Barb Hendee - In Shade and Shadow

Right then he wanted to deny her, for where she headed with her reasoning was too harsh and dangerous—especially for her well-being.

"It's fully aware and reasons," she whispered. "Even if it's a mage as well, then it has grown within its sense of self, as if it were still alive. And it has to feed… what else is that but a Noble Dead?"

Chane had no response, but this was not good at all. Uncertain as he was, he still trusted her intellect, as well educated as his own and then some. Caught between doubt and faith in her, which should he choose to follow?

And if she was right, how could he protect her from something he could not fight?

They still had no concrete idea what this creature—this wraith—was truly after, and they had not yet unlocked the secret of the scroll. Chane was not fanciful, but he could not help believing that the scroll had come into his possession for a reason. That the white undead had tried to show it to Wynn confirmed that instinct.

Whatever was hidden beneath the black coating might shape dangerous days ahead, and the future. At present he had no future.

"You said Li'kän wanted you to read the scroll to her," Chane began, "or perhaps just to read it yourself. I do not see why this forgotten Enemy would want or allow that, so our next step should be to solve its mystery."

Wynn looked at the floor. "I've been thinking the same thing."

"So how?"

Wynn hesitated a long while. "I might have a chance."

He stiffened. "You?"

"Do you remember when you found me at the smithy of Pudúrlatsat? You protected me from Vordana, and I was… in a state."

Yes, she had been sick, and, strangely, she could barely see.

"Just before, I attempted to give myself mantic sight via a thaumaturgical ritual—the ability to see elemental Spirit in all things."

Chane had never heard this before. " That was foolish!"

Wynn stiffened. "Magiere needed to locate Vordana quickly—who, as you well know, was a sentient undead."

He fell silent.

"But my attempt went wrong," Wynn whispered.

"You failed?"

"No." She took a long breath. "I couldn't end it afterward. Chap had to do it for me, and that turned out to be temporary."

Chane shook his head. "How would seeing Spirit let you read the scroll's content?"

Wynn studied him for a moment. "Because with mantic sight, I also see the absence of Spirit in a Noble Dead. Spirit as in the Element, not the Aspect."

Again, Chane disliked where this was headed. He had suffered mishaps in his youth when first attempting conjury on his own with no tutor. One had left him bedridden for many days. The physician called by his mother had no idea what was wrong with him, nor why he had succumbed to a sudden burning fever that made his body seem to dry out and left him with an insatiable thirst.

"I not only see where Spirit is strong or weak," Wynn explained, "but where it is lacking or where something other than life draws it in. The scroll and even the painted ink on top may hold a residue of elemental Spirit, but—"

"The writing in undead's fluids would not," Chane finished.

"Side effects of the sight," Wynn went on, "have been with me ever since my mistake. But I can call it up at times, and I might be able to read what is beneath the scroll's coating."

"No!" Chane hissed, standing up.

And the dog—Shade—rose on all fours, growling.

"Chap is not here," he said. "If you cannot stop this sight on your own, then we will find another way."

"There's no time," Wynn returned. "And I've been experimenting since returning home. Domin il'Sänke has helped tutor me."

"You trust him?" he asked harshly. "Enough to let him know about the scroll?"

Her lips pursed in indecision. "I trust him more than my own superiors… though sometimes I think he has his own agenda."

"Then do not trust him further."

The room fell silent except for Shade's rumble.

"I have to try," Wynn said quietly. "It's all we have, at present."

Chane's first urge was to hold her in this room until she swore not to do this. Not even if it meant never learning the scroll's secret and why it had come to him.

"Do you have it with you?" he asked.

"No, it's hidden in my room. I was afraid the wraith might try to take it if I had it with me."

Chane pulled on his spare shirt, wincing slightly, and then snatched up the second overcloak she had brought. "You cannot walk back alone—and you will not attempt this alone. I am coming with you."

"Inside the guild?" Wynn countered loudly. "Absolutely not!"

"We do not know what is in that scroll! Nor what will happen to you if you cannot end your sight ."

He had placed her in enough danger already with his obsession, and her stubbornness could lead to worse. Donning the cloak, he pulled the hood forward as far as it would go.

"And what about Captain Rodian?" she demanded. "What if he is there? He saw you, as did some of his men, and he has stationed guards around the guild's grounds."

Chane scowled. "I have no concern over city guards."

"You can barely close your hand," she said. "And would you shed blood at the guild?"

He flinched, ashamed at his lack of thought. Wynn was still an innocent in many ways, no matter what the last two years had shown her. And the two of them had grown far apart from the time she had first learned who—what—he was.

"Is the captain expected tonight?" he asked.

"No, but he shows up unexpectedly, whenever he wants."

"Then we will be cautious—but I am coming with you!"

"I don't even know how to get back in myself," she said. "There is a curfew in place at the guild, which is why the city guard is there, to protect us from this killer. I had to bluff my way out, and I can't get back in the same way, let alone bring you."

"And the other night, when you met me at the stable?"

Wynn scowled, growing visibly tired of this debate. Chane hoped she would simply give up altogether.

"I crawled out of the new library and along the inner bailey wall," she said. "Then down the old stairs near the south corner. But I still had to go out the bailey gate, in front of the gatehouse, and the wall is too sheer and tall to climb from the outside."

"Too tall for the living," Chane corrected.

Wynn narrowed her eyes at him.

Despite the risk, Chane could not help a rising excitement.

It had been a hopeless dream until now, and though this was not the way he would have wished for it, tonight he would step inside the guild and Wynn's world.

Wynn turned the final corner, heading toward Old Bailey Road. She knew bringing Chane was wrong.

He was a killer, regardless that he had nothing to do with the deaths surrounding the lost folios. Turning him over to Captain Rodian would've been the rational choice, but she couldn't. Rodian would never solve the murders and thefts. Monster that he was, Chane at least tried to uncover the truth, to help her find out what this «wraith» wanted and why. Besides Shade, who else did she have?

Her whole world had shifted in two days, from her being nearly alone to having two companions, each carefully watching along the dimly lit streets. She felt almost as she had in company with Magiere, Leesil, and Chap—almost.

As she slipped across Old Bailey Road to the wall, she glanced both ways for any sign of patrolling city guards. The road was empty, so she urged Chane left along the wall toward the bailey gate, keeping herself between him and Shade.

At least bluffing her way out of the keep provided one advantage: The guards at the portcullis didn't know who was a real sage or not. A fictitious domin named Parisean sending a «wolf» to escort a delayed scribe meant Shade might get back in on her own. If the dog pestered the guards enough, they would simply open the portcullis and let her in. Once Wynn was inside—if Chane could get her inside—she could go to the courtyard and bring Shade into the dormitory.