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and Garrett
followed. The boy looked up at them, the fear in his eyes only a
little diminished.
    "Don't worry," Cenick said, lifting the
woman's face with his hand as he supported her body with his other
arm, "We're friends."
    "Save the boy," the woman gasped, "My
brother... save him."
    "We'll save you both," Cenick said, "Your
wounds are not grave. Who are you?"
    "Peacebringers," she whispered, her eyes
fluttering, "We see... we seek... sanctuary."
    The woman's eyes closed, and her body slumped
in Cenick's arms. The boy in white looked up at Garrett, his dirty
cheeks streaked with tears, and Garrett forced a hopeful smile in
response.

Chapter Five
    "You are a disciple of... Mauravant," the
woman in white murmured, her eyes half-opening as Serepheni brushed
a soft, wet rag across her forehead.
    "My name is Serepheni," she answered, "The
Goddess allows me some small measure of service in her cause. Does
that offend you?"
    The Peacebringer lifted her head from the
palette that Cenick had made for her and gave a weak smile. "No...
it does not."
    "I will admit that I know very little about
your order," Serepheni said. She lifted the blanket to survey the
wounds on the woman's arms and winced.
    "My brother?" the woman asked.
    "The boy is all right," Cenick said. He and
Garrett knelt, holding open the tent flap to let in the fading gray
light of day, "He is having supper now."
    "He hasn't eaten in two days," the woman
whispered, her voice rasping and weak, "Thank you."
    "I'll bring you something to eat as well,"
Cenick said.
    "No," Serepheni said, "Not yet." She tugged
open a slash in the woman's sleeve, revealing the burned mark on
her skin beneath. Her eyes widened.
    "What's wrong?" Garrett asked.
    Serepheni looked at Garrett with a trembling
smile and then at Cenick. "I think the two of you had better
leave," she said, "I'll call for you when... just leave us alone
for a while."
    Garrett glanced at Cenick. The tattooed
necromancer's face looked grim. He looked at the woman in white
then at Garrett. "Come on, Garrett," he said, "Let's tend to her
brother."
    Garrett looked at the woman in white. The
auburn-haired woman looked up at Serepheni and chuckled softly.
Serepheni looked down at her with a tense smile that did nothing to
conceal the fear in her eyes.
    Cenick pulled Garrett away, and the tent flap
fell.
    "She'll be all right, won't she?" Garrett
asked, keeping his voice low.
    Cenick did not answer. The two of them walked
together toward the large tent where Chunnley prepared the camp's
meals. The sky loomed above, the color of charcoal ash.
    Garrett's stomach twisted inside him, and
with it a little flutter of fear. "One of those things touched
Ghausse's leg," he said, "You don't think he might be sick
too?"
    "I'll look at him," Cenick said, "but my
wound was greater than his, and I have almost completely
recovered."
    "Why is that woman so hurt then?"
    "Those creatures weren't natural," Cenick
said, "When it touched me... it was like the first time I felt the
slaver's lash. Not just the pain, suddenly realizing that your body
could hurt more than you thought it ever could... also the
helplessness. When it touched me, I was seven years old again, and
nothing I had ever done in all the years since mattered at all. The
burn on my leg is already healing. What it did to my soul... that
still hurts. I can't imagine what it would have been like to have
endured what that woman did."
    "Do you think Miss Serepheni's magic can help
her?" Garrett asked.
    "Healing isn't always magic, Garrett," Cenick
said, "and some wounds even magic cannot heal. In any case, the
Life aspect of Mauravant is far weaker than her Death aspect."
    "Huh?" Garrett said.
    Cenick gave him a weary look. "When Malleatus
slew Mauravant, her aspect was changed, perhaps eternally. Where
once she represented life and rebirth, now she is the goddess of
unlife."
    "But, if she's dead, how does she do anything
at all?" Garrett asked.
    Cenick shrugged. "I don't know,