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hour.
    Nonetheless, she was determined this very night to meet with the indecisive monk. The Volan threat would only worsen with each passing day. Raina needed to ascertain as soon as possible if the monk, warrior though he might be, was a fit partner for the mission.
    In her cycles as leader of the Sodalitas, she'd seen plenty of so-called warriors who, when it came down to the requisite skills, were more bluff than ability. Yet though she needed a partner in this undertaking, if for nothing else than to take the crystal back to Bellator, she didn't need one she couldn't depend on.
    Incendra held nothing for her. Let the planet and all its people rot, for all she cared. But she'd do anything for the Sodalitas. If they truly were threatened by the Volans—and she had no reason to doubt the truth of Marissa's words—it was her duty as their leader to do whatever was necessary to protect them. If that meant journeying back to Incendra, then so be it.
    However, once the mission to retrieve the special crystal was completed and the fate of the Imperium secured, Raina meant to stay behind on Incendra. She had left there fifteen cycles ago an emotionally and physically ravaged girl with no ability to avenge herself. She'd return this time a warrior, skilled in battle and the hunt. Return this time to track down the men who had betrayed her, track them down and kill them, even if, in so doing, she died. Her honor, long besmirched, demanded no less.
    First, though, she must survive the journey through the electromagnetic field, then the rigors and dangers of finding and harvesting the crystal and getting it back to the spacecraft. For that, Raina needed a skilled, intelligent partner. Yet for all the tales of the magnificent prowess of Exsul's warrior monks, Raina had grave doubts that any were up to her exacting standards. Few men ever were.
    The whitewashed walls of the enclosure and conical hermitage gleamed in the moonlight. Though the perpetual torches burned brightly, the small windows of the monk's dwelling place were dark. Raina frowned. There was yet an hour or two before midnight. Was the monk already abed?
    A soft man, to be sure, fettered by his personal needs and creature comforts. A man who'd find the hardships of Incendra a rude awakening. A man who would also have to be continually coddled and prodded.
    At long last, she crowned the final incline and headed across the small plateau toward the hermitage. Pulling up outside, Raina listened for sound of movement or life within the small stone hut. There were none.
    Stepping up to the door, she had lifted her hand to knock when a guttural cry pierced the air. Raina wheeled, one hand darting to the dagger strapped to her thigh. The wind howled and wailed as it streamed through the tree-strewn ravine. For an instant, she wondered if she hadn't mistaken the wind for a human voice. Yet the sound seemed to have come from the walled enclosure.
    Raina hesitated a moment more, then rapped on the door of the hermitage. There was no answer. She knocked harder. Still no answer.
    "Brother Tremayne?" The wind snatched the words away and spirited them off into the night. "Brother Tremayne, are you in there?" she asked again, more loudly this time, and moved to peer into one of the darkened windows. There was no sound or movement from within.
    Squaring her shoulders, Raina turned on her heel and strode across the short expanse of stone and dirt toward the walled compound. Obviously the monk wasn't abed after all. It seemed more and more likely that he was in the enclosure instead. The door opening onto the interior, however, was locked.
    "Be damned!" she muttered under her breath. She put her ear to the door, listening for any sound of movement within. The whistling wind swallowed any noise that the thick door and stone walls didn't mute.
    Raina leaned back. The walls were over three meters high and half a meter thick. Even with a running jump, she couldn't reach the top. She crept