The bond madness had begun. The little slips of control were growing more frequent: The times he broadcast thoughts he'd meant to keep private, how quick he was to anger—and how hotly his temper burned when it came- He didn't know how much time he had left, but it wouldn't be long. The war would see to that. Every battle—each life he took in defense of Ellysetta and the Fading Lands—drove him that much closer to the edge of his control and his sanity.

«Prepare yourself, Rain,» Bel warned on a private weave. «We're lowering her shields now.»

Rain closed his eyes and drew as deep a breath as the throbbing shrapnel in his chest allowed. Please, gods, whatever happens, don't let me fly. Teska, don't let me fly. One scorching of the world was enough for any lifetime.

Ellysetta thought she was prepared to open her unshielded senses near dahl'reisen. She thought she knew what to expect.

She was wrong.

Dark emotions screamed down her veins, invaded her blood, ate at her body from the inside out. Despair. Rage. Hatred Vile, virulent emotions. Whatever had once been good and honorable when these dahl’reisen were Fey was utterly gone now. What remained in its place was such bitter hate that the briefest touch of her mind against it made her whole body revolt.

The difference between them and what Gaelen had been before she restored his soul was staggering. His torment had defied description, true, but his soul had still stubbornly clung to the Light, to some concept of honor. He'd still retained the memory of love in his heart. The dahl’reisen in the service of Eld were well down the Dark Path, beyond redemption. They took savage pleasure in watching the deaths of their former brothers. They hated them for the Light that still shone within them, and they wanted to crush it, to extinguish it.

"Ellysetta." Bel prodded her urgently, "Ellysetta, quickly, show us where they are so we can reweave your shields. Hurry. For all our sakes."

She turned her head in Rain's direction. Across the field of battling lu'tan, she could see him clearly, see the fierce determination on his face as he fought not only his enemies but also his response to her pain. She was broadcasting it to him through the threads of their bond. She was broadcasting it to the lu’tan as well.

Gods. She pressed the heel of her palms against her temples and tried to slam her barriers back in place, tried to block out the overwhelming flood of tormented emotion.

«Ellysetta.» Bel urged again, «I know it hurts, but we need you to concentrate on finding the dahl'reisen. Find the source of your pain, and you will find them. That's all we need. Teska,

kem'mareska.»

It wasn't as easy as all that. At the moment, the source of her pain was all of them. Her pain hurt Rain and the lu'tan, and their pain echoed back at her, each amplifying the other, building a harmonic of agony and despair, until she could hardly stop herself from screaming and ripping at her own skin

"Kem'falla." A hand gripped hers. A cool clarity cut through the layers of pain. She opened her eyes to find Gaelen standing before her, his ice blue gaze steady and direct. "Give me the pain. Feed it to me. I've borne it before, and I can bear it again; You know I can. Let me bear it for you, for all of them."

"Gaelen.. ."

“Give it to me.”

She wasn't certain whether she fed him the pain or he just took it. Either way, the blinding agony began to fade. The flicker of Gaelen's eyelashes and the tightening of his mouth were the only outward signs of his suffering.

"Kabei," he said. "Now, forget about the pain. The pain doesn't exist. Find the hate. Find the bitterness, the blame. The anger towards the Fey. Find self over sacrifice. That's how you'll know these dahl’reisen.."

She nodded. Concentrating was easier now, without debilitating overload to her senses. Slowly, hesitant to open herself up to agony again, she peeled back the outer layers of her internal shields and sent a questing thread of empathic awareness outside herself. As Gaelen instructed, she tried to filter her senses to detect only the dark, selfish emotions Gaelen had described, the blame and anger towards the Fey.

There. Her mind zeroed in on a well of bitterness and hate.

"I see it." Gaelen gestured to the others, directing them to the location in Ellysetta's mind. A moment later, the foul hatred simply... disappeared. A sharp pain lanced across senses, but it was gone almost instantly. "Well-done, kem'falla.” Gaelen's voice sounded breathless, strained. "That was perfect.”

"Gaelen." She started to open her eyes and turn to him. He'd absorbed the pain of the dahl’reisen’s death. "Nei. I'm fine. Teska, find the next. Quickly."

Ellysetta's efforts were working. The invisibility weaves were failing, and now the Fey weren't the only ones dying.

Rain found what hope he could in that and clung to it desperately. His breath came in ragged gasps. Fey'cha flew like lightning from his fingertips, and scores of Eld fell to his blades. Each death was a bitter, searing draft of darkness, another heavy weight slung around his neck until he could scarce move beneath the weight,

Still, he fought grimly. Ellysetta's life was at stake. If he didn't fight, the Eld would take her. There was no choice but to fight. His blades flew and came back with each choked mutter of his return word, to be plucked from their sheaths and sent flying again. His vision went red and blurry as pain battered him and the Rage crowded the edges of his control. Mage Fire roared towards the Fey. He flung a five-fold weave in its path, and the two magics exploded with concussive force. He heard the Eld scream, The Tairen Soul! Kill the Tairen Soul! Bring him down now!"