“Not now,” Nightshade snapped. “Rhys, wake up!”

Nightshade shook his friend by the shoulder, but Rhys lay unmoving. His skin was ashen. Nightshade took hold of Rhys’ scrip, intending to use it as a pillow. But when he lifted Rhys’ head, Nightshade saw a pool of blood on the floor. He drew back his hand. It was covered in blood. Nightshade knew another mystical spell with healing properties and he tried calling it to mind, but he was flustered and upset and couldn’t remember the words. The Dark Light chant kept running through his head, like an annoying song that once you’ve heard it, you keep on hearing it no matter how hard you try not to.

Hoping the words might pop unexpectedly into his head if he thought about something else, Nightshade turned to Atta, who lay on her side, her eyes closed. He rested his hand on Atta’s chest and felt her heart beating strongly. She lifted her head and rolled over. Her tail thumped the floor. He gave her a hug and then sat back on his heels and looked sorrowfully at Rhys and tried desperately to remember his healing spell.

“Nightshade-” Mina began.

“Shut up!” Nightshade told her, sounding quite savage. “Rhys is hurt really bad and I can’t remember my spell and… and it’s all your fault!”

Mina began to cry. “These bands are pinching me! You have to get them off.”

“Get them off yourself,” Nightshade returned shortly.

“I can’t!” Mina wailed.

Yes you can, you’re a god! Nightshade wanted to shout back at her, but he didn’t because he’d already tried that and it hadn’t worked. But there might be another way…

“Of course you can’t!” Nightshade said disdainfully. “You’re a human, and humans are too fat and too stupid for words. Any kender could do it. I could wriggle out of those bonds like that!” He snapped his fingers. “But since you’re a human and a girl, I guess you’re stuck.”

Mina quit crying. Nightshade had no idea what she was doing, and he didn’t care. He was too worried about Rhys. Then Nightshade thought he heard Krell move or snort, and he cast a fearful glance at him, afraid he was waking up. Krell continued to just lay there like a big bone-covered lump, but it was only a matter of time. He shook his friend on the shoulder and called out his name.

“Rhys,” he said anxiously, “can you hear me? Please, please wake up!”

Rhys moaned. His eyelids fluttered, and Nightshade felt encouraged. Rhys opened his eyes. He winced and gasped in pain, and his eyes rolled back in his head.

“Oh, no!” Nightshade cried, and he grabbed hold of Rhys’ robes. “Don’t go passing out on me again! Stay with me.”

Rhys gave a wan smile and his eyes remained open, though they looked odd; one pupil was bigger than the other. He seemed to have trouble focusing.

“How do you feel?” Nightshade asked.

“Not too well, I’m afraid,” Rhys answered weakly. “Where’s Mina? Is she all right?”

“I’m here, Rhys,” Mina answered in a small voice.

Nightshade jumped at the sound, which had come from over his shoulder. His ploy had worked. The golden bands were still in place, still coiled on the floor, but Mina was no longer inside them.

She stood gazing down sorrowfully at Rhys. Her face was puffy from crying, her cheeks grubby with tears and soot.

“You’re right, Nightshade,” she said. “This is my fault.”

She looked so frightened and unhappy that Nightshade felt lower than a worm’s belly.

“Mina, I didn’t mean to yell at you-” he began.

Mina wasn’t listening. She knelt down and kissed Rhys on his cheek. “You’ll feel better now,” she said softly. “I’m sorry. So sorry. But you won’t have to take care of me anymore.”

And, before Nightshade could do or say anything, she grabbed up the scrip with the blessed artifacts and ran off.

“Mina!” Nightshade cried after her. “Don’t be stupid!”

Mina kept running, and he lost sight of her in the smoke.

“Mina!” Rhys called. “Come back!”

His voice was strong. His eyes were alert and clear, and he was gaining some color back into his face.

“Rhys! You’re better!” Nightshade cried gleefully.

Rhys tried to stand up, but he was still bound by the magical golden bands and he fell back, frustrated.

“Nightshade, you have to go after Mina!”

Nightshade just stood there.

Rhys sighed. “My friend, I know-”

“She’s right, Rhys!” Nightshade stated. “The fire, the fiends from the grave, Krell hurting you-it’s all her fault. The fighting, the dying-that’s her fault, too! And I’m not leaving you to go after her. Krell will wake up any minute and even though your head’s healed, you’re still stuck in these magical bands. And Krell said he was going to kill you!”

Rhys looked up at him. “You’re the only one I can count on, my friend. The only one I can trust. You must find Mina and bring her back here to the temple. If I’m… not around… the Abbot will know what to do.”

Nightshade’s lower lip started to tremble. “Rhys, don’t make me-”

Rhys smiled. “Nightshade, I’m not making you do anything. I’m asking you-as a friend.”

Nightshade glared at him.

“That’s not fair!” he said crossly. “All right, I’m going.” He shook his finger at Rhys. “But before I go chasing after that brat, I’m going to find someone to help you! Then I’ll look for Mina. Maybe,” he added under his breath.

He cast a quick glance at Krell, who was still unconscious, but probably wouldn’t be for much longer. Once the spell wore off, Krell would feel strong as ever and twice as mad, and three times more determined to kill Rhys.

“Atta, you stay with him,” Nightshade said, petting the dog.

“Atta, go with Nightshade,” Rhys ordered.

The dog sprang to her feet and shook herself all over. Nightshade cast Rhys one last glance, begging him to reconsider.

“Don’t worry about me, my friend,” Rhys said, reassuring. “I am in Majere’s care. Go find Mina.”

Nightshade shook his head and then ran off. He followed the direction Mina had taken, which was, of course, the very worst direction possible. She’d run out the front of the temple, heading right for the street and the battle.

Nightshade raced heedlessly through the garden, with Atta running behind, both of them trampling the flowers and vegetables that were all covered with soot anyway. He could barely see anything in the smoke, and it made him cough. He kept running, coughing and waving his hand at the smoke. Atta was snorting and sneezing.

When he reached the street, he was thankful to find the air was clearer. The wind was blowing the smoke in a different direction. Nightshade searched for Mina and, more important, someone to save Rhys.

That was going to prove difficult. Nightshade came to a dead stop and stared in dismay. Temple Row was clogged with people fighting, and things were in such confusion he couldn’t make out which side was which. Men wearing the livery of the town guard were trying to bring down a raging minotaur. Not far from them, paladins of Kiri-Jolith in their shining armor battled spell-chanting clerics wearing black robes and hoods. All around him, people lay on the ground, some of them shrieking in pain, others not moving.

The fires still burned. As Nightshade watched, the temple of Sargonnas collapsed in a heap of burning rubble and flames flared from the roof of the temple of Mishakal.

Nightshade looked for Mina, but what with the crowd and the melee and the confusion and the lamentable fact that he was about eye-level with people’s bellies, he couldn’t see her anywhere.

“If she had any sense, she wouldn’t run out there in the midst of a raging battle. But then,” he reminded himself glumly, “this is Mina we’re talking about.”

And Rhys was lying, bound and helpless, in the temple, and Krell might be awake by now.

A minotaur soldier fighting a black-robed cleric hurtled toward him, making Nightshade scramble backward to avoid being clubbed, and he fell into the gutter. Lying here, he concluded that lying on the ground was safer than standing, and he rolled behind a hedge. Atta hunkered down with him. He was angry with himself. He was supposed to be finding Mina and saving Rhys and instead he was languishing in a gutter. Gerard must be out here somewhere. Or the Abbot. There had to be a way to find help. If only he could get a better view of the street! He might climb a tree. He was starting to think about getting up out of the gutter when he felt something crawling down the back of his neck. He reached around and grabbed hold of it and there was a grasshopper.