The Fading Lands ~ in the Forests Northeast of Dharsa

"Vel Jelani is heading for Fey'Bahren, but he's running too fast for our warriors to keep up. I've told our force to fall back."

Sitting on the stump of a fallen tree while he and his companions took a brief respite from their run, Tenn stared at the signet ring he'd worn as leader of the Massan for the last thousand years. A mortal might have felt satisfaction to learn that his enemy was finally making the mistake he'd been waiting for, but Tenn felt only a growing sense of doom that had begun the moment Tael, shaking and pale and clearly distraught, had come to see him.

There was no way what was coming could end well.

Not for anyone.

"Am I doing the right thing?"

Leather swished softly. Venarra came up behind him and bent over him. "You saw the vision in the Eye. You know what is at stake."

Aiyah, he had, though now he wished he hadn't looked. "I know … I know, but—"

"You did not initiate this weave, shei'tan. Do not blame yourself for its consequences. I warned her what would happen if she chose the wrong path."

Tenn frowned. He couldn't shake the sense of wrongness … a roiling sickness in the pit of his belly. "I keep thinking there must be another way. Vel Serranis I could never trust…but Belliard's honor has always been above reproach." He stood and pulled Venarra into his arms, hoping her touch would bring him a measure of peace. "I still cannot believe he would condone such evil."

"Perhaps he has not," she soothed. "Perhaps he hopes to stop them."

Tenn rested his chin on Venarra's head. He hoped Bel was trying to stop them—and some part of him also hoped Bel succeeded. "Do you think there's any possibility she and the Eye could be right about Azrahn being the only way to save the tairen?"

Venarra tilted her head back. "Shei'tan." She cupped his face in her hands. "It doesn't matter. Azrahn is the forbidden magic, tool of the Corrupter. It must never be woven, no matter the purpose. But even if that were not true," she added, "you heard what vel Serranis said. The High Mage can claim more of her soul each time she weaves Azrahn. We cannot afford to let that happen."

Tenn nodded and stared bleakly into the heavily wooded forest. Fifty Fey loyal to the Massan were following Belliard to Fey'Bahren. When they got there, they would bind vel Serranis, Belliard, and the Feyreisa until the Massan and the Shei'dalin arrived to Truthspeak them. If Ellysetta had indeed woven the forbidden magic, they would banish her from the Fading Lands.

What choice did they have? They'd all seen the same dread vision in Shei'Kess the day after Ellysetta's arrival in Dharsa, seen how the High Mage and the Dark God he served would use her to wipe Light from the world. So long as Ellysetta Baristani remained in the Fading Lands, she was a danger to the Fey. She'd already built a private army of bloodsworn lu'tans, had convinced even honorable Fey to accept the tutelage of the world's most infamous dahl'reisen, and now she was planning to weave the forbidden magic.

All of her actions seemed perfectly reasonable, perfectly well-intentioned, yet bit by bit, she was chipping away at the foundations of honor and sacrifice that had made the Fading Lands strong and kept the Fey holding fast to the Light. Bit by bit, she was corrupting the very people she was supposed to save—even Tael, who'd been heartbroken by his discovery.

She must be stopped. Now, before she brought the Fading Lands to ruin.

He stood up and gestured to Yulan and Nurian. Eimar was not with them. He'd become too enamored of Gaelen vel Serranis and the Feyreisa to be trusted. "We've rested long enough. If we hope to reach Fey'Bahren by morning, we need to keep going."

The Fading Lands ~ Fey'Bahren

Gaelen walked the perimeter of the Su Reisu plateau and spun a shimmering dome of five-fold magic around himself and Ellysetta.

"Why do you need those weaves if you're going to teach me using only Spirit?" Ellysetta asked.

"The silence will help you to stay focused." He tied off the last threads of his weave. "Besides, if at any time I sense you summoning Azrahn in truth, I'm hoping my five-fold weaves will keep the High Mage from Marking you, as they did the first day you met the Eye."

On the way to Fey'Bahren—even before Bel's outraged call—they'd both agreed neither would actually weave the forbidden magic during the training. Instead, Gaelen would use Spirit to show her how to summon and spin the Azrahn weaves, and she would spin Spirit back to show she understood. The solution not only protected her from receiving another Mage Mark while she learned to spin the weaves the Eye had shown her, it also shielded Gaelen from the Massan's wrath in the event they discovered what she and Gaelen were up to.

She wanted to know the weaves, to know that she could spin them, before she revealed her plans to Rain. They would decide what to do next together, because she was through making decisions for him. Especially such dangerous ones as this.

"No protection in the world will be enough when you spin the weaves for real," Gaelen reminded her again. "You bear the High Mage's Marks. You'll be weaving Azrahn long enough for him to sense it and gain access to your soul. He'll Mark you again. There's no avoiding it. You do realize that."

She nodded grimly. She knew. The Eye had shown her what would happen. "This is the kitlings' only chance. The healing weaves aren't enough."