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illusion. The glow grew steadily, cocooning her away, shutting off her surroundings, from the world of the
Jarka Ruus, from everything but the staff and herself and Pen.
Then everything was gone, and she was fighting for air as a massive fist closed about her body, crushing
her, squeezing the air from her lungs with relentless pressure. She fought back against it, struggling to
breathe, to stay alive.Something has gone wrong, she thought in desperation.Something isn t right.
Then the light dimmed, the runes darkened, and she was standing once more in the familiar surroundings
of her sleeping chamber, returned safe and whole to Paranor. She still had a death grip on the staff, but
the runes had gone dark.
She exhaled sharply in relief.
In the next instant, the triagenel collapsed about her.
She knew what it was immediately. She had caught a glimpse of the magic s glow in the few seconds it
took for her passage out of the Forbidding to become complete, but had failed to recognize its
significance until it was too late. The glow disappeared as the triagenel dropped into place, becoming an
invisible presence that hemmed her in on all sides, an unbreakable cage.
Don t move, Penderrin, she said to him.
He stood across from her, still smiling happily at having escaped the Forbidding. The smile faded slowly,
and he looked around in surprise.
We re caught in a triagenel, she informed him. A quick sweep of her hand illuminated the strands of
their prison. I told you they would be waiting. But I didn t foresee this.
What is it?
A very powerful form of magic. It takes three magic users to create it, a combination of their skills to
bring it to life.
But the glow was not uniform, she saw. In some places it was very nearly dark. In a properly
constructed triagenel, the magic should be equally distributed. There s something wrong here, she
murmured. See?
She pointed at a couple of the weaker spots, at the obvious darknesses, and as she did so the door to
the concealed passageway on the far side of the chamber swung inward and her brother s face appeared
in the opening. Grianne?
Bek! she exclaimed in shock. How in the world . . . ?
Listen to me, he interrupted, cutting her short. I ve used the wishsong to weaken several of the
triagenel s strands. I think you can break free, if you try.
Close the door! she said.
He did so, and she pushed Pen down on the floor and stood over him. Cover your head. Don t look up
until I tell you.
She would not have much time. Shadea and the others would be coming. Perhaps they were already just
outside. She would have to hurry. She was afraid of the wishsong after what had happened inside the
Forbidding, but she had no other choice. She was going to have to use it anyway when she faced
Shadea.
So she summoned the magic boldly, and when it surfaced she formed it into razor-sharp edges that
would cut and sever and then sent them screaming into the weakened places in the net. The wishsong
spun and ripped through the netting, overcoming momentary resistance from the enabling magic and
slicing through strands until the cage sagged like soft rope. She kept at it, working at first one place and
then another, and when she had the entire structure sufficiently weakened, she attacked it with such force
that the triagenel disintegrated, and she blew out the entire north wall of the sleeping chamber. Stone
blocks and debris exploded outward, and a huge cloud of dust mushroomed through the room.
Grianne covered her face, waited for the dust to settle, and then pulled Pen back to his feet. Bekl she
shouted.
Her brother burst into the room with Rue Meridian, Tagwen, and an Elven girl she took to be Khyber
Elessedil right behind. There was a quick exchange of grateful hugs between Pen and his parents and
Khyber. Only Bek hugged her. Grianne saw dismay and shock reflected in their faces when they looked
at her. She could even see pity.
I m all right, she said to them.
Her brother shook his head. You are not all right. Shadea a Ru and all those others who betrayed you
will pay for this. We will hunt them down. We will find out everything. But we have something else we
have to talk about now, something that won t wait. A demon was set free when you were taken. It s still
here, and it s trying to break down the Forbidding.
I know of this, she said.
I thought as much. What you don t know is that the only way to stop it is for Pen to find it and use the
darkwand to return it, just as he used the staff to return you.
Penderrin has to do this? she asked in surprise.
The King of the Silver River said he must. Only the darkwand can complete the transfer from one
world to the other, and only Pen can command the magic. I have to take him with us to find the demon.
In the hallway outside the sleeping chamber door, there was new activity, the sound of running and of
shouts.
They re coming, she said to the others. She brought up her hands, summoned her magic once more,
and sealed the door from the inside. That will hold them for a few minutes, no more. She turned back
to Bek. Take the others and go. You found your way here through the secret passageways can you
find your way back again?
He nodded. Between us, Tagwen and I can manage.
I m not coming, the Dwarf declared almost belligerently. I belong here with the Ard Rhys.
Grianne moved over to him quickly and knelt. Yes, you do. But you must leave anyway. All of you
must. There s nothing you can do for me by staying. I have to face Shadea and the others alone. I am the
one who can deal with them best. Only Bek might be able to help, but his place is with Pen, finding that
demon and dispatching it. Listen to me. She gripped the Dwarfs shoulders tightly. I ve seen the inside
of the Forbidding, Tagwen. It is a horror beyond anything you can imagine. If the creatures that live there
were to be set free in this world, it would be the end of us all. You have to stop that from happening.
Whatever becomes of me, you have to stop that.
She held his gaze. Finally, he gave her a small nod, his bearded face twisted into an unhappy knot. I will
do this because you ask it, he said quietly. But not willingly.
She turned at once to Pen. This won t be easy. You won t know what you have to do until you find the
demon. Perhaps you will have to find a way to get it to touch the staff. Perhaps it will take more. I wish 1
could tell you something helpful, but you know as much as I do about how it works. Trust your instincts,
Pen. They won t betray you.
The boy nodded. I don t want to leave you, either.
She smiled. I ll see you again. Just go. Do what you must. Do what is needed. She looked around.
All of you. Go, now.
They did so, one by one, disappearing through the door into the secret passageway, glancing back at her
as they did, a mix of reluctance and dismay mirrored on their faces. Bek was the last to depart.
Don t let anything happen to you, he said. It s taken too much out of us getting you back to bear the
thought of losing you again. He paused. I love you, Grianne.
Then he pulled the door shut behind him and was gone, his words still echoing in her mind.
I love you, too,she thought.
She turned back to the sleeping chamber and looked at the sealed door. She had come a long way to
face what awaited her on the other side. She had fought hard for a chance to put things right. But all of a
sudden, she was unsure if she could do so.
How odd,she thought.
On the floor in front of her, the last strands of the ruined triagenel were slowly dissolving as their magic
leached away. She stared for a moment, then caught sight of herself in the mirror and saw what Bek and
the others had seen: a ghost, a tattered imitation of herself.
She walked to the closet on the other side of the room, opened it, and took out one of the robes hanging
there, clean and sleekly black. She draped it around her shoulders and fastened it in place with the clasp
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