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pepper beard. “It is a two-day ride to the Murdes Mountains. If this weather holds Badron’s hunters will catch us.”
    “Agreed,” Aurec nodded. “But this can be turned to an advantage. Once we cross these plains here the forests running the length of the foothills should give us enough cover. Badron won’t know which way we went. Most of the trails leading up into the mountains are hidden.”
    “That’s assuming he doesn’t take the bait.”
    “What bait?” Maleela asked with a yawn.
    The murder of the house guards sat ill with her. Regardless of her situation, her loyalty still lay with her kingdom and her friends. Men she’d known for the better part of her nineteen years were dead because of her. Aurec tried to assure her that they’d only killed the men that gave them no choice. Regardless, she disapproved. She and Aurec were no co-conspirators in what could only lead to war.
    Venten and Aurec exchanged a cautious glance. Secrets passed silently between them.
    “We didn’t use any of our own weapons. Everything came from outside sources,” Venten answered carefully.
    Her eyes narrowed sharply. “What sources?”
    Venten deferred to his prince.
    He exhaled sharply. “The Pell Darga, my love.”
    Her heart twisted. “What! Do you have any idea they what will do to us all?”
    Aurec held up his hands in mild defense. “Calm down, love. We had no choice. We couldn’t allow your father to make the connection with Rogscroft. Too much is at stake.”
    “But the Pell Darga! They’re bloodthirsty savages. My father will waste no time in marshalling the Wolfsreik.”
    Her face burned dark crimson. She felt betrayed. How could he lie to me like this? Doesn’t he understand what has been set in motion? Destructive visions filled her head as she closed her eyes tightly. Maleela struggled with conflicting feelings. She loved Aurec, but felt entirely helpless. He acted out of love’s best interests but sometimes that wasn’t right or enough. The Pell Darga and Wolfsreik would decimate one another in a senseless struggle. Her boundaries constricted even tighter.
    “The Pell are not what you believe them to be,” Aurec whispered. “Our people have had dealings with them for generations. They are no more evil than you or I.”
    “That won’t matter.”
    Aurec gripped her by the shoulders. “Maleela you must understand that there are grave risks each of us must undertake if this is going to be successful. I’m sorry, but those men had to die and we had to make it look like the Pell Darga did it. Otherwise we never would have made it out of Chadra Keep. Badron will stop at nothing to take over the northern kingdoms. This was the only way. I can’t ask you to understand now, just that you will forgive me for what I had to do.”
    Maleela relented, albeit reluctantly. She trusted Aurec enough to see them all to safety. Lingering doubts gnawed at the back of her thoughts as the band mounted up and prepared to ride. If her father was determined to attack what difference did it matter where the hammer fell? Every man, woman, and child in the north would soon be at risk but his biggest concern was how Maleela was going to react when she learned he had killed her brother.

FIVE
    Death mocked the still air. Sulfuric fumes choked the stale air of the small chamber. Windowless, a single bed was the only decoration. Cobwebs clung to the shadows like secret lovers. Dust layered the cold, granite floor. Once a holy shrine to ancient gods now decayed without notice. Millennia of history slowly crumbled away for none living could remember the usefulness of the temple.
    Artiss Gran strode heavily down the empty hall in deep thought. A fell dream had awakened him after nearly three thousand years of sleep. His weathered face bore no emotion, indeed little semblance to a human at all. Memories played havoc with his mind. Artiss was the last of his kind. Sworn protectors of all life on Malweir, he and his kind had stood