Blowing through pursed lips, he handed Varia her hair clip. "That's our escape route," he said, then paused, gazing at his ex-wife. On Farside still his wife. It took a moment to bring his thoughts back to the here and now. "I'll hide in the closet," he told her. "You stand outside it and tell me things I need to know. Close it if you need to."

She nodded.

The clothes hanging inside were too long to fit anyone but a voitu. Macurdy concealed himself well enough not to be seen at a glance. He'd get hot in there, dressed as he was, but it wouldn't do to take anything off. If he had to run for it…

"Have you got anything to wear besides that?" he asked Varia.

She looked down at herself, and shook her head. "Nothing for outside. They took my things. They're probably in the storage room down the hall."

He nodded. "We'll take some of Kurqosz's, and shorten them so they're wearable." He paused. "How did you get here?"

She told him of her kidnapping, and that Cyncaidh was dead. She didn't tell him how; she couldn't say it yet, certainly not without breaking down.

Cyncaidh dead! The thought stopped him for a moment. If we get out of this alive… Or maybe not. Maybe that's all over for her.

She continued talking, sounding stronger now. "Kurqosz has something important planned, for tonight or tomorrow night. He expects northern lights. Apparently they're important to his plans." She paused. "Can you feel it?"

"It?"

"There's a feeling in the Web of the World. Something ominous."

He had felt it, and blamed it on nerves. Which might be all it was, but now he didn't think so. "There are northern lights," he said. "Right now. So that means tonight."

"Probably, but not necessarily. On the Northern Sea, they often come several nights in a row."

"When do you expect him back? In here I mean?"

"It could be a minute from now, or hours. I've only been here a few days. But if tonight is the night he carries out his sorcery…"

Macurdy nodded grimly. If he simply waited in this closet, he'd probably be too late. "I guess you know why I'm here."

"To kill him," she said.

"Do you have any idea how I…" He paused, frowning. "Just a minute. Something's hot. In my shirt pocket."

He knew what it was. For months he'd transferred it whenever he'd changed clothes. His hand brought out the crystal Blue Wing had given him on the highway to Ferny Cove.

More strongly than ever, far more, it glowed in his palm.

They heard the latch; someone was opening the hallway door. Varia closed the closet and stepped away; Macurdy stuffed the crystal back in his pocket and drew his knife.

He heard her ask, "What do you want?"

Macurdy cpuldn't hear the answer. After a half minute of tension, he heard the door close, and Varia returned. "It was Kurqosz's halfblood son," she murmured. "He does things for his father, who calls him Tsulgax; says it means 'most loyal.' In the old voitik language, from before they adopted Hithmearcisc."

Son? That's it! Macurdy thought. That's the connection.

"Tsulgax doesn't like me," she added. "His aura reflects a single talent, but I couldn't identify it. Now I think I have. He foresees danger to his father, through me."

"Good lord," Macurdy said. "He's hated me from the first time we saw each other. In Bavaria, during the war. I wondered why."

He paused, his mind staring briefly at nothing. "I need to talk to Vulkan about this," he said. "I don't see any way in hell I can for sure kill Kurqosz soon enough. Set fire to the building-they'd probably get out. Walk down the hall, stick a knife in the rakutik door guard, then go for Kurqosz-it might work, but it probably wouldn't, and I'd get no second chance."

He paused. "Just a minute. I'll see if Vulkan can hear me."

"No!" She almost hissed the word, her sudden intensity startling him. "Kurqosz has his circle with him. If they're linked, and you shout psychically to Vulkan, they may pick it up."

Macurdy frowned. If Kurqosz and his circle were cooking up some spell, he wondered if anything would distract them. Their attention should be heavily attached to whatever it was. But on the other hand, Vulkan had said he'd monitor him. If he was, and could reach him with his mind, he already would have. Unless it felt too dangerous. "Well then," Macurdy said, "I guess I need to use your balcony and go to him." He looked worriedly at her. "I hate to leave you, now that I've found you."

All she said was, "How will you get down?"

"Sweetheart," he said, "I was trained to jump from high places. And when I get back, you'll have to jump."

She thought back to her escape from the Cloister, twenty years earlier, when she'd dropped from the palisade. "Then go," she said. "I can do it."

He stepped out of the closet. The crystal had become so hot, he transferred it to a pocket in his greatcoat. Varia watched, her expression sober. Stepping to her, he drew her to him. "I love you," he told her. "I want you to know that."

"Come back if you can," she answered. "You lost Melody and Mary, and I've lost Raien. I believe now that we were meant to be together." She pushed away from him. "Go now."

He nodded without speaking, then turned and went out onto the balcony, closing the doors behind him.

The balcony had a simple vault roof, and this was the north side of the house. But he could have seen the aurora from any side; it was playing over the whole sky now. He could even hear it hissing, and wondered if the crystal made it audible to him.

The balcony railings were set into stone posts. Abruptly a powerful urge seized him. Reaching into his pocket, he took the crystal out. His movements quick but sure, he set it on a post, drew his saber, then smashed the pommel down onto the crystal with all his might.

It felt as if he'd hit a box of blasting caps, but without the sound! The saber rebounded, twisting in his hands, almost tearing from his grip. From somewhere he heard screams, whether with his ears or only in his mind, he didn't know or wonder. He dropped to his knees, and for a brief moment stared blankly, confusedly, out at the sky. The screams had stopped. He heard muffled shouts inside the building.

He knew what had happened, or thought he did. Still shaking, he got to his feet. A look around found a few small shards of the crystal on the post and deck. He brushed them together and threw them out into the snow. Then reentering the room, he went straight to the closet. From there he told Varia what had happened, then hunkered in a back corner with saber in hand. Without a word she closed the door.

A scant minute later, Kurqosz entered the room, walked to the closet and opened the door. Varia told him he looked ill, and asked about the screaming.

He took out a thigh-length fur parka and fur-lined boots. "It is no concern of yours," he snapped, and stepped away from the closet.

There'd been too little time for Macurdy to stand and attack through the intervening clothes. And he didn't know if Tsulgax was in the room. That he didn't hear him meant nothing. Tsulgax spoke so seldom that at first, back in Bavaria, he'd assumed he was mute.

The hall door closed. A minute later Varia reopened the closet door. "They're gone," she murmured. "I was scared to death you might try to kill him. Tsulgax wasn't five feet away, with his saber in his hand."

Macurdy pushed his way out of the closet. His mind had moved to another possibility. "There's obviously a loft overhead," he said. "How can I get up there?"

"There's a storage room down the hall-a sort of a catchall. Kurqosz's orderly took me there to find things I might want. It has a trapdoor in the ceiling."

"Good. The crystal I showed you was obviously a crystal of power. From a dead voitu. I smashed it on one of your balcony posts. That's what caused the screaming down the hall."