"Against my better judgment"—Disin glanced for a moment at the white-haired mare—"I have been persuaded that the evidence against you is not sufficient to banish you to the Akasha. However, until the matter of the virtue's murder has been explained to our satisfaction, we cannot allow you the freedom to harm others."

I bit my lip to keep from shouting that I hadn't harmed anyone, and had no intentions of doing so.

"It has been suggested that you undergo the fifth trial now in order to determine the purity of your being. If you pass, you will be allowed to leave the Court until such time as a tribunal determines the truth of the virtue's death." Disin clapped her hands, and a small boy emerged from the crowd. The boy bowed to the three mare, then turned and bowed to me. He couldn't have been more than eight or nine, but the look in his dark eyes was one of ageless wisdom. Whatever he was, he certainly wasn't an innocent child. "Proctor, begin the trial."

The boy looked at me for a moment before gesturing Theo away. "You cannot aid her in this test, champion. You must move out of her reach."

Theo's voice was warm and reassuring in my head. I will not leave your side if you do not wish for me to do so.

It's OK. I tried to put a lot more confidence into my words than I felt. I doubt if they will do anything too heinous in front of all these witnesses.

Theo moved away reluctantly, stepping back to stand with the onlookers. I bit my lip nervously, rubbing my hands together as I wondered just what this trial was going to consist of. "Er…forgive me for asking, but how on earth do you determine the purity of someone's being?"

"It's simple," the boy said, smiling a gap-toothed smile that did little to lighten my heart. He spread his hands wide, then brought them together so quickly that his movement was unseen. "You die."

The blast from his hands hit me with the force of a runaway bulldozer. I fell backward, the sound of my own terrified shriek mingled with Theo's hoarse roar ringing in my ears as I left everything I knew behind.

Chapter 15

"So this is limbo," I said, looking around. I wasn't much impressed.

"The word 'limbo' is a mortal term used by some religions to express the concept of the Akasha, something most people have difficulty understanding," the small boy next to me said as we walked down a rocky hillside. He waved his hand at the sparse landscape around us. "The Akasha is more than limbo. It is a place few visit, and from which even fewer return."

"Really? What sorts of things do people have to do to get sent here?"

The boy's face gave away no emotion. "The Akasha is a place of punishment, Portia Harding. The ultimate place of punishment. To my memory, the sovereign has granted respite from its confines to only three people."

"Only three in that many millions of years?" I shivered. "Right, so note to self—don't do anything to piss the mare off enough to be sent here."

"That would be a very wise policy to follow. If you would walk this way."

I obligingly followed him as he carefully picked a way through a rocky stretch that led to a faint path. "The last thing I remember before I found myself here was you saying I had to die. Are you implying that I'm dead?"

He tipped his head to the side for a moment, then continued walking. "Do you feel dead?"

"No. I feel annoyed." Ahead of us, in a shallow valley, a large outcropping of rock jutted out of the earth. The wind whipped around us, cutting through my clothing and stinging my flesh with tiny little whips of pain. "And cold. What are we doing here?"

"This is the site of your trial. As you implied, it is difficult for the layperson to weigh the purity of someone's being."

I stumbled over a clod of earth, quickly regaining my balance, but looking warily at the rocky outcropping as we slowly wound our way through the deserted valley floor toward it. "So you decided on a trial by endurance, is that it? If I make it to those rocks there in one piece, I pass the trial?"

To my complete surprise, the boy nodded his head. "Yes. That's it exactly."

I slid a few feet down a graveled slope, my arms cartwheeling as I struggled to maintain my balance. "You're kidding!"

"No, indeed I'm not." He stopped next to a spiky, stunted, leafless shrub, and nodded toward the outcropping. "I can take you no further. The rest of this trial you must conduct on your own. The circle of Akasha there is your goal. Good luck, Portia Harding."

The unspoken words, "You're going to need it," hung in the air, but I ignored them as I eyeballed the rocks approximately three hundred feet away. I decided a little mental support was in order, and reached out my mind to Theo. I'm not so proud I can't admit that I'm a bit frightened by this. They can't do anything to permanently harm me, can they?

The wind was all the answer I had.

Theo? Are you there?

My words evaporated into nothing. It was as if he didn't exist.

"Why can't I talk to Theo?" I asked the boy.

He seemed to know that I was referring to our mental form of communication. "Such a thing is not possible in the Akasha."

"Lovely. So, I just walk there? That's all I do?"

"Yes. Once you reach the circle of Akasha, the trial will be over."

"And I'll be sent back to the Court?" Something wasn't right here. It couldn't be this easy. Could it?

"That depends on you," he said enigmatically.

I opened my mouth to ask him a question or five, but decided that stalling would do nothing but give me a case of exposure in this horrible cold. I rubbed my hands on my arms briskly, nodded, and took four steps forward.

From the depths of the circle of stone, three shapes emerged. They were black and curiously flat as their silhouettes stood starkly against the white stones. At the sight of them, my feet stopped moving, and I found myself suddenly drenched in a cold sweat.

"Uh…who are they?" I asked over my shoulder.

The boy smiled, his eyes sad. "Hashmallim."

Hashmallim. The word struck a chord of dread deep inside of me. Theo had spoken of them as being a danger to Sarah and me, and now I was expected to walk right up to a couple of them and…do what? Talk to them?

"What do they want? Why are they there? Am I supposed to do something with them?"

"You must walk to the center of the circle of Akasha," the boy repeated. "The trial will be over if you do that."

I swallowed down a thick lump of fear. "I don't suppose there's an alternative to this trial?"

He didn't answer.

"There never is," I muttered to myself, taking a deep breath as I tried to calm my frazzled nerves. A quick glance overhead confused me—where was my friendly little cloud that rained down destruction on those who angered me?

"Your Gift has no power here," the boy answered, just as if I had asked the question out loud. "I should add that there is a time limit to this trial. You have exactly two minutes."

I opened my mouth to protest, but the sight of those three black figures standing next to the rocks dried up the complaint I was about to make. Dread and horror, sickening in their intensity, washed over me. It took some doing, but I managed to get my feet moving again.

"Let's reason this through," I told myself, my eyes fixed on the three still figures as I slowly approached them, my steps lagging noticeably as the seconds ticked by. "Given the premise that virtues exist, we must conclude that other people have passed these trials, thus they can't be lethal."

"Only mortals must pass the trials," the boy called after me. "Immortals simply apply, and are interviewed for the positions."

"Not helping!" I yelled back, my thoughts sour as I forced myself to take another step. The sense of dread increased with each footstep, swamping me with the knowledge that I was doomed, Theo was doomed, everyone I ever knew or loved was doomed. I wanted to sit down on the rocky ground and sob myself into insensitivity, that certain was I that it was all for nothing.