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Lia tried jerking her ar pressure and she nearly shrieked with pain She tried to speak, but her voice failed Despair shrouded her, s hope

Jon Hunter!

Almost too late, she reuer could hear her frantic thoughts "No one is coht your hunter first and left his body in a ditch Our hunter is the better shot He is dead" A s of blackness threatened to s her whole Grief filled her nose and mouth She drowned in it Four of the sheriff’sthe stallion’s reins to lead Colvin out of the thicket The sun sank below the nearby hills, filling the Bearden Muir with shadows As the light failed, so did her courage

After binding Lia’s hands with irons, Alainst the boulder while his ht Darkness descended quickly, but soon a pair of fires crackled and snapped Horses were unsaddled and they thrashed eariness and agony Muddy blankets were spread out, and one of the soldiers set-up a makeshift spit He had a bow and quiver, and Lia kneas the one who had killed Jon His expression was re down at the rass, she wondered about Colvin It was all pointless It was all in vain Everything she had tried to do to help him had failed In the end, the sheriff had captured her, just as Maderos had warned Her sto, but Alht of her, even for a moment He studied her with an intensity thatat her in a foul way He was leering at her

Even though she could not see them, she knew the smoke shapes were all around her The Myriad Ones, Colvin had called the to happen to her They knew it and were eager to be part of it

"It is nearly dusk," one of the soldiers said

"Past dusk," another growled

"Aluer said "Feed the fires"

Lia knew so to do, they aiting until the sun had set She leaned her head back against the stone and shut her eyes, not wanting to see anything Her wrists were heavy, the weight of the irons pressing against her lap

It begins with a thought

Those were Colvin’s words The words his Alderht him What then to think of? As the soldiers bustled about the caht, Lia drifted inside herself Muirwood She focused her hts and sounds of Muirwood The cloisters where the learners studied froolden tomes The manor where she served the Aldermaston his dinner A bowl of soup – a heel of bread The fish pond and its oily smell One of her favorite places - the Cider Orchard Yes, the Cider Orchard in bloo, when a hundred thousand apple blossoms danced in the air like snowflakes She felt the corner of her h the misery There were the cemetery ruins where she and Sowe ate shrewberries and teased and talked Another iiant hter filled her ears as she re that she held a secret other wretcheds did not know And what of the tunnels beneath the abbey? A maze of tunnels that the Aldermaston used to keep his secrets She could not wait to explore them, to study the mazes until she knew theuer said near her ear

His words jolted her, turning the skies of her iination black

Do not fear him Lia – do not fear him! The Mediuhts sounded like Colvin’s Was he trying to speak to her?

She focused her thoughts on Muirwood, just as he had told her She brought the Aldermaston his supper A crock full of salty soup He loved Pasqua’s soups, especially the warm broth with melted cheese and diced onions and apples

"You took so it I sense its power co from you Have you noticed the shadows it paints on your flesh? It leaves its e it The stain spreads with tiusted on her cheek The Medium was real She kneas Her ht of the stor wet,scolded by the Aldermaston And there was the Aldermaston, his beard damp from the rain His will had quenched the storm How had he done it?