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a High Priestess
of Illiana, my love. I am not without power. Added to that, well, you have
probably heard the rumors . . .”
    “It’s true, then. You are part elf.” He had never wanted to
cause her discomfort by asking about it; she would reveal it in time if she so
chose. Until then he had always chosen to believe the various things she was
capable of, such as healing a dying man with no surgical instruments, was
accomplished through use of the elvish stones her order regularly used.
    Now she revealed the truth, nodding
wordlessly.
    “So, what, you’ll use your magic to
make you invisible?”
    “No,” she said. “Easier to go as
myself but plant the suggestion in the minds of any witnesses that I am simply
a servant woman. I don’t actually change my shape, I just cloud their minds for
a moment.”
    He released her hand. Intrigued, he
said, “Show me.”
    “If I must.”
    She seemed to shimmer, and Giorn
found himself looking into the eyes of plain-faced woman with gray-brown hair. Her
eyes were of the same color, and her clothing . . . well, it wasn’t drab
exactly. Drab might have been
noticeable in that camp of nobles. No, it was simply so boring that the eye
rolled off it. Indeed, the eye seemed to slide off her whole body, as though
she didn’t even exist.
    “Remarkable,” he said.
    She shimmered again, and he found
himself staring again into Niara’s beautiful blue eyes. “There,” she said.
    “Amazing . . .” He had always heard
of the magic of the Light-born, but he had never seen it. Suddenly he felt
deceived. “You should have told me.”
    “I want to be closer to you, Gi,
not farther apart. This power . . .”
    He nodded, and with the same
sadness. “Man is fallen and without Grace.” He sighed. “It doesn’t have to
separate us, though.” It will in time ,
he thought uneasily. I will age and die,
but she will live on.
    She kissed his forehead. “I’ll see
you again later.” She sounded more formal now, less loverly, once again the
High Priestess.
    He let her go, but as soon as she
was gone he felt something dark cross his soul. So: beings of power could appear to be someone else —if only for a
moment or two. It was enough. Duke Yfrin had only been seen for an instant
before he made his escape from the knoll. And once he was gone, away from the
prying eyes of witnesses, had he then ceased to be Duke Yfrin and become
someone else, perhaps the newest member of the royal family of Fiarth?
    The thought was nightmarish in its
implications. Fria is sleeping with a
monster!
    Giorn shook his head. He reached
for his bottle of wine, finding it more than half empty. He uncorked it and
took a swig.
    No, he thought. It couldn’t be. Surely
he was imagining things.
    Yet could he now truly go forward
with torturing Duke Yfrin?
    He took another swallow.

 
     

 
    After breakfasting with the men and seeing to his first
round of tasks, including turning away the many villagers who had come from
surrounding towns to pay their respects to their ailing lord, Giorn reached a
decision. Raugst must be placed in custody. The problem, of course, was that
Giorn had no evidence of any kind. Thus he could not hold nor try Raugst. However,
Raugst was clearly far too dangerous to allow to simply walk around free. Giorn
needed some proof. Perhaps Niara could help him.
    At lunchtime, as she was leaving
the Baron’s tent, looking exhausted and ready for nourishment, Giorn drew her
aside.
    “How is he?”
    “No better.” Her voice sounded
weary, and he noticed the skin over her face was thin and stretched. Her curly
black hair was lank with perspiration.
    “And neither are you. Come,” he
said, “let’s take lunch. Then I have something to talk to you about.”
    He didn’t dare lunch with her
privately for fear of talk circulating around the camp, so once again he ate
with his officers. Meril and Niara joined them. It was a tense, quiet lunch, as
all brooded on the imminent death of the Baron, and