Chapter 16

There was little time.

Tarrin could understand that now, saw it in the faces of the Council and the Grand as he walked back towards the estate hosting him, as Sha'Kar lined the sides of the pathways and along the fences and watched him go by. Their whispers echoed in his ears, burned at him, teased him. The Council now knew that Tarrin had hit on something quite damaging, and if he were them, he'd make sure that the explanation he gave out had been fully accepted. The fact that Tarrin knew they were lying was going to cause problems, and he expected for them to spy on him in any way they could from now until he left. He couldn't let them know he was on the trail of this mysterious secret. Not yet.

But there was another problem to deal with. Allia. That was a problem he did not want to face, but he had no choice. If she wasn't awake by now, he'd wake her and throw Allyn out—no, wait. It would be best if he stayed and heard what Tarrin had to say. But he couldn't alienate Iselde. He needed her information, and she was probably frightened enough after Tarrin turned on them when they barged into his room. He'd have to make up that lost ground.

Moving quickly and deliberately through the Sha'Kar that lined his way, his mind so preoccupied that their scents no longer induced his fury, Tarrin rushed back to the estate that hosted him with a long list of things to do. He had to tell the others about this, get them to work on finding out, but warn them that they were going to be watched the instant they set foot out of his room. So they had to do it carefully. If the Council caught scent of what he was doing, they may take drastic measures to put a stop to it. Though he hated them for what they had become, even Tarrin had to respect their raw power. If they attacked in concert, even Tarrin couldn't stand up to it for long.

Or could he? All this time, he'd been thinking like a Sorcerer. Now it was time to think like a Druid. Triana taught him how to defeat Sorcery. It could be done to a person, or it could be done to an area. He remembered clearly the fight he had with her in Den Gauche, when she'd protected herself from the power of his magic by nullifying it when it tried to come into the space surrounding her. Tarrin could use that same technique, cancel magic in an area surrounding the Council or cancel magic immediately around himself if they were spread out too wide, and that would protect him from them long enough to get close enough to attack them hand to paw. In that situation, they didn't stand a chance. The fact that he was a Druid was the most powerful weapon he had against them, and the fact that they didn't know he was a Druid made it even more potent. They'd never consider it, because of the stricture against a mortal being able to employ more than one order of magic. Tarrin told Iselde they had a long life span, but not that they were effectively immortal. And since Tarrin was a Sorcerer, the Sha'Kar would automatically assume that his powers worked the same way theirs did. That he was a Sorcerer with minor Priest powers, associated with his status, but nothing else.

Tarrin reached the gate of Arlan's estate faster than he thought he would, and used the same spell that Iselde had used to gain entry. The gate swung open for him smoothly, and he marched right by it without giving it a second thought. The elaborate front door opened for him before he reached it, one of the serving girls curtsying to him fearfully in the foyer, but he didn't even see her. He swished right by her, moving so fast the wind he was causing disturbed her hair, and was immediately down the passageway that would lead to his borrowed room.

When he arrived, he found Kimmie and Dolanna sitting on the divans, facing each other and talking. Sapphire was perched on the top edge of the inclined side of the divan, preening her scales, and the serving girl sat self-consciously beside Dolanna, picking at her skirts. Dolanna's face looked haunted, an expression he'd seen on her before when she found out the Council and the Keeper had had Tarrin turned, and after Faalken died. Kimmie had obviously laid down the facts for her, and from the looks of it, what she heard had horrified her. That was a good sign. If she was that horrified by what she heard, she wouldn't continue her descent into their decadent lifestyle.

"Tarrin," Kimmie called after they turned to see who came in. "What happened—"

Kimmie cut herself off as Tarrin stalked right by them, then stopped. He sent out his awareness into the room and carefully inspected that Ward that he had absently raised not long ago, a Ward that, by some grace of the Goddess, he had set to defeat attempts to spy through the Weave as well as prevent eavesdropping. Its integrity was good, but it was weakening as the charged magic he set into it began to wane. Tarrin reset the weave slightly, spinning a small strand out from the nearest strand and anchoring it to the heart of the Ward in a manner that he had seen around them, a manner he had actually used before. The strand, connected to the core of the weave, would supply it with an endless supply of magical energy. It rendered the Ward permanent.

Dolanna sensed what he was doing, her eyes speculative as he turned and looked at them. He didn't look at her too long, however, staring at his mate. "You told her?"

Kimmie nodded solemnly.

"What do you think, now, Dolanna?" he asked bluntly. "What do you think of the Sha'Kar?"

"I find it hard to believe that it happened, dear one," she sighed forlornly. "Had Zarina not been here to confirm it, I would not have believed it to be. But I cannot deny the truth. I think that not all Sha'Kar are like that, but still, it is something that I cannot condone."

Tarrin was inwardly ecstatic. At least Dolanna had seen the truth, and for one, she wasn't willing to explain away or try to defend the Sha'Kar for that heinous act. Dolanna was with them. That was one. Now, they had to convince the other two. Tarrin continued on with relief evident in his voice. "You may be right," Tarrin admitted. "But I'm not taking any chances now. Not after the talk I just had with the Council." Tarrin told them about his meeting, how they had shown little concern of the two Druids, and then the bombshell that Tarrin had quite accidentally dropped among them. "You should have seen how they reacted to that, Dolanna," he told her earnestly. "I thought they were going to faint! When I see Phandebrass again, I'm going to kiss him for his nitpicking ways. If he hadn't have been prattling on about that, I wouldn't have said it to the Council."

"I don't think he'd like a kiss from you, Tarrin," Kimmie teased with a grin. "But if this is that serious, then we need to find out what really happened to the other Sha'Kar. If we do, and the Council knows we know, they may suddenly get very cooperative."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Tarrin told her with a nod. "But now that they know that I know something about it, I think they're going to watch all of us like a hawk. They're not stupid. I think they know that I saw their reactions when I mentioned that. They'll suspect that I suspect something, and they're going to watch us very carefully to make sure I don't follow up on it. If I were them, I wouldn't lay off until was convinced that the explanation I gave for it was completely believed."

"You have a suspicious mind, dear one. Not everyone is like that. But in this case, we cannot be too careful," Dolanna admitted with a serious look.

"And whatever we do, we'd better do it fast," Tarrin said. "Somehow, I get the feeling that the Council isn't going to sit on this for long. The instant they get a whiff that I'm not completely content with their explanation, they very well may come after us. We need to keep them from knowing what we're doing, but because it is so serious, we'd better find out quickly. The longer it takes, the more dangerous it's going to get for us." He looked at the nervous girl. "Are you well, Zarina?" he asked her.

She jumped a bit. "I am well, Master," she replied instantly.

"I have much work with her ahead," Dolanna said, glancing at her. "But there is hope for her."

"I hope you don't mind me dropping her in your lap, Dolanna, but I couldn't think of anyone else better suited to help her than you."

"A appreciate your confidence in me, dear one. And your trust," she added with a sober look. "I know she is important to you."

"Her and that redhead are the two greatest treasures on this island. Probably even greater than the Firestaff. At least from a Were-kin's point of view."

"There's another one?" Kimmie asked in surprise.

"The redhead that serves in this house," he replied with a nod. "I haven't claimed her yet because she's right where I can keep an eye on her. But this one, this one needed to be where I could keep her safe," he said, reaching down and lifting Zarina's chin with a finger. She stared up at him with wondrous eyes, shocked that anyone would think she was worth anything.

"Do you think it was wise to tell the Council what she is?" Dolanna asked.

"What can they do?" he shrugged. "They're happy I'm taking them with me, and I think that since they're not trained, they don't feel they're a threat. Syllis calmed right down when I told him I'm taking them back and they need to be properly trained. I think he thought I meant that they had their power already before I said that."

"Possibly," Dolanna agreed.

"They can figure out that this one is the first, but they don't know who the other is, so she's safe," Tarrin continued. "All things given, though, I think I'll be tracking Arlan down today and telling him he's losing a servant. I think it'd be smart to put them under our wing now, so they're not wandering around out there with wolves stalking them." He withdrew his finger from Zarina's chin, but she continued to look up at him with those fawn-like eyes. "We need to tell the others what's going on," he told them. "I'll leave that to you, Dolanna. I, need to go see Allia."

Dolanna's expression darkened. "She does not know yet?"

He shook his head. "As strangely as she's been acting since we got here, I'm not sure what she'll do, Dolanna. If she loves that Sha'Kar boy enough, she may turn against us."

"That would be unthinkable!" Dolanna gasped. "She is your sister, Tarrin! Think about what that means to her!"

"What it means to a Selani," he corrected. "She hasn't been acting like a Selani, Dolanna. She's been acting like a Sha'Kar."

That put a worried look on her face, and she nodded.

"Bring the others in, Dolanna, and explain things to them," he told her. "Make sure you do it here. Remember, the instant you set foot out that door, you're going to be watched. Everything you say out there is going to be on the Council's table before you take in another breath."

"If that is so, is it wise to tell Allia where it can be overheard?" Dolanna asked.

"They already know why I was so outraged, so it's not a secret, Dolanna," he said. "They also seem to know about Allia and Allyn, so again, it wouldn't be a stretch that I would confront her over this." He blew out his breath and clenched his fists. "I can't put it off any more," he announced. "I'll be back soon. Pray I don't come back alone."

Tarrin left the room, grim and foreboding. The fact that he had no idea what was going to happen worried him more than anything else. Before coming to the island, Tarrin could have predicted exactly how Allia would have reacted to such news, almost predicted exactly what she would say. But things were so crazy now. She was so… so taken with Allyn, and he'd affected her behavior so severely, it was like she was a different person. Not knowing his sister's mind was the one thing that worried him more than anything else. More than the Firestaff, more than the Council and the Grand, even more than Kimmie's safety. Allia could be extremely volatile if she was approached the wrong way. Tarrin prayed fervently that she hadn't changed that much.

He found her in the room she had been given, and as he expected, she wasn't alone. She and Allyn were still in bed, sleeping, when he opened the door without knocking. Again, another indication that Allia was not herself. The Allia he knew would have been awakened instantly the moment he put his paw on the door handle. But she still slumbered peacefully, splayed out on the bed with Allyn's arm thrown over her chest. He looked at them, then remembered that the Elders were watching, so he laid a Ward over the room that would make their conversation a private one, then he stepped inside to get it over with.

Tarrin felt his heart pounding in his chest. He didn't want to do this. Allia was happy. Despite what he knew, despite everything that was going on, Allia was quite happy with Allyn. And now he had to try to drive a wedge between them, and that pained him. She had always been there for him, always supported him, even in his darkest moments. He didn't want to have to do this. He didn't want to have to tell her the truth. But he just couldn't leave this alone. Allia had to know, had to decide for herself how she wanted to see it.

Tarrin took in a deep breath.

"Allia."

Her eye snapped open, and she whipped up to a sitting position with all the speed and reflex of a desert-born warrior. Those beautiful sea-blue eyes focused on him, and then she did the one thing he never expected.

She laughed.

"Tarrin!" she said in relief. "I haven't been startled like that since I was a sand-eared child! What brings you to my door this early in the morning?"

Her light mood vanished when she saw the grim look on his face, the stiffness of his posture. The fact that his tail was stock still behind him and his ears were partially back told her much. Tarrin was extremely uncomfortable, and that drained away her smile.

"Mmff," Allyn groaned, his hand seeking Allia out. "Come back to bed, my heart. I can't sleep without you near me."

"Get up," Tarrin said in a nasty voice, his ears laying back as he regarded the Sha'Kar male.

That got Allia's attention. She gave him a penetrating, slightly hostile look as Allyn sat up in bed and saw the Were-cat, his expression slightly startled. "Oh, honored one!" he said. "I didn't know you were here. How can we serve you?"

That word caused Tarrin's back to coil. Serve. His fury with the Sha'Kar was starting to get to him again as he looked at Allyn. Had Allyn ever punished a servant like that? Did he know what went on? Did he approve of it? Allyn's reaction to what Tarrin was about to say was almost as important as Allia's, for his reaction would influence hers. He was sure of it. If Allyn was indifferent to the actions of his brethren, it may make Allia more hostile towards him. If Allyn was also outraged, then perhaps this wouldn't be as bad as Tarrin feared it would, and it may give him hope that maybe not all Sha'Kar were as bad as he thought. But if Allyn denied it, then Allia might believe him, and that was where things might get very unpleasant.

Tarrin's hostile posture was not lost on the Sha'Kar youth. He leaned back and clutched the blanket with one hand, as his other sought out Allia's and clasped it.

"What troubles you, my brother?" Allia asked in slightly worried concern.

Her calling him brother made him wince. Was she truly his sister now? In a few moments, he was going to find out.

"What troubles me isn't easy to say, Allia," he said in a flat voice, glaring at Allyn. "It's not something you'll want to hear. I'm sure of it."

"Then it's best not to dance around the issue," she said calmly.

She was right, of course. So he did. Without emotion, Tarrin related her the tale of finding Zarina, and going back to her estate to have a talk with her master for the abuse they were inflicting on her, and then he watched her eyes carefully as he quite callously described the torture that the male had inflicted on the girl.

Tarrin was taken aback. There was no reaction.

"I don't see what's wrong with that," Allyn yawned. "Sometimes a servant needs to be punished. It's not like it does them any permanent harm. It's just a spell that induces cooperation."

Allyn had no idea how close he came to death in that moment. Tarrin's eyes exploded into their unholy greenish aura, the visible mark of his anger, and he reflexively extended his claws and opened his stance, his feet trembling to send him forward to rip off the boy's head. Allia saw that quick and extreme shift in Tarrin's mood, and quickly rose up on the bed, standing nude between him and Allyn, arms out wide.

"What has gotten into you, brother?" she demanded in Selani. "The use of pain as a teaching tool is an accepted practice among us. You know that! If the spell did the girl no true harm, then there was no harm done!"

He couldn't believe it. His eyes drained away of their aura as he stared at Allia in abject shock. But then his anger returned in full fury, and to his horror, now it was directed at Allia. "You would protect those who torture?" he demanded. "You would protect people who use the gift the Goddess gave us to inflict harm like that?" he hissed. "It's the first rule, Allia! Never use Sorcery to harm another except in self defense!"

"It's not as if you haven't done much worse with your own power," she shot back. "Should we count the number of people who have died at the hands of your Sorcery, brother? Fifty? A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand?" She glared at him. "I supported you and loved you because you are my brother. But can you stand there and accuse in moral purity when I know how much worse you are than them?"

There was nothing she could have said that could have been more devastating to him. The wounds that those actions had inflicted on him had never healed. They were raw, open, they still plagued him, and Allia knew it. She had struck at him with words that were like daggers, seeking to tear him apart. She knew him so well… so she knew exactly what to say to inflict upon him the most harm.

Tarrin's eyes blasted back to their green radiance, and he bared his fangs at her. Her attack on him in his most sensitive area had caused his fury to boil out of him like the volcano not far away would boil out lava and ash. How could she? How could she say that to him, when she knew how much that hurt him? How could she have changed so much in three short days? He glared at her viciously, her protected status in his mind degrading more and more by the moment. His sister would never have said that to him. The woman he loved would never have been so cruel! Who was this woman? Whoever she was, it couldn't be Allia!

"Leave, Tarrin," she said coldly. "When you can come back and see things rationally, as they truly are, instead of how your past flavors them, we'll talk about it. But until then, leave us."

Tarrin hissed in a furious voice, his injured soul bare on his face, twisted by his mask of suppressed rage. "I will not leave!" he said in a tight, deadly voice. "Who are you, sister?" he demanded with hot eyes. "My sister would never have said that to me! The woman I know and love would not shrug me off like my opinions and concerns didn't matter!"

"My love for you is the only reason I'm not trying to take off your head," she replied coolly. "I think your fears are misguided, and maybe unfounded. That you would come in here and accuse my Allyn of such things in front of me is dishonorable. You know that to insult the honor of my lover is the same as insulting mine!" She glared at him. "Custom forbids me from killing you to avenge my honor, so to lay bare your greatest secret is suitable vengeance to satisfy my honor. There are many kinds of pain, brother. Inflicting that pain is the satisfaction of your slight on my honor."

"Is that so?" Tarrin said in a low, very dangerous tone. "So, there is nothing wrong with securing their cooperation, is there? So long as it does no true harm?"

"There isn't."

"So be it."

Tarrin raised a paw, and then clenched it. He had a good memory, and remembered how the spell was done. He wove that same spell and then released it.

The target was not Allia. It was Allyn.

The Sha'Kar youth suddenly sucked in his breath, and then shrieked in mindless agony, clutching at his stomach. He convulsed on the bed, kicking Allia's shins so hard that he swept her feet out from under her. She tumbled on top of him, but was violently thrown aside as his wracking convulsions pushed her away, as he continued to scream in mindless agony, his feet slamming down onto the bed so hard the entire bed shook with each blow. Allia jumped atop him and grabbed his arms, trying to pin him down, but the pain-induced power of his arms was too much for her. She got clear of him, looking at him in terrible concern, and then turned a seething, furious face on her brother.

"Stop this!" she shouted. "Stop it now!"

"I'm only using pain as a way to teach, Allia," he said in a deadly cold voice, his expression utterly emotionless. "It is perfectly acceptable. You said so yourself. After all, I'm doing him no true harm."

She glared at him, her eyes hot, as Allyn continued to shriek behind her.

"Are my fears misguided now, sister?" he demanded. "Am I overreacting? This is what that Sha'Kar did to that girl. Is this acceptable in the eyes of the Selani? Is this an honorable way to teach?"

"You lie!" she accused, tears forming in her eyes. "It cannot be! Release him, brother! You're killing him!"

"I am doing him no true harm," he hissed. "It's a spell that induces the nerves to believe there is pain. Nothing more, nothing less. This is only half of what I could do to him, sister. Do you want to see the spell at its full power?"

"Let him go!" she demanded, reaching down over the bed and coming back up with one of her shortswords. "Don't make me force you stop, Tarrin!"

With the opening of his paw, Tarrin let go of the spell. Allyn stopped screaming, stopped writhing, sucking in his breath between racking sobs, coughing and nearly retching on the bed. "You'll find him to be completely unharmed, sister," Tarrin said in a cold tone. "As I said. I did him no true harm."

"How could you?" she demanded, tears forming in her eyes as she threw the sword aside and literally dived down to Allyn, cooing gentle words to him as her hands checked him for injury.

"How could you!?" he shouted back at her. "Am I something to just throw aside now that you have him? Do I matter to you at all, Allia? The sister I know would have at least considered my side of the story. She wouldn't have just dismissed me like I was nothing!"

"Does your jealousy of Allyn make you so vindictive?" she shouted at him. "Are you angry that I finally found someone other than you? Does it infuriate you that I'm happy, Tarrin?" she demanded. "Did you have to come here and try to destroy my happiness?"

"I was hoping that Allyn would agree with me," he said in a voice that could not conceal his regret. "I was very happy that you are happy, Allia. Believe me, the last thing I wanted to do was come in here and jeopardize that happiness. I wanted Allyn to be with us, to be part of our family. But this is something that just could not be left alone. My honor wouldn't allow it."

"You lie," she hissed through clenched teeth. "You have no honor, brother," she sneered. "May the Holy Mother wipe the brands from you!"

That was it. She said he had no honor. Among the Selani, that was about the worst thing that one could say. She had told him that he was now nothing in her eyes, and if she could, she would take his life.

She had rejected him. Utterly, completely, and irrevocably rejected him. To her, he was now nothing. Only an empty shell that should be deprived of its life at the earliest available opportunity.

The sadness of that washed away his anger, left him feeling cold and empty inside. His sister… gone to him. No more long talks, no more laughter and sharing secrets, no more of her soothing presence with him to make all the bad things stay away. All of that was over now. She had made her choice, and she had chosen against him. In a manner that had burned the bridge behind her. Now that it was said, there was no going back.

His tail drooping, his shoulders slumping in defeat, he bowed his head and stared at the floor. He could hear Allyn's labored breathing, hear Allia's tightly controlled breaths as she tried to contain her anger. "I'm sorry you feel that way, sister," he said in a quiet tone. "I really am. But know this. If you are not with me," he said, his eyes erupting with incandescent white light as he raised his head to look at them, "then you are against me." He raised a paw, limned over with Magelight.

It hung there for a long moment, as Allia stared at him in steely resolve, not showing any fear of him, despite how easily he could destroy her. "By all rights, I should strike you down here and now," Tarrin continued. "Both you and him. You know too much about me, and that information could get me killed if you decided to give it over to the Sha'Kar. But I won't do that. You may not love me anymore, but I love you. I can't hurt you. Not now, not ever." He allowed the Magelight to dissipate, his eyes returning to normal, and then he turned his back to them. "If you ever loved me, Allia, then keep your silence. Out of respect for what we once shared, if anything else."

There was nothing more to be said. The space between them was like a wall to him now, separating them, and he could feel it growing wider and wider. He walked away from her, walked away from his life, feeling like someone had just torn out his soul.

Sacrifice, he remembered the Goddess said. That he may have to sacrifice, that the Elder Gods wanted to make sure that he could make the hard decisions that must be made. There had been no harder decision than that, no sacrifice greater. Tarrin had just destroyed one of the most important cornerstones of his very existence. He had turned Allia against him. There was nothing worse that could possibly be done.

Allia watched him go, her mask of fury breaking after he longer looked upon her. She began to cry softly as she held Allyn's head, putting her cheek against his fine hair, her eyes locked on the small, almost unnoticeable dark spots on the floor where Tarrin had been standing.

The water of his tears.


They knew it had gone badly.

They came to visit him, but it was as if he were dead. He sat on a divan, his expression blank, his body rigid and motionless, head in his paws and hunched over. He didn't hear their words, didn't register their presence as the dark, black reality of what had happened assaulted his mind, assaulted his soul. Not even Kimmie could rouse him from his black depression, something that had Dolanna so concerned that she couldn't bear to leave his side. There was nothing but the pain of his loss, nothing but the echo of Allia's voice in his mind.

You have no honor… you have no honor… you have no honor…

He had no idea how long he was like that. The light glowing from the walls eliminated any sense of time. He only became dimly aware things had changed when he felt Kimmie's inhumanly strong arms pick him up, and then set him gently down in the bed. He felt nothing, saw nothing, only the hole inside him, the loss of something that had mattered more to him than life itself. It consumed his consciousness, threatened to suck him down into its unfathomable depths. Were it not for Kimmie's closeness, her touch, her sweet voice in his ear murmuring to him, and the memory of the life she carried inside of her, he very well may have let go and drowned in that sweet unknowing blackness willingly.

That had been what had finally made him claw his way out of that black pit of despair. Kimmie's closeness to him reminded him of the world outside, her gentle touch on his shoulders and face and neck recalled him from the emptiness inside, and her murmuring about how beautiful their child was going to be, how strong, how much joy it would bring to both of them, it was enough to bring him back from the emptiness.

Tarrin registered his senses. He was laying on his back in the bed, and Kimmie was sitting on the edge, staring down at him with concerned eyes, her paw stroking his face as her other held onto his own in a crushing grip. Her expression didn't match the gentle composure of her voice, as her worry and fear were clearly stamped on it, and her scent betrayed her wild panic at seeing him that way.

"Tarrin," she said with a relieved, gentle look as his eyes fluttered, and he looked up at her. "Are you alright?"

He sighed. "No," he said honestly. "Kimmie, she—"

"Don't talk about it," she said with tenderness, putting a finger over his lips. "We know. I'm so sorry, Tarrin. I know how much she means to you."

Tarrin sat up, and accepted her gentle embrace. He held her close for a long time, letting her scent drown out everything else, feeling her closeness, allowing her to comfort him. He was surprised to hear that she was crying, felt the wetness of her tears on his shoulder. She sniffled ruefully. "Here I promised myself I wouldn't be all weepy for you," she told him. "Some comfort I am."

"Kimmie, you're exactly what I need right now," he told her in a powerful voice.

She held him a while longer, and then pushed out so she could look at him. "She, she went to see Dolanna. She tried to give her side of the story, but—" she looked away. "Dolanna was very cold to her. She showed her Zarina and really let her have it. Dolanna said that it was like she was doing everything she could not to look at the girl or face the facts. Dolanna said it was like she was possessed or something. Maybe she didn't mean to hurt you, my mate," she told him delicately. "Maybe it was just her anger talking."

Tarrin heard her words, and something just clicked. It was a realization, or at least a hope of one, something that he realized may come back to help him later. If he did things right. But it did little to soften the newness of his pain. No matter what he was thinking, the raw wound Allia had opened in him would not close itself so quickly or easily. He still needed time to recover from it.

"No amount of anger would have made her say what she said to me," he sighed, feeling that hole begin to gnaw at his insides again. "She said I have no honor, Kimmie. That's the worst thing you can say to anyone who understands Selani custom."

Kimmie gave him a compassionate look. "Well, I'll always be here for you, Tarrin, whenever you need me. I love you."

He looked into her beautiful blue eyes, and then kissed her gently on the cheek. "You have no idea how honored I feel when you say that," he told her. "I'm not good enough for you, Kimmie. You should find some male that can love you with all his heart."

"A third of your heart is worth more than the hearts of all the other males put together," she said fiercely. "I'll take my piece of you and be happy with it."

"A third, eh?" he asked with a gentle smile. "What happened to half?"

"Mist gets the other third," she said with a teary grin. "We're your females, Tarrin, we're the mothers of your children. And you're our man. Jesmind, Mist, and me, we all love you. We love you so much that none of us can give you up. It's why we decided to share you." She gave him a tender look. "I know we can't replace what you've lost, but we can at least help the pain go away," she told him. "Let our love fill up what was taken away, my mate," she said in a whisper. "Let me take away your pain."

He looked at her with defenseless eyes, and she leaned down and kissed him with such exquisite tenderness that he could not help but be moved by it. If only for a moment, Kimmie's deep love for him did fill the void inside, did smooth away the gaping wound in his soul. He surrendered to her in that embrace, allowing her to do as she wished, for he knew that he could trust her. Trust her as much as he once trusted Allia… and still did. No matter how she felt about him, she would always be his sister, and he would always love her.

And if he was right, maybe that trust was justified.

He surrendered to Kimmie's kiss, surrendered to her touch, and then surrendered up to her his soul as she laid him back down on the bed. In that moment, he knew her love had conquered him. He knew in that moment that it was possible to love two women, equally and passionately. He would always love Jesmind, and her place with him would always be secure as his first mate. It was something that Kimmie herself understood, and accepted. But Kimmie was now his love as well, and when the time came, his sorrow at leaving Jesmind would be mixed with his joy of joining Kimmie. He could only hope that Mist would understand.

He had realized the hidden love he felt for his devoted mate on the same day his sister had rejected him. In the balance of things, they should have been equal. But inside him, one could never replace the other.

But if Tarrin was right, one would not have to try.


Kimmie's tender attentions had done a great deal for his state of mind, but none of them could miss the haunted look in his eyes, the defensive set of his stance as he regarded them. They were all there, all gathered in his room… all of them except Allia. Keritanima looked deeply embarrassed and hurt as she sat on the divan with Miranda, who looked stunned. The others, who weren't as close to Allia as Tarrin and Keritanima, still looked on with profound compassion and sorrow. Allia had been one of them, a member of their rather unusual family. But she had decided that a life with Allyn and the Sha'Kar was worth more to her than those she left behind. And so she too had to be left behind.

Tarrin summed up that mood with one three words. "Allia left us." They looked up at him in compassion and concern, but he wrapped himself in his duty to the Goddess, in his mission. Sacrifice. "But it doesn't change what we have to do. We have to move on. I'm sure Kimmie and Dolanna told you what happened when I visited the Grand."

"We can't leave her behind, Tarrin," Camara Tal said fiercely. "And we sure as the Abyss can't let her walk around now. Not knowing what she knows."

"Leave Allia alone, Camara. She's made her choice. She has to live with it now."

"She'll put us all in danger!" the Amazon argued. "If she tells that boytoy of hers what she knows, he'll tell Arlan, and Arlan is all but up the rear of the Council. Spends all his time with them, I've heard. They'll know exactly what we're doing and exactly how to stop us."

"She doesn't know everything, and it's what she doesn't know that's most important," Tarrin told the Amazon bluntly.

"She knows about me," Sapphire said in a calm voice. "It seems all that teaching was for nothing. My use as a spy is pretty much well over."

"Education is never a waste, my dear drake," Phandebrass told her. "Never a waste at all."

"I'd have to agree with you, Wizard," Sapphire told him calmly.

Zarina gaped at the talking drake like it was the most wondrous thing in the world.

"Allia doesn't know about the missing Sha'Kar, or what we intend to do about it. And in a way," he said with a shudder, then continued in a brutal kind of tone, "it's best this happened now. If Allia really is telling Allyn what she shouldn't be telling him, at least that hole in our kettle is patched."

"It pains me to say it, but Tarrin is right," Dolanna sighed.

Keritanima sniffled, and looked about ready to break down and cry. Miranda put her arms around her gently, and Dar patted her on the back from behind.

"We can't stop now," Tarrin said intensely. "Not when we're so close. Not even because of Allia." He looked at Phandebrass. "I want you to go visit the library at the Grand's house, and I don't care how you do it," he said adamantly. "Sapphire, help him. You can get in there without being noticed, and if he can't get in, he can tell you what to look for, and you can steal it. They may know you can talk, but they don't know that you know how to read."

"It will be done, Tarrin," Sapphire said in a calm, confident tone.

"Camara, Zak, I want you to take one more shot at the servants. I want you to find out all the rumors going around, no matter how outlandish or crazy they may seem. New ones, old ones, even ones that they thought they forgot. All of them."

"That won't be a problem, Tarrin," Camara Tal said. "The head servant girl has a crush on Dar, and she seems to be the center of the rumors that fly around among the servants. He can take her to bed and boff the answers out of her."

"Must you be so crude?" Dar asked in a stiff voice.

"Crude or not, it'll work," she told him bluntly. "That girl can't stop talking to save her life. Once you get her naked, she'll talk about the things that she's not supposed to talk about along with everything else."

"Actually, she may not," Dolanna said. "I studied the spells that the Sha'Kar have placed on their servants. Among them is a Mind weave that interdicts speaking of things the Sha'Kar do not wish them to say. It is how they protect their family secrets that the servants overhear. Point this girl out to me, Camara. I can remove that interdiction without anyone knowing it, then replace it when Dar is done with her and block out the memory of her doing so. All she will remember will be a romantic encounter with Dar. She will spill all the secrets we wish to hear to Dar, and never know she did. That protects her and us."

"Why not just take her to a room and make her talk?" Dar asked hopefully.

"There must be a valid memory to cover my work, Dar," Dolanna told him. "You act like we are forcing you to move a mountain."

"It's just that I don't feel comfortable sleeping with a stranger," he said with a blush.

"After you get her naked, she won't be a stranger anymore," Camara Tal snorted.

"I thought we didn't want to move fast, Tarrin," Kimmie cautioned. "Sending Phandebrass to raid the central library? Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

"Circumstances have changed," Dolanna said grimly. "If Allia completely betrays us, then we do not have much time. The Council will know we suspect they are lying about the Firestaff and will know we intend to discover the truth. So we must move quickly, before they can find out what Allia knows and move against us."

"Just the point," Tarrin sighed.

"Then let's just shut Allia up," Camara Tal said with an ugly tone.

"No," Tarrin said. "Leave her alone, Camara. Allia may have left us, but she can't abandon her feelings for us that quickly, no matter how much she likes Allyn. She knows that anything she says to him will end up in the Council's ears. She's no fool. She'll keep quiet, at least for now. But they'll get to her eventually. I'm counting on it," he said in a fierce voice.

Kimmie and Keritanima looked at Tarrin strangely. Tarrin obviously had some kind of a plan, and it looked like he wasn't going to clue them in on it.

"What matters right now is to learn as much as we can before they can get Allia to talk," he told them. "Because when they do, they're going to discover that I'm a Druid. And when that happens, there's no telling how severely they're going to react to the news. Their sense of security over the fact that they can handle me is going to disappear when they find that out. I don't think they're going to be quite so willing to let me run around when they find out."

That made them a little quiet and sober.

"Now listen to me," he said calmly, yet intensely. "I don't want anyone going around alone. Not now. Everyone will have someone with them all the time. And I mean all the time. You're going to have to double up in the rooms, and don't even go to the bathroom unless you're in pairs. Pick a partner, and absolutely do not let him or her out of your sight. Do you understand?"

"Why is it so important, Tarrin?" Dar asked.

"Because, if I'm right, these Sha'Kar play dirty," Tarrin said with a grim look. "Dolanna."

"Yes, dear one?"

"I want you to check the others for evidence of Mind weaves every few hours. They always leave a lingering trace behind. I want you to check for tampering."

"I—" Dolanna said, then she gasped. "Allia!"

Tarrin nodded grimly. "I think she's close enough to being Sha'Kar for them to get to her," he said, revealing his suspicions at last. "She can't be that much different from them, not different enough to be immune to their Mind weaves."

"You think Allia's being controlled, Tarrin?" Dar asked in shock.

"It fits," he grunted. "She's been acting too strangely. It can't be anything else but that. Nothing else makes sense, even if she were completely in love with Allyn. And no matter how much she loves him, she would never have said what she said to me of her own free will. Not in a million years. It took me a while to understand that, but it's very true. Allia and me are too close for what she said to have truly come from her heart. I would have seen it coming a long time ago." He snorted. "In fact, I should never have taken her words for truth. I've suspected something was very wrong with her. And after I sensed the Mind weaves they used on Zarina, I should have realized that they'd do the same thing to Allia. The Sha'Kar always resort to magic to complete any task or chore, and finding out what we're up to is no different. They need information, they need a spy, and who better could they possibly have than one of us to be their eyes and ears?"

That made all of them whisper and sigh, and Keritanima got a sudden hopeful look. "Kerri," Tarrin said.

"What do you need me to do, brother?" she asked.

"Allia tried to talk to Dolanna, but Dolanna wasn't too nice to her," he said. "She'll try to talk to you. When she does, I want you to be nice to her. I want you to not abandon her, so she doesn't feel like we've completely rejected her."

"I can do that, brother, but it won't be easy," she sighed.

"It's important, Kerri. She's your sister. Sometimes siblings fight, and a third has to act as a go-between with the ones that are fighting. But I don't just want you to be her friend, Kerri. When she gets close enough and she's let her guard down enough, I want you to probe her for Mind weaves the same as Dolanna will for the humans."

"But she's not a Wikuni," Keritanima objected.

"You don't have to probe deeply, sister. Even I can sense it when someone uses a Mind weave, even if I can't understand what it does. But what you're going to be looking for will be very subtle, something only one with a similar mind could find."

"But I'm not Selani."

"No, but you are related to her. The Wikuni gods may have changed your bodies, but they didn't change your minds that much. I've noticed enough similarities between the Wikuni and Sha'Kar to understand that. Just get close to her, and check her."

"What do I do if I find something?"

"Leave it alone," he told her intently. "If they have tampered with her, I don't want them to know we know it. In fact, I'm counting on their hold over Allia. Do you understand?"

Keritanima looked at him, then realization dawned in her eyes. "Ohhhh!" she breathed, then she smiled broadly and even laughed, clapping her hands happily. "I understand! That's so clever, Tarrin! I'm so proud of you I could kiss you!"

"What?" Dar asked intently.

"Tarrin's going to use Allia to lead the Council around by the nose," Camara Tal told him calmly. "If they take whatever she says as the truth, then they'll believe whatever Kerri tells her."

"Exactly right," Keritanima nodded. "I know just how to play it, brother. I can have them eating out of my hand." She grimaced. "It's not going to be easy dealing with her like that, but I think I can handle it."

"We can spoon-feed them so much misdirection we'll have them running into each other trying to keep up with it all," Tarrin grunted. "Remember that you'll be watched at all times when you leave this room. So, a little word here and there to substantiate what Kerri tells Allia, and we've got them hooked on our bait."

"And off chasing a red herring," Miranda giggled.

"That's what all this activity is all about," Phandebrass realized. "You're not that serious about me breaking into the library, are you?"

"Of course he is," Miranda said. "Because it is what they would expect of us. And why not take the chance while we can? After they start getting information from Allia, they'll relax when they think we're not getting anywhere. She'll tell them that our adventure into their books turned up nothing of any value."

"Ah, I see," Phandebrass nodded. "But why should we move now?"

"For the same reason," Tarrin told him. "They have to know that me and Allia split, so they'll expect a flurry of activity. Kerri's going to tell Allia about Phandebrass and Dar boffing answers out of the servant," he said with a quick grin at his young friend, "and that's going to help make the Council think that Kerri's connection to Allia is too strong for her to break it off. They'll think they still have a window into our secrets, and they'll back off, content to hear what we're doing and arrange things to stop us from learning what we want to know. Sha'Kar don't like direct confrontation, and they don't want to tip us off that they know what we're up to. They'd be happier letting us mill around in seeming frustration. It's a lot easier to handle us that way."

"Tarrin, when did you get so politically savvy?" Keritanima laughed. "That's brilliant!"

"It is indeed," Dolanna said with an appreciative smile.

"Actually, I didn't intend to tell you that," he said ruefully. "Only Kerri, so she could pump information to Allia. I wanted all your reactions to be genuine. But then I realized that if all the work I sent you on kept either coming up empty or getting interrupted, you'd suspect a spy among us. Now we know exactly who the spy is," he said, pointing at Keritanima. "There won't be any unforeseen complications. All of you just have to learn how to be good actors."

"Better feigned anger than real anger," Camara Tal grunted.

"So, the plan is to use Keritanima to feed false leads to the Sha'Kar, who will move to block our attempts to learn what we want to know. What will our real move be?" Dolanna asked.

"Our real move is the same as it was when we started this talk, Dolanna. Find out what happened to the missing Sha'Kar. Somehow, I'm sure that that's the missing piece. If we can find out what happened to them, we'll have everything we need to deal with the Sha'Kar. When we do, I'm going to get my paws on Grand Syllis, and when I'm done with him I'll know what his mother called him in the cradle," he said with a seething voice, clenching a paw before him. "And repay him for what he did to Allia!"

"So, it comes down to that," Phandebrass nodded. "A mystery. I say, I love mysteries."

"So do I," Keritanima told him. "I think you and I are going to have a busy few days, Phandebrass."

"I do believe so, dear girl," he agreed. "I do believe so."


Tarrin's idea had a great deal of merit, but like most of his plans, it was heavy in guts but short in organization. Tarrin knew that he didn't make extensive plans well, tending to go by the seat of his pants and roll with the punches rather than create a detailed plan of attack. Keritanima, who was the plotter among them, holed up with Tarrin after their meeting and discussed exactly how to go about finding what they needed to know, where it might be hidden, who might know what they were looking for, and how to get at it without getting discovered.

They both realized that there was very little chance to discover what they needed to know from a book. If this information was damaging, it wasn't going to be lying around in a library. It may be in a personal journal, but that journal would be very hard to get hold of. They both agreed that their best chance lay with the Sha'Kar themselves. Many of them had been alive since before the Breaking, and they had to have seen what was going on. One of them had to know what they needed to know. The only question was how to get at it.

They sat down and puzzled it out. If it was damning information, it wouldn't be common knowledge. Tarrin and Keritanima had to agree that a member of the Council was their best bet, or one of the older and more eccentric Sha'Kar. But reaching ones like that wouldn't be easy.

Before they tried something like that, however, both of them agreed that getting more background information, learning as much as they could about the missing Sha'Kar and this so-called ceremony of Ascension would be a good idea. They needed a base of information upon which to build, and that was going to require some research.

And few were better at research than political spies or Wizards. Miranda and Kimmie were pressed into service as the primary researchers, since Phandebrass would be too busy misleading the Sha'Kar to help them. Phandebrass, Dar, Tarrin, Dolanna, and Keritanima would serve to act as the misleaders of the Sha'Kar, the ones they had to pay most attention to in order to stop. That meant that their secret weapons in this were the ones that the Sha'Kar really didn't notice. Azakar, Camara Tal, Kimmie, Miranda, and Sapphire. Sapphire especially, since Allia didn't know the extent of the drake's capabilities.

And so they began. It was about midafternoon when Phandebrass took Sapphire out to raid the library at the Grand's estate, and Dar and Dolanna left so Dar could perform his rather unwanted bit of sexually flavored interrogation. Kimmie and Miranda visited Arlan's library to search for books that may have information they could use. Azakar was accompanied by Camara Tal as they went out to talk to the servants on the other estates, to try to discover some rumors from them. Binter and Sisska did as they always did, did what they could not be stopped from doing. Protect Keritanima and Miranda. Binter was with Keritanima in Tarrin's chamber, and Sisska was with Miranda in the library. For the moment, Zarina, who had not said a word all day, sat in his room with him, waiting for Dolanna to come back.

The pain of what had happened between Tarrin and Allia was still raw inside him, and it was something that he and Keritanima shared. Knowing that she may not have acted of her own free will didn't soften the pain as much as the thought it would. The words had still been said, and if he didn't feel pain at her rejection of him, he felt pain of compassion on how she would torture herself if she was indeed being controlled. But if she wasn't being controlled, as he suspected, if she had spoken truly from her heart, it would be devastating to him all over again. He couldn't believe that she had. He just couldn't. He'd known her too long, they'd been through too much together. She knew his heart, she knew he wouldn't be jealous of Allyn. She knew that he did what he did with only the greatest reluctance. He could only wait for Allia to come looking for Keritanima, so she could get in there and check Allia for tampering.

Keritanima, for her own part, felt nearly as bad as he did. They were a family, she and Tarrin and Allia. It hurt her incredibly that Allia seemed to have turned her back on what they shared, and she did more than a little crying into Tarrin's vest, now that the others couldn't see her in such a state. It was going to be hard for her to pretend in front of Allia, pretend to accept what Allia had done so long as she didn't break away from Keritanima as well. She too seemed bolstered by the idea that Allia had not acted willingly. She too had to believe that it had to be some kind of outside force that had caused her to turn against her own family.

She just had to have been tampered with. He was sure of it. It couldn't be anything else! All the strange behavior, the abandoning of her Selani custom, she'd never have done that just to please a boy. If anything, she would have made him wear desert garb to please her. She should have taken control of their relationship from the start, not conform herself to his whim and will as she had. Allia was a lot like Jesmind like that. She would fight with her male, make him prove his strength to her over and over again. It was a Selani custom, just the way Var and Denai constantly fought with one another and competed with one another. It was how they kept themselves sharp, kept their ability and worth as a strong mate high in the minds of their mates. Allia wouldn't just knuckle under the way she had. It was completely against her very being.

The only question Tarrin really had was, how much did Allyn know? Had he enchanted Allia? Was he responsible for that? He doubted it. It would have taken a truly powerful and very experienced Sorcerer to tamper with Allia, because the simple fact of the matter was that she was not Sha'Kar. It would have taken someone able to deal with the differences between a Selani mind and a Sha'Kar mind, someone that could draw on the commonalities between them enough to perform delicate mental alteration.

Spyder had managed to perform a Mind weave on Jenna, and she said she could because of her extensive experience with the human mind. If they had a Sha'Kar among them with that kind of extensive experience with other Sha'Kar, he very well may be able to bridge the gap and affect a Selani, a descendant of their race.

Tarrin didn't have long to wait for things to start happening. About two hours after the others left, a servant came to the room looking for Keritanima. The Wikuni was about to dismiss her, but when she said that Allia had sent her, she jumped up from the divan where she had been talking with Tarrin and ran towards the door, telling him she'd talk to him soon. Binter had to lumber along behind her to keep her from getting too far away from him.

After she left, Tarrin found himself alone. Alone in a huge, quiet chamber, alone with his pain and uncertainty over what happened to Allia. He decided that now would be a good time to try to listen in on the messages of the Sha'Kar when they used their amulets. He took hold of his own out of reflex and pondered how it worked. It caught the words and sent them into the Weave, where they would arrive in the other amulet and emanate from it as if the speaker were inside the amulet. The trick of it, he reasoned, would be to intercept those voices as they moved through the Weave, be in a position where they had to pass by him. The best place to do that would be in a Conduit, but he couldn't sense one with such strong background magic fouling up his ability to sense magic. The strands were so thick inside the Ward, it was like trying to look through a league of forest to see a boulder on the other side of a hill. His sense of magic was simply overwhelmed.

Tarrin pondered some more. Maybe he didn't have to join the Weave and seek them out. Maybe… he could bring them to him. They were magical spells, and they traveled through the Weave. There was Sorcery that could affect the Weave itself. Maybe…

It seemed possible. The concept of it was sound. It would be a pretty unusual thing to try, but he thought it was possible. After all, he had his own amulet to help guide him, help him sort through things and find what he wanted.

It wouldn't hurt to try, but not with his amulet. Doing something he probably should not do, Tarrin Created another amulet, being very careful to make sure it wasn't Conjured instead, and then set to work.

He knew what he wanted to do. He was going to empower this new amulet with a weave that would attract all voices in the Weave and make them come to it. Then it would touch them, read them, and then allow them to pass through to continue on to their intended target. The speed of magic in the Weave was beyond rational explanation, so there would be no lag time to tip off the sender and receiver that their communication had been intercepted. The amulet would literally be linked to every other amulet on the island, even his own, and every amulet communication made would also be heard by him using that amulet.

Knowing what he wanted was easy. Doing it was not. Tarrin puzzled and puzzled, built several experimental weaves to test the theory, all of which failed. For over an hour he labored on it, continuing to design weaves that failed, one of which very nearly detonating in a Wildstrike, had he not been paying careful attention to it and moved to stop it from happening. He knew it could be done, he just had to stumble on the right combination—

No. This had to be something that someone else had thought to try at some time in the past. That meant that an echo of it may be in the Weave.

The Goddess said that he was strong with the Weave, that the echoes of the Weave would be drawn to him when he needed them. And right now, he needed them. Blowing out his breath, clearing his mind, Tarrin partially bridged into the Weave, opening his consciousness up to its power without leaving his physical body. He remained calm, using the techniques of meditation and concentration that Allia had taught to him—he had to struggle to retain his calm after thinking of her—and tried to draw the echo that he needed to him, the echo of the memory of how to eavesdrop on amulets. He felt the magic touch him, flow through him, calling out to the magic and beseeching it to come to his aid.

And then it was there. A floating echo of memory touched him, in the form of a weave formula. It was a surprisingly complicated spell, and even more surprisingly, it required High Sorcery to cast. Tarrin felt it ghost past him, but his memory allowed him to hold it in his mind, locking its image into his mind long enough for him to draw in the power of High Sorcery and duplicate what he had seen. It was a very complex formula that was built primarily of the flows Air, Mind, Divine, and the difficult to draw Sphere of Confluence, with token flows of the other Spheres to grant the spell the power of High Sorcery. It was woven with a strange looping knot in its heart that locked the flows together, a knot of sorts within its center that he realized would create a semi-permanent spell. Tarrin marveled at it a long moment, wondering why he had never thought of that before. When a Sorcerer stopped maintaining a spell, the flows unraveled, and the spell ended. But this strange looping knot in the weaving would make all the flows of the spell pull against one another when they tried to draw back into the Weave, pulling in opposite directions, using one another to lock themselves into place. It could only be achieved with High Sorcery, he realized, but its effect was very impressive. That spell would have the same kind of duration as a Ward, which meant that its duration would depend on how well he wove that looping knot in the center of it. If he wove it loosely, it would unravel in a matter of minutes or hours. But if he built a very tight redundant knot, it could last for rides, maybe even months.

Tarrin stopped admiring the ingenuity of the Ancients and snapped down the spell, paying special attention not to overly shift the weaving that formed the knot, then he released it.

The amulet in his paws shimmered with magical energy for a moment, and then it returned to normal.

Tarrin put his paw on it, knowing that he had to concentrate on the amulet to make it work, just like any other. He was rewarded almost immediately by a jumbled cacophony of many voices all speaking through the amulet at the same time. That startled him so badly he nearly dropped the amulet. But he patiently started picking through them, knowing from weaving the spell that he could suppress some voices and bring others to the top, where they could be heard clearly. He only knew nine voices, the voices of the Council, but there was much more to learn by listening to everyone, so he practiced by bringing only certain voices up to where he could understand what was being said.

He learned quite a few dirty little secrets during those couple of hours. The Sha'Kar used their amulets to talk to each other all the time, and they felt that they were secure enough to say very nasty things about one another using them. They loved to gossip, and the fastest way to spread gossip was to use amulets to talk to one another without having to bother with walking to someone else's estate. There were quite a few wild rumors about Auli, and the speakers, mostly girls, were very vulgar in their descriptions of them, how she would go to bed with more than one male, humans and Sha'Kar at the same time, even rumors whispered in the lowest voices that she had a fondness for young human girls. He didn't believe a fraction of what he heard, and in a way, he thought Auli probably reveled in so dark and colorful a reputation. She probably started half the rumors he was hearing.

For two hours he practiced working with the amulet, until he had down how to listen to the many voices and listen for a word or voice that interested him, then instantly suppressing all the others and listening to that conversation. He learned how to couple up both sides of a communication so he could follow their chatting, since each voice traveled through the Weave on its own. And he learned that Sha'Kar loved to gossip and chat, and the more lurid and debauched the talk, the better. Even the most austere, distinguished members of the Sha'Kar were quite nasty once they got behind closed doors.

That surprised him. Being such an old, established culture, he thought that they'd be talking about something other than sex. That seemed too common for such a cerebral, introspective race. There was almost no talk of Sorcery, just gossip, gossip, and more gossip. Who was going to bed with who, and how kinky they were.

That was nothing like the Sha'Kar he'd read about in the histories in the Tower. Those Sha'Kar were very reserved, but not stuffy. They were wise and not showy, but they did enjoy humor and dancing and song. They were a very outgoing, progressive race, and even celebrated physical pleasure in several obscure ceremonies, they weren't half as utterly obsessed with sex as these Sha'Kar seemed to be.

It wasn't an obsession with sex, not quite. The race had become decadent, hedonistic, seeking only pleasure and entertainment. They had become slaves to their own desires, wanting nothing more than good food, good drink, gossip, fun parties, and physical pleasures. Their study of Sorcery had even taken a subservient role to their need for fun. Iselde and Auli proved that. Out of their day, they only studied Sorcery a couple hours at the most. The rest of it was devoted to gossiping, practicing singing or dancing or playing instruments, and going to parties. No true study of Sorcery, no practicing the old ways, no doing anything other than self-gratifying activities.

It seemed… wrong.

It wasn't the first time he had noticed such strangeness. The Sha'Kar male torturing that girl was just as wrong, just as unbelievable as what he was hearing now, but it didn't outrage him quite so much. How had the Sha'Kar changed so much in only a thousand years? What had caused such a radical change in them, for them to be so different from what they were when they came? When did they change, and how did it come about?

Unbelievable.

Getting a bit of a headache from the concentration, Tarrin tucked the enchanted amulet in an inside pocket of his vest and sat down to clear his head and ponder the things he'd learned.

Dolanna and Dar returned not long after that. Dar looked a bit sheepish, but Dolanna had a beaming smile on her face. "It worked," she told him. "The girl was very talkative."

"She was listening to us," Dar hissed in indignation, glaring at her.

"I could have been watching you, dear one," she told him with a penetrating stare. "Be lucky I respected your privacy as much as I did, but I did not want to take the chance that you missed something important."

Dar blushed furiously.

"After I removed the interdiction from her, I, ah, hinted to her that Dar had been depressed and needed some companionship," she said delicately. "Camara Tal was right about the girl's interest in him. She took the bait immediately, and Dar did his part. After he took her to bed, he drew out the rumors and secrets she knew."

"What did you find out?"

"Iselde's father died in the ceremony some ten years ago," she told him. "Their mother also died in the ceremony, five years before that. The girl was not alive then, but her mother was, and her mother had imparted the tale on her."

"She said that the Council showed up at the estate and took the woman into a room for a long time," Dar said. "She said that when they came out, Iselde's mother looked pale and out of sorts. She didn't talk to anyone or do anything. She said that the woman just stood there a moment with blank eyes, then walked out the door. They never saw her again. Renina said that that's what happened to their father too. The Council showed up, took him into a room, and then he came out all blank and then walked out the door. She was just a little girl when that happened, but she saw him walk across the lawn, out the front gate, and towards the center of town."

"That is not half of it," Dolanna said. "Renina's mother was a house servant before she became too old to work inside, and she said that Iselde's parents would talk long into the night about strange things, and acted very secretive, even among the servants. That is very odd, for a Sha'Kar will make love to a spouse in the presence of a servant without thinking twice about it. It is as if they do not exist to them unless they need something done."

Tarrin nodded, pondering on their tale. "So it sounds like the Council is behind these disappearances," he grunted. "That seemed obvious before, now that I think of it."

"It is something," Dolanna told him. "Maybe the Council uses this obscure ceremony to eliminate potential threats to their power."

"That doesn't make much sense, Dolanna," Tarrin scoffed. "I've been listening in on the Sha'Kar, and from the way it sounds, they don't have any ambition. All they care about is the next party, the next meal, the next round of gossip, or who they can lure into their bed tonight. They're a very shallow people, I've come to discover."

"Are you sure?"

"I've been eavesdropping on them using their amulets to talk to each other," he told her. "It's all been a bunch of trivial nonsense."

"Tarrin, the amulets are not secure. Think. They would not say anything important while using them. That is why you hear nothing but trivial nonsense."

He frowned. "I guess you have a point there," he admitted. "They must use the amulets as some kind of magical gossip rumormill.

Phandebrass staggered into the doorway with Sapphire flapping in behind him. His arms were loaded with books. "I'm back!" he called, as Sapphire landed in Tarrin's arms and rubbed her head against his chest in greeting. "You won't believe what happened, you won't!"

"Well, what did happen?" Tarrin asked as Phandebrass set them on the table near the door.

"I say, they let me in, Tarrin," he announced. "Isn't that remarkable? They saw me coming at the fence, asked me what I wanted, and I told them, I did. They just let me in and told me I could take any book I pleased, so long as I bring them back in three days. I say, wasn't that nice of them?" He grinned brightly. "You should have seen their library! It was fantastic, it was! Three times bigger than this room!" he said grandly, waving his arms. "Shelves and shelves of books, in every language you could imagine! Sha'Kar books, human books in Sulasian, Sharadi, Mahuut, Arakite, Shou, and every regional language there is! I say, they even had Dwarven and Gnomish books!" he said in excitement. "But no Wikuni books," he amended. "But it was amazing! They wouldn't let me stay and read, of course, but they did say I could take home any books I wanted, so long as I bring them back in three days."

"You already said that, Phandebrass," Dar told him.

"I did? Sorry, I guess I'm a little excited, I am," he said with a beaming smile. "Where to start, where to start?" he wondered, looking hungrily at the pile of books.

"Why don't you take them up to the family library, so you, Miranda, and Kimmie can go through them?" he offered.

"Capital idea!" he agreed with a clap of his hands. "Now then, I say, let's get these books gathered up and get along!"

"Dar, help him carry them up," Tarrin said. "Remember, nobody goes out alone. Sapphire's staying, so you need to go with him. You can stay up in the library and help them until one of them is ready to come back down."

"Alright, Tarrin," Dar nodded. "I'd like to look at some of the books myself. Hold on, Phandebrass, you're going to throw your back out!"

Tarrin and Dolanna watched as Dar and Phandebrass split the burden between them and left. "I wonder how he managed to carry them all the way over here," Dolanna mused.

"He used a magical spell," Sapphire answered. "He remembered that you enchanted the room to block magic, so he cancelled it before opening the door and carried the books in."

"Was there any trouble, little one?" he asked her.

"It went as the crazy one said, my friend," she answered calmly. "They saw us coming, and when they asked what we wanted, the Wizard told them. It was that simple. I thought he would at least try to use deception, but he is woefully inept at it."

Tarrin chuckled. "They just let you in?"

"They did," she affirmed. "One of the ones in yellow robes that Kimmie told me to watch for met us in a grand entrance hall, and then guided us to the library herself. She told us we could take any book we wished, so long as it was returned in three days' time."

"Perhaps they have nothing to hide," Dolanna speculated.

"Or perhaps they know there's nothing damaging in the library," Tarrin grunted in response.

"Perhaps. But sometimes the greatest clues can come from the most innocent-seeming sources. Perhaps what we need is waiting in one of those books for us to find."

"I hope so, Dolanna," Tarrin sighed, scratching Sapphire between the horns with a claw. "I really hope so."

"What do we do now, Tarrin?" Sapphire asked.

"I think today's been a bit too busy for something else, Sapphire," he answered. "Let's give Camara and Zak a chance to return with new information, and give Phandebrass and the others a little time. Tomorrow we're going to lead the Council around by the nose for a while. I don't want to start anything else until we have them on the defensive."

"And when we have them confused?" Dolanna asked.

"Then we find our answers, Dolanna," he said calmly, yet there was intensity behind his calm veneer. He looked down at her. "You said the greatest clues can come from the most unexpected places," he told her. "I have a sneaking suspicion that the answers we're looking for are all around us. We just have to talk to the right Sha'Kar."

"You sound as if you know where to start."

"I know exactly where to start," he nodded. "And if I play my cards right, I may get a chance to talk to them as early as tomorrow. I should be able to talk to them without it looking too unusual."

He knew exactly who he needed to speak to first. A pair of adventurous children. Tarrin had suspected from the start that Iselde knew something about the Firestaff. And Auli… dear Auli, always getting into trouble, always going where she wasn't supposed to go, doing things she wasn't supposed to do. Tarrin knew from experience that kids like that learned secrets. Dark secrets, terrible secrets, things nobody else was supposed to know. Secrets a girl like Auli was smart enough to keep a secret.

Secrets. Yes, Auli was a keeper of many secrets, whispered to her in the beds of the males, discovered in her forbidden wanderings. What secrets did she keep? And how would they help him?

He would find out soon. Very soon, he hoped. Maybe even tomorrow. Soon, he would have Auli's darkest secrets, when he was able to talk to her without the Council getting scent of it.

He only prayed they were enough.

Chapter 17