“Maybe you should eat something,” Lariana whispered to him, echoing Arcannen’s suggestion.

But he wasn’t hungry and didn’t think he could keep anything down even if he tried. It was taking everything he had just to hold himself together long enough to try to get through what lay ahead. His mind was working madly, his thoughts running rampant, as he fought to stay calm enough to think about what he might do if he was given even the smallest chance to stop what was going to happen. Whatever he did, saving Lariana was his main concern. Setting her free from the sorcerer’s domination had to be the end result of anything he might try.

I love you enough that I will give up my life for you, she had said to him.

She would, too. He knew she would. And he would do the same for her, if that was what it took to save her.

Arcannen rose and came over to where they were sitting, dragging over a chair to join them. He sat down heavily, but his lean face was wreathed in a smile. “Time to examine the larger picture, children,” he declared.

The boy and the girl exchanged an uncertain glance. “Oh, don’t worry,” he continued. “It isn’t anything you probably haven’t already considered. I just need to reaffirm for you what the purpose of today’s exercise with the Red Slash will mean in the days to come.”

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, assuming a decidedly vulture-like look when hunched over in his dark robes. “Word will travel quickly when before the day is out. It will reach every city, hamlet, and village in the Four Lands. The mighty Red Slash, pride of the Federation army, has been destroyed! Not by another army or even a smaller force. But by two men, each a powerful wielder of magic, each a determined antagonist to those who would prefer magic banned throughout the world and see those who practiced it brought to their knees. The message will be clear. You come after us—those rare few of us with the skills and talent to use magic—at your peril. You lack the grit and the experience and the means to harm us. Hunting us down will only bring an end to your lives, not to ours.”

“If we live out the day,” Lariana interrupted. “There is every chance we won’t, given what you intend to try doing.”

“Ah, but you don’t actually know what I intend, do you? The fact is, the odds are so completely in our favor that I see no real obstacle to our success. I have kept the details from both of you so that you wouldn’t have to think on them until it is time. I leave nothing to chance. I take no unnecessary risks.”

He paused. “Assuming that Reyn can indeed control his magic as both of you have led me to believe, we will be successful. And you can do that, can’t you?”

He spoke directly to Reyn, who looked at the floor, saw his chance for saying otherwise slip away from him like a shadow before light, and nodded. “I will do what is needed.”

“There!” Arcannen sat back. “The amount of magic required is extreme, but not beyond your capabilities, and the whole plan should take no more than a handful of minutes. We will work as a team, you and I. We will feed off each other’s energy. But the best is what will come later. Because this doesn’t end here. No, this is where it begins!”

As Lariana warned, the boy thought. Of course it begins here. Of course it will continue. And it won’t end until I am dead, killed one way or another. Which will not be at a time of my choosing. All the choices will be made by him.

The sorcerer was already talking again. “Your training will begin in earnest after this. I will take you on as my apprentice and show you all the wonderful things you can do with your gift. Lariana will be my helper and your companion. We will be a family, the three of us—one bonded not by blood, but by common purpose.”

“To what end?” the girl pressed. “You have a larger goal in mind, do you not?”

“I do. I would finish another matter long left in limbo. I would gain control of the Druid Order and see it become the force it was always intended to be. It is an accomplishment that I almost realized once before. This time, when I pick up the loose threads, I will see it to a successful conclusion. I will see the Druids placed under my leadership or I will see them destroyed.”

“I don’t want any part of this!” Reyn blurted out, unable to stay silent any longer. “I don’t care anything about the Druids!”

Arcannen nodded patiently. “Of course you don’t. Right now you don’t. But that will change. You will come to see them for what they are—rapacious, controlling, self-centered, and dictatorial. They want all the magic for themselves, all that exists or might one day exist, and they will do what they need to do to gain possession of it. There will be no consideration given for you or me or anyone who is not a part of their precious Order. What care they for the likes of us? You’ve seen how they are already. They almost killed you back in Portlow. They’ve hunted you ever since. Look at Lariana! She was fortunate to be able to escape them before they could hurt her! If we hadn’t made plans for that eventuality, they might be using their dark arts against her right this moment!”

His eyes shifted. “Isn’t this so, Lariana?”

She nodded slowly. “I was fortunate to be able to slip away from them when they weren’t paying close attention.”

“Because you knew, as I did, that they would have used you against Reyn!” he snapped triumphantly.

At one time, Reyn Frosch might have believed this. But not now. Not given what he had come to realize about Arcannen. Whatever their intentions, the Druids had done nothing to threaten or harm Lariana in any way. She hadn’t said much about the details of her journey back to Sterne with them, but he was convinced it wasn’t anything like what Arcannen was suggesting.

“How soon do we leave?” he asked abruptly.

The sorcerer gave him a sharp look and then stood. “Why not right now? Come, children. Let’s make history!”

And together, they left their hiding place and went out into the night.

Paxon and Avelene approached the Red Slash barracks cautiously, noting from some distance away the activity taking place. It was early morning now, less than two hours before sunrise, and normal people were sound asleep in their beds. Not so these soldiers. The entire compound was brightly lit and alive with sound and movement. Shouts and cries and a rolling out of weapons and gear signaled ongoing preparations for a major mobilization. The Druid and the Highlander could see what was happening from the rise on which they stood, looking down over the buildings and parade yards, watching the men and women of the company as they hauled and loaded and fell into their perfect formations, one by one. Something was surely happening.

“What do we do now?” Paxon asked Avelene.

She pursed her lips. “We go in. We find Usurient and talk to him.” She gave him a glance. “Don’t worry. We aren’t the reason for all this. We don’t have anything to fear.”

He wasn’t so sure, thinking back on the encounter at Arbrox. But there was no way to reach the Red Slash Commander other than by walking through the compound gates. A conversation of some sort was necessary, if only to give warning that he and his soldiers were in danger.

“We could just wait and watch,” he said slowly, musing on it. “We could shadow him and find out what he’s about. It should become clear soon enough.”

“Wait too long and we risk losing Arcannen yet again.” She shook her head. “I think we need to speak with the commander before he does anything precipitous.”

Paxon shrugged. It wasn’t his place to make this decision, and his purpose in being here was to protect Avelene. He would do what that required.

They left the rise and proceeded to the front gates, which stood open waiting to disgorge the soldiers and their equipment. It was an awful lot of personnel and armament for an encounter with one man, a boy, and a girl, Paxon thought. Either Dallen Usurient knew more about the magic capabilities of the three than Paxon, or this was about something else entirely. Whatever the case, it felt like there was an element of real fear involved. The air was thick with the taste and smell of it; the frenetic behavior of the soldiers testified to its presence.