Redeeming the Lost

III The Wind of Shaping

I woke to the sound of Idai's voice in truespeech. "Come, Akhor, it is not like you to miss a meal," she said, her voice light in my thoughts. I sat up, disoriented, rubbed my face, and opened my eyes to find myself little the wiser. It was late afternoon. The sun was falling behind the western hills, and a chill wind was beginning to swirl around us, as if it were not certain which direction to come from. Wrapped in a cloak I had not been wearing, asleep beside Shikrar and Maran in the middle of a field—but where-—oh.

"Idai, where are the Kantri? Where are the Lost? How do they fare?"

"Peace, my friend," she said quietly. "All is well." I rose and walked with her, a little away from the others, leaving them to sleep. "All of our people have followed Kedra to that farmers field, to eat and drink and rest. The Lost—ah, it is long and long since they were trapped. Imagine if you went into the Weh sleep and woke five kells later! There is a great deal for them to learn. We must not expect it to happen overnight." She sighed. "Oh, my friend. Think of all the Kantri who have worked towards this day—three full generations, birth unto ending—so many who dreamed of a joyous release for those trapped souls. I am such a fool. In all my hopes, I never imagined that the restoration of the Lost would be so heart-searing." She closed her eyes for a moment. "Akhor, the last thing that most of them recall is throwing themselves at a treacherous Gedri who had killed their mates, their parents, their children; I do not know if there is enough time or reason in the world to overcome their hatred."

"If time and reason are not enough, we shall have to see what compassion may do," I said resolutely. For all my exhaustion, I felt now braver and brighter than I had for days. "Come, Idai, throw off this gloom! I too longed for a day of glory for the Lost—but I will forego that pleasure for the wonder of their restoration, however painful."

"Ah, yes. You remind me. Treshak has said that they now wish to be known as the Restored, Dhrenagan in the Old Speech, not the Lost any longer. We have taken to referring to them so." She sighed once more, then drew herself up, into the Attitude of Resolve. "You have the right of it, as ever, Akhor. We will surely be able to help them. Damaged they are, certainly, and confused, but time is our great ally. Time will heal the heart's wounds and show the restored mind the way of reason."

I could not help it, I laughed aloud. "So it will, Iderrisai, therefore be not afeared of giving them time to come to realise that they are free! That must be a shock nearly as great as finding themselves imprisoned." I smiled, though I somehow felt a traitor to Lanen at doing so. "Idai, think of it. The Lost are restored to us. At last they are free, after all this dreadful march of years! Bless every Wind that ever blew! Whether they are yet able to rejoice surely is of less moment than their return." I let out a deep sigh. "And I will at last be able to sleep peacefully, without the memory of those flickering soulgems to haunt my dreams. However it has come about, whatever the consequences, this is a wonder." I dropped into truespeech. "Even for those who chose the swift fire of death, my friend. We have done them the greatest service of all. At last, after so many kells of torment, they may rest."

"You have the right of it," she said, dropping down again from the formal Attitude. "Name of the Winds, Akhor! This has truly been a day of wonders, but I would give a great deal for it to be over. I am weary as I never thought I could be, weary in heart and wing and soul. I could sleep for a full moon. Can it possibly be that we only arrived here with the dawn?" She hissed her amusement. "My word on it, Akhor. I never valued peace and quiet nearly enough."

"Perhaps none of us did," I replied with a smile. We moved back to the others and Idai woke Shikrar. She spoke with him in a low voice, doubtless telling him what she had just told me, as she walked him slowly over to the little stream, where clear water and half a cow awaited him. I sat down beside Maran, too weary yet even to walk to the inn. She still slept—and in every line of her, I saw my beloved Lanen. My throat began to tighten, and though I knew it to be useless, I could not stop myself sending out to her in truespeech. "Lanen, beloved, can you hear me? My heart declares that you yet live, for it beats still, but my life is airless darkness without you. 'Where are you, dearling? Kadreshi, beloved, where are you?" A sudden thought occurred to me—perhaps she could hear but not respond? "Lanen, beloved, we are searchingfor you! I will not cease, I will not rest until I find you, and by my soul I swear I will come for you though all the Hells should lie between us."

No answer but silence.

I bowed my head, sorrow and a deep emptiness round me, until a short while later a glorious scent, entirely out of place in an open field, came wafting past me: bread and meat. And was that chelan? I turned—and there, preceded only by the scent of what he bore, was Will arrived like the wind of heaven, bearing food and drink. He put down his tray and woke Maran gently. She sat up, moaned, and reached for the chelan. I was astounded at the reaction of this body. As one of the Kantri, I would not even consider eating when sorrow wrapped my soul, but this Gedri body craved fuel and I reached out for it.

"Aye, you're as bad as the Healers," he said, shaking his head. "They need to eat like horses when they've been working. Get this down you." He handed us both trenchers of fresh bread, spread with butter, softened with gravy, and with shoes of roasted beef draped over all. I had never tasted food more clearly, or needed it more. Though there was something—

"Will, where is Salera?' I said, between mouthfuls.

"She's gone with the Kantri," he said, and smiled. "They were all so taken with her, and she is fascinated by them. She said she'd come find me in the morning." He shook himself. "As for you two, there's plenty more away back at the inn, but I'm blessed if I'm going to bring it to you. Up you get."

"Blessed indeed, lad," said Maran, gulping down the last of her chelan. "I've seen you often enough in the stone, Goddess knows, along with that tall lad and the fine lass, but what are you called?'

"Willem of Rowanbeck, Mistress," he said, grinning. 'The tall Healer is Vilkas, the young woman is Aral. You're Lanen's mam?'

"I am that," she said, grinning back, "and it's not making my life any easier, I can tell you. I'm Maran of Beskin. And you!" she cried, turning to me. I had risen, and now reached down to give her a hand up. When she stood, we were of a height, and her gaze locked on mine. It was the first time I'd looked at her closely. Name of the Winds, she appeared so like my beloved Lanen that my heart ached with it. "I've seen you nearly every day since Lanen found you, but I've no idea what your name is."

"I am called Varien, Lady," I said.

"Varien," she repeated softly. "It's a good name. And you can call me Maran, lad," she said, grinning. "I'm a blacksmith, not a lady. Goddess, what a voice you have on you." She stared at me, frowning, her gaze suddenly gone quite serious and her voice very low. "And you—I must know. Unless I'm mad, or unless that damned thing deceived me, you're no man. You're a dragon; transformed, somehow, but a dragon—that great silver one who watched over Lanen out on the Dragon Isle."

"What!" I cried, taken aback. "Don't waste time being coy, man! Is it true?"

"You are neither mad nor deceived. I am both dragon and human," I answered. Not for the first time, I wished that my mind might be more under my control when faced with the unexpected. The Kantri are seldom surprised. The Gedri, it seemed, were seldom otherwise.

She paled. "Bloody hellsfire. Then it's true. A transformation of kind. It's started." She grasped me by my shoulders. "Do you have any idea how this was done, or who did it? How you were transformed?"

In my astonishment I answered without thinking. "I have no idea. Lanen and I thought it was—all we could imagine was that it was the Winds and the Lady."

"Oh, save us all," she said, sounding much like Jamie in a bad mood. "It probably was exacdy that. Now all we have to do is find out who or what on the other side has undergone the same transformation." She began cursing under her breath and strode off towards the inn, leaving me a moment or two for thought.

That this woman was Lanen's mother I never doubted for an instant, though how Lanen could have grown so similar to one she had never known was a wonder. The same headlong rush into action without thought of the cost to herself, or indeed to anyone else; the same wildly focussed intensity and determination about her. And the Winds bear me up, the same eyes in a face so achingly familiar.

I stopped and blinked.

If she knew I had begun my life as one of the Kantri, what else might she have learned?

I ran after her. I was better at running these days. Time was, if I were lagging behind, I would have fallen by instinct onto my "forefeet" that I might fly to catch up. My hands and knees had not been that badly scraped for some months now. I was still far, far too slow to suit myself, but at least I remained upright. Will trotted easily beside me, tray in one hand, mugs in the other.

Vilkas and Aral awaited us outside, Rella beside them. Aral watched Maran suspiciously, and I could not blame her—whatever else might be said of her, she still reeked of the Rakshasa. As we approached I noted that Aral had begun to summon her power, just in case. Vilkas, however, simply stared.

As well he might. For the moment she was near enough, she took his right hand in hers and went down on one knee before him, bringing his hand to her lips. She might have been a great queen kneeling to honour a subject who had served her well, for there was nothing of servility about her, kneeling there in the twilight before him.

"I beg you to accept a mothers blessing for saving the life of her daughter," she said.

"Lady, arise, I pray you," said Vilkas gruffly. I tried hard not to smile. Vilkas was, after all, a very young man. "I did what was required. I only wish I had been able to keep your daughter from the clutches of that bastard Berys." Between his clenched teeth, he added, "We don't even know where she is."

Maran rose and grinned, and for a moment I saw her as one of the Kantri—for this was not delight. This was baring her teeth, and woe betide him who was its object.

"Ah. There I can help you. Did anyone think to bring my pack?"

"As ever, Maran, I have looked after you," I said, pretending weariness. We grinned at each other as I handed over her pack. I'd begged a double handspan of thick leather and sewn it, with double stitches, over the gaping bum hole, so that it was as good as before.

We had been friends for nearly twenty years. I knew she would have done the same for me, twice over. It still hurt. Like it or not, Jamie stood between us now like a burning brand. It appeared that we were both going to ignore that particular raging fire until we were forced to deal with it.

She grinned, looking over the patch. "You do fine work. I never knew you were so good with a needle." She drew out the Farseer once more, and I saw her flinch when she touched it. Time she found a Servant of the Lady and got herself shriven, I thought. She's getting twitchy.

"This is the Farseer that Marik and Berys created ere Lanen was born," she said, handling it as though it burned her fingers. "I have used it for years, but when Lanen left Hadronsstead, I— well, you may assume that I have a rough idea of what has taken place."

Varien stood beside me, and I could practically hear his heart pounding. "Do you know where Lanen is now?"

She turned to him, her eyes bleak. "I'm not certain, but I know she's in Berys's power. Where he is, there we will find her."

"Can you not see where Berys is, that we may be certain where to look for her?" asked Vilkas.

"He's wherever he has been living these ten years past," said Maran shortly. "I've never seen the place in person, I don't recognise it to give it a name. It's a stone building with a large walled and cobbled courtyard closed by two wooden doors. There's a guard on the doors, there are usually lots of people around—"

"It's Verfaren right enough," said Aral flatly. "It's just over three leagues distant from here."

"Then in the Name of the Winds and the Lady," Varien cried, "let us be gone to Verfaren!"

"Patience, Master Varien, it isn't that simple," I said, hating to have to quench his resolve. "For one thing, these three"—I pointed to Will, Aral, and Vilkas—"are accused of murder in Verfaren, and I'd rather not have to fight off King Sufis of Eli-mar's Patrols unless and until I'm forced to. For another thing, you must remember that whatever we may know about him, to the rest of the world Master Berys is still the head of the College of Mages, very highly respected and virtually untouchable. The College more or less owns the town. In effect we'd be storming all of Verfaren, and we don't really have enough troops for that."

I could not restrain the wild frustration that was sweeping through me. "Even a few of the Kantri could easily overwhelm a Gedri town," I said urgently.

"Master Varien, I hear what your heart is saying, but Rella's right, it's a bad idea," said Will, unexpectedly. His voice was, to my ear, maddeningly calm. "I know you'd risk anything for your lady: but I had a chat with young Kedra earlier, and I don't think you want your people's first act in their new home to be one of violence."

"And don't forget that Jamie is there now," said Rella. "He'll not be sitting on his hands." She looked up. "Come, we're all here now. Let us go in and talk over food. We won't get Lanen back any the faster for starving to death."

"How can you think of food?" I cried. "Lanen—"

"Varien, you're human now, and you were rather busy earlier," she said sharply. "That body needs food. You're pale as midwinter snow. Eat before you faint." She grasped my arm and towed me into the inn.

I wanted to object, but she was right. I was ravenous. The first course that Will had brought us had barely taken the edge off my hunger, and it seemed that the others felt the same. Rella had ordered a good spread and for once we all ate our fill: there was a cold roast ham, the rest of the hot roast beef with a thick gravy, carrot and parsnip, fresh bread and dripping from the roast, and roasted apples and honeycakes. The beer was nut-brown and cold.

When I had eaten my fill I stood up. The fire was warm and the excellent food tempted me to stay longer than I must, but ever I thought of Lanen. Truth be told, I could think of nothing apart from a burning need to rush in and rescue Lanen as swifdy as I might. Alas, I had not the power of my old form, or I could have flown in and—

"And what?" interrupted the neglected part of my mind that was the voice of reason. "Slaughter innocents who got between me and Berys? Destroy buildings looking for her? Make the Kantri appear as monsters to be dreaded? Where is the wisdom in that? No. Wait. Think. Remember the Lost, five kells ago. If they had stopped to plan, they might not have been so devastated by the Demonlord."

"Varien," said a gruff voice. Maran had come to sit beside me. She was smiting. "Just so you're in no doubt, that was my daughter you married at midwinter, young—well, young as a man you certainly are." She turned away suddenly, avoiding my glance. "She looked—she was absolutely beautiful, wasn't she?"

It took a moment before I could trust myself to speak. "I had never imagined that such a creature as Lanen could exist," I said quietly, just for her ears. "Such beauty of soul, such strength of heart and limb, and a glorious fearlessness that I am learning is rare in any race. Yes, she is also beautiful, but compared to the truth of her soul, I think her beauty is not important." Maran still looked away. "She is a wonder, your daughter Lanen," I said.

Maran did not answer straightaway, but when she did, she managed to look into my eyes. "I'm glad you know it, Varien. She is indeed." She looked away again, and spoke as quietly as I had. "And in case you wanted to know, I wish with all my soul that I had never left her. I have wished that every day and every night since I went away. I thought... my soul to the Lady, Varien, I thought I was saving her life by drawing danger to myself."

"I hear the truth in your words, Lady Maran," I said softly. "But I am not the one you need to speak them to."

To my surprise she looked back at me and smiled wryly. "I know. I thought I'd try a practice run before it's time for the real thing."

Suddenly I liked her, this woman so like my beloved in spirit and in form. I drew her to me and kissed her cheek. "Do not fear it, daughter. She has a large heart. It will take time, as it will take the Restored time to adjust to a world forever changed. Trust her. I know she takes pride in you, for she calls herself Lanen Marans-datter."

"Does she now?" she said, her eyes strangely vulnerable, a little half smile passing across her lips. "Well, well. There's hope in that, certain sure."

I was about to respond when I had the strangest feeling in my gut. I wondered briefly if I had eaten too much too quickly, but it was not that kind of feeling—more an urgency. It pulled me to my feet. I had gathered my cloak and my pack and was nearly to the door before I had a coherent thought.

"Whither away, Master Varien?' called Rella.

"I can wait no longer," I said, desperate to be gone. "I have played my part; I have welcomed the Kantri, I have helped to restore the Lost. What is there now to keep me here, when Lanen is so near?' None spoke. "I go to Verfaren," I said. "Let any who wish to join me follow after."

I strode out into the dark night, down the road to the south, where my dearest love was held by one who wished her nothing but ill.

I did not waste those two days of early spring walking down from the Sulkith HiEs. I spoke at great length with Willem of Rowanbeck, who had lived and worked at the College of Mages for many years. I teased from his memory every corridor of the place, every room, every turn, every scrap of information I could glean, like a greedy harvester picking through the chaff lest a single grain of wheat be lost. When he could recall no more I turned to the young Healers, Vilkas and Aral. They reinforced the map I had built in my head and added a few details that might serve me. Serve Lanen.

It kept my mind off the ache in my knees, and the chill in my bones, and the deep winter in my heart.

For all I knew, the exercise might have been in vain, for we knew not where Berys held her captive; but if there was the slightest chance that I might need to know how to move through that place this was my best chance to learn.

And it kept me from running mad with inaction as we hurried to the plain to meet the other dragons.

I did not wait. I saw them arrive from a distance: aye, I was there when the dragons came. A part of me knew I was watching the world change, and in truth it was a goodly sight, but I could not feel it as Varien and the others did.

I could hardly feel anything.

I swiftly bade farewell to my comrades and took the fittest of our horses, all of whom were complaining.

Rella took my arm as I made to mount. "You insist on this still, do you?" Her voice was calm, but her eyes were troubled in the bright morning.

"I will not stay while there is the smallest chance I can find her," I replied. My own voice surprised me. When had it gone so cold?

"Then keep to our plan. We will meet outside die gates of the College at the morrows dawn."

"Or I will leave word with your friend—Hygel, was it? Your contact at that inn?'

She managed a small smile. "The Brewer's Arms. Try the baker's stall at the mercat square if you get there early and can't find him, he'll be the one buying bread by the basket load. Otherwise, take your midday meal at The Brewer's Arms, but mind you look sharp or you'll miss him. He's very, very good at not being noticed." She frowned then and gripped my arm tight. "Mind you do the same. Berys is a bastard, but he's no fool. Don't make us have to rescue you."

One tiny corner of my mouth lifted, almost against my will. "I may be getting a little old, Rella my dear, but I'm not so far gone yet." I laid my hand on her cheek for a moment, then mounted my poor horse despite its objections. "If you can manage it, why don't you bring a dragon or two when you come, eh?"

Her brows lifted. "What a fine idea. Only two?"

"I shouldn't think any more would fit," I said. I tried, I did, to lighten my voice, to respond to her, but there was no lightness in me. "Be well, heart," I said, and turning away from the gleaming dragons in that great field, headed southward. Towards Verfaren.

I sat back in my chair, glancing around me, taking a deep draught of chelan. I could feel it hit as I swallowed, feel the borrowed wakefulness shiver through me. Goddess knows I needed it. We had all of us walked all day and as far into night as a safe descent would allow, sleeping as little as we could, on the way down from the hills.

The early afternoon sun fought its way through the small windows of the pub. Rella had told me the unlikely one to go to, where the members of the Silent Service met to exchange information— "Though you'd never know it," she had warned me. "Its a quiet place, and Hygel himself will be the one your eye passes over most easily."

I hadn't asked miracles of my poor weary horse, I'd ridden as gently as I could, but Verfaren was a good ten miles from the field where the dragons had landed and I had need of speed. The creature was too tired even to complain when we had finally reached the gates of the town at midday. I'd found The Brewer's Arms without difficulty, and the stabling was good enough to satisfy me. I left the bay covered in a decent stall, with a good warm mash and a promise of rest.

Lucky creature. I couldn't see any rest for myself.

I'd not been in the common room long ere I began to see what Rella meant. The conversations around me were held in normal voices, and the speakers might as well have been discussing the weather. I tried to concentrate on one pair near me, but when I finally managed to distinguish their speech from the others, it made no sense at all.

So, the Silent Service had its own cant. I should have known.

The landlord came up and refilled my mug, then made to turn away.

"Hygel?" I asked quietly.

He glanced down at me, disinterested. "Hygel's not here."

"Shame. I've news for him."

One comer of the man's mouth turned up. "You and all the world. You tell me, then, and I'll pass it on when he gets back."

"Sorry, friend, can't do that. Rella would skin me."

"Rella, is it? I know a Rella. Tall lass, red hair, sassy walk."

I wondered if I really looked that much of an idiot. "Hells mend you for a liar, friend," I said, gulping more chelan. "Hard to walk sassy with her back, truly, and if you think she's tall you must be walking on stilts." I glanced at him. "I'll not speak to the hair, though. Alchemists have nothing on a woman who's tired of her looks."

The man put his jug on the table and sat down. "Is she well?'

"She is. My name's Jamie. I've come on business."

He leaned his arms on the table. "What business?" He lifted an eyebrow. 'You're not in the Service, that's plain."

I replied in mercenary cant. "No, I'm on my own. But a little co-operation could be profitable for both sides, if you're who I think you are."

"Enough of that," he replied in common speech. "I'll admit you're not just some idiot walked into the wrong place." His seeming-casual gaze was taking in every detail of my appearance. You don't get eyes like that being a landlord.

"Kind of you to say so, Master Hygel," I muttered.

"Yes, yes, fine," he said, brushing at the air with one hand as if to shoo away all such nonessentials as his name. "I'm Hygel. What are you after?"

"Not what, who. I'm after him they call the master of the College here. He's taken something from me and I want it back."

Hygel let out a short bark of laughter. "Ha! That one!" He sat back in his chair, crossing his arms and gazing at me through narrowed eyes. "Old son, let me give you a word or two of advice, and because you're a friend of Rella's I won't even charge you for it. First, don't say his right name this close to the place, because he'll bloody well hear you. And second—whatever it is you want to do, don't try. Don't even think about it. You might as well call yourself a goose and pick a spit, because sure as life you're roasted before you start."

I shot out an arm, grabbed his shirtfront, and pulled his face close to mine before he could react. "He's got my daughter, you bastard," I growled. "Do not dare to laugh."

I could feel the silence behind me, likely barbed or at least pointed, in the sense of several silent blades drawn and aimed. I ignored it—though truth to tell, there was a part of me that was howling at my own reaction. I shoved Hygel away and stood up. "She's just a girl," I snarled. "I thought we might exchange information, for I surely to all the Hells know things you don't, and I need to know how to get in there and find her. Fast. Before anything worse happens."

Hygel stared at me. I stared back, my fury at Berys beating time with my pulse.

He gestured, and I felt the pressure behind my back melt away. "Sit down, friend Jamie," he said quietly. "Perhaps we need to talk after all."

I took my seat again.

"You first, and make it good," he said, very quietly. "What you need to know is worth a by-our-Lady fortune."

"Would it surprise you to learn that there are dragons here?" I said, lowering my own voice as much as I could and still be heard. "Not the little ones. The real ones."

Hygel snorted. "I heard that one two days ago. A True Dragon, one of the big ones. I'd always thought they were legend, and I wouldn't have believed it if my best local man hadn't told me. Seems it went into the Sulkith Hills and hasn't been seen since."

"Oh, yes, that one did," I replied, sitting back a little. "Though it's come down again, not ten miles from here as we speak. But it's the other hundred and eighty-some you need to know about."

Give him credit, he never changed his expression, and he swore impressively in a calm voice no different from his normal speech. Finally he calmed down enough to say, "Hells' teeth and Shia's toenails, where did you hear that? And do you trust the source?"

"I saw them land. I was there. Dawn this morning." I smiled crookedly. "And don't blaspheme the Goddess's toenails, we're going to need all the help we can get."

"Is it conquest, then?" he asked, still in a tone of voice that you'd use to discuss the weather. "Do we need to get away?"

"I doubt it, from what I've seen. Though surely the world is changed forever. They are here to stay, Master Hygel, but they are reasonable creatures, and from what I've heard they truly want to live in peace. Well, most of them do. Assuming we let them," I added. "And I don't care what you've heard, or who told you— they're bigger than that."

"Well, light my toes and call me a match," he said, staring at me long and hard. "That's news and no mistake."

"News enough for you to tell me how to get to the Archim-age?" I asked quietly.

"I told you already, it can't be done," he said crossly. "Him over there is no fool, mores the pity. He's been right cagey with his wrongdoing. There's those at the College know he's corrupt— Magister Rikard for a start—but until they have proof there's damn all they can do about it." He snorted. "Rikard's been looking for years, but Be—Himself has kept his head down. If you can prove he's taken your daughter against her will, Rikard will have him dead to rights and thank you for it." Hygel grinned briefly. "And likely thank me as well." He shook his head and leaned forward, dropping his voice. "Problem is, that one's got demons protecting him, has had for years, and it's got a great deal worse in the last few days." He took a draught from my mug of chelan. "Like a stirred ants' nest that place has been, this last se'ennight. Word has it two of the students went rogue and murdered two of the Magistri."

"Damn fine students, then, if they could overcome those who taught them," I said dryly.

"Right enough. But the place is closed in on itself. The main gate is locked, as it hasn't been since I can recall. Even All Comers is closed. That's never happened in all my years here." Hygel lifted an eyebrow. "If you can tell me what's happened, I can surely get you inside. Undetected, if you're careful."

"I know those students," I said carefully. "They've done naught but save lives since I met them. One who knows them better has told me the full tale, that they had caught Ber—his eye, and he had his excuse to destroy four of them at the once. Magistra Erthik and Magister Caillin, found dead outside the students' door—but found there first by the students as they were leaving. They never touched the Magistri." He looked doubtful, and I added, "Given that they went on to save the life of my daughter, without even promise of payment, I'm naturally inclined to believe them."

"Mmm. That squares with what I'd heard," muttered Hygel. "Perhaps I might trust you after all." A ghost of a smile flitted across his mouth. "As far as I can throw you, at least. What do you know already of the place?"

"I need to know where he might keep her—where he keeps his prisoners. I've a fair idea of the layout, but I need to know how to pass if I'm found." A great coldness washed over my heart. "Hells' teeth. Are they all corrupt, there? Could he keep her openly imprisoned and none to question?'

"No," said Hygel instantly. "There are bad apples in any barrel, but there are fewer at the College than in most places. He'd have to keep her somewhere that none could happen by, and there's precious few spots like that. There is no dungeon, only the cells where—" Hygel swore. "Aye, that'll be it, it must be."

"Tell me."

"Detention cells, partly below ground level, where they keep the drunks who show up hurt and get rowdy once their wounds are seen to. Stone cells, with thick oaken doors and naught but tiny gratings in the outer wall to let in air and light. There are four of them but one has crumbled on itself—no no, long since, be at ease—so there are only three where she might be held. The gratings all open on to the central courtyard, just beyond the main gates: four gratings in a row, it's the third along from the right that's ruined. If she had cried out, a passing student might have heard her. If—"

Hygel sighed and swore quiedy. "If Rella ever hears I've let this out without extracting a price, I swear, she'll spit down my neck after she's taken my head off."

"If what, man?" I hissed.

"If her captor hasn't cast a silence on her. It's a demon spell. He's known to be fond of it. The victim can't be heard no matter how they shout. And those windows are too high up to reach from inside."

I knew as if I'd been there that she was held in that spell, else she'd have shouted the place down. My Lanen had never been one to suffer in silence.

"I'd been told of those cells. My informer said they'd not been used in years."

"Maybe. And maybe they have been but your informer knew nothing of it. I tell you, anything could have happened this last week."

"The central courtyard, you say?" I frowned at the table. "And All Comers is closed? Damn, I'd been counting on that as a way in."

"Shut tight and likely locked," said Hygel thoughtfully, stroking bis chin. "But now I think on it, there is a way in." A slow smile crossed his face. "Magister Rikard owes me quite a favour." Hygel sat back, as if he had come to a decision. "I do believe I'll collect on it. He can get you in as a new servant—seemingly there have been quite a few leaving the place of late." Hygel looked me over. "But not this very moment. You're dead to the world, man." He fished out a key from a pocket and handed it to me. 'Top of the stairs, second on the left. Two coppers for the room and I'll throw in supper. Get some sleep." I started to protest but he cut me off. "Don't be an idiot. You'll need all your wits about you, and Rikard comes here for his evening meal every day of the world. I'll introduce you tonight."

I took the key and stood up. Goddess aid me, I was swaying on my feet from weariness. Still—"If you have betrayed me, the Seventh Hell itself won't be deep enough to hide you," I growled.

"Strictly business," he replied, undaunted. "Your news is worth a fair bit to me, I'd not cheat you. No profit in it." He grinned. "And truth be told, Master, I wouldn't object to losing that particular neighbour myself. He's bad for business."

I nodded and staggered up the stairs, found the room, and fell across the bed. I had thought my anger would sustain me, but I was asleep before I landed.