A warrior entered through the open church door—a young woman with a round shield, her sword held out before her.

“Anything?” a man called from outside.

“Nothing,” she answered.

“Even so,” the man said, joining her inside, “best to make sure.”

The two made a cursory check of the interior, then passed through the door behind the five-faced bust of Menselas and into the sacristy.

Anskar’s heart thudded in his chest as he watched, a silent shadow. When they emerged from the sacristy and headed back toward the main door, the woman frowned in Anskar’s direction, and he thought she had seen him. But then she followed the man outside.

Anskar waited as long as he dared, which wasn’t long.

Zek was in danger.

Once the noise from outside had died down, Anskar went into the sacristy and found a side door used by the priests. It was locked, but a measured surge of dusk-tide sorcery, contained by a sheath of the dawn, took care of that. He peered out into the street, looking both ways, then set off at a run for the dungeons.

There were three guards on the doors when he got there, and a group of six warriors led by Brother Kenaith were tramping toward the building from the direction of the great hall. The King hadn’t wasted any time.

Anskar hesitated at the corner of the adjoining street, racking his brain for what he should do.

Brother Kenaith and his warriors were within twenty yards of the entrance to the dungeons, and the guards on the door were now standing stiffly to attention.

Dusk-tide. The intuition hit Anskar like a thunderclap. He’d seen how devastating dusk-tide sorcery could be, and under Zek’s tutelage he had begun to develop precision and control.

He made some calculations and mentally prepared a cant, then reached inside the balanced mesh of his joined repositories and eked out more dusk than dawn.

Just as Brother Kenaith and his warriors came level with the alley, Anskar unleashed the cant along with a surge of tidal force. There was a blinding flash and a thunderous boom, and Brother Kenaith and his warriors ducked, then scattered. Black smoke roiled from the mouth of the alley, and the thatched roofs of several houses caught fire.

Amid cries of alarm and screams, Brother Kenaith barked commands above the din. Two of his warriors inched down the street, covering their mouths and noses against the fumes. The three guards on the dungeon door rushed over to join them, and as they did, Anskar ducked back into his street, took a right turn, and emerged by the side of the dungeons.

The windows were barred, but that didn’t matter to Anskar as he poured himself into the shadows inside.

The transition through the dark was harder this time. He felt as though the shadows were tugging at him, wanting to rip him apart, as they had Braga. He was too distracted, he realized, by the consequences of storming out of the great hall, by Gisela’s abduction, by the danger to Zek. He dropped to one knee and dry-heaved as the shadows inside the building released him.

He could still hear yells and screams from outside, and the stench of burning thatch came through the windows and under the front door. It wouldn’t be long till the fires were brought under control, and then Brother Kenaith would come and Zek would be dead.

Lighting his way with a globe of dawn-tide radiance, Anskar proceeded down the winding stone stairs until he reached Zek’s cell. He blew out the lock with another measured burst of sorcery.

Zek gasped and sat up.

“Come with me,” Anskar said, already starting back toward the stairs.

As Zek followed, he asked, “What’s happening?”

“The Tainted Cabal have taken Gisela, and we’re going after her.”

“We are?”

“Unless you’d prefer to wait until the King’s men come to your cell and kill you?”

“Why would they do that?”

“I’ll explain later,” Anskar said. “For now, you’ll just have to trust me.”

They reached the ground floor, and Anskar doused his sorcerous light. He heard voices from outside, then the grate of a key in the lock. As the door started to open, he grabbed Zek by the arm and shadow-stepped both of them beyond the barred window and into the alley. This time, when the shadows relinquished their hold, Anskar collapsed into a pile of stinking refuse.

Zek crouched beside him, and Anskar felt the warm thrill of dawn-tide essence seeping beneath his skin, washing away his exhaustion. It could do nothing for the twisting of his guts, though, the hollowed-out feeling of using so much dark-tide.

“Thanks,” he muttered.

“No, thank you,” Zek said, glancing over his shoulder at the warriors entering the dungeons. “Why would the King do this?”

“Because the stakes are so high.”

Anskar explained that the Tainted Cabal had stolen the memory crystal of Morudjin, which they hoped to use to accelerate the return of Nysrog to Wiraya.

“How much time do we have until the world is plunged into shadow?” Zek asked.

Anskar shrugged. “I imagine Castellac, or whoever took the crystal, has to take it north first, to wherever his superiors are lurking.”

“Molas Drythe,” Zek said. “My people’s name for the ancient citadel in the Ymaltian Mountains.”

“You know the way?”

“Just follow the Iron Road. But we’ll need horses if we are to catch up with this Castellac. What I do not understand is what he hopes to achieve by kidnapping a healer.”

“He’s after me,” Anskar said. “I am to be Gisela’s ransom.”

“Then don’t go.”

Anskar shook his head. If only it were that simple.

“What about the memory crystal?” Zek added.

“That’s a problem for the King and his allies. He plans to lead an army north and scourge the Soreshi and the Tainted Cabal from his lands, and in so doing recapture the crystal.”

“All the Soreshi?”

“All.”

They lay low amid the rubbish until the yells from the street died down and the flames came under control. Then they made their way to the far end of the alley, past scurrying rats and a hissing cat.

“How will we get out of the city?” Zek asked.

“We’ll think of something.”

As he spoke, two men stepped across their path. Instinctively, Anskar brought his prismatic ward into existence around him. Beside him, he felt dusk-tide mingled with the dawn seething within Zek. The Soreshi’s fist sparked as he held it up.

Then Anskar recognized the two men.

“Rindon! Nul! Why are you here?”

“Charming,” Rindon said.

Nul merely shook his head.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you how much I like that ward of yours,” Rindon added. “All the colors of the rainbow.”

“You’re not here to stop us?” Anskar asked.

Nul cocked his head to one side. “Stop you from what?”

“Getting out of the city.”

Rindon shoved his fists into his hips and widened his eyes in mock surprise. “You plan to go after Gisela?”

“It’s me the Tainted Cabal really want,” Anskar explained, “not her.”

“So you’re going to exchange yourself for Lanuc’s daughter?” Nul asked.

“If I have to.”

“And if you don’t?”

“Then I’ll kill the bastards who took her. Kill them all.”

Rindon grinned. “Spoken like a true servant of Menselas.”

“What I mean is—”

“I know what you meant,” Rindon said. “And I approve. We suspected as much but just wanted to be sure. And you,” he said to Zek, “are the guide?”

“I am more than that,” Zek said. “The Tainted Cabal have corrupted some among my people. They will pay for that.”

“Better and better,” Rindon said. Then to Nul, “Still think we should help them?”

“Come,” Nul said, turning and leading the way back up the alley.

“How did you find us?” Anskar asked, lowering his ward as they followed.

“We’re not completely blind to the emanations of dark-tide sorcery,” Nul said.

“All the battles we’ve fought in,” Rindon said, “all the quests we’ve been sent on by the Church of Menselas, we’ve picked up a thing or two.”

“We’ve also spent considerable time in Wintotashum before,” Nul said. “Back when the Order had a compound here.”

“What happened to it?” Anskar asked.

“King Aelfyr didn’t trust us. Or rather, he began to suspect the Order of Eternal Vigilance had designs on his lands.”

“And did it?”

“It’s a moot point now,” Nul said. “Anyway, Rindon here once had to leave the city without being seen, and he came up with a rather ingenious plan.”

“Though smelly,” Rindon added.

“What do you mean?” Zek cast a nervous look at Anskar.

“You’ll see.”

Rindon and Nul led them away from the center of the commotion and into the less salubrious areas in the east of the city. Whenever they came to an intersection, one or the other of the heroes would check the way was clear. Once or twice they came across patrols, and while Anskar and Zek hid, Rindon chatted amiably with the warriors, pretending that he and Nul were part of the pursuit.

“They’re being very thorough,” Nul said. “The King must really want you for the coming battle. Either that, or he’s worried what might happen if you fall into the Tainted Cabal’s hands.”

“He’ll have my sorcery once Gisela is safe,” Anskar said.

“I’ll be sure to tell him that,” Rindon said. “And Lanuc.”

“Lanuc disapproves of my actions?” Anskar asked.

“On the contrary,” Rindon said. “It was Lanuc who sent us to help you.”

At length they came to a hub of hard-packed earth at the intersection of four roads. The hub was roughly circular and big enough to accommodate half dozen carts that were parked there. The stench of human waste was overpowering.

“Wintotashum’s a very old city,” Nul explained. “Built way back when they hadn’t heard of sewers. Every night these carts collect the waste from the houses of the rich and from the streets in the poorer regions. Without them, the city would have disappeared beneath a mountain of dung centuries ago.”

“Where do they take it all?” Zek asked.

“Huge pits away from the city. When the pits are full, they cover them with mounds of earth and dig more. Hence the range of hills northwest of the city.”

“I used to think they were a natural feature,” Rindon said. “Until I offered to take a young lady into the hills for a picnic and she slapped me round the face.”

One of the carts was hooked up to a pair of massive draft horses covered with flies. A man was checking their harnesses, while another was in the back of the cart, leveling the dung with a rake. Both men wore knee-length boots, muck-spattered aprons, and long leather gloves. Their mouths and noses were hidden beneath masks, and each had a filthy cap covering his hair.

While Rindon approached the two men, one hand over his mouth and nose, the other jangling a coin purse, Nul asked, “Do you know how to drive a cart?”

“I do,” Zek said.

After a few words, the men stepped away from the cart and took off their aprons, hats, gloves and boots, beneath which they wore simple shirts and pants. They retrieved their regular boots from beneath the driver’s bench before they headed toward a tavern, sharing out the coins from Rindon’s purse.

“Lanuc is preparing to ride north within a matter of hours,” Nul said. “And the King has agreed to mobilize the army and follow as soon as possible. The lords’ warriors have been instructed to gather outside Veranoth, and will join them on the way.”

“The King agreed to this?”

“He’s not happy,” Rindon said, “but without our knights, he knows the Thousand Lakes warriors don’t have much of a chance against Soreshi sorcery. Without you, though, I doubt any of us will last long against the Tainted Cabal.”

“I’ll be there,” Anskar said.

“But will it be enough?” Zek asked. “You are still discovering your abilities, Anskar. The Tainted Cabal have experience on their side.”

“I can draw upon experience, if I have to,” Anskar said, sounding far more confident than he felt. Even if he asked for Queen Talia’s help, would she still give it?

Anskar and Zek put on the stinking clothes the two men had discarded. Rindon claimed they were unrecognizable with their hair tucked beneath the caps. And besides, he said, no one would brave the stench to get close enough to check.

Anskar climbed onto the driver’s bench beside Zek, and the Soreshi took up the reins. Rindon and Nul waved as the wagon set off at a clatter through the streets.

The people they passed—even the patrols—gave them a wide berth. And when they reached the barred city gates, the guards lifted the locking beam and stepped aside, holding their noses, no questions asked.