Tam was down here.

I had no choice. Time to let the monster off its leash.

Dad said Sarad Nukpana would keep to the dark, but that didn’t mean we had to. Mychael and Vegard lit any dark stretch of tunnel bright as day. Their light came from behind me.

Way behind me.

Following the Saghred’s lead was one thing; ignoring the sheer collective power of the men behind me was quite another. And quite impossible. In addition to his power, I felt Mychael’s need to protect me just as strongly as his magic. Both were interfering with what I needed to do through the Saghred.

Touch, hear, see, smell, and taste evil.

My senses were running wide-open. The Saghred was telling me which way to go, when to turn, when to pause and let the air flow over me, and then change direction. The rock was like a tiger by my side, stalking its prey in complete silence, quietly confident that it would soon feed. It didn’t try to take over and make me go on a killing spree. It wanted a killing spree of one goblin.

For now.

I walked on the very edge of the light, close enough that Mychael could still see me, far enough that in front of me was nothing but dark emptiness with an occasional dim blue glow of a lightglobe set into the ceiling. Twice, a quartet of Guardians saw me and started to approach, then quickly changed direction. I didn’t need to be told why. I wasn’t the only one who could sense the Saghred on the prowl. No doubt to them, I was the Saghred and I was hunting. They didn’t want to cross my path. I didn’t blame them.

I was scared of me, too.

I kept moving toward the next intersection, tempted to walk faster to get there quicker. This intersection was well lit, the lightglobes actually working like they were supposed to. Well, at least the tunnel to the left was lit, flooding its light in the other three directions. I already knew I hated tunnels. But I really liked light; I never realized how much I liked light. The Saghred told me to turn left. About damned time the rock told me to do something I wanted to do.

Except I didn’t do it, not yet. I stopped in the middle of the intersection, facing left, just standing there looking down the tunnel. It was long, straight, well lit, and completely clear. Inviting even. No evil goblins down here, it seemed to say. I wasn’t buying it. I held up a hand, telling Mychael and the others to stop. Yes, that was where the Saghred wanted me to go, and yes, it was so well lit it was downright cheerful. But “listen before you leap” had never been a bad rule for me. Paranoia was even better. You might even say they were words to live by—or stay alive by.

I wanted to find Sarad Nukpana.

I didn’t want Sarad Nukpana to find me first.

I didn’t smell or sense the goblin, and the Saghred wasn’t all aquiver.

“Ma’am, stop,” Vegard said.

I jumped and my sword was halfway out of its scabbard.

“Ma’am, it’s okay,” he quickly added. “The boss is getting reports from the contact wizards. He needs for you to wait.”

I relaxed. A little. At least enough to let my goblin blade slide back into its scabbard across my back.

It wouldn’t hurt to wait. The happy tunnel would still be there, and if one of Mychael’s patrols had found something, my search might be over, or at least focused in another direction.

Dad walked toward me and stopped about twenty feet away. “Is it okay if I talk to you?”

I nodded once. My breath trembled a little when I let it out. I tried a smile; I didn’t think it quite made it. “My nerves are shot. A little small talk might keep me from crawling out of my own skin. Or is this one of those father/daughter talks where you tell me not to play in dark corners with goblin boys?”

He came to stand by my side. “I wish you didn’t have to.”

“It’s not my idea of a fun date.”

“Raine, your job is to locate Sarad Nukpana. Please promise me that you’ll only confront him directly as a last resort.”

“Isn’t that what I’m down here for?” I snapped. “Confront and kill?” I glanced up at the stone ceiling and tried to force myself to relax. “Sorry. That came out sharp, didn’t it?”

A hint of a smile curled his lips. “It did, but you’re entitled.” What little smile there was vanished. “Sarad Nukpana has the souls of Rudra Muralin and two other goblin black mages inside of him now.” He paused and swallowed. “Raine, inside the Saghred’s like the inside of a prison; you hear things about other inmates. Sarad cultivated those two as allies because of their skill and strength, and their sadistic eagerness to use both. If you and the Saghred had been working together for years—”

“Like it did with Rudra Muralin,” I said, my tone flat.

“Yes, like Rudra. If you were that close to the stone, bonded so tightly that your will was instantly its command—then you might stand a chance of surviving an encounter with Sarad Nukpana as he is now.”

“Dad, if this is your idea of a pep talk, you need to work on your delivery.”

“Just promise me that you will not take him on alone. Mychael and I are down here, so are his best Guardians, and Justinius Valerian contacted Mychael not long ago.” He flashed a boyish smile. A boy’s body with a nine- hundred-year-old soul. I just couldn’t get used to it. “Apparently the archmagus thinks he’ll be more useful down here. He’s on his way.”

I breathed a small, harsh laugh. “The old man just wants to get his bony hands around Nukpana’s neck.”

“He doesn’t want to sit this one out. Said it’s his duty to be down here with his men.”

I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder. Lean and wiry. My centuries-old father in a teenage body still had some growing and filling out to do. “It’s my duty, too, Dad,” I said quietly. “The Saghred tricked me into taking it. It did it for survival. I sure as hell can’t imagine why it’d want a second-rate seeker as its bond servant; the thing was clearly desperate. Regardless of its reasons, it did choose me. I don’t like it, I want to get rid of it, but for right now I’m stuck with it—and the responsibility that goes with it. Sarad Nukpana has to be stopped, and thanks to the Saghred, I’ve got the biggest fist.”

Mychael approached us.

“What’s the word?” I asked.

He scowled. “No Tam, Piaras, or Talon.”

“And no Nukpana.”

“That, too.”

I readjusted my grip on my daggers, and looked down the tunnel. “Let’s see if we can change that.” I swallowed. “Wait here. I’ll wave when there’s enough distance between us for the rock to track him.”

I walked into the tunnel, lightglobes working at full capacity humming steadily around me like bees in a hive. The walls were smooth with no sign of a seam or crack that would indicate a bunker behind the wall. Great. I reminded myself that these tunnels were mage- made. All they would have needed to hide the entrances would have been a decent veil or illusion spell, a damned long- lasting one to keep working for nearly a millennium. Normally I could sense that sort of thing, but with all the magical distortion, normal didn’t exist down here.

The air shifted above me.

“Raine!” Dad screamed.

I whirled to see him running toward me, Mychael right behind him—and a massive metal door slicing through the air like a guillotine between us. Everything went into slow motion, the door, me running toward it before it closed. The only thing not moving slowly was Dad. He dived and rolled as the door slammed into the granite floor, cracking the stone with its force and weight. The metal erupted with glowing green wards, like a net woven with living snakes, hissing and spitting sparks.

Dad landed in a groaning heap by the wall, close to the wards. Too close.

“Dad! Move—”

I frantically tried to reach him. Light exploded in my eyes as the ward flung me like a doll, sending me flying ass over elbows through the air. I slammed into the floor, flat on my back, mouth gaping like a beached fish. I dimly heard my dad scrabbling away from the wards.