Why he'd been driven to cling to his miserable life so long, he did not know, but now, at last, he had again a clear and driving purpose.

The High Mage had a daughter.

Soon she would wed Rain Tairen Soul and the Fey would escort her back to the Fading Lands. Like the ancient legend of the great, cursed treasure that bore pestilence within its golden chalices, by bringing the High Mage's daughter safely through the Mists, the Fey would escort their own destruction into the Fading Lands. She would doom them all, including Gaelen's only remaining sister, Marissya. He couldn't allow that to happen.

The High Mage's daughter must die.

Slowly, in a process made awkward by the slipperiness of his blood and his own lack of strength, he worked his way free of his weapons and his black leather tunic. The wounds filled with sel'dor shrapnel weren't bleeding-the cursed Eld metal drank blood like parched ground drank water-but the long, bone-deep gash on his thigh and the two wounds where Eld blades had skewered him had soaked the bandages he'd applied last night and were once more bleeding quite profusely. He didn't have the strength to remove the sel'dor, but he couldn't let himself continue to bleed.

Gaelen pulled a black-handled Fey'cha from his belt and called a trickle of Fire to heat the blade until it glowed. Sel'dor twisted even that weak weave into agony. Gritting his teeth, he pressed the fiery blade against the worst of his wounds and fought back a wave of nausea as the smell of his own burning flesh reached his nostrils. He managed to reheat the blade and cauterize two other wounds before losing consciousness yet again.

Vadim Maur stared hard at his apprentice. A small tic worked at the lower corner of his right eye, the only visible sign of his anger. Well, that, Kolis thought, and the thirty-degree drop in temperature in his office chamber. He wasn't about to ask about the angry red burn marks scoring the left side of the High Mage's pallid, cadaverous face. No doubt one of his many experiments had gone badly, but Kolis wasn't fool enough to remark upon it.

"She is a master of Spirit?" Vadim asked, his voice a chilling hiss.

"Without a doubt, master. Last night, she spun a Spirit weave that completely controlled over two hundred minds-Fey included-for over seven bells. None of them was aware of what she was doing until it was too late. She wasn't even consciously weaving. I've never seen the like. I was there in the body of my umagi Jiarine Montevero, and she has enough hearth witch in her that I could see the flows. They came from Ellysetta Baristani.”

"And your mind, Kolis? As you were close enough to see this weave, did it control your mind too?”

Kolis flushed and dropped his gaze. "I am ashamed to admit it did, High One. Even knowing it was a weave, I could not deny its dictates.”

Silence fell. The room temperature plunged again, and frost crackled on every surface. "So, she's a master of Spirit as well as Fire...”

Kolis's eyes widened as Vadim Maur's hand twitched towards the scorch marks on his face. Ellysetta Baristani had done that? Dark Lord's Scythe! How was it possible?

The High Mage's silver eyes began to darken with spinning clouds of black and red. "Not at all the ungifted wretch my pets have long tried to convince me she was.”

Even knowing that his master's anger was not directed at him, Kolis felt the chill of it ice his veins. The captives would regret their duplicity. The walls of Boura Fell would soon echo with their screams. Despite himself, the Sulimage could almost feel pity for them.

"You will bring Ellysetta Baristani to me.” The wintry command snapped Kolis back to attention.

"I anticipated your request, master." In a quick rush of words, he explained about the gift he had prepared for Ellysetta Baristani. "I've already arranged for its delivery, and ensured there will be no way to trace the gift back to either my umagi or myself.”

The High Mage tapped a contemplative finger against his lips, and the room began to warm as the worst of his anger passed. "The idea has merit, but you lose much control once the package leaves your possession. What is your alternate plan in case this one fails?”

Kolis swallowed and cautiously admitted, "I haven't fully prepared it yet.”

"The key to success, Kolis, is planning for failure.”

"I know, master, and I have arranged for my newest umagi to serve as the Baristani girl's Honoria, in the hope that she could be of greater service to me. I thought perhaps an abduction at the wedding, should the gift not work as intended.”

The High Mage shook his head. "The Tairen Soul will be there. It is too great a risk.”

"Yes, Great One, but it seemed the best option. I considered having my umagi open a portal during the Bride's Blessing, when they are sequestered in the cathedral's Solarus for the purification, but she would be outnumbered and unlikely to succeed." The only people permitted to accompany a bride into the Solarus during the Bride's Blessing were the priest, the bride's mother, and the Honoria-and neither Lauriana Baristani nor Greatfather Tivrest were Mage-claimed. For all his posturing and arrogance, the archbishop was a man of deep faith, and he had staunchly resisted every one of Kolis's attempts to turn him.

"I'm pleased you considered an attack during the Bride's Blessing; it was my first thought as well. The isolation makes for a perfect opportunity." Master Maur smoothed the silk-lined velvet cuff of his purple Mage robes. "And though you would be correct about the unlikelihood of your umagi's success, assuming she was our only agent in the Solarus, I've already considered that problem and devised what I believe is a very workable solution." One silvery brow lifted. "Did you know that Ellysetta Baristani was once under the care of the Church exorcists?”