Touched by Fire

 

Introduction

Pera is a world much like our own, yet its people, human beings and their offshoots, are uniquely endowed by their Creator with souls that grant them free will and the gift of magic. This gift was used for many purposes, rising to a height surpassing current technology in our world. All these beings of Pera share the same law based on the Way, the precepts set down by the Creator for them to live by. The Way mandates they not harm each other or their property, except in defense or retaliation. Way Finders who study its strictures interpret and find how it applies in legal cases, thus building the common law. The Way also allows people to deviate from its strictures by covenants they make with each other. Communities were created under these covenants as their owners saw fit to enact. To be full members of the community, a citizen must swear to obey the covenant upon growing up. All matters not decided by laws passed under authority of a covenant are still under the common law of the Way, as are those people who have not sworn to it.

Over time one of the human cultures, the Kerani from Enkera, came over the sea to a vast new continent called Atrea. The native elves of Atrea were both more alike and more different from them than ever imagined. Once human, they were changed their shapes to survive as hunter-gatherers in their environment, giving themselves long ears, large eyes and sharp noses, opening an entire new sphere of the senses to which humans remain blind. The coming of the human Kerani to Atrea has spelled grave misfortune for them. While humans and elves both followed the Way, they had very different lifestyles. The humans farmed the land, killing the game the elves hunted, and destroying the plants they once gathered to clear the land for this. Many elves in time took up the Kerani lifestyle, but other elves have resisted the change...

 

"Focus..."

Twelve young elven students sat in a circle, their palms held out as they sought to obey the teacher's words. None was older than thirteen. A leaf lay on the grass before each of them, some fluttering up as if blown in a breeze, moved by the young students' magic as they sought to make them rise in the air.

"See it come to you," their teacher Terin murmured, walking slowly around the circle to inspect each students' progress. The leaf in front of one girl rose and settled gently in her open palm.

"Well done, Larusa," congratulated Terin, and she grinned triumphantly, tossing her hair, gray eyes sparkling. Across the circle, a boy scowled at the leaf in front of him, which remained unmoving. His olive skin and black hair stood out from the fair complexions of the rest. His temper flared, and suddenly the leaf burst into flame. He started at the sight as other students exclaimed in shock. Within moments, the leaf was only curled, blackened ash, with a patch of charred grass beneath.

"That is not the spell I asked you to cast, Samar," Terin said. "Did you mean to do it?"

No," Samar admitted, staring at what remained of his leaf.

"I thought as much. You could have harmed yourself, or another here. Magic is not something that should be used without control." He paused, following Samar's gaze to the ash. "Especially a fire spell."

Just like a Keran, to start a fire in the forest," one of the students said, and others laughed with him in agreement. Samar flushed angrily at being compared yet again to one of the human Kerani due to his looks resembling theirs. As he glared at the boy who had spoken, the leaf in front of him rose and flew to Samar's hand.

"Anger gives you clarity of mind, I see," Terin said as a low murmur rose at his feat. "That is Baris's leaf, however," he added. "You called it over. Can you send it back to him?" Samar sought to, but the leaf only wobbled halfheartedly, before falling back into his hand. Fresh laughter broke out at this, and Samar's expression darkened once more. The leaf soared up and into Baris's laughing face, clinging to his eyelashes before he ripped it away, scowling.

"You will be part of the same coven someday," Terin said sternly. "How will you cast spells together if even this causes strife?" Both looked down at the ground, chastened.

"We must all find a way to focus our spells, but anger is a poor one. It can trigger a spell without intending it if you become angered. You must keep your magic in control." He paused, looking intently over them.

"Focus on something that gives you calm first, to still your mind. Trees moving in the wind on a clear day perhaps, or the sunlight touching the waters of a brook. Then gradually imagine the spell that you wish to cast. In this case, think of the leaf, yourself, and the air between. Imagine magic as it is, within them all, then see your spell being realized."

Samar closed his eyes, remembering when he visited an ice cave in the mountains with a hunting party the year before. It had chilled the air within his lungs, breath fogging out as he exhaled. He visualized heat flowing out from his body, defusing his anger. Spotting a leaf not far away from him he did as the teacher said, and the leaf floated up gently, drifting forward to settle into his palm. Samar smiled broadly, and looked around, seeing that most of the other students had also succeeded, smiling or laughing with satisfaction.

"Well done," Terin said, with a cool smile. "That is enough for today."

 

Felisa Uthal smiled down at the man on her examining table, placing her hands on the gash cut into his left shoulder. Both were elves of the same fair looks as the students, aside from Samar, though by appearance in their twenties. Bunches of dried herbs were hung from the ceiling, filling the room with their mingled scents. Her red-gold hair was lit softly by the sunlight streaming into the front room of her shop from the corners of the shaded windows as she called her magic. Spells had already been cast over his wound to still the flow of blood, remove the pain and ward against infection, which the man, a traveler named Dulen Ilathar, had wisely brought them with him, and it likely saved his life when bandits attacked him on the road. Fully healing the wound required far more, however.

She drew in her breath slowly, drawing up the energy within the talisman which hung from her neck as he stared at her from his wide blue eyes. With her palms on each side of the gash, she imagined herself filling up with light, and this flowing into him from her touch, making his torn flesh whole. The wound shrank and closed gradually, with only unbroken, healthy skin remaining behind.

"Thank you, healer," he said fervently, touching his shoulder where the wound had been.

"I am only glad to help," she told him with a smile.

 

Trooping back from the forest, some of the students began to sing an autumn song, inspired by the exercise.

"The leaves are falling, softly falling, tumbling to the ground!" they belted out happily.

"They seem fairly loud," Terin said in a wry tone, but he smiled with good humor.

"They did well, Terin?" Samar's mother Felisa called, her red-gold hair shining in the sunlight as they walked into the village, Meridal, peeling away to their homes.

"Indeed," Terin said, as Samar made his way to her. She waited beneath the sign of her healer's shop, over which they lived, adorned by the image of twin hands suffused with a gold glow.

"I had it come to me, mother," Samar told her with quiet pride, and she squeezed his shoulder affectionately, smiling at him.

"He is making progress," agreed Terin. "All of them are. I will see you on the morrow." Felisa turned to her son as Terin took his leave, ushering him in and up the stairs to their apartment above.

Later that evening, Samar set the table while Felisa cooked dinner. Finishing, he envisioned the ice cave once more, focusing himself, and then imagined his spoon levitating up to him. It did as he desired, and came over to rest in his hand. Felisa had turned and saw what he was doing, watching him silently. She applauded when he succeeded, smiling softly. He grinned at her in delight.

"Very good, Samar. Soon doing that will be as natural as breathing. Perhaps before too long I can begin teaching you my healing spells." His grin faded. Felisa looked saddened to see this.

"Or not," she said quietly. They took dinner in awkward silence, before Samar retired to bed. Felisa, as was her wont, remained awake pouring over books on healing. Near daybreak, a shrill alarm cut the quiet of the sleeping village, a long wail that brought Samar back into wakefulness in a jolt and made his mother stiffen at her desk in sudden fear.

"Samar!" she called out, heart pounding, and ran down the hall to his room. He was already up and covering his pointed ears in consternation at the sound.

"What is it?" he yelled over the noise.

"Come, we must go," she told him without answering. Samar stared at her.

"Please, there is no time-come with me," Felisa said. He nodded, moved by the fear he heard in her voice. Still dressed in his night clothing, they ran down the stairs and out the door as shouts rose.

Outside, Samar realized the source of the alarm at once. From the sky over Meridal fireballs rained down, at one point then another, shifting position, setting the houses below in the village aflame.

Elves ran to escape and flashes of blue light came down, stunning them. Terin led some in a valiant effort to fight back, casting a linked spell which sent bolts of lightning coursing into the sky from their wands to strike the source of the attack. A shield activated, a silvery field which blocked the blasts. It stunned them with another flash that sent more elves senseless to the ground. Felisa ran from all this with Samar, making for the edge of the forest.

An unmarked air ship came into view inside of the spherical shield, the chameleon spell which had camouflaged it against the night sky falling now that it had diverted power into its shield, sending down another stunning blast. Felisa had cast a shield spell of her own around them by then, blocking the attack. It continued firing however, more blue flashes erupting from the edge of its spherical body, with her shield wearing thin under this onslaught.

Reaching the tree line, they drew shelter from its protection, which caught most of the stunning blasts, leaves raining down on the running pair. Light erupted from the craft's belly, tracking them now while they ran from its searching beam to hide within the still dark forest beyond. When they stumbled into a clearing, the air ship attacked again with a gout of flame spurting down which surrounded them. It grew like a living thing into a ring that encircled them both, and they faltered, trapped by the fire.

The hovering air ship fired a stunning spell at the pair, flashing against the shield Felisa had cast over them. She hurled fireballs at the air ship, but its shield deflected her attack.

The feel of Samar pressing against her in terror, his body trembling, brought Felisa out of her single-minded frenzy to protect him.

It was only due to being a spirit eater that she had lasted so long when the others had fallen. She fed upon people's spirits to acquire energy, gaining enough so that her body no longer decayed, healing itself rapidly. Part of this energy she used to heal others, and those healed paid in part through allowing her to feed on them, enabling still others to be healed. Overall this strengthened her magic to withstand the attack which had overcome the rest, but despite this, she was unprepared for a battle, having crafted only the fireball spell. Their escape would have to be achieved quickly.

Breathing in deeply, she drew up all of her stored energy from the talisman, then cast a cascade of fireballs at the air ship overhead. The shield of the attacking vessel flickered under the assault, then collapsed. Wobbling briefly in mid-air, the air ship shot upward to evade further attack. The fire around them shrank, falling to a level just over the ground.

Felisa staggered, weakened from expending so much in the spell, as her own shield faded away with the loss of energy. A hole opened in the belly of the craft from which a figure dressed all in black levitated down, landing cat-like on the ground. Illumination by the firelight around revealed it to be a man. Silently, he lunged forward at Samar.

"NO!" she cried, adrenaline giving her renewed power, throwing herself on the man's back and clawing at his eyes through the head mask concealing them. He struggled to free himself from her grip, with a gasp of pain as fingers endowed with a spirit eater's strength tore into his face. One of his hands caught the chain of the talisman hanging around her neck, ripping it free. Felisa gasped as she felt the rest of her energy departing with the talisman's loss, and held onto him tighter in desperation. With the force of the pull, the talisman tumbled away out of his hand, landing at Samar's feet, where he stood near them still and stricken with fear.

Pulling at the bottom of his mask, her attacker yanked it loose, Felisa falling backward with it in her grip. With his face uncovered, he was shown to be Dulen Ilathar, the man who she healed fixing Felisa with cold blue eyes, his auburn hair cast in red by the guttering flames nearby. She had only a moment to stare at him in shock before the wand he had dropped when struck by her fireball shot over into his grip as he called it, and Dulen cast a spell over Felisa before she could rise.

"Be still," he ordered. Felisa froze at his words, arms stiffening to her sides as the mask slipped from her grip. Her eyes moved to Samar from where she lay prone on the ground- Dulen had not yet ordered her to keep quiet.

"Go!"Felisa cried, making him jerk, stirred out of his state. He glanced back at her once, then scooped up the talisman. The attacker whirled toward Samar as he raced away, bounding over the dying fire with a quick leap.

He raced off into the darkness, disappearing into its depths.

2: Touched by Fire 2

"More wine?"

The young elven man picked up the wine bottle on the side board, turning away.

"Yes," grunted the older elven man in the chair before the fire, gray-haired, clad in a dressing gown. The younger man raised the bottle and filled a crystal wine glass. Setting it down, he grasped the ring on his left hand, its jewel face opening with a twist of his fingers. From within it came a fine gray powder that flowed into the wine when he tipped the ring down. All this took only a moment, and then he approached with it.

"Here, father," he said, at which the other man took the glass without a word and drank deeply. His son watched him closely. After some time, a puzzled look came over his father's face, and soon he slumped down in the chair. Departing the room, the son went to his own room and waited until sounds of alarm came upon servants discovering his father. Putting a look of alarm on his face, he ran out to the room, the robed healer attending his father. It was too late, however-the poison had done its work. After feigning grief, he retired to his room once more, sitting before a mirror. By appearance he was in his early thirties, with short ash blonde hair that glowed dimly in the light, in a fine blue doublet.

"I poisoned my father with a substance that destroys blood vessels in the brain," he said matter-of-factly, without expression. "It will appear he suffered a massive stroke, and the poison breaks down quickly, leaving no trace even if one were looking. Some may suspect me, but there will be no cause to convict or even investigate. Now, with my father dead, I will inherit his property without having to wait another twenty or more years. And with your help, I can expand it even further."

Master Nil Yeral, thrall trader, a bald, thin human man with calculating black eyes, watched all this over his viewer, a smile creasing his thin lips when the elf finished, pleased by what he saw.

With the required proof of crime, they could now deal with him.

 

"Where is he?"

Dulen (if that was his real name) furiously confronted Felisa after having scoured the area in a fruitless search for Samar. Relief filled her to see that he was gone, tinged with fear at the same time over his disappearing from sight.

"I do not know," she answered, compelled to reply by the binding spell, which itself did not insure her answers were true unless he ordered it, although in this case she had been truthful. Judging by his scowl, Dulen was not convinced.

"Tell the truth," he snapped. The wish to comply came over her.

"I do not know where he is," she repeated, furious at him violating her mind and will, but unable to resist it.

Have you concealed your son by spells?"

No," she insisted. Still he was not convinced. Raising his wand, Dulen cast a spell over her now - Felisa could feel the prickle of magic on her skin. Evidently it was a detection spell, as he stared at her closely, no doubt searching for any spells which might keep his binding from penetrating her mind and compelling her truthfulness, but it showed nothing. Finally in frustration gave up and cast a series of spells to erase all traces of his presence, then levitated them into the belly of the air ship above.

"Sit here and be quiet," Dulen ordered, leaving Felisa on the floor of its hold. She waited as her captor disappeared through a hatch nearby as the bay door closed up. The air ship began to move, and then it opened again. Her fellow villagers floated up senseless, one by one.

Felisa screamed inside. She could only sit there, still and silent had ordered, spellbound to her obedience, with the other people of Meridal slowly filling the hold all around her. Dulen came in again, and cast a mass binding spell over them before he exited. Only her eyes, filled with terror and helpless rage, expressed how she truly felt.

On they soared, borne away to a terrible fate.

 

Samar emerged from the darkness into a strange world.

All around him were shadows, crisscrossed in black and gray. They slanted down, sideways and up in all directions. Bewildered and terrified, he reeled about in a circle, seeking to discern what had happened.

The shadows of trees surrounded him, some dark against pale light that he guessed had to be the moon, others flickering, lit by the guttering flames. A circle of gray came over them, a soft light which surrounded a round, darker shadow, and he understood with a start that it was the hovering air ship, its light illuminating the forest floor. Two long shadows emerged from the circular one it cast.

One, of a figure with long hair, walked stiffly, as the other turned about in a searching way, a narrow rod projected away from its hand. Samar felt sick-his mother, held by the binding spell, and the elf who bound her, looking for him with his wand outstretched. Fear, helplessness and confusion over where he was grew up within him Samar. He shuddered, barely standing in place. Out from a dark shadow cast by the trees nearby emerged another figure, rising off the ground. For a moment, he could not tell whether it was here, or there-wherever here was-but then it stood upright before him. Unlike the rest of the shadows, it had depth and substance, in the shape of a man. He stared.

"Welcome... to the shadow realm." The voice was sibilant, a hiss that echoed, although he could not tell from what. Samar jumped at the sound. At last, he managed to whisper:

"What are you?"

It made a rasping noise which almost seemed a chuckle, though Samar hardly thought it could be. The figure shimmered slightly.

"I?...A living shadow."

Living shadow! The very words sent a chill down his spine. It was a story for making small children fall asleep, or else the living shadows would come from the darkness and eat them. Now this story had come to life before his eyes.

"And you...must have the soul of one among us, or be the child of someone who does, else you could not enter here."

These words made Samar recoil, struck by them more than anything else.

"What?" he asked plaintively.

"Only one of my kind can enter her, or those we ensoul," the living shadow explained softly.

"Clearly you are not of my kind." Again the rasping sound-it was laughter, Samar thought, no matter how incongruous that was.

"Thus, you must have been ensouled from one of us instead. You are a shadow walker, a flesh person who can walk into the realm of shadow. Certainly you must know the story?"

Samar shuddered. It was another legend, or so he had thought. Living shadows were once flesh persons, in the legends, whose souls were lost, either by accident, their own design or another's malice. Once loosed from their body, the soul fed upon people's spirits to survive, as opposed to normal spirit eaters who did this by choice, to gain energy and enhanced life. After they had sufficiently fed, assuming no person had sent them off into the afterlife, these wandering souls would grow into the living shadows, their wispy forms built up from the spirit taken. At that stage, if they entered into an unborn child before the soul meant for it, they would be reborn a shadow walker.

"How am I here?" Samar asked. That part, the legend was silent on. All of it was almost too much for him to fathom.

"What did you do before entering?" the living shadow asked. He explained what had occurred, the memory painful to recount, and it shimmered once more.

"You sought to escape in the darkness. That was enough, after your magic had come forth. We exist both here, and in the world of flesh. You have shadow-walked, without knowing it."

He shook his head, and then froze, staring at the shadows nearby as they shifted. The shadow figures of his mother and her captor merged with that from the air ship, which then expanded, its light shutting off. Nearby the flickering shadows cast by the flames had vanished, along with those of their bodies. He had not noticed, utterly distracted by the living shadow's appearance.

"No!" Samar cried, knowing she was there in the air ship now soaring away. He clutched at the dark shadows before him, desperate to return... and he emerged back in the forest.

Stunned for only a moment, he looked wildly around to find his mother. His head snapped up to the sky as his keen, pointed ears picked up the hum from overhead. Away the air ship soared, up over the tree tops. And he was sure his mother lay within. He could only stare at it impotently as the vessel disappeared against the sky, dimly lit by the morning sun.

A burning smell came to him on the breeze, elven nose sharper even than his ears, and horror filled him. He raced down the hill, artfully evading obstacles with long practice. The stench grew as he went, before Samar emerged at the bottom. At the sight he found before him, his legs gave way. Falling to his knees, he wept helplessly, staring at the black, smoking ashes of what has been his village.

Naturally, there were no bodies. They would be taken up by the air ship along with his mother. Sorrow turned to rage, and he beat his fists on the ground, screaming into the night. Abruptly his head spun, and he fainted, collapsing forward on the ground.

 

"Are you well, boy?"

Samar stirred at the sound of the voice, finding himself lying where he had fallen. Turning over, he started in surprise upon seeing a brown-haired elven man in a plain suit standing over him, his brow furrowed with concern. Beside him was an elven woman with auburn hair in the same style of garment, while spread out near them were human men and women clad in leather uniforms of bright vermilion, with metal wands held in their hands, two air ships resting on the ground nearby, one's diamond shape indicating a military model. Some examined Meridal's ruins, but most watched the forest warily for any sign of danger. With fear flooding through him, Samar scrambled backward, hoping only to reach the darkness and escape into it once more.

"Wait!" the man said, raising a hand soothingly. "We mean you no harm. I am Renos Seradin, Investigator." He gestured toward the woman next to him. "My partner, Erila Miran. We are both with the Derguris law keeper force. These are soldiers from the Derguris Defense Forces," Renos added, indicating the others in uniform. Derguris was the city nearest to Meridal, and both were a part of the Aristan Federation, a group of elven polities allied together in mutual defense.

"We heard your alarm, and came to aid you." He crouched to look into Samar's eyes.

"What happened here?" he asked softly. Samar burst into tears, as the weight of all that happened caught up with him. Coming forward slowly, the man placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Please call me Renos. What is your name?"

"Samar Uthal," he said, wiping away his tears, voice faint.

"Samar," Renos said, smiling compassionately. "Are you hurt?"

He shook his head, then inhaled deeply.

"Not...physically."

Renos nodded in understanding.

"I can imagine. Take your time, and tell me what happened, if you can."

He spoke hesitantly, gaining confidence as Renos listened, whose face darkened progressively at what he heard. Rising, he gestured for the others to come forward.

"Samar, please show us where this was."

3: Touched by Fire 3

Upon entering the forest, their clothing stood out amid the foliage. It was unusual to Samar, as the hunters of Meridal were always clad in chameleon garb to remain unseen by the game they stalked. Thinking of it sent a pang through him.

When they reached the clearing, a circle burned around it from the living flame used to hem them in, the soldiers stood guard as the two investigators spread out, closely inspecting the forest floor, noting how smooth and undisturbed it was-unnaturally so, and the lack of any scent. Spells were cast on the forest floor to cover any impressions which this man had left, along with removing his scent. Whoever the man was, he had thoroughly erased their tracks. Samar watched them raptly at their work, briefly forgetting the events of the previous night.

Unlike his mother, Samar had no love for healing. It had pained her, but instead the hunt stirred his passion, and he was never more happy than when on it. Felisa knew this allure too, of course-all of elven kind did. In her case, however, was instead the hunt for a cure, the battle against illness, and the rush of taking a kill's spirit gained from spirit eating. Yet with him, only the original raw, primal form of the hunt would suffice. At the moment, observing the elven investigators at work, he saw them conduct another kind of hunt, more subtle than chasing deer, but more fascinating by far.

After they had combed over it minutely, the investigators abandoned their search. No evidence was forthcoming. Shaking his head, Renos approached Samar again.

"I am taking you back to our headquarters, Samar." He sighed.

"Your memories are all we will have to go on from here, I think."

"Why did it take you so long to come?" Samar burst out.

"Forgive me," Renos said. "We came quickly as could be." He sighed, looking toward the village's remains.

"If only it could have been a little sooner."

 

"You must find this boy."

Master Nil Yeral glared over his desk at Dulen.

"I cannot believe he escaped. He saw your face! The boy is a witness to everything that you did, and our source reports the Derguris authorities were alerted."

Forgive me, Master Yeral," said Dulen contritely. "I had to stop looking for him and bring the acquisitions back so we wouldn't be discovered there." Yeral nodded.

"You searched for him with every means?"

Of course," Dulen said, looking miffed. "The woman must have cast some powerful concealing spells over him before I took her down."

"This is not your fault, Dulen. You did very well, acquiring a spirit eater. And a companion healer of decades' experience, at that, quite attractive too... She will fetch a high price." His face hardened as he locked eyes with Dulen then.

"This boy shall be found and acquired. I must know how he escaped."

Dulen nodded. "I will go at once."

Oh no you will not," Yeral said sharply. "Are you mad? This boy saw your face. Even if you altered it, the risk of exposure is too great. Shiran was with you-he will deal with it."

Dulen scowled with wounded pride at this, but he could do nothing.

 

Samar gazed in fascination down at the ground below.

It was a thrill for him to ride in the air ship, trees dotted among cleared spaces of farms or grass land shown on the display as he watched. He had felt ill at ease initially over the idea of going into an air ship, after having been attacked by one so soon before, but curiosity soon overrode fear. The sun glinted off its metal exterior, a smooth curved disc with far less flat sides than the ship he had seen last night. It was also much smaller, with a cramped, gray-walled interior containing only four seats. At Renos' mental command, the vessel had risen from the ground. The difference between levitating a leaf and an air ship was only a matter of power and skill. The idea of flying such a craft exhilarated him.

"We must ward your spirit." Samar looked over at Renos as he spoke up.

"If the abductors have your mother, they will be able to harm you with spells making use of her spirit, most likely through blood," he explained. "They will be unable to do so much as with your own spirit, if they had a part of it," Renos said. "As her son it will still have some affect though."

Would not whatever they do affect her, even if you protect me from it?" Samar asked, with fear rising in him at the implication.

"It would," Renos admitted, his expression sympathetic. "They will not harm your mother, of that I am sure. She is too valuable for them."

A dubious comfort, Samar felt, in agony at the thought of his mother, spellbound and sold into thralldom like a mule.

They came over a rise, and Derguris lay in the valley beyond. Samar gazed in awe at the great city. He had sometimes traveled to larger towns close by with his mother, but they were nothing even close to it. High, thick walls surrounded it, with guard towers at regular points about gates into which people came on foot and within cars to pass through a series of checkpoints before they gained entrance.

A dome rose up around the city, its edge terminating at least four spans from the wall and rising up into the air over the city's highest point. It shimmered slightly, and Samar knew this was in fact a massive shield protecting the city, the spell upheld by massive amounts of energy.

The air ship soared toward the crest of the dome, passing across the shield barrier without this being impediment. It flitted between the towers of the city as Samar stared out at them in total fascination, approaching a landing pad set upon one that lay near the center, Law Keeper set in huge letters across its face. Wobbling to settle into a hover, the air ship stopped directly above this to put down. The hatch slid open, and they stood up.

"Here we are," Renos said. Several other air ships rested nearby, with empty landing pads which spoke to more being away, although Samar had seen none while coming in. The investigators beckoned for him. Entering the lift which lay nearby, Erila keyed in a floor number and they descended. Samar was nervous as the lift began to move, but showed no sign.

The doors opened to a bustling office filled with many other investigators, most working on documents or receiving calls at their desks. Some greeted Renos and Erila as they entered, while most did not look away from their work.

"I'll start on the report. Why don't you take his mnemonic evidence?" offered Renos, and Erila nodded in agreement, ushering Samar to a nearby interview room.

"This is a mind band," Erila said, taking up a piece of curved metal which rested at the center of the table. "It will record your memory of what occurred for evidence. First, though"- she put it down and drew her wand. "I must scan you for spells which might have altered or erased your memory, or else made you give false statements."

Gently, she set the tip of her wand against his temple. He felt her magic flow over him as she cast a spell. It seemed the result satisfied Erila, and she cast another spell over him.

"Do you swear to tell the truth without equivocation or evasion, and withholding nothing?" she asked formally. Samar felt the compulsion to do so come over his mind-she had spellbound him. With it he would be unable to do otherwise.

"Yes," he said sincerely. Erila sheathed her wand. Lifting the mind band, she put it around his head, the cool metal bending into place, making him start. Erila scented his sweat as he sat nervously, offering a soothing smile.

"No need to worry," she told him. "This will not hurt a bit," she assured him, sitting down on the other side of the table. "All right, Samar, now just relax. Think of the man whom you saw in the clearing," she murmured, leaning toward him. Samar closed his eyes, trying to make himself focus on that memory instead of shying away from its pain.

"I know it's hard," Erila told him soothingly, and he opened his eyes.

"Do you really know?" he asked with some asperity. Erila nodded, unoffended.

"I have done this for many witnesses before." She lightly touched his hand, smiling kindly.

"Now...how tall was this man?"

He attempted to concentrate, focusing on it as he did in casting spells. The last glimpse of his mother welled up from memory unbidden-her limbs held stiff to her sides by the spell, long hair lain out behind her in halo touched by fire light that reflected its hues, eyes staring in pain...

Samar winced, shaking his head, the memory fading.

"It's all right," Erila reassured him. He felt a twinge in his stomach, then realized this was not from pain, but only hunger. He had not eaten since the night before.

"I feel so hungry." She smiled again at this.

"Of course, we should have thought. I will get you some lunch, and then we can try again later if you feel ready." He nodded, feeling better at that idea. Erila took her wand from his temple. enquiringly

"Samar..." she paused, standing up. He looked over enquiringly.

"Do you have somewhere to stay?"

The question took him by surprise. He knew no answer to it.

"Your father, or another relative?" she prompted. "Unless they were..." Erila's voice trailed off.

Taken, he thought. He closed his eyes, willing away the pain.

"No. My mother is the only relative I have." She nodded.

"We will find something," she said, smiling kindly at him again.

 

"What is your name?"

Felisa sat in a small room, she knew not where. The abductors took them from the air ship into a hanger bay, with no sign of where it was. Afterward they were split up and they had led Felisa to this room. Within it was a bare metal desk and two chairs. Across from her sat a stone-faced human woman about fifty years old consulting a tablet in her hand. The man who led Felisa ordered her simply to sit and answer questions truthfully.

"Felisa Larusamina Uthal," she answered without pause, spellbound to obey.

"What is your profession?"

"I am a healer." A crack showed in the woman's expression, writing this down.

"A spirit eater?" she asked, her tone changing from flat to interested.

"Yes," Felisa confirmed.

"You have a draining spell permanently cast upon your body?"

Yes." Most spirit eaters did, to capture others' spirits when coupling upon release, in her case through voluntary means. The draining spell was now a part of her body, sustained by the energy she took in along with the rest. On her tablet the questioner wrote something. Probably a note for the spell's removal, Felisa thought with despair. Buyers would not want her feeding on them, acquiring energy to break the spells that controlled her and escape. The end of all that she was drew near.

"This boy you were with-who was he?"

Oh Creator, no, Felisa thought. Aloud though, she answered unbidden:

"My son."

Is he your natural child?"

Yes," she replied, fearing what that question was intended for.

"What is his name?"

Samar," she said, dying inside.

"His full name," the questioner clarified, with a hint of irritation. The binding spell compelled obedience, but only to the letter of any order, so if the issuer was less precise the spellbound person could resist in these small ways.

"Samar Mitremin Uthal."

"What is his age?"

Thirteen years."

And what is yours?"

Seventy two." The woman's dark eyebrows rose at this; a spirit eater's age was not obvious from their appearance, since the practice could keep them young.

Would he seek shelter with his father?"

No."

Do you have any other living relatives he might go to?"

No." The questioner frowned, writing on her tablet again, then put it down.

"Very well. Go out the door and someone will take you for your physical examination."

Felisa rose at once, her limbs woodenly following another's command. Trapped in a body that refused to obey her, like a puppet.

Samar, be safe, she prayed.

4: Touched by Fire 4

This was not good.

Shiran Lurin scowled in frustration. He was an older elf, with gray hair and lined features, well into his sixties. Shiran was not so vain that he spent precious energy on keeping his appearance young, though as a spirit eater it was within his power to. In any case, it made others underestimate him, as he did not seem how they thought a spirit eater was. His talisman lay concealed, both with clothing and magic, not foolishly worn openly as many did. Age brought wisdom, and so when he had accompanied Dulen within the air ship the night before, Shiran stayed inside while he sent the younger man out to capture Felisa. He had returned piloting another air ship, far smaller than the one which he and Beril came in before, since he planned only one acquisition this time. Naturally it was under concealing spells as well.

He brought it low over the ground, at times nearly brushing up against treetops, to better evade detection by the scanning stations. Approaching the site, he had taken note of the new tracks around where he had taken Felisa Uthal, and the boy-Samar, she had said his name was under binding spell-mysteriously escaped, his scent and track vanishing at one spot without explanation.

Shiran had tracked the boy to the edge of the clearing where his trail disappeared. It emerged again nearby, leading down the hill from the forest. There a number of tracks appeared left from others, with the distinct flattening in the grass that denoted an air ship setting down. Their tracks led to it and were gone with the air ship taking flight, with the trail doubling back where they came up to view the clearing. All this matched his course shown on the tracking map, shown as a golden line moving from the village to the clearing, disappearing, reappearing mysteriously, and then disappearing once more near Derguris.

They had taken some blood from Felisa Uthal, as usual, an insurance policy if she broke free of the binding or enthrallment spells, as it could be used in tracking, killing or disabling her. Samar, a close blood relative, should also be affected, enough at least to appear upon the tracking map, created by mixing her blood with the ink used to print it. The map showed nothing, however- the law keepers had to have warded his spirit.

His second guess was they were not related, so that her blood would give no help in tracking him. Learning they were had surprised Shiran, given their lack of resemblance. He assumed they were merely together on first seeing the image captures taken Nil Yeral had sent him. It would have made him suspect that Samar was not her natural child, but adopted, except she had said otherwise during her interrogation.

The binding spell insured she was not lying, and examining her blood showed no other spells which might ward against its compulsion of truth.

Samar must take after his father, whoever that was. Felisa had said he would not seek shelter with him, assuming the man even lived nearby, or with any other living relatives. His father had not been among the elven men acquired from the village in any case, who all had the same fair looks of the northern elves. It was also possible, of course, that neither knew who his father was.

Now with the spirit ward on him, it would not show on the tracking map even if he had been near. They had warded Felisa against tracking from the same method he now used-if the law keepers had some of Samar's blood to use in their own tracking map, Felisa would not show on it. They were thus left equally in the dark, without either knowing of the other's whereabouts.

It was frustrating, though he felt pleased with the challenge at the same time.

 

"Have you ever seen him before, Samar?"

Erila leaned toward him, brushing back a lock of auburn hair that had come loose from her plait. He wore the mind band once more after having eaten as she tried once again to divulge his memory of the abductor.

"Not that I remember." Erila

"Do you remember his scent?" He frowned. The man had only been a few feet away from him. Samar recalled the man's scent now. He found it mingled with a trace of blood and the herbs from his mother's shop. The man's face came along with this, aquiline featured, his blue eyes like chips of ice, contrasting with auburn hair in the firelight. At the time, he was by the situation, unable to process all this. Now the memory rushed back into full consciousness.

"He was in Meridal earlier that day," Samar said, as the mind band recorded his scent memory of this. "My mother must have treated him."

"What, why do you say that?" Erila asked, looking closely at him. Samar explained his memory of the man's scent. This made him think back to the expression on his mother's face when she saw his.

"She recognized him," he added.

"He was scouting your village," Erila surmised. "We should have known. They would not have launched a raid like that without having solid information beforehand."

Others might have too," Samar said, and she nodded. He tried to think back, but there were no suspicious travelers or other visitors which he could recall before that. Of course, they would not want to raise any suspicions. Could it be that one of the villagers was a spy for their abductors, likely due to being spellbound or enthralled?

"Thrall takers cannot be too careful," Erila commented, breaking into his thoughts.

Thrall taker. He had not wanted to think the word. They were among the most terrible criminals, abducting people for unlawful sale into thralldom. Of course the raid on Meridal could be for nothing else, but it was awful to contemplate.

"Have they been sold?" Samar asked quietly, heart tremoring. Erila looked at him sadly.

"Most probably," she said with equal softness. "They will want them moved quickly, within three days from what I hear, to avoid detection. Buyers will have been in place already."

He shook his head, tormented by the idea of his mother being sold off and lost forever, while attempting to contemplate the kind of person that would buy an innocent ripped from their home. A criminal, debtor, or those self-sold could be purchased, but this? It was a crime the horror of which fell only behind murder. Under the common law of the Way, anyone guilty of it forfeited their own freedom and could be enthralled for life as punishment. Samar only hoped the thrall takers would face just that fate one day.

"What kind of people would do that?" he wondered aloud.

"Bad people," Erila told him simply. "The thrall takers are evil, of course, but also the buyers. In order to join thrall auctions like this, they must show a proof of crime-irrefutable, verified evidence they have committed murder before. This shows they are not undercover law keepers."

Horror filled him doubly now, at the thought of his mother, or any of his other fellow villagers, in such people's hands.

"We must get them back," he begged. Erila sighed, closing her eyes.

"Samar, I am not going to lie. If the abductors have gone outside Aristan lands, which is quite likely, we can do little. A bounty will be posted-if someone finds them they'll call us in to collect. Until then, we can only wait and pray."

Samar buried his face in his hands, crying as Erila squeezed his shoulder compassionately. Oh Creator, he thought desperately, please deliver them.

Who will look for them outside the Federation?" he asked finally, wiping his eyes.

"I have no way to know. It's an open bounty-anyone is free to go after it. There may even be a group effort. Bounty hunters prefer not to share the reward, naturally, but in a case like this, with the targets likely so dangerous, it's much safer."

He felt utterly helpless, and the weight of being alone in the world came down upon him.

"What will happen with me now?"

As you have no relatives to stay with, we will send you to a boy's home."

"Boy's home?" Samar recoiled from the idea. He could not bear to think of himself among the abandoned, abused, homeless, orphaned or runaway children found there. It was also too much of a sign that his plight might become permanent, when he had striven to keep hope.

"Please, may I stay with you?" he asked her pleadingly.

"Oh...no, I'm sorry," Erila apologized. "I have a small house. There is barely enough room with my husband, three children and me even now."

The sense of being set adrift in the world overcame him.

 

Shiran crouched on a hill outside Derguris.

It was the most probable destination for him, as the site of the law keeper force of the district, but unlike Meridal or any small locality, they were protected by a shield spell that prevented him from simply flying with his air ship in under stealth. He set down the air ship outside it, in the wilderness. Leaving it under chameleon shroud, he approached the city on foot. Shiran pondered on where the law keepers would now put Samar. In a children's home probably, but where? He would have to search the city for it, no doubt.

If Samar was inside the city, its shield would stop the tracking map even assuming his spirit was not warded. He would have to get inside and try once more. Assuming failure, he could add energy to the tracking spell in hopes it would overcome any ward. He glanced down at the talisman hanging at his neck. It was ever a gamble, whether a caster should seek to dispel magic that might not be there at all, and risk detection at the same time. The boy's mother, Felisa, had possessed more energy by a wide margin than he did. He had seen the boy taking her talisman before disappearing in the dark.

This could indeed prove challenging, if Samar had her power at his disposal.

5: Touched by Fire 5

"Lady Kansura."

The woman addressed looked over at Erila, striding down the corridor outsides the courtrooms in the Derguris Palace of Justice. Ardena Kansura was a human Kerani, from an old noble family of Satora, who had defected into elven service on seeing the wrongs her own people had done them upon coming to Atrea. Many other humans did the same. Kansura smiled, loose black hair falling down over the shoulders of her white robe as she turned. All the rest of her attire was also white, the mark of the Way Finders, the judges and jurists who found the Way as it applied to cases they heard, thus creating the common law.

"Investigator Miran," Kansura greeted her. "Are you well?"

"Yes, thank you," Erila said briefly. "I need a warrant to arrest a thrall taker."

Oh? Come on into my chambers," Kansura said, gesturing to a nearby courtroom. Her thrall Breh followed behind quietly as they went in, a tall, handsome human man with olive skin, reminding her of Samar. His was a darker coloring than Kansura's almond tone, a sign of her wealthy background, not having to work under the sun. Erila knew that he served not only as her domestic servant, but also clerk of the court they now passed through, over which she presided. His domestic service included concubinage to Kansura, a common practice of second-born children in noble families who were not called upon to make marital alliances that would enrich their families. They were often trained as Way Finders for the same lack of family obligations.

Lady Kansura, like all Way Finders, was herself a thrall, but enthralled only to follow the Way, the Creator's will, not that of any mortal. It was necessary to prevent them falling into corruption or putting any interest above the Way, signified by their pure white clothing. Any irony at having a thrall owner sign a warrant to arrest a thrall taker was lost on Erila. She felt certain that a Way Finder would never purchase a thrall unlawfully, though buyers were not always aware of their thralls' true origins, if false provenances had been provided. Her mind remained undisturbed, however. Kansura sat behind the desk in her chambers when they had entered, waving for Erila to do the same.

""Now, what do you have for me?" Erila drew the mind band from its clip at her belt, handing it to Kansura. "The Federation village of Meridal has been burned to the ground and its population taken captive, save for a thirteen year old boy, Samar Uthal," she explained, as Kansura placed the circlet on her head.

"His is the memory you have," Erila said as Kansura drew it in, her expression grave when she viewed it. When she had finished, Kansura set the circlet down on her desk. Her black hair swayed as she slowly shook her head.

"How old is this boy?"

Thirteen," Erila supplied.

"You feel certain there is no ruse being played out here?" Kansura asked. It was not unknown for crimes to be fabricated and then "solved" in collusion with a bounty hunter compatriot by poor villages for the posted reward, which might be substantial in a case like this.

"I have found no evidence of that," Erila told her. Kansura nodded.

"He endured a terrible wrong then." She drew her wand, casting a binding spell over Erila.

"Investigator Miran, do you swear that to the best of your knowledge this information is true and correct, and that you have taken all measures to insure and verify its truthfulness?"

I do," Erila told her honestly.

"Very well," Kansura said, setting down her wand. Erila handed the unsigned warrant across to her. Kansura raised one of her fine black eyebrows when she read it.

" 'Meridal abductor'?" she said, quoting the suspect's description. "We do not know his name then?"

Not yet," Erila replied. "I ran his image and scent through all the available databases, but so far there is no match." Kansura nodded.

"We can amend it if his name turns up." She picked up her wand once more, casting another spell which applied a magical signature to the warrant identifying her, then handing it back.

"There we are."

My thanks, Lady Kansura," Erila said. "And congratulations as well." Kansura smiled; humans who had little dealing with elves might be disturbed at having the hormones caused by pregnancy so easily detected by their olfactory senses, but she had clearly become used to it in her time here.

"It was no more than my duty, but your kind words are much appreciated."

 

"Lot one hundred and twenty-seven."

Felisa walked forward at the auctioneer's announcement, bidden by the binding spell which held her. The lights settled on her as she stopped on the display platform. The lights settled on her as she stopped on the display platform, alone in a vast white room, its bare walls up high above there.

"Elven woman, spirit eater, seventy-two years of age, an experienced companion healer who has born one child, quite capable of bearing more if a buyer so desires." She wanted to scream with rage at hearing her life-her being-summed up so by the unseen auctioneer. They had forced her to answer these most intimate questions beforehand, compelled as she was by the binding spell, which also meant she unable to do more than simply stand, silent.

"Disrobe," the auctioneer ordered. Felisa obeyed against her will, tears springing to her green eyes as she did so, in the only sign of discomfort the spell permitted. Her skin felt hot under the lights, and more, the eyes she knew were there, staring at her behind tinted windows in the bidding booths.

"Turn." Felisa complied, facing back toward the ramp from which she came in.

"Back." She reversed direction, looking at the booths again.

"I will open the bidding at 2 million, five hundred thousand gold marks," the auctioneer said.

"Do I hear three million?" Hubbub erupted as they placed their bids.

"Three million, three million five-four million. Four million, four million five," the auctioneer recited quickly as the bids flooded in. The price rose steadily until at last most of the bidders dropped out, with the last purchasing Felisa for eight million, five hundred thousand gold marks.

"Return to your station." Felisa walked back up the ramp and into the small room that she had waited in before. The door slid open, the attendant ushering Felisa to follow with a wave of her hand. She followed the woman down the corridor and into another room. On seeing the writing on the door, she quailed: Enthrallment.

The binding spell compelled obedience, yet poorly phrased orders could be twisted to her purpose in a subtle resistance. Enthrallment would not only erase any wish to disobey, but cause total love of her owner. Inside of the room were two men, one a short, plump human in his middle years, along with a handsome elf with blonde hair that seemed young by his appearance, though she knew that meant little, dressed in fine clothes. He smiled, and Felisa felt herself die inside at the cold triumph in his expression.

"Felisa, I enthrall you to this man, Lord Narun Sadal, in perpetuity." Instantly love swelled up within her. Lord Sadal. His hair seemed to glow, the strong lines of his face like those of a beautiful marble statue sprung to life. She desired no more than to serve him in any way he wished. Her prior thoughts were a dim memory, and only made Felisa sick inside to have felt anything except total, rapt adoration of him. In reply, she resolved even further to please him. She waited with bated breath to hear his first word to her. Lord Sedal waved away the enthraller, who departed the room silently.

"You are mine now," he said, Felisa's heart fluttering in joy to hear it. "You will serve me as a healer, and however else I wish." This honor wholly overwhelmed her.

"Oh, my lord..." she fell to her knees on the floor, bowing at his feet.

"Rise." She obeyed with alacrity to stare fixedly at him. Lord Sedal smiled again, and to her it was as if the sun rose.

"In private, I will allow you to call me Narun." Once more she was overcome with the honor.

"Come this way." They departed, with Felisa nearly skipping after him in exultation.

 

"Storm clouds in the east. Looks like it might rain."

The human man addressed by Shiran looked up into the sky from where he stood in front of a farm-house. It was free of any visible clouds.

"Aye, so it might." The password and countersign given, the man ushered Shiran forward. He drew his wand and cast a detection spell which revealed if Shiran was under controlling magic. Once satisfied, he led Shiran downstairs into the cellar, part of the stone wall sliding open at the touch of his hand to reveal a tunnel. Its dark mouth stretched away into blackness.

Shiran went in, the slab closing behind him. With his elven vision, he could see where a human would be wholly blind, and made his way easily along. It was no doubt made by dwarves, though not for them, since its contours permitted an elf or human to pass. He emerged in the cellar of a Derguris inn, slipping out the back door into the alleyway, his concealing spells cloaking him from detection. Taking out his tracking map, he cast the spell once more, stronger this time, hoping it would break through any ward on the boy. He smiled when the gold dot appeared.

Shiran walked off into the city, a hunter seeking his prey.

 

"Samar, this is Murin Taneral. He runs the boy's home."

The big, round-faced human man whom Erila spoke of smiled broadly.

"Welcome," he said with warmth. "Please call me Murin." Samar stood there with Erila in the entryway, unwilling to go further.

"Come," she said, ushering him forward with a gentle hand at his back. Reluctantly he walked after Murin into the communal dining hall in which boys ranging from older than him to what looked like six-year-olds waited at their seats. Most were elves, though with some humans, dwarves, and even orks among them.

"Boys, meet our new arrival, Samar," Murin announced.

"Welcome, Samar," they chorused, and he cringed at being the unwanted center of attention.

"I should be going," Erila said quietly at his side. He almost pleaded that she take him with her, but restrained himself. Doing that would be an embarrassment, in front of them all. She squeezed his shoulder, with one last affectionate smile, and then Erila was gone.

"There is a seat here, Samar," Murin said, gesturing to an emply place at the table. "We are just about to start."

Samar wished only to escape, and quite suddenly recalled his journey into the shadow realm, having almost forgotten in the tumult of the past day.

I am a shadow walker, he said to himself. Holds cannot hold me. I can go as I please. Liberated by this knowledge, he sat down at the table calmly. Murin stood at the head, raising his large hands.

"Oh Creator," he intoned, "we give you thanks for this food, and our shelter against the cruelties of the world in this place." Samar felt a chill at that, but he stayed still and silent along with the rest as Murin spoke.

"Help us as we strive to follow the Way, and not to stray from it," he finished. His warm smile returned with the close of the prayer.

"Let us eat." The children quickly dug into the food set out in serving dishes on the table, with the buzz of conversation rising amid the clatter.

"I'm Redan," the blond elven boy sitting to Samar's right said, greeting him with a nod, an easy smile on his face. Looking up at him, with the chatter of happy voices all around, Samar thought that perhaps things would not be so bad here after all.

6: Touched by Fire 6

 “Good evening.”

The innkeeper addressed looked up, a burly Kerani human man wearing a leather apron around his waist. His broad nose curled in a wide, black-bearded face when he smiled, looking at the woman in light blue garb who came through the door. By her features, she appeared half-elven.

“Good evening to you also, mistress,” the innkeeper said, the village dark outside as she came in. He reached out to take her cloak as she stopped and knocked the mud from her boots, which she gratefully doffed for him, shaking out her black hair.

“I would like a room and hot meal,” she told him.

“Of course, mistress,” he agreed. “Soup and bread, or would you prefer fresh eggs?”

Soup and bread will do nicely, and some wine,” she told him, sitting down at the nearby table he ushered her to after she signed the inn's register.

“I will bring it right out,” he said, smiling, going into the kitchen to one side, to return quickly with bread, a glass of wine, and streaming bowlful of soup for her.

“Very good,” she complimented him, after consuming the meal. Her gaze settled on him, and slowly filled with something more than appreciation for a cook who knew his work. The innkeeper smiled again to see adoration in her eyes, the thrall draught mixed with her wine taking hold.

“Do you wish to see your room now?” he asked, with a note of mockery as she nodded raptly. Instead of taking payment first, he led her up the stairs without pause.

“Make yourself comfortable,” he said, leading her to a room at the top of the stairs. She sat down on the bed, eyes still fixed on him.

“You must be weary from the rode. Perhaps you wish to undress?” the innkeeper suggested to her, knowing that she would do anything he said while enthralled, but amused to frame it as a request. With another rapt nod, she rose and obeyed. Within moments she stood naked before him.

“Lie back,” he said, dispensing with the pretense, and closed the door before he removed his own clothes. As he loomed up over her, she reached out to him, smiling in desire. The ring on his left hand shone as he gripped her shoulder, moving down toward his new thrall. Quite suddenly, however, the enthralled ardor vanished from her eyes, and he froze as a binding spell was cast over him. With a look of disgust, she wriggled out from below him, plucking the ring from his nerveless finger.

“Dress,” she ordered him, while doing so herself with her gaze pointedly away. He obeyed, now seething inside, trying with all his will to summon the power stored in his talisman, now lying in her hand. With horror, he felt the wards over his mind depart as she dispelled them. He had sensed nothing of her power before, and the casual way in which she overcame his told him this woman held far more than he by far. They finished dressing and stood helpless.

“Your name?” she asked coldly.

“Henar Lusan,” he said at once, cursing the spell's compulsion inwardly.

“You are arrested for my attempted rape and false enthrallment,” she told him. “I will ask you some questions, and your answers will be wholly truthful. Sit down,” she added. He obeyed, seating himself on the nearby chair. The woman did likewise, sitting facing him.

“There have been a number of people last seen in this area. Did you enthrall them?”

“Yes,” he told her. She nodded, unsurprised, looking at him with distaste.

“Did you sell them?”

“Yes,” he said again, giving no more information than obliged. It was the only means left of resistance under the binding spell.

“To whom?” she demanded. “I want their name, race and location.”

“Jorasha Liral, she's from Erida, but is often away on the road.”

Think of her face,” she ordered, moving toward him and placing her hand on his temple. He did so unwilling, conjuring up the image of the woman's aquiline features and chestnut hair in his mind. A tingle of magic ran over his memory as she transferred its content into her own mind.

“Do you have any thralls for him at the moment?”

“Yes, they have checked into other rooms,” he said. All was lost, and despair filled him.

“Does this Liral come here for them, or do you go to him?” she wondered. “How do you hand them over?”

“Liral meets them on the road in an air ship. They leave here with concealing spells I cast over them which hide their enthrallment,” Henar said.

“When does she come to get them?” she asked urgently.

“A few days.”

The woman rose, pacing slowly for a moment, then paused. “I will stay here until then,” she decided. “The same as they do. And give me another room,” she told him, unnerved by what he had intended. Her gaze settled on him then.

“You raped every one of the woman you enthralled.” It was not said as a question, but he felt compelled by the spell to answer nonetheless.

“Yes,” he agreed. Only fair I get some fun before they go, he thought. Her next words, as if sensing this, made him go cold inside.

“After he is in my hands as well, I will see you castrated and enthralled for life. I am Kamena Melarin, bounty hunter,” she added. “You chose the wrong prey this time.”

Henar knew only too well how true that was.

 

“Welcome back.”

Felisa woke in surprise, finding herself laid out on a thin bed, with Lord Sedal at her side. By the white room, she guessed they were still in the thrall center.

“I have changed your appearance,” he said matter-of-factly. “People are looking for you. If you were seen as my property, they might take you from me.” Fear rose in Felisa at the very thought of it. Her son might still be free, she supposed, and have informed the authorities. Felisa remembered her life prior to Lord Sedal, but it was a mere shadow next to the sun that he was to her. She wished only to do as he willed.

“Come, take a look,” Sedal said. Felisa obeyed quickly, walking over a mirror on the wall. Her new body had paler skin, hair a darker red, with a slimmer nose and higher cheekbones. Felisa knew that in the past, this would have disturbed her, seeing an unfamiliar face, having her own stripped away. Now she was pleased with whatever her lord chose.

“From now on, you are Dulena,” he told her. She wondered whether he had chosen that, as the man who had delivered her to him was named Dulen. If so, her lord was clever.

Dulena smiled at Sedal, in perfect comfort with her new identity.

 

Samar ran.

Before him was the air ship which bore his mother within its hold.

“Mother!” he cried out desperately, while the craft soared up and vanished into the sky.

He jolted awake in his bed within the dormitory of the Derguris boy's home, heart racing and covered with cold sweat.

Even without such dreams, or the stress of his situation, he might have found it difficult to fall asleep. Samar was, as his mother had first wearily joked when he was an infant keeping her awake, a “creature of the night.” He closed his eyes, but only from the pain of his vision. The brief respite which he had felt earlier in the boy's home was gone.

I must find her, he thought. Thankfully, he might have a means of doing so. Samar had said no word of going into the shadow realm. It had seemed like an eerie dream, or even madness, and he had feared other reactions if he spoke of it. He lay back on his bed in the dark, concentrating on vanishing within its depths.

Nothing happened after he tried for many long minutes. Frowning, Samar looked at the pale moonlight coming in from the window. It might not be too bright, he decided. Getting up, he lifted up the bed and lay down underneath, slowly lowering its frame back down over the narrow space in which he was confined, where the dark hid him wholly.

He emerged again in the realm of shadow.

“You return, little one.” The figure welled up from within the shadows once again. Samar was not afraid of the living shadow's appearance this time, having hoped for it.

“Yes, I need your help”-

Samar frowned, suddenly realizing he did not know the being's name. Or much else either.

“What is your name? How were you made a living shadow?”

My name in flesh was Arun. I was a foolish young man, soul-traveling frequently. During one such episode, I unwisely sought to enter a warded house. This severed the link to my body, and left me a wandering soul. You know the rest already.” The living shadow moved near him.

“Now what is it I can help you with? Finding someone, perhaps? You left in a rush the last time. I could have aided you in doing so then.” Samar cursed himself at hearing this, for not having thought of it then. Nothing for it now, though. He inhaled slowly, thinking of the ice cave.

“You were right, I do need your help finding someone. My mother was abducted, along with the rest of our village.”

Ah...” hissed Arun. “That may prove difficult. The thrall takers will have warded them to stop others' tracking spells.” Samar nodded glumly. Erila had said the same.

“I sense a great energy close to you, however, enough to break such a ward,” Arun added.

He remembered then, forgotten in all that had happened. Samar drew the talisman from the pocket where he had thrust it. Its fine gold chain was broken, pulled from his mother's neck by the attacker when they struggled. Anger rose up again within him at the memory, and Samar clenched his fist over the gem of the talisman, pulsing strongly with the energy she had stored within. The living shadow stared at the talisman hungrily.

“Your mother must be a spirit eater, to have gained that much,” Arun said. “A living shadow may have inhabited her to feed off her client's spirits just as she did. Then it would be drawn into your body after conception. Or else your father is the one?”

Samar stiffened at this suggestion. “I do not know, we never met,” he said shortly. He shook his head, getting back to the subject at hand.

“In any case, I must find my mother. Will you help me?”

Yes,” Arun replied sibilantly. “With her talisman and the blood which you share, the means to find your mother are here already.”

I do not know how to cast a tracking spell,” Samar said, guessing his intent.

“No, but I do,” Arun assured him. “Perhaps with the energy within her talisman, however, we can penetrate whatever ward they have set on her.” Samar nodded.

“I must take some blood from you to work the spell,” Arun said. Samar thought back to all the stories and warnings from his elders not to let those he did not know and trust have blood, hair or any other trace of the body, for it could be used against you in magic. This was a living shadow, moreover, and thus deemed especially untrustworthy. Yet he felt there was no other choice to find his mother. He reasoned that Arun could have already harmed him if that was his wish. Samar bared his arm.

Arun loomed up over him, a shadow among shadows, shimmering blackly.