"Do we have to report them to anyone?" Norian turned to Ildevar.
"No, they were delivered straight to my dungeon while the note appeared on my desk. We are the only two who know they are here, other than the ones who sent them."
"Are we going to let anyone else know?" Norian smiled at Ildevar.
"Only if that is your wish, child."
"I don't wish."
"Good. I think I'll start with this one," Ildevar gave a nod toward the prisoner in the middle cell.
"When?" Norian was mildly curious.
"Two days."
"Good." Norian turned on his heel and walked away. These prisoners were never getting out of Ildevar's dungeon alive.
* * *
"What did she do? What did she do?" Teeg was shouting and fretting at the same time. Reah had done something—Astralan had said not only was Shillverr's energy drain stopped, but the core had been healed somehow. Reah was connected to this, only none of them could determine just how she was connected. Now, she lay unconscious on the grass, still in full Thifilatha.
"We have to get her turned back—we can't leave her like this," Astralan was fretting almost as much as Teeg. Teeg was glad Farzi and Nenzi hadn't come; they'd be having a breakdown.
"Reah, come on baby, wake up. Please. For me. Do this for me, all right?" Teeg was begging. He was about to promise anything to her when she moaned softly.
* * *
Waking up flat on my back in the middle of the wilderness while night insects sang in the trees around me wasn't the best situation in which I've ever found myself. "Thank the stars," Astralan muttered from somewhere nearby. Teeg was standing on my left arm, peering into my face. "Baby, change back. We need to take you home so Jes can have a look at you."
"Teeg, I don't feel good." I covered my eyes with my free hand—Teeg was still standing on my left arm; I couldn't move it unless I wanted to knock him to the ground. My stomach was threatening to heave up its contents; if there was anything left to heave.
"I know, baby. Change back. We'll get you home and Jes will fix it. I promise." Teeg sounded upset, for some reason. My mind felt fuzzy—cloudy somehow, and I had to think for a moment before I could recall how to change back. Teeg jumped down the moment things looked to go back to normal.
* * *
"What happened?" Jes was fretting the moment Teeg showed up with me wrapped in his arms.
"A little more work than Teeg wanted from her, that's what," Astralan murmured. Lenden was there and looked as if he were going to lift me from Teeg's arms. Honestly, I just wanted to spend quality time with the toilet. When everybody was talking to one another and leaving me out of it, my body decided to react in its own way. I heaved all over the floor, causing Jes to jump aside, Teeg to shout and Farzi, Nenzi and Jusef to quickly search for something to clean the floor.
"All gone now?" Teeg was beside me on the bathroom floor later, when it looked as if I might stop heaving up nothing.
"Hope so," I muttered. My throat was raw, my insides felt as if they wanted to become outsides and I just wanted to curl up and die somewhere.
"None of that; come on, sweetheart, let's get you up so you can rinse out your mouth."
"Teeg, I don't want to get up." I was hugging myself as hard as I could. Nauseous didn't begin to describe how I felt.
"I know. Lenden?" Lenden appeared in the doorway to the bathroom. "Help me get this one to the sink. We'll get to the bed after that." Lenden took one side, Teeg took the other and they lifted me easily off the floor. I was still trying to curl into a ball, but both of them forced me to straighten and shuffle toward the sink. Lenden propped me up while I weakly brushed my teeth; Teeg went to find clean pajamas for me. I was afraid to ask for a bath—most likely I'd fall asleep in it, anyway.
"You just spent too much of your energy," Jes said when he examined me after Teeg got me into bed. "And I'd like for you to drink a jumble. Jusef is making one now and cursing the rest of us in Amterean while he's doing it," Jes added.
"He is cursing in his native language," Lenden walked in, carrying the glass and a straw. "The last I heard, we all have mulch for brains."
"Can't argue with that," I said weakly as Jes accepted the glass and stuck the straw in it for me. Teeg chased the others out, pulled me against him in the bed and proceeded to hold the glass while ordering me to drink. I felt too ill to argue with him, rolling my head against his shoulder and closing my eyes after only a few sips.
"Baby, this will be over before long, I promise," Teeg whispered as I drifted off.
* * *
"I still don't know how she did it and there's two more out there, if we got the truth out of those two," Teeg held his head in his hands. "How can we put her through this? How are we going to ask this of her? You saw what it did to her last night."
"But the populations on those worlds will die if we don't do something," Teeg's assistant had come—courtesy of Galaxsan—to discuss things with Teeg.
"Tell me something I don't know," Teeg muttered. "Dee, tell me what to do. And make it something that won't kill her. And me as a result."
"It didn't kill her last night—it just made her weak and ill. What does the physician say? How long will it take her to recover from this?"
"If she starts eating, perhaps an eight-day. Maybe a little more."
"We have little time, unless we want more of these worlds to die. I've gotten intelligence on two other rogues that Zellar trained. Has the one you captured last night been able to talk?"
"Jes is working on him, trying to get him conscious for more than a few moments at a time. What if she's permanently harmed, Dee?"
"What will you do, if that turns out to be the case?"
"If I don't kill myself, Torevik Rath will kill me anyway."
* * *
"Em-pah's here." Those words greeted me when I woke—Teeg must have gotten up earlier.
"Huh?" I felt lethargic and weak. My eyes were refusing to open for some reason.
"Come on, little squirrel, let's get you to breakfast." Lenden was lifting me off the bed. Teeg hadn't come in the night before until very late. He'd barely wakened me while slipping in and wrapping his arms around me. Now, he was up early and off somewhere, leaving Lenden to carry me to breakfast. I wasn't going to complain—Lenden wanted to adopt me, somehow. Compared to the one grandfather I knew I had, this was more than different. Addah Desh wouldn't have shown gentleness if someone paid him to do so.
"Jusef, look what we have here." Lenden settled me on a barstool. Farzi and Nenzi came in and they sat to my left while Lenden sat on my right. Jusef served oatmeal with brown sugar and a bit of cream. It was good and helped ease my stomach. Farzi and Nenzi looked worried, but turned their heads away when I tried to catch them watching me.
"Where's Teeg?" I asked.
"Working with the prisoner," Lenden replied. "Little girl, don't worry yourself over that. He's bad and deserves whatever he gets."
"I know," I answered wearily. Jes must be with Teeg, since the rogue warlock had been wounded. Wouldn't do to let the man die before he answered all of Teeg's questions.
"Eat your breakfast. We'll be taking care of you today," Lenden rubbed my shoulders as I went back to my oatmeal.
* * *
"They split up," Kastalt's voice was shaky but he couldn't help himself—he was answering any question these two asked. The physician had given painkill; that helped some. "They sold the information on Zellar, Nidris admitted that when I saw them last. Didn't matter, we were tired of looking at him anyway."
Teeg knew about that—Zellar had been disfigured nearly forty-five years before.
"The names? Besides Nidris?" Teeg pushed.
"Qwan. Halmus."
"The ones we sent to Karathia," Astralan said softly. Teeg nodded.
"Where did Nidris go? Do you know that?"
"Said he was heading home for a while until he wasn't hunted any longer," Kastalt was fading fast. Teeg looked at Jes, who shook his head. He'd given a higher dose of painkill than should have been given, just to keep Kastalt awake and talking. Kastalt was near death as it was—this was going to finish him off.
"Do you know where Nidris' home is?" Teeg gentled his voice.
"Alliance," Kastalt whispered. "Tulgalan."
"But there isn't anyone with talent on Tulgalan," Astralan denied Kastalt's claim.
"Hasn't been there long. Family," Kastalt grunted with the effort to speak, "moved there twenty turns ago. Hiding power. Hunted by Karathia. All of them." Kastalt slumped in his chair. Jes went to check the pulse and looked up at Teeg, shaking his head. Kastalt was dead.
"Get rid of that," Teeg ordered. Stellan came forward to take the body.
"What now, Boss? We won't get into the Reth Alliance."
"Not in any normal manner, no. We also need more information on Nidris. I'll send a message to Wylend Arden." Teeg stalked from the back room of the warehouse where they'd held Kastalt.
* * *
"Erland, look at this." Wylend handed him the note from Teeg San Gerxon.
"What is it this time?" Erland was frustrated—Teeg had managed to capture more rogue warlocks in a matter of months than Erland and his spies had managed to hunt down in decades.
"He's asking for information on Nidris. Says he received information from Kastalt before he died that Nidris had received training from Zellar. Says Kastalt told him that Nidris had gone to Tulgalan—that his family had relocated there to get away from us."
"Nidris," Erland almost growled the name. He and Wylend had reason to loathe Nidris Hazlan and his entire family. The one highly placed family who'd plotted to kill Wylend's father and then managed to escape. Wylend and Erland had seen the others executed when Wylend wrestled the throne away from them.