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was and where it was
coming from. The language was Goblin, as was the speaker.
    “Good
morning, my little seeker,” Sarad
Nukpana murmured.
    Those
five silky little words were all it took to start my skin crawling on the soles
of my feet and keep going until it reached my scalp. The voice sounded husky
from sleep, carried the warmth of the bed, and was way too intimate under any
circumstances, especially since Sarad Nukpana was the last person I wanted to
open my eyes and find sharing my pillow.
    I
took a slow and careful breath, not daring to move. “Do you hear that?” I asked
Mychael.
    From
my expression he knew I had heard something bad. “Hear what?”
    “He
cannot hear my words or thoughts, little seeker. Only you.”
    Mychael
scowled. “Nukpana?”
    I
nodded in the smallest motion possible.
    “Give
your paladin my regards.”
    The
goblin’s voice felt like a cat rubbing up against my face—not a sensation I
used to mind. Until now.
    I
swallowed. “He says hello.”
    We
picked up the pace. Nukpana’s warm laughter bubbled up around us.
    “Our
power grows.” I could almost feel the
goblin’s languid stretch. “Tell your paladin and his maestro that they
cannot stop us.”
    “Mychael,
unless Sarad Nukpana’s taken to referring to himself in the royal ‘we,’ he’s
found some like-minded friends in there.”
    “I’m
not surprised.”
    “I
am. He never struck me as the friend-making type.”
    “Allies,
little seeker. Allies. All of a like mind; all with the same goal.”
    If
Sarad Nukpana could talk to me in my head, the least I could do was return the
favor. I knew how.
    “So,
what kind of club are you and your new friends starting?” I asked.
    “We
merely wish to ensure our survival—and our prosperity. You will help us
accomplish both.”
    “Fat
chance.”
    “You
cannot refuse us any more than you can refuse to breathe. You are a bond
servant to the Saghred, like your fatherbefore you.” There was a knowing smile in his voice. “Even now
you do its will.”
    That
was unwelcome news. I tried to find breathable air and go down the stairs,
while my mind raced to find what I could have done to make the Saghred happy.
I’d lifted the stage this morning with the power the Saghred had already given
me. I didn’t tap the stone. And when it tempted me in that courtyard, I didn’t
give in. I couldn’t see how either was doing the Saghred’s will.
    “Soon
its desires will become your own, and you will have an eternity to fulfill
them. You are strong enough to serve, but too weak to resist.”
    The
sense of Sarad Nukpana abruptly vanished. “So much for him ignoring me,” I said
out loud.
    Concern
flashed in Mychael’s blue eyes. “What did he say?”
    “Oh,
nothing much, just promised me eternal servitude.” I made a little dismissive
waving motion with my hand. I saw that it was shaking. “He’s just trying to
scare me.”
    “Scared
is the smartest thing you could be right now.”
    “That
must make me the smartest person on the island.”
    “Are
you all right?”
    “If I
said yes, I’d be lying. Having an evil madman popping into my head isn’t
something I want as a permanent arrangement.”
    “And
it won’t be,” Mychael promised, his intense expression telling me he’d never
broken a promise and wasn’t about to start with me.
    “It’s
my new life’s goal, too. By the way, he’s found some new friends to play with,
and they have plans.”
    That
earned me a couple of words I didn’t expect to hear from a paladin.
    Sarad
Nukpana’s low laughter bubbled up again in my head. I told myself it was only
the memory, not the real thing. It didn’t lessen the creepies. And I didn’t
share with Mychael that Nukpana considered me his new helpmate. One
catastrophic problem at a time.
    We
arrived at the citadel’s lowest level. The Saghred’s containment room’s door
was just a door. It didn’t look like a portal to the bowels of hell or the
entrance to the unspeakable. It