant, the way the dark cloud had looked, how it had moved. He made and served them all tea as she spoke before taking the last seat at the table. She almost started crying again as she described the smell when it touched the men and Tavis reached over to put a hand on her shoulder. She didn't mention the way the pendant had always held her attention, nor that she had it with her, though she wasn't sure why. She only knew that she didn't want to share those things with anyone.

When she finished, he sat back and considered, one hand stroking the tail of his hair, which he seemed to keep pulled over one shoulder. His hazel eyes never left her the whole time though, his gaze boring into her, as if suspecting her omissions. When he finally spoke, all he said was, "I will need to think carefully on this, and check my books. It sounds familiar, but I can't be certain without researching it."

The silence in the room lengthened until Tavis turned to Eliar and asked, "How do you know my mother? You didn't answer me before."

Eliar met his gaze with a complex look that was equal parts pleasure, guilt and hope. "Lydia is my granddaughter."

Fay looked from Tavis to Eliar and back again. His face was a picture of disbelief. His voice was edged with anger when he spoke at last. "That's not possible. You can't- No one lives that long."

She put her hand on Tavis' arm and he turned to her. "Actually, Tavis, bound Magicia age much more slowly than others. My own mentor was," she winced a little, "still quite energetic in his seventeenth decade. Given Eliar was his mentor, I imagine he's at least a little older than that."

It was as close as one could come to asking a fellow Magicia their age while remaining polite. Eliar laughed. "Into my second century, in fact, although some days I do feel it a bit."

Tavis stared from one to the other. His eyes settled on Fay and he looked worried. She guessed what he was thinking. "Remember, I only just graduated, and have no partner anyway. I'm only nineteen years old."

Eliar shook his head, still chuckling a little. "Just a child really."

Fay turned back to the old man and snapped, "I am not a child."

Eliar stopped laughing immediately, and seemed on the verge of losing his own temper before drawing in a deep breath. "Yes, you are your father's daughter in some ways. Just as hot-headed, I think."

Fay glared at him. "I'm just tired of people treating me like a child. I've gotten enough of that from my father, so I'll thank you not to make me point out to you as forcefully as I did to him that I am an adult now."

Eliar held his hands up and Tavis said, "Do you know where she is, my mother?"

"I haven't been in touch with her for some years now," Eliar said, looking older and weary as he said it. "We had a disagreement about who she would marry, among many between us over the years. My own fault, in many ways. I have always believed that she went off with that farmer purely to spite me, which might explain why it didn't turn out so well. Yes, I know she left him several years ago."

"Eleven," Tavis whispered.

Eliar raised an eyebrow. "I guess I lost track of the years. I always kept an ear out for her, you see. She was my special grandchild, my favorite, and I loved her very much. But I was the patriarch of the family, and so it was for me to make her a respectable marriage. Her father, my son, agreed with me, but I think he was as blind as I was when it came to Lydia's desires in life. Fathers often want things for their daughters they should not try to choose for them. Grandfathers too, I guess. In any case, she didn't like my choice, nor me making it for her and defied me openly. I- I reacted badly. She left Rianza and the next thing I knew, she had gotten herself married to Nevon." He snorted at the idea. "You were born not long thereafter. I sent her a letter, asking her to at least bring you to me, to introduce us properly but I never heard anything back. When she left Nevon, I thought you were with her, or I'd have taken you from that man in an instant. He had no business raising a Magicia's child, you especially. In fact, I only learned for certain that you weren't with her a little over a year and a half ago."

"That's why I had to live with Nevon all these years since she left?" Fay heard the rising anger in Tavis' voice and moved her hand up to his shoulder. He reached his own hand over, placed it on hers with a gentle squeeze and removed her hand. "You left me with that b.a.s.t.a.r.d because you couldn't be bothered to check whether I was still there? Because you just a.s.sumed she took me with her?"

Eliar hung his head and said, "It didn't occur to me that she would leave you behind for any reason. I may not have spoken to her since before you were born, but I knew how much she would love you, how much you would mean to her. She's always been a woman of deep caring, and you are her only child. That she would even let you out of her sight seemed unthinkable, let alone abandoning you."

Tavis stood up, toppling the chair over behind him and walked over to the door, fists clenched. Fay rose from her own chair, righted his and went over to him. She raised a hand, then paused, remembering how he had removed it only moments earlier, before laying it on his broad back. It seemed so small a gesture to her, but she couldn't think of anything to say. His hands relaxed and she could feel the tension in his back lessen, though he continued to stand there, staring out of the small window in the door.

Behind her, Eliar asked, with surprising timidity, "Faylanna, please tell me. It wasn't just you acting out there against the vygazza, was it?" The name he gave the creature they had fought sent shivers of fear and awe down her spine. "He has to be-"

Eliar couldn't seem to finish, but he didn't need to. She turned, her hand still on Tavis' back. "Yes, he's a Magicia, like his mother. Untrained, but strong. I was planning to help him get into the Rianza Academy after I was done here. They can't deny him. They won't."

Eliar's face lit up. Tavis spoke without turning, his voice still hard and angry. "Right now, the only thing I want is to find my mother. I need to talk to her before I can do anything else."

Eliar nodded. "Of course. We'll leave tomorrow. I'll probably need to go into Rianza anyway, to research the dark cloud in Fay's story."

Tavis turned around, his eyes wary. "I thought you said you didn't know where she was."

"I only said I hadn't been in touch with her. She's an advisor to the Crown Prince. Has been for a year and a half now." Fay could hear the pride in his voice over what his favorite granddaughter had become. She also heard a thread of worry that she didn't understand. "We'll travel there together. I still know people at court, for all that I've been retired. I should be able to get you in to see her, especially if she knows it's not me she's meeting with."

Tavis nodded and went over to his rucksack. He started rummaging through it, though Fay didn't think he was looking for anything in particular. Eliar looked between the two of them, then said to her, "You know, I think the two of you should stick together if you can. It might be good for both of you. I thought you worked well together out there."

She frowned at the remark, hearing the push to choose a partner in it. Wanting to change the subject, she said, "You called that thing a vygazza. Are you sure about that?"

Eliar nodded. "I've studied the ancient lore, and it fit the description exactly, though I believe this is the first time one has been seen in living memory, if ever."

"But they're supposed to be trapped behind the Flame Veil. How can a such a thing be in our world?"

He pursed his lips for a moment. "That I'm not certain of and it's not something I'd care to speculate on. Be a.s.sured, it will be part of my research when we get to Rianza. My own book collection here is nothing compared to either the Imperial or Academy libraries, let alone the Council's archives. I miss them all. They were like old friends. It will be good to see them again."

Fay smiled at the familiar phrase. This man had truly left his mark on Ganson, who frequently referred to libraries he had consulted often as his old friends. Eliar raised his voice a little and said "Now, let's have some food and go to bed. We have a journey to start in the morning."

After they had eaten, Eliar offered Fay his bed, arguing that he didn't sleep much at his advanced age and had books to check as well. Tavis curled up on the floor not far from the bed, next to the fireplace, as it was the only clear spot large enough for him in the small cabin. Fay didn't think she could sleep with all the things going in circles in her mind, but then Eliar began to hum and she drifted away.

Chapter 7.

When Fay opened her eyes, she realized almost immediately that something was different about the dream. She wasn't sure if it was wrong though. The blond man was standing on the edge of the pool of light that had no source and he was smiling at her as always, but it looked a little forced and uncertain to her. His eyes darted to something behind her. She turned and gasped. Tavis was there. Except she realized that he wasn't. Unlike the man with the blond curls, he didn't move, and everything about him was faint and ghostly. But what was even so faded an image of him doing in this dream, she wondered.

As she pondered this, she heard the man behind her, now only steps away. "Come away from him, Faylanna. He can't understand. He's not like us."

She didn't turn though. She wanted to figure out what was going on. She took a step toward Tavis' image. Behind her, the blond man said more urgently, "Don't do that. I need you, my sweet, I told you. It should be you and I. It must be. Come to me."

Fay looked over her shoulder at his pleading face and the hand that was extended to her. "But, I don't understand. Why is he here?"

He tilted his head. "You really don't, do you? They did their work better than I expected it seems. Perhaps I don't need to worry."