The nearest peaks in the Coastal Range were visible even from Circle Bay, and it hadn’t taken long to reach the foothills south of the city. Corec was setting up his tent when Ellerie and Boktar returned from climbing the nearest hill for a better look.

“Did you see anything?” he asked.

“The road curves around to the east,” Ellerie said, “but if my maps are right, we don’t want to go that way. There’s not enough land between the sea and the mountains for what I’m trying to find. There’s a trail that follows the western side of the mountains, so we’ll go that way instead.”

“We’re not going into the mountains?”

“No, I just need to get a view of the range from the side.”

“This would be easier if you’d just tell us what we’re looking for.”

She scowled at him. “We’re not looking for anything. You’re following along while I figure out this bloody banishing spell so I can undo what you did, and then we’ll each go our own way.” She’d been trying to teach herself a banishing spell from her spell book ever since they’d left the city.

“I agree, but in the meantime, wouldn’t it be easier to work together? I’m not going to steal your damned treasure, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I don’t care about the treasure,” she said, “but I don’t need your help to find Tir Yadar.” She stalked off in the opposite direction.

Corec shook his head. He should have had Shavala or Treya speak to her—she seemed to like them.

Boktar gave him a sympathetic grin and a shrug, then followed the elf. The dwarf was friendly to everyone besides Bobo, and he had the competent air of someone who’d traveled a lot. He’d even taught Corec some things to watch out for when buying horses or mules. Boktar had suggested donkeys rather than mules, but Corec stuck to what he was familiar with.

He and his friends had pooled their money and bought five horses and two pack mules for the journey. Once they got back to Tyrsall, their plan was to give Treya and Bobo their pick of the horses, then sell the rest. Treya had sold her own elderly horse before they left, and although Bobo hadn’t sold Rose yet, she was too old to take on a winter trek to the north.

“I take it the conversation didn’t go well?” Katrin asked, coming over to stand near him.

“No. Even Treya doesn’t hate me this much.”

She laughed. “Treya’s too nice. If you hadn’t stuck that thing on her forehead, you two would probably get along.”

“And you?”

“Eh. You’re all right.”

He snickered. “Thanks.”

“What were you talking about?”

“I was just trying to find out what we’re actually doing here. She wants to look at the mountains from the west.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. She says they’re too close to the ocean to look at them from the east.”

Katrin crinkled her brow. “They’re not that close. There’s over a hundred miles between them.”

Corec shrugged. “I guess that means we’ll be going more than a hundred miles west. I’ll talk to Bobo and see if he has any ideas why she wants to go that way.”

“He’s out gathering firewood. And Shavala’s foraging, so Treya’s trying to set up all the other tents by herself.”

“Ahh, I’ll go help her, then.”

#

They didn’t go a hundred miles to the west after all, but continued following the trail along the foothills. When Corec asked about it, Ellerie had suggested she wouldn’t need to go that far out unless she found what she was looking for.

The third morning dawned chilly, and remained that way until the sun was well overhead. Corec was riding at the rear of the group. He and Boktar had taken to alternating their positions, with one of them at the front and one as the rear guard, since they were the only two with armor.

As they’d continued along the trail, Ellerie continually glanced at the mountains to their left, growing more frustrated each time. Finally, she dropped back to ride alongside him. “I don’t think this is the right place,” she said. “It should only take one more day to see enough of the range to make sure, then we can turn around and go back.”

“How can you tell?” he asked.

She hesitated before replying. “The shape of the mountains, and where they stand in relation to each other. I’m looking for seven peaks laid out in a particular way, but nothing looks right so far.”

“How do you know what to look for?”

“Like I said to Bobo, I didn’t tell him everything. I’m not going to tell you, either.”

Corec sighed. The conversation had actually been polite up to that point. “I’m not your enemy, you know.”

“We’ll see, but even if you aren’t, you need to get your magic under control. That spell you cast… People have been killed for less. Why did your teachers let you go off half-trained?”

“If I’m even the one that cast the spell.”

“What, you think I did it?”

“No. I just mean… I don’t know. I guess I felt something this time, but I was hoping that somehow this wasn’t all my fault. And I’ve never had a teacher.”

“If you didn’t have teachers, where did you learn to use magic?”

“It just started happening, about seven years ago. The lights came first—like the ones you put around the camp at night.”

Ellerie nodded. “Mage lights.”

“That’s what Deshin called them, too—he’s one of the human wizards we spoke to. The other spells came later, but I don’t know very many. Deshin gave me a book to try, but I was never able to cast the mage light spell the normal way. He said if I couldn’t, then I might never be able to learn any other spells. Though I did learn one more after that. It was in the middle of a fight, and it almost got me stabbed, but the spell itself seems to make my armor stronger.”

“You learned a spell in the middle of a fight? Without even trying?”

“I guess,” he said, keeping his face expressionless. Ellerie had been spending hours each evening hunched over her spell book trying to teach herself the banishing spell.

She frowned. “I know there are arcane mages who aren’t wizards and who don’t need to speak the words, but how did you make it do what you wanted?”

“I didn’t. I wasn’t even trying to cast another spell, it just happened on its own. I’ve never had any control over the spells I know, though after the first few times, I can usually learn to cast them when I want to.”

“That just…doesn’t make any sense at all!” She sounded offended. “Magic is all about control! If you can’t control it, then who knows what’s going to happen?”

Corec shrugged. “Could you help me learn? Maybe if I can control it better, then I can figure out how to undo the binding spell.”

“I don’t—” Her eyes grew wide. “Look out!”

He looked to his other side to see men rushing at them with weapons drawn, wearing familiar black brigandine armor. His horse was startled and jerked to the side. The animals they’d bought in Circle Bay weren’t trained warhorses like Dot, and he didn’t want to try fighting from the gelding’s back. He quickly swung down and let the horse run off, casting his combat spells as he did so.

Ahead of where he’d been riding, Katrin’s horse bucked, knocking her from the saddle. She hit the ground hard and didn’t move. Next to her, Shavala managed to keep her seat, bending down to talk to her horse as she strung her bow.

Corec ran for Katrin, unslinging his sword as he went. One of the attackers was in the way, his eyes glowing red. Without stopping, Corec whipped his sword around in an arc, beheading the man.

Another group rushed toward the front of the procession. Boktar wheeled his horse to the side and charged at them, while Bobo’s horse ran away with him still on its back. Treya’s horse acted up, but she slid out of the saddle before it could run.

One of the red-eyes drew close to Corec just as he reached Katrin, but before he could do anything, a white beam of light shot past his ear, too close for comfort, and hit the man in the face. He dropped instantly, his features an unrecognizable mess.

“Katrin!” Corec knelt down, grasping her shoulders. Her head rolled limply, her eyes closed.

“Treya!” he shouted. “Katrin needs help!”

Treya danced back from the man she was sparring with to glance over, grimacing when she saw the redhead lying on the ground. She renewed her attacks, but then an arrow suddenly appeared in the man’s neck. He fought on for a moment more before dropping his sword. Treya felled him with one last punch to the face, her fist glowing.

She ran over to Corec and knelt down. “What’s wrong with her?”

“She fell off her horse. I think she hit her head. Is she…?”

“She’s alive. I’ll take care of her.”

“I’ll keep them away.” Corec stood again, then charged at the closest of the red-eyes. Before he got there, three darts of light hit the man in the chest. He growled and flailed his arms but didn’t fall, so Corec barreled into him, knocking him to the ground, then thrust his sword down through the man’s armor and into his chest.

He ran to the next man, passing a dead red-eye lying on the ground with an arrow through his left eye.

As Corec fought, his armor felt lighter than usual, and swinging his sword seemed almost effortless. This fight wouldn’t be like the last time he’d faced these men. This time, he was fully armored, and his opponents wouldn’t be able to hurt him unless they got lucky. He didn’t intend to let them.

#

Ellerie twisted out of the way of the battle axe as the man with the glowing red eyes tried to kill her. The battle was eerie, with none of the attackers shouting, only growling.

She’d spent her magic early on the fight. The beam spell took a lot out of her, and then she’d had to make the choice of whether to stay on her horse or not. Shavala had remained mounted, using her bow and occasionally getting a lucky hit, but Ellerie didn’t have any way to fight from horseback. Her horse had been trained to not get startled during a fight, but it wasn’t a warhorse like Boktar’s.

This wasn’t the type of enemy she could fight with a rapier, but that was her only weapon, so she’d dismounted and joined the battle.

She quickly discovered that she wasn’t strong enough to pierce the attackers’ armor with her sword. She had to settle for distracting one man at a time while Boktar and Corec did the real fighting. Boktar had dismounted too, his warhammer too short to do any good unless he was close up. Treya was huddled over Katrin, and Bobo was jogging back toward the fight on foot, from wherever he and his horse had disappeared to.

Growing frustrated, Ellerie waited until the man with the axe swung once more, then she dashed closer and tried to jab at his face, hoping to hit his eyes or his neck or anything her sword could penetrate. It left her open to his attacks, so after striking at him once and leaving a cut along his cheek, she dodged back out of range before he could swing again.

She was starting to get into a rhythm—a quick stab to the man’s face after each swing of his axe—but then there was a blur to her right and Boktar ran into him, bashing him with his shield. When the man fell, Boktar swung his warhammer down at his head. Ellerie winced and looked away.

“How are you?” she asked, panting with exertion.

“Fine. You?”

“Yes.”

They looked around at the battlefield. Only one of the red-eyed men was still standing, and even as they watched, Corec swung his huge sword at the man’s torso, cutting deep into the armor.

With the last opponent down, Corec walked back toward them. Shavala joined him, riding by his side as she glanced around, an arrow still nocked to her bow.

“Is that all of them?” Corec asked.

“I think so,” Ellerie replied.

“Then I will search for the horses,” Shavala said. “Come, Willowbranch, let’s find your friends.” She and her horse trotted off.

“What just happened?” Boktar said. “Why were their eyes glowing?”

Before anyone could answer, they heard a shout. “Hey! Help!” It was Katrin’s voice.

When Ellerie looked that way, she saw Treya slumped over the other woman’s body, not moving.

#

Katrin slowly opened her eyes. She wasn’t sure why she’d been asleep—she had a nagging feeling that she was supposed to be doing something, but she couldn’t remember what. Her head hurt for some reason, and when her fuzzy vision cleared, she found Treya leaning over her.

“How are you feeling?” the other girl asked. “Are you all right?”

“Are you?” Katrin replied. Treya’s face was gray and her lips were blue.

“I’ve never used this much healing magic before. You’re lucky Boktar didn’t need any more healing this morning, or I might not have been able to manage it.”

“Something attacked us, didn’t it? But I don’t remember how I got hurt.”

“It was more of those red-eyes. You fell off your horse and hit your head.”

“The red-eyed men? Again? Why are they attacking us?”

The blonde girl didn’t respond. Instead, her eyes rolled up, and she collapsed over Katrin’s chest.

“Hey!” Katrin shouted. “Help!”

She heard the sound of running boots and jangling armor, and then Corec was there, lifting the healer off of her.

“Are you all right?” he asked her. “What happened?” He passed Treya off to Boktar so he could kneel down and gently hug Katrin’s shoulders, then kiss her forehead.

“I don’t know. She just fell over.”

“It’s drain shock,” Ellerie said, examining the girl’s face as she lay in Boktar’s arms. “Wrap her in blankets. Bobo, get a fire started. We’ll have to stay here for today.”

“Help me up,” Katrin said. Corec helped her to sit so she could lean back against him. She couldn’t see everyone from where she sat. “Where’s Shavala?”

“She’s fine,” he said. “She’s behind us, trying to track down the horses.” He turned to Ellerie. “What’s drain shock? Lodarin mentioned it, too.”

“It’s what happens when you use more magic than your body can handle. I didn’t know it could happen to priests, though—I was always told their blessings prevented it.”

“Will she be all right?”

“She should be. If it’s like a wizard’s drain shock, she’ll be up and around by tomorrow, but we’ll have to take it easy for a day or two, and she shouldn’t try to use any magic for the next several days.”

Boktar had gotten Treya bundled up in several blankets, then left her laying on her bedroll with Bobo looking after her. The dwarf returned to the group.

“What were those things?” he said.

“They looked human, except for the red eyes,” Ellerie said. “But they’re not red anymore.”

“We’ve run into them before,” Corec said. “A squad of seven, just outside Dalewood.”

“Dalewood?” Ellerie asked.

“A town east of Four Roads.”

“That’s a long way from here. What are they?”

“I have no idea. It was the same as this time—they attacked with no warning, and they never said anything. I shouldn’t have killed that last one. Maybe he could have answered some questions.”

“Where did they come from?” Boktar said. “We should find their camp.”

“We weren’t able to find a camp last time, but we didn’t look all that hard.”

“Bandits?” Ellerie asked.

“The last group carried badges, so I think they work for somebody. I can’t imagine that the same group of bandits working near Dalewood would also be working around Circle Bay, but I don’t know of any other groups of armed men who’d be doing that, either.”

“And bandits wouldn’t explain the red eyes,” Boktar said. “Is it a magic thing?”

Ellerie raised an eyebrow. “A magic thing?”

“A spell or whatever.”

“An illusion spell could make their eyes glow red, but why?”

“To scare their opponents?” Corec suggested.

“I suppose, but it doesn’t seem very effective. There are much better uses for illusions.”

“Maybe the spell does something else,” Boktar said. “I don’t like the way they fought. They didn’t work as a group, and their movements were off. And if they wanted to ambush us, why didn’t they bring bows? They could have taken us all out easily if they’d gotten my horse and Corec’s while we were riding. The rest of you don’t wear any bloody armor—you’d make easy targets.”

“They don’t know how to use their shields, either,” Corec said. “I noticed that the last time. They caught me without my armor, and that was the only thing that saved me.”

Ellerie looked at him suspiciously. “Are they after you?”

He shrugged. “As far as I know, the only people who are mad enough at me to send armed men after me are right here. If you didn’t send them and Treya didn’t send them, then I don’t think I’m their target.” He looked down at Katrin. “You didn’t send them, did you?”

“No,” she said, then winced. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts my head.”

“Sorry.”

“I’m going to search the men, then look for their camp,” Boktar said.

Corec said, “I’ll help.”

“Help me stand up first,” Katrin said. “I’ll watch over Treya so she doesn’t get too hot lying so close to the fire.”

“I’ll make a soup,” Ellerie said. “When she wakes up, she’ll be hungry, but she’ll need to start with something light.”

“Thank you.”

#

As the view in Yassi’s scrying orb faded away, she looked up at her master. “The hunters have failed again, Your Highness.”

He growled, his eyes flaring red before they faded back to normal. “This is ludicrous. We’re too far away. It takes weeks for the hunters to reach him, and you and I are wasting half our time trying to keep them on track. We need another option.”

Or it could be because you attacked in broad daylight, while your target was armed and armored, and surrounded by others, Yassi thought to herself. She was required to serve her master faithfully, but he hated to have his mistakes pointed out. He had little understanding of armed combat, having spent his life learning to master his magic.

“Horses,” she suggested instead, knowing he’d already rejected the idea.

“The hunters would eat them if we didn’t keep a constant watch. Besides, the hunters can run twenty hours a day if I don’t let them stop to feed. That’s faster than a horse can go. No. I need to find some other way to transport them, and until then, we’ll look for a closer target. Have you had any success in finding the others?”

“I still believe there’s one to the north, hidden within the wards I haven’t been able to penetrate. As for the rest, I need something more to go on. If they’re scattered around the world, I may not have the strength to reach them.”

“I’d hoped to get the new one before he came into his powers, but the one to the north is closer. We can send a larger group. Four squads.”

“Once they pass the wards, I won’t be able to see them,” Yassi said.

“It’s only a scrying ward, yes?”

“I think so, but I have no way to see if there are other wards farther in.”

“If it’s a scrying ward, then my orders should still hold, but the hunters aren’t smart enough to adapt, and I can’t issue new orders if you can’t tell me what’s happening. I need to send someone with them. Your brother?”

Yassi scowled. It was her brother who had gotten her into this mess. “Him? Why?”

“He’s a seer like you, even if he hasn’t trained it. Once he’s through the wards, he might be able to find the man I’m looking for. And he can watch from a distance, so if the hunters fail, he can bring word back to me. Send for him, and let him know what I wish for him to do.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“And Yassi, keep a close watch on the new one. If he comes closer, let me know.”