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Chapter 1

“I have heard it told,” the old wo us who can do more than merely speak with the dead”

Coda Searus frowned up at the wo in close over her shoulder The woman’s intent expression drew heavy creases across her broad, flat brow

“What are you talking about, Tilly?”

The woman’s faded blue eyes turned to check the shadowed corners of the gloomy room “Down in the lower reaches of the Keep, where those with exceptional talents go about their dark work, it is said that there be gifted a them who can speak with souls beyond the veil of life, those souls now in the world of the dead”

Magda placed her treers on the creases in her own brow “Tilly, you should know better than to believe such gossip”

Tilly’s gaze again lifted to search the so in the slits between the ill-fitting, warped shutters The narrow slices of light revealed specks of dust floating almost ainst the stone wall

The table bore the age-softened evidence of dark stains, cuts, and scars collected over centuries of varied use The edges of the thick top had been irregularly rounded over and worn se of tiiven the wood a polished, chestnut-colored patina

Sitting at the table, facing the shuttered s, Magda stared down intoalone before her as she thought of all that was lost to her

Everything was lost to her

“Not ossip,” Tilly said softly, compassionately “A friend I trust works in the nether reaches of the Keep She knows things, sees things She says that some of those whose work it is to know about the world of the dead have not merely spoken to those passed on, but have done more”

“More?” Magda couldn’t bring herself to look up fro?”

“My friend says that the gifted down therepeople back fro is that ht back”

Elbows on the table, Magda pressed her fingertips to her te anew She stared down at a dried flower he had once given her, a rare white flower he had cli, fierce flower and said that only such a rare and beautiful thing befit her

So ould he choose to abandon her in this way?

“Brought back? Frohed “Dear spirits, Tilly, what has gotten into you?”

The wo she was holding slip into the soapy water She leaned down a bit h there was no one else in the cluttered, rarely used storage room

“You have been kind to entle, rinkled hand on Magda’s shoulder “More kind than nore h I’ve worked here most of my life, many don’t even know my name Only you have ever asked after me, or offeredhaggard You, of all people”

Magda patted the warood woman, Tilly Most people don’t see the si more than common decency”

Tilly nodded “Co would offer only a woman born noble”

Magda smiled distantly “We are all noble, Tilly Every life is”

Magda had to s, fearing that another ould put her over the edge

“Precious,” Tilly finished for her

Magda reed at last “Maybe I see things differently because I wasn’t born noble” She cleared her throat “But when a life is over, it is over That is the way of life We all are born, we live, we die There is no co back from beyond the veil”

Magda considered her oords and realized that they weren’t entirely accurate

It occurred to her for the first tiht death back with hi from his perilous journey to the world of the dead, perhaps he had never really escaped its grasp Perhaps he couldn’t

Tilly fussed with the end of her apron strings as sheover for a moment

“I don’t w

ish to upset you, Mistress,” she said at last “It is only because you have been kind to me and always treated me with respect, that I would tell you that which I would dare not speak of to another But only if you wish to hear it If you don’t, you have but to say the word and I will never again speak of the matter”

Magda let out a deep breath “Tell me then”

Tilly ran the side of a finger along her lower lip as she took a final glance around the so

“Down in the burial vaults, Mistress, down in the tunnels running far underground near where some of the departed are placed and most visitors aren’t allowed,for the war effort have found a way to bring the dead back to life Though I ads with my own eyes, she swears on her soul that it be true

“If it be true, then perhapsperhaps there be a way to have Master Baraccus brought back” Tilly arched an eyebrow “You are one with the standing to ask for such indulgences”

“Do you forget so soon exactly who my husband was, Tilly? Take it from me, wizards are masters of deception They can conjure all sorts of illusions and make them seem real”

“No, Mistress, I have not forgotten who your husband was He was loved by many people, me included” Tilly picked up her bucket She paused to consider Magda’s words “It must be as you say You would know of such illusions far better than I” She dipped her head respectfully “I must be on to my work, Mistress”

Magda watched the old woman ht, rocking, hitched stride, the result of a fall the past winter Apparently, the broken hip had never healed properly

Tilly turned back before reaching the door “I didn’ta loved one froht to help”

The woda’s husband, a reat power and ability, had already returned once from the world of the dead After others had been lost in the atteht’s red moon, a desperate call for help from the Temple of the Winds beyond the veil, her husband had undertaken the unprecedented journey himself

He had traveled to the world of the dead, and returned

Magda knew that, this ti

With nothing left for her in the world of life, Magda wanted only to join him