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watching her closely.
    Forest Dwellers. Albinos.
    Darsal released her breath and felt most of the tension leave her corded muscles. This could still be a dream. All a dream.
    "My name is Xedan." The old man smiled in the hazy gloom. Several teeth were missing. His leathered face was bruised and battered; he cradled his right arm in a makeshift sling crafted from what appeared to be a shirtsleeve. He scooted forward and extended a three-fingered, nail-less hand through the bars.
    A full thirty seconds passed.
    Finally she remembered the old Forest Guard greeting.
    They clasped forearms.
    "Elyon's strength. That rascal is my grandson Jordan. The woman is his wife, Rona." Xedan motioned to the young couple.
    Jordan lifted his hand in a greeting. Rona remained unmoving.
    Darsal rocked back, trying to make sense of it.
    Another itch behind her neck.
    "Elyon's strength. We've got to get out of here before we turn Scab."
    Jordan quirked a brow and muttered something unintelligible. "There's no need to panic. From here there is no shadow of turning."
    Darsal scowled. "What do you mean, we won't turn? Of course we will. It just hasn't started yet. Unless this itch I've got counts."
    "You're just scared. You're safe. Never mind the itching skin.

    It's only that." He rose up on his knees and faced her, gripping the bars. "You can't turn. You can't. They can become like us, but we can't go back to being like them."
    "You're lying." She looked them over. Their skin was smooth, mottled only by the Scabs' abuse. "How long have you been down here?"
    "We're not sure, actually. Many days. Time passes differently down here. But you'll see. You'll see, I promise."
    "Don't mock me," she said. "You know full well in three days, maybe four, we'll be completely Horde. You can't have been here more than a day. You've lost your sense of time. Is this what they do? Lock us up until we turn and then kill us?"
    Jordan's shoulders sagged. He glanced back at his brutalized wife, rested his forehead against the metal. "Well, they will kill us."
    Xedan held up his hand, silencing his grandson. He motioned for Darsal to come closer. She leaned up against the bars, felt her slick, sweaty flesh against the warm metal.
    The grandfather reached his fingers between the bars and brushed back her dark hair from her face. A certain sadness was in his eyes, the kind an adult reserved for a frightened child who had no reason to be.
    His finger traced the scar on her cheek. "What's your name?"
    "Darsal. My name is Darsal, and we have to get out of here before we turn Horde."
    Xedan passed a tattered cloak through the bars. "Here. Try to rest."

    "What in the name of Elyon have they done to you?" she asked.
    "I might ask the same of you. Do you think Elyon so fickle?"
    "It's something in the food, isn't it? The water, the food, the air, something."
    This was a nightmare. She'd been driven into a hellish sleep from which she could never wake.
    "Look, we want out as badly as you do," Jordan said. "I don't want to die or see my wife die. But we aren't deceived. Look at me. Do I look deceived? Does Grandfather sound crazy?"
    It made such shocking sense. She could almost believe it ... only it wasn't true. This was Shataiki talk. So this is how Teeleh seduced Tanis. I want to believe them, but I don't dare. Dear Elyon, I've traded one hell for another.
    The dungeon doors clanged open. They fell quiet. Jordan stood, defiant despite the torture. Two purple and black-robed men entered behind the guard, who moved for Ronas cell.
    Jordan grabbed the bars on his cage, confidence abruptly replaced by deep anguish. "Please . . . Don't . . . You have no right!"
    But Darsal suspected these Horde weren't interested in rights.
    One of the men went into Ronas cell and dragged her out. She was barely conscious and other than a groan offered no resistance. The other went into Jordan's cell and struck him three times with a cane. The man left Jordan in a heap, slammed the cage door shut, and