"What are they doing to her—if they have her?" Wylend's eyes watered.
"My King, we will find her and she will be whole." Erland went to hold Wylend's head against his chest.
* * *
"Mom, what did Kifirin say to you? About Gavril?" Tory couldn't stand it any longer—he had to know. He'd been hit twice—first with Gavril's disappearance and then with Reah's. His Thifilathi knew Reah still lived, but in his humanoid form, Tory fretted and worried.
Lissa lifted her head from signing her name on the comp-vid with a stylus. She looked haggard—Tory saw the dark smudges beneath her eyes.
"He says we'll see Gavril again one day, but he will not be the same." His mother's words stunned Tory; he sat down heavily on one of the chairs Lissa kept at the front of her desk.
"How? How will he not be the same? Are they hurting him? What are they doing to him?"
"Baby, I don't know," Lissa let her head drop onto her desk. "Kifirin won't tell me and my superiors tell me I can't interfere." She raised her eyes to look at Tory's face. "We have to wait. That's what Graegar says."
"You talked to Graegar?" Tory breathed a sigh. Graegar was one of the five Larentii Wise Ones. They held their doings secret most of the time. Their abilities, too, were a closely guarded secret by all the Larentii race. All Tory had was whispered conjecture and speculation.
"I talked to Graegar and Garegar." Garegar was Graegar's son and also a Wise One. Seldom did two appear at once in the same place and they were always accompanied by their protectors. "Garegar agreed with his father." It was Lissa's turn to sigh deeply. "We wait. This has hurt Gavin more than I can say."
"Mom, he never expected to have a child. Now, somebody has taken the one he did get. With you."
"Yes. Connegar and Reemagar are watching both of us. If they didn't place the healing sleep, we wouldn't sleep at all, I don't think."
* * *
"See, if you dovetail the joints, they fit together better and you don't need nails." Gavril watched as Dormas finished cutting the pieces of a cabinet drawer. The one who'd taken him had set him down in Dormas' large shop. Dormas was now the one who held him captive. Gavril had been warned; that Reah could die if he didn't do as he was told. Therefore, he stayed with Dormas and learned carpentry.
Dormas had every tool imaginable, modern and powered, but he was teaching Gavril how to do everything by hand first. That's how Dormas had learned. He only worked at night—he owned a very large construction firm on Mharbool. Mharbool had a thriving vampire population—they worked at night, allowing the humanoids to work the days. Dormas was five thousand turns a vampire and had learned all his skills by working with his hands. He still enjoyed his work, though he currently built high rises rather than simple huts.
At first, Gavril had found it difficult to stay awake at night—he'd been used to doing everything during the day and sleeping at night. Now he was getting better at staying awake until dawn. It was still close, though, and Gavril was blinking sleepily as Dormas snapped the two dovetailed pieces together.
"Time for bed," Dormas smiled at Gavril, tousling his hair. "Come, we'll get you a light snack before we sleep." Gavril followed Dormas out of the workshop.
Chapter 4
Our unknowing hosts didn't arrive the first day. Or the second. Teeg had succumbed to sleep the first night after making sure the transmitter was safely tucked inside his jacket and delivering a threat against Gavril. I wasn't about to do anything that might jeopardize Chash. Teeg knew it. He couldn't have devised a more foolproof plan. I let him sleep until he woke, puttering around the place and eventually preparing a simple meal plus dessert—our targets didn't have much in the way of cooking skills and relied on prepackaged food.
"That smells good." Teeg was behind me, his arms around my shoulders.
"It's the best I can do with what I have. Somebody should teach these people how to shop for food." Teeg got a steak cooked the way he liked it (rare) with the best sauce I could put together using what was available. He still enjoyed his food.
"Teeg, what will we do if they don't show up for days?" I flopped onto the sofa—we'd both used it for sleeping. I was tired of wiping myself off with a wet cloth—Teeg didn't want either of us caught in the shower if our targets showed up.
"They'll be along." I don't know how he knew that, but he seemed sure of himself. I started to call him the all-seeing, all-knowing, but I didn't. That had been a joke between Chash and me and I was holding my memories of Chash close to my chest. I still had hope that I might see him again someday.
Teeg wanted to make love too, but if we couldn't take a shower, we couldn't do that. I pointed that fact out to him. Twice. Our quarry showed up while he was sleeping on the third day and chaos erupted.
* * *
"That's what Kifirin said? That we'd see him again but he wouldn't be the same? What the f**k is that supposed to mean?" Ry raked a hand through his hair in exasperation. Tory had waited until Ry returned from an assignment to share the information.
"No idea. Want to hunt Kifirin down and ask him?"
"Kifirin? No. He still scares the bejeezus out of me." Neither Ry nor Tory had any idea what bejeezus meant, but they'd adopted the phrase from their mother, who'd employed it often.
"Me, too," Tory agreed. "So I guess we won't be asking Kifirin any questions."
"What does your dad say?" Ry looked at his brother.
"He's not willing to go to Kifirin either. He says that when Kifirin doesn't want to tell you something, he won't. He talks in riddles when he does answer and you sure as hell don't want to ask him for any favors."
"Why would you not ask for favors? I hear the comesuli went to Baetrah all the time to ask for something." Ry frowned at Tory.
"Yes, but they weren't asking directly. That's what Dad says. You ask for something directly from Kifirin, well, he remembers. Forever."
"So?" Ry still didn't see where the conversation was headed.
"So he points out to you at a later date just what sort of mistake it was to ask for what you asked for. And then he still remembers past that. Like it's an unforgivable sin or something."
"Well, we should have known. He is Lord of the Dark Realm. Not like the light side, where people ask for things constantly with no fear of retribution."
"Opposites," Tory nodded. "That's the way they were made, to balance."
* * *