"And you were there, Lieutenant!" the slave retorted impatiently. "And you saw what he wanted of Luciena. You were the one who sent him packing! The only other person we saw before we left Greenharbour was the High Arrion and you're not going to accuse her of plotting against the High Prince's heir, are you?"

A deathly silence descended over the room. Marla visibly paled.

"Your mistress visited Alija Eaglespike before you left Greenharbour?" she asked in a voice devoid of all emotion.

"The day before we departed," the slave confirmed. "And it wasn't Luciena who went to visit her. It was the other way around. In fact, when Luciena tried to get in to see her the first time . . ." The slave hesitated, realising how damning her statement seemed.

"What did the High Arrion want with your mistress?" Mahkas demanded.

"I don't know, Lord Damaran. Lady Alija sent me to fetch drinks. They probably spoke about Luciena's cousin in Fardohnya."

"So your mistress is in league with the Fardohnyans then," Almodavar concluded. "And they're the ones behind this attack."

"No!" Aleesha cried. "She's not in league with anyone. I don't know what they spoke about. All I know is that when I returned with the drinks, Lady Alija was gone and Luciena was lying on the floor in a dead faint."

Marla's expression hardened. "Captain Almodavar," she said, without taking her eyes from the slave. Her voice chilled Mahkas to the core. Even Damin turned and looked at her askance, seeing a side of his mother he'd not seen before.

"Yes, your highness?"

"I want you to go down to the cells and kill Luciena Mariner."

There was another moment of thick silence before Almodavar responded. "Your highness?"

"I want you to kill her, Captain. I don't care how. I just want her dead."

The merciless order left even Mahkas gasping. "But shouldn't we investigate-"

"Her mind has been tampered with," Marla informed them. "She is a threat while ever she continues to draw breath. I want her dead."

"You can't!" Xanda objected.

Marla turned her icy stare on her nephew. "I can."

"Then you mustn't!" he corrected. "If Luciena's mind has been tampered with-if the High Arrion has done it-you can't just kill her out of hand."

"You don't seem to understand, Xanda," Marla replied. "She is a puppet and somebody else is pulling the strings. It might be the Fardohnyans or it might be the Patriots. I don't really care. I will not leave a threat like that alive and anywhere near my children."

"I do understand," he argued. "Better than you think. And that's my point. If her mind has been tampered with, you need to know why. And more importantly, why now? What's changed in Hythria's political climate recently? Why choose now to remove Lernen's heir? Was this planned long ago or just an opportunistic attack? There's more going on here than just a girl we thought we could trust suddenly turning into an assassin, Aunt Marla, and you'd be a fool to ignore it."

He's smarter than he looks, Mahkas decided, having never given Xanda much credit in the past for his intellectual capacity. Then again, Mahkas thought dryly, maybe he wasn't so clever, after all. A smart man would think twice before accusing Marla Wolfblade to her face of being a fool.

"And how do you suggest I do that, Xanda?"

"Wrayan Lightfinger."

"But Wrayan's gone to Fardohnya," Damin announced.

They all stared at him.

"Or so I've heard," he added hastily, when he realised what he'd just revealed.

"We'll discuss how you know that later, young man," Marla warned her son with an ominous glower, and then she turned her attention back to her nephew. "But Damin is right, Xanda. Wrayan's not here. Do you propose I leave Luciena free to wreak what havoc she wishes until the head of the Thieves'

Guild chooses to grace us with his presence again at some indeterminate time in the future?"

"Of course not, Aunt Marla. Keep Luciena confined, by all means. But don't kill her out of hand.

Not yet. Not without giving Wrayan a chance to probe her mind and find out what's really going on."

The princess thought about it for a moment and then nodded reluctantly. "Very well, she lives- either until Wrayan gets back or I leave for Greenharbour at the end of summer."

"And if Wrayan Lightfinger determines that her mind hasn't been tampered with?" Mahkas asked, privately sceptical about the thief's ability to wield any sort of magic, but wise enough not to challenge Marla on the issue.

"Then she dies."

Relieved beyond words to learn someone else was to be held accountable for this disaster, Mahkas nodded slowly in agreement.

He didn't doubt for a moment that Marla meant every word of her promise to kill Luciena Mariner. And he wondered if he was the only one in the room who understood that the princess hadn't actually called off the execution. She'd merely delayed it for a while.

Chapter 28.

Brak rode in silence for the first few miles of the steep pass, impressed by the work that had gone into making a narrow slice between two peaks into a navigable road. Familiar with the building techniques of the Harshini, who had the benefit of magic to aid them in their work, he was used to seeing construction on a grand scale. What made this impressive was that it had been done with nothing more than human ingenuity and sweat. There had been no magical assistance in the Widowmaker to widen the road or transport the granite high into the mountains; no sorcerers to search for weaknesses in the rock, or instinctively feel for the easiest path, or the best place to lay foundations. They'd done it the hard way, using mathematics, engineering, a little bit of inspired guesswork and a huge force of slave labour. The mountain had been blasted away in places, the exposed rock face sharp and raw like a gaping wound on the flesh of the mountain. The walls had been reinforced in places, too, and the road snaked through it, paved in red granite from Krakandar that looked strangely out of place among the black rocks of the Sunrise Mountains.

Maybe the one good thing to come out of the Harshini exile, Brak decided, was that it gave humans a chance to discover what they were capable of when forced to rely on their own resources.

Wrayan rode beside him in silence, for which Brak was extremely grateful. He had no wish to talk. No wish to do much of anything. His world was defined only by his desire to see this Fardohnyan child he had never met delivered into safe hands. He needed to make some small amends for his crime; he needed to attempt some noble deed to atone. After that, Brak had no plans. He had nothing. His future was as empty as his soul.

Brak was counting the days until summer ended and Korandellen hid Sanctuary out of time once more. The ache would fade then, for a time. It wasn't as strong when the settlement was hidden, although it never truly left him. Brak needed the pain to go away. He needed memories of Sanctuary and the Harshini to fade into a distant blur.

At the same time, he savoured the torment. It was a cruel punishment, but a punishment he felt he deserved.

There is no going back, Brak told himself harshly. He deserved to suffer and all of the torments of the Seven Hells of Men probably couldn't penalise him enough for what he'd done. I can never go back. Never go home. Never.

And he figured he wouldn't need to. Once he and Wrayan had found this child locked in the dungeons of Westbrook, Brak would help Wrayan release him and then cover their escape. He would make sure they got away cleanly.

That was the reason Brak had invited Wrayan along on this journey. He needed to see this child got back to Hythria in one piece. He needed the boy to be placed somewhere he had a chance of growing up. Wrayan would see to it. He was a confidant of the High Prince of Hythria's sister, after all, and undoubtedly still had contacts in the Sorcerers' Collective. Wrayan would see the boy was safe.

"Can you hear that?"

Brak glanced at Wrayan. He could hear nothing at all but the sound of his own misery. "Hear what?"

Wrayan cocked his head. "Sounds like fighting."

Instinctively, Brak's hand moved to the hilt of the serviceable Defender blade he carried. Now that Wrayan had brought it to his attention, he could hear it over the faint rush of a waterfall-the metallic scraping of blade against blade and the panicked shouts of men under attack. He listened carefully, not sure if the sounds were coming from ahead or behind them. The walls of the Widowmaker did strange things with echoes.

"It's ahead of us, I think," Wrayan said.

Brak gathered up his reins, pleased by the thought of facing some action. It didn't hurt nearly as much when he was fighting. The need to stay focused on survival swamped the guilt and the pain for a time. His horse, sensing the change in his rider's demeanour, reared in anticipation.

"Probably a caravan under attack." Brak grinned humourlessly, drawing his sword with a dramatic flourish. "Let's go do our good deed for the day."

Wrayan grabbed him by the arm before he could move. "You might fancy the idea of being a dead hero, Brak, but I'm rather fond of seeing the day out, thank you."

"You just want to sit here and do nothing?"

"There're only two of us. Exactly how much difference is that going to make to a caravan under attack from bandits who are probably very well trained Fardohnyan soldiers in disguise?"

"You have no idea how much difference one man can make, Wrayan," Brak snapped, shaking free of Wrayan's restraining hand. "Come with me or not," he added, more harshly than he'd intended.

He kicked his horse forward into a gallop without waiting to see if Wrayan was following. "I really don't care."

The road curved ahead, following the natural contours of the pass. Here there had been no need to blast through rock to open up the road. It was almost wide enough to let another caravan pass. The forested slopes reached all the way to the edge of the road and, on the left, a small spring high above fed a narrow waterfall that poured down the face of the mountain in a constant tumble of white water.

As he rounded the bend, Brak heard the sound of a horse following him, which meant Wrayan had decided to join his hopeless quest after all.

Just beyond the next bend in the road, he found them.

It was only a small caravan-no doubt the reason it was attacked-three canvas-covered, ox-drawn wagons caught between a felled tree the bandits had used to block the pass ahead and the swarm of men attacking from behind. The dozen or so Fardohnyan bandits were dressed in a motley collection of dark civilian clothing, which made it hard to tell them from the defenders. Those, he guessed, were the terrified-looking men standing with their backs to the wagons, holding off their assailants awkwardly. Most of the caravan guards seemed to be dead already; only the merchants were left to defend their property.

Brak urged his horse forward, careless of any lookouts that might be posted above, half-hoping for the solid thunk of an arrow in his back to end this downward spiral into self-destruction into which he could feel himself plunging. He couldn't go on like this. Although not immortal in the truest sense of the word, Brak's life span was that of a Harshini. He had lived more than seven hundred years now and, barring accidents, would likely live a thousand or two more. He couldn't carry the burden of his guilt for that long. He could barely lift it now.

With a glance, Brak took in the situation and then ploughed into the melee. He took out the first three bandits before they even realised someone was attacking them from behind. As soon as they became aware of the threat, however, the outlaws turned on him. Brak fought the next man off with ease-one can become quite expert with a blade after seven hundred years of practice-and then he turned to face his next attacker.

This man seemed a little more cautious. Brak had already taken out four of his companions. The Fardohnyan obviously judged this new opponent worthy of respect. He was swarthy and brown-eyed, but not fearful. Brak dismounted, not taking his eyes from the man, and pushed the horse clear as the bandit lunged for him. His first few strokes were careful, as if he was testing Brak's skill. Or his resolve.

He moved sideways, forcing Brak to move with him, to keep him in sight. Then the bandit feinted, forcing Brak to move again until the bandit's back was to the wagons.

Clever, Brak thought, realising he now had his back to the rest of the bandits and no way of seeing one of them come up behind him. Is this how it's going to end?

Was it really going to be this easy?

A sudden cry behind him caught Brak's attention. He glanced over his shoulder to discover another man, his curved scimitar raised to strike in a blow that would have cleaved his skull in two had it connected. But the blow never fell. The man seemed frozen for a moment in time, and then he toppled forward, a small throwing knife embedded to the hilt in his neck.

Wrayan, Brak thought, looking around for the thief.

He couldn't see him, but he could feel the faintest prickle of magic against his skin, which meant Wrayan had had the presence of mind to draw a glamour around himself before he plunged into battle, and was effectively invisible. As he turned back to face the other bandit, he saw that man fall, too. The bandit had a shocked look on his grubby, stubbled face as he studied the six inches of metal unexpectedly protruding from his ribs. He slipped off the blade as he fell forward and suddenly Wrayan appeared behind him, as if from thin air, his dark eyes fading to their normal colour as he dropped the glamour and pulled his sword free.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" he snapped at Brak. "Duck!"

Brak ducked as Wrayan swung his blade in a wide, inelegant arc above the Halfbreed's crouching form, almost taking another bandit's arm off at the shoulder. The man screamed and dropped his sword, then turned and fled back towards the forested slopes of the mountain pass. His departure seemed to give the merchants heart and they attacked the remaining thieves with renewed ferocity. Within a few moments, the rest of the Fardohnyans decided this caravan was now a lost cause and they followed their wounded companion back into the forest, leaving their dead comrades behind.

Brak glanced around at the dead guards and the dying bandits as he wiped his blade on the shirt of the nearest corpse and then sheathed it. He looked over at Wrayan. The young man wasn't a killer at heart, Brak knew, for all that he could wield a competent blade when the need arose. But neither was he squeamish. One didn't hold down a position like head of a Thieves' Guild for long if one couldn't deal out a bit of rough justice when the need arose.

"I guess they don't call this place the Widowmaker for nothing, eh?"

Wrayan didn't answer him. The thief simply sheathed his own sword and went to see what he could do to help the merchants.

By the time they'd helped load the bodies of the dead guards and the Fardohnyan bandits into the last wagon and pushed the felled tree off the road, it was almost sunset. Brak had thought it more logical to leave the corpses behind, but the caravan owner, a tubby little Hythrun named Kelesan Hull, insisted they take the bodies with them. He wanted to present the Plenipotentiary of Westbrook, the garrison commander of the Fardohnyan fort, with evidence of the attack and demand compensation. To do that, he needed proof.

"Eight dead guards and six dead bandits make for some fairly solid evidence," Wrayan explained when Brak asked why they were loading the dead men onto the wagon. He would have taken his own men and left the bandits for their friends to retrieve later.

Brak had barely spoken to the merchants since he and Wrayan had rescued them, letting Wrayan do most of the talking. He was in no mood to socialise anyway. Brak wasn't upset about the men he'd killed. He was sorry that he wasn't one of them.

"Master Hull has invited us to join his caravan for the rest of the trip through the pass."

Brak shook his head and glanced over at the hopeful merchant, who was wringing his hands as they tied the last wagon down and looking west towards the setting sun, no doubt wondering which was worse-travelling in darkness or spending a night in the pass with more of Chyler's Children in the vicinity.

"He wants us to protect his cargo from thieves?" Brak smiled humourlessly. "You didn't mention you were head of the Krakandar Thieves' Guild, I'm guessing."

"The subject didn't actually come up."

"Does he think two men will do where eight failed?"

The thief shrugged. "It's not likely they'll be attacked again before we reach Westbrook."

"Then they hardly need us, do they?"

Wrayan looked at him with a frown. "You were the one who wanted to rescue them in the first place, Brak."

"I wasn't looking for a job opportunity out of it."

"Which begs the question of what you were hoping to achieve, ploughing into that fight like you have a death wish." Wrayan's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Do you want to tell me what's really going on?"

There's always a downside with the smart ones, Brak thought. I should pick more stupid friends.

Things would be a lot less complicated.

"There's nothing going on, Wrayan. I just felt like a bit of exercise."

"Exercise?" the thief repeated incredulously. "You killed four men. And you could have got us both killed!"

"Don't exaggerate. Anyway, you cheated. You used magic."

Wrayan opened his mouth to protest and then suddenly closed it again, as if there was simply no point in arguing about it. With a snort of frustration, the thief threw his hands up, turned on his heel, and went to explain to Kelesan Hull that he and his companion were not available as guards for the remainder of their journey through the Widowmaker Pass into Fardohnya.

Chapter 29.