He'd seen Seregil do this trick, but had never had the nerve or opportunity to try it himself.

To his mingled relief and amazement, both joints dislocated cleanly on the first attempt. Thero's thin hands folded in on themselves with sickening ease, allowing Alec to work the bands off. There was no time for gentleness; fortunately whatever magicks kept Thero dazed held until the second band was off.

As it slipped free, he gave a soft, strangled groan and curled forward against Alec's knees, holding his limp hands to his chest.

Resetting the joints proved less easy. Alec could feel the bones skating around under the skin as he pulled and strained, trying to seat the bones back in their sockets. He could hear Thero's breath whistling harshly around the gag as he fought not to cry out. Both of them were drenched with sweat by the time the job was done.

"Damnation!" Thero whimpered, still biting down on the mouth plate.

"Not so loud," Alec pleaded, holding

Thero's head against his chest to muffle any cries.

His own stomach was doing a slow lurch of its own.

"I'm sorry, it was the only way. Are you free of it?"

Thero nodded. "Saw, "eard everythin". Couldn't move—Saw every—"

"So did I," Alec told him, patting his shoulder. "We've got to forget that for now, while we figure out how to get away from here. What about these, though?" He pointed to the wristbands, unwilling to touch them again. "Can the necromancers tell you're not wearing them?"

Thero sat up. "Don' know, "magos work."

"What about your magic?"

Before Thero could answer, they heard the warning sounds of the guards moving around outside. Alec's heart sank as he listened to their footsteps fading away.

Thero hid the wristbands in the shadows behind him.

Alec moved a few feet away, out of the light.

This is it, he thought coldly, rising to his feet.

Whatever happens, this is it.

A moment later Ashnazai entered carrying a small lantern. The sudden light stung Alec's eyes and he looked away, noting as he did that

Thero sat half-turned to the wall, wrists out of sight in his lap.

Ignoring the young wizard, Vargul Ashnazai closed in on Alec. "I trust you're prepared for the evening's entertainment?"

There was a mad possessiveness in his manner; not even the fear of Mardus was going to get in the way of whatever obscene pleasures he intended to grant himself tonight. The man's raw hatred was a palpable force in the confines of the cave. Trapped in the gaze of those hungry black eyes, Alec suddenly felt his plans of escape turning to dust in his hands.

"What about the guards?" Alec managed, his voice a hollow whisper. He was grasping at straws and they both knew it.

Ashnazai set the lantern on the floor beside him and pulled off his gloves. "They're of no concern. No sound will be heard beyond these walls until I choose to allow it. And even if it did, who would rush to your aid? Duke Mardus, perhaps? How fond he is of you! Almost as fond as I, but distracted just now by practical concerns. Fortunately, I have no task at the moment except you."

"Ah, I have been patient," he crooned, raising one pale hand to stitch a spell pattern on the air. "How I have waited for such a moment as this."

"So have I, necromancer!"

Alec scarcely had time to realize that the harsh, ragged voice was Thero's before he was blinded by a brilliant explosion of light. A screech of rage or pain rang out, but Alec couldn't tell which of them it came from.

Blinking away the black spots dancing across his eyes, Alec saw the twisted remains of the branks lying on the ground at Thero's feet. He also saw with alarm that whatever spell Thero had cast, it had only wounded Ashnazai, and not nearly enough.

Bloodied but still standing, the necromancer rounded on Thero, hands raised for another attack.

Tearing the open lock off, Alec pulled chain from around his neck. Grasping a length of it in both hands, he sprang at Ashnazai, got the chain around the necromancer's throat, and yanked it tight.

Vargul Ashnazai writhed like a huge serpent, tearing at the chain. Alec pulled it tighter and dragged him to the ground. He'd never strangled anything before, but rage proved a willing teacher. Nothing existed except the feeling of power coursing through his body as he braced a knee against the necromancer's back and hauled the chain tighter until it cut into the flesh of his hands and the necromancer's throat.

"This is for Seregil, you son of a bitch!" he snarled. "For what you did to Cilia and Thryis and Rhiri and Diomis and Luthas and Thero. And me!" He yanked the chain back and heard bones snap.

Ashnazai went limp under him, head lolling.

Alec pushed him onto his back and stared into the hated face. Ashnazai's tongue protruded from his foam-flecked lips. His bulging eyes were wide with agony and surprise.

Satisfied, Alec pulled the ivory vial from the necromancer's neck and hung it around his own.

Whatever this was, no one was going to use it against him again.

"We've got to get out of here now," Thero warned, still weak and breathless. "That spell, the attack—We've got to go before the guards come back!"

"What about the warding spells he cast on the entrance?" Alec asked, helping the wizard to his feet.

Thero was shaky, but determined. "They were dispelled when you killed him."

"Good." Vargul Ashnazai was nothing more to him than forgotten carrion now. Turning his back on the body, he extinguished the lantern, then crept to the mouth of the cave.

The guards were still off minding their own business somewhere, leaving their master to his pastimes, but the fire they'd built was still bright. The minute he and Thero stepped out, they'd be visible to anyone lingering nearby.

"Can't you translocate us or something?" Alec whispered, surveying the scene.

"I'd have done that already if I could!" Thero replied with a welcome hint of his customary brusqueness.

"Get me away from here and I may be able to do something else, though."

"You'd better be praying for Illior's luck, then." Alec pointed north into the darkness. "We're going that way, understand? We'll have to keep low and follow the ledge below the road until we get away from the main camp."

Alec left unsaid the fact that any number of guards could be within fifty feet of them and they wouldn't know it until it was too late; he was trying hard not to think of that himself. With Thero at his side he sent up one last silent prayer and hurried past the fire into the darkness beyond.

There didn't seem to be anyone around, but peering up over the ledges they could see men hunkered around a campfire less than a hundred feet way.

Their bare feet made no sound as they stole along the rocky shore to the edge of the forest just north of the camp. The open ground between the stunted trees was treacherously laced with exposed roots jutting out of the thin soil. Alec clutched Thero by the arm, pulling him along as he stumbled.

They soon spotted several men on picket duty ahead of them. The guards were watching for trouble coming from outside the camp, however, and Alec skirted around their position with no trouble. Gauging their direction by the moon, he led the way north.

They'd been going for less than half an hour when Thero suddenly pulled Alec to a halt in a small gully.

"Look, I'm tired, too, but we can't afford to rest," Alec urged.

"It's not that," Thero whispered. "They know we're gone. I just felt something, a searching, I think. It won't take Irtuk Beshar any time to find us."

"Oh, gods!" Alec gasped, looking back the way they'd come. "We can't get taken, Thero. They'll sacrifice you and now that I've been bloodied there's nothing to stop Mardus from—"

"Shut up," Thero interrupted, giving him an abrupt shake. "Kneel down."