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There was a dragon thundering soh above A hot close darkness shielded her She opened her eyes to the ht hinted round the edges One hand lay free of the covering; it stretched experirey-and-white-flecked ash Ash? The hand squeezed the stuff together and opened, stained ood death Ash?

The stink of se flashed in her ulfed in flaht Beyond that she wasn&039;t sure what she remembered She did knoho she was, and that was an i to know She mouthed the words, "I am Keleios Incantare, and I aic nearby -- not her own ht of all weapons, enchanted or otherwise She had no strength left for sorcery, and herb-witchery took ic then? She was inside a protective shield, thatone Keleios rolled slowly onto one side, supporting on an elbow The day seeed with the rising s untouched by sun Pain seeped back slowly, and with its touch, she remembered more, Feltan was dead Poula -- she was dead, too

Dead Gone Never coo, about her own htened She sed hard against the rising tears "No" There was no time for this, not yet Grief would make her helpless, and this was no time to be helpless

She eased to her back, and the sky still rode su she rehting Luckweaver was gone Its death was an e The er hummed Great white clouds moved above, and smoke rose lazily into the sky Keleios turned her head slowly There was a painful stiffness to the right side of her face Two lengths froolden armor was ripped from one arm, rusted with blood, black with soot and dirt His reddish-brown hair was stiff with blood on one side, but it was he His back was to her, and he was hunched cross-legged in a position of power, but even then she began to feel his weariness Keleios mouthed his naroave of pain She was afraid of how hurt she ht be Tobin was near exhaustion, and the shield would not still be up if danger were past

Then far off in the ruins she gli It traveled like water with skin, flowing, and yet it flickered and changed like flame Where it moved, even the charred boards crumbled into dust and clumps of blackened rock were sand Flaht the thing in as a token to the fire devil The one ho everything in its path Would Tobin&039;s shield hold against it? She should have been terrified, afraid, but the pain was too much for fear If the shield did not hold, then there was nothing Keleios could do about it

It flowed over the shield, showing the world through green glass, glass that flickered and wavered and hungered

Tobin moaned, and the shield bowed, then steadied The flame slid off and flowed the direction it had come

Keleios could not reone Perhaps she was simply too hurt to use it Given a day or two of rest and a healer, she ht be able to escape the corruptions with sorcery Tobin would last only hours, not days The only power left to her was herb-witchery What ingredients were there? Ash, burned wood, dried blood, and from the feel, fresh blood if she wanted it that badly She lay on burned stone Ash for the circle, stone for the base, blood for the symbols, or perhaps soot It could work

She levered herself up and sat, cradling her right hand and arers looked twisted Every h it She didn&039;t need a healer to tell her the hand was badly broken Tiny pieces of bone ground against each other; the hand was nearly crushed Try as she would, she couldn&039;t reh the torn and blackened are watery blisters The bracer on her right arm was melted to the armor and the skin beneath The bracers were a pair, and when one was destroyed, the ht side of her face, a painful so less than a burn Her good hand rose toward it then stopped There was tih later to be horrified If she didn&039;t find a healer, she would re inup had started a trickle of crimson from a shallow belly wound, but it shouldn&039;t have been shallow The dagger thrust had been deep; she should have bled to death by now Her fingers told her that the wound was closing It must have been Jodda She had had a brand burned into her skin once But this was a newthing She couldn&039;t give over to it It hurt just as , so she could le of the sun it was afternoon Tobin had done very well to ainst evil, it would not have been so taxing There must have been hary on a shield to keep out everything Or he acted in haste and was trapped into his mistake

She moved cautiously to her left knee; not so much pain yet, the left side of her body seeood hand to a half-burned beam and pulled to her feet She screaht The world spun, then steadied Keleios stood breathing deeply, concentrating on each movement She whispered, "Cia, have mercy Let me walk this circle"

She stood away fro past the nausea of broken bones and burns She took a lian, the green menace flowed toward them She could walk the circle because she had to Keleios half-fell to her knees, letting the left arht The first part could be done fro ash and debris clear with her left hand The right side of her body was a painful drag The thing approached onceof ash from the stone was all important The flame reared in a wave and fell upon the do ash in her good hand She began the ash circle The shield bulged inward, and Tobin cried out The thing&039;s weight was a heavy closeness above her head All thoughts went to chanting; she could not stop now The thing raged, feeding on Tobin&039;s weakness The sides gave a little, and the sunshine turned to green as the ained soinal form

Keleios eased herself down in the center of the circle, near a ser in the blood froan the first symbol There ords that could be used, but the syue Truth be known, they were not co unable to correctly decipher what sort of warding they were up against

She was cluer than she wanted it to The flaainst the shield It threw its great bulk against the faint luh, thin voice The shield began to collapse There were only two more symbols left The stick man was easy, but the circle that rolled into infinity was ed, and she had to scrape it away and try again The shield roof was a hand&039;s breadth above her head, and the weight of the flame made it seem lower, First the outer rim of the circle There was a disturbance outside, a nored it; the third rian to lift, but the shield stayed small and misshapen The seventh rim was a mere dot and finished The spell took effect with a skin-prickling surge Tobin raised his head, and with a s

Outside was a copper dragon, baiting the flaive hope and endanger herself It was Brigette, one of Malcolons He was a member of the council of Astrantha, and the only one who had spoken for Keleios when they took away her on&039;s scales flashed reddish-brown rainbows Keleios sought th The Astranthians bred their dragons duic sense, the intelligence, was ruthlessly culled to on&039;s hts, an ani touched Master Eroar&039;s mind, she knew it for the blasphee of herself and Tobin, stressing the gloard and safety; an ih and safe followed Brigette, we are safe Thank you for helping us, but leave the ave an i the reen fla death

Keleios gave an i rock, fire, and people She painted an i and the result Keleios eat drenched when she finished It took control and great thought to project clear iher

As the dragon wheeled, her shadow fluttered over the ground Keleios caught a glint of solass bottle She concentrated and, yes, it gloith a blaze of enchantment Only one person made bottles to shine so: Shannie She had been a peasant enchanter, and hadfrom the demon on Fidelis&039; shelf to storave an ied it Keleios for the bottle near the shield

The dragon swooped lower Keleios sent a frantic ireen flary fla showed a black burn on the webbing Keleios eating and beginning to trey use, but the effort of concentrating past the pain was alive herself over to the pain No, she would not let Tobin die with help so close

She half-crawled, half-dragged herself the short distance to him He lay in a cru his face Keleios stu the broken hand into his back She screaled to prop herself up on her left hand She sat beside hihts of air Nausea and blackness threatened The green fla

It approached slowly, showing ence than she had credited it with It reached a tendril to touch the circle and jerked it aith a writhing that sent lines of orange through its green surface Fire could not kill it, but it could stop it for a while Keleios wasn&039;t sure if it could ignore the pain and force the protect spell eventually or not It stretched upward until it was thin as glass, then with a rush brought itself down to engulf thereen wave fall Would the fire ward hold it? A prayer whispered fro be hot Let it burn the e Let it steareen lay on the tallest standing beaic of Ver Fire The world was suddenly flaed her hair She felt in her h that it was like an insect&039;s buzzing The burned boards flaan to wonder if they would all die with the round But it did not die She had not really expected it to, just to leave theod of the eternal flame, that we are delivered and that this spell held back the destroyer of Veran to ease away as if in pain It had evidently decided they weren&039;t worth the effort

Yet Keleios wasn&039;t sure if the warding would hold against another such attack Every warding had its breaking point

Where was everybody? Jodda, Eroar, Belor, the children? Even the black healer, where were they?

She wanted to lie down and do nothing, just rest if the pain would let her, but Tobin needed her He lay terribly still and was that peculiar grey color that sorcerers get when they&039;ve done too ht cheek, shallow, nothing to worry about There was a second scalp wound, not as serious as the one Lothor had healed, but serious enough Scalp wounds always bled a great deal, so he looked e of sorts around his right upper arm It revealed a sound that had pierced his are, but muscles felt torn and the main arm bones had been broken It was the kind of wound that could deprive a fighter of the use of his arreat flapping of wings arrived Brigette hovered, then alit beside the bottle She picked it up in a e, the dragon cas The bottle hole, undaods had decided to be kind

Keleios searched for the green flath, reaching down inside to see if she could do this The fact that she doubted it at all was a bad sign But she had to do it, and that meant she could do it Didn&039;t it?

There was a flicker of green creeping over the ruins But it was far enough away for what she had planned She canceled the warding with one sign in the ash The creature ic sense because it sped its pace Keleios used a wooden beaon&039;s claw, and removed the stopper with a word

The creature barreled in, unheeding Brigette took wing, but the monster was intent upon only one prey It flowed toward Keleios in a rush of green fury, the scent of corruption riding before it like a private wind Keleios stood, legs braced as much as possible to steady herself She held the bottle out in front of her and spoke the words of entrapreen doom The stench made her eyes water and her throat constrict Keleios whispered the entrap suspended for aout the sky, it waited She spoke the words again, and, like a high buzzing in her ear, the thing screa inward until it was a narrow band of thick luan to bend toward the bottle

Keleios watched the fla eyes She held her breath as long as she could as the endless green line rolled into the ireen Keleios capped it and spoke a word of strengthening

She dropped to her knees and cried out in pain Soripped in her good hand

Malcolm the Conjure- hands helping his did not Healers followed him like a flock of carrion crows Malcolm&039;s face was plain as only a beardless dwarf can be, but when he smiled, his face was beautiful He smiled at Keleios now "Here I come to help you and you don&039;t need any help"

She tried to sht side of her face wouldn&039;t do it "I don&039;t know, Malcol and hiht His brown eyes shone with unshed tears and for a moment his face flinched as he looked at her A familiar, freckled face appeared over Malcolm&039;s shoulder -- Larsen, Malcolm&039;s son, his brown eyes intent on her wounds His hands sure and deft as any healer "Excuse me, Father, but if she can walk, wearea"

The dwarf nodded, looking up at his tall and very hu son

"I can walk, but Tobin" She tried to stand, but with nothing to hold onto, she fell heavily and screareen-filled bottle from her hand "It wouldn&039;t do to drop it noould it?"

She started to say, "No," but the world spun, the darkness sed the su on a blanket The summer sky still blew overhead, but the sht side of her body felt as if someone had taken all the blood from her veins and poured ht to the bone Without ainst the pain So softly, and Keleios discovered that it was herself

Larsen bent over her, his face concerned but with that constant cheerfulness of most healers "I know it hurts, but I have some salve that will help the pain You are very lucky you didn&039;t lose the sight of your right eye" He smeared oily white cream on some clean linen and applied the cloth to her arular piece across her face, covering her right eye as well "I have a potion brewing that will help you sleep"

The salve eased the burning, giving acould stop

She found it easier with both eyes closed against the cloth "Tobin, how is he?"

"He may lose the use of his sword arm without the aid of a white healer, but he will live"

She opened her left eye " Where are the Astranthian school&039;s healers?"

His voice ca lifted and replaced "The High Councilman has forbidden them to aid this disaster"

"What!" She turned her head and screamed in pain Larsen came and replaced the fallen cloth "Please, Keleios, no violent"Gladly, but how can Nesbit forbid the white healers to follow their oath?"

"Officially, the High Councilh it has been centuries since council has interfered with the healers I have heard that Verrna is holding a council of her oith her fellow healers; they are taking a vote"

"If they come?"

"It will mean exile for them"

"The entire school of Astranthian healers, exiled Every country on the continent ant theht line to stir pots oncetouch -- Master Eroar She called his na e is in a drugged sleep, in dragon form He takes up quite a bit of room that way"

Keleios al just how"He is all right, then?"

"Breena had a look at hions to have a go at it"

"Where" Keleios tried to look for her friend -- Breena the Witch, herb healer, herb-witch, warrior, and a horrible archer Keleios had spentto teach the tall witch archery Even Keleios had finally given up

Larsen touched hand to her good shoulder "Don&039;t try looking around Breena is out helping search forbodies"

There was a sound co to allow so, "Who are you?"

Lothor bent over Keleios His hel free in the wind, straying across his face like mist He looked drained; circles like bruises were under his silver eyes His skin looked almost yellow Dried blood stiffened part of his hair and still clung in dry flakes to his face "Will you please tell him who I am?"

"Larsen Herbhealer, this is Lothor Gorewielderleaving his freckles stranded on pasty flesh "But Keleios, he&039;s a black healer"

"I know" She closed her left eye, hoping it would ht; he helped us banish a devil," Keleios opened her eye and asked, "What happened, Lothor? Which devil won?"

"The white, but Velen had regrouped his re soldiers, and ere overrun" He let his head fall forward, hair hiding his face, then caic on Belor; he was knocked out of the fight early A sword blow stunned ed off the healer"

"Belor?"

"He took hi that could be done, but the pain wouldn&039;t let her think clearly It was enough of a struggle not to whimper aloud, like a child, or an animal

Larsen said quietly, "I reat deal"

"It already hurts a great deal"

Larsen looked across her at the black healer "You are so like a white healer, aren&039;t you?"

The strained ivory face s today?"

"I had to doon myself; that leaves me with very little power I could heal very minor wounds, or I could take pain, if that&039;s what you&039;re thinking"

"It is"

She heard the herb healer walk away, then return He spread a cloth on the grass and began laying tilings upon it, "Come over to this side, healer," Lothor stood wearily and was lost to her sight "Grip her here" A hand settled on her shoulder just above the burns A spreading waran putting the bones in place Keleios opened her mouth to scream, and the pain leaked to Lothor

Keleios are of the pain, a grinding nausea, but it was distant, an on Lothor&039;s upper lip By the time the hand was set, his skin was almost totally yellow, a sick unhealthy shade Larsen forced him to sip a restorative tea

Larsen pressed an herb poultice to her side wound, exclai"

"I think a white healer did so to it while I was unconscious"

"No, Keleios, your body is healing it"

"That&039;s iht, "Li a de to make me into one of you, aren&039;t you?"

"Don&039;t be silly Women can&039;t be black healers; it&039;s a rule"

"But I&039; enough to close the wound"

What was happening to her? The dark book, Ice, she felt the sath and searched herself, unbelievably weak at it There was so evil feel so good?

Larsen knelt over her "You need rest to heal"

Keleios closed her eye and tried to rest, but the burns and chasing thoughts would not allow it

A soft caressing voice cah the dark "Keleios Incantare, so you survived"

Her stohtened, and fear crawled up her spine The voice was un her eye Keleios took a deep breath and forced her voice calm Here was a h Councilman Nesbit"

She looked up He stood tall, slim, every inch an Astranthian lord, avy blond curls past his shoulders, clean-shaven, this year&039;s style in court His doublet was black with yellow and green embroidery worked into the shapes of fantastic beasts A square collar of white lace spilled over his shoulders As he knelt, the edge of his dark cloak swept over her leg "I alad that you live, Keleios Believe that"

Keleios found anger was stronger than fear "Believe you? You must think me a fool"