Three days of being dragged behind Sgaile wore Leesil's patience thin. Blindfolded, with a rough walking stick in one hand and a rope gripped in the other, he trudged onward, with Magiere behind him. Chap ranged somewhere nearby, his claws scrabbling over dirt and stone.

Chap assisted with warning barks whenever they strayed or came upon uncertain footing. Sgaile carefully steered them around anything larger, but the going was painfully slow. From time to time, Magiere settled a hand on Leesil's shoulder.

They exchanged few words on this blind side journey, and Leesil wondered why he had ever agreed to this. Why did he keep giving in to whatever bizarre requests Sgaile made?

Privately, Leesil knew why-to find out what Brot'an-and his mother-had arranged.

Had this been Brot'an's plan alone, Leesil would have rejected Sgaile's requirements. But for his mother… no, he'd abandoned her to eight years of imprisonment, and he couldn't refuse her now.

Chap barked, brushed against Leesil's leg, and then dashed away. Leesil heard a small cascade of stones tumble beneath the dog's paws.

"What's wrong?" Leesil asked.

"We have to climb another chute between stone sides," Sgaile replied. "The bottom is littered with debris. I will loop the rope through your belts, so you may use both hands to steady yourselves. Toss aside your staves, as you will no longer need them."

"Then we're close?" Magiere asked.

For a moment, Sgaile didn't answer. "Yes," he replied, as if he didn't care to reveal anything.

Leesil tossed aside his staff as Sgaile looped the rope through his belt. He waited as Sgaile did the same for Magiere and then took the lead once more. Leesil stepped forward, and his left foot shifted on loose stones.

Someone snatched his right wrist and guided his hand to the side, pressing it against a vertical wall of rough stone.

"As I said… take care," Sgaile admonished.

Leesil felt his way up the granite chute. Before long, he reached out and felt only empty air. Another step and the ground leveled off. But when he tried to hook the blindfold with one finger, Sgaile pulled his hand down.

"No," he said sharply. "Not yet."

Moving onward again, Leesil grew aware of a slight downward decline. Then he smelled dust, and the sounds around him began to reverberate. He realized they had gone underground.

Sgaile began turning them, this way and that.

Leesil tried to count off the lefts and rights, but he lost track after a while. By the time Sgaile halted their procession, Leesil was slightly dizzy from the winding downward path.

"It's warmer here," Magiere said.

She'd been unusually quiet for the past three days. Leesil reached back until he felt her arm.

"We are far enough," Sgaile said. "You may remove the blindfolds."

Leesil ripped off the cloth, blinking as he rubbed his eyes.

For a moment he wasn't sure the blindfold was gone, as everything around him was so dim. Then the world sharpened slightly.

Magiere's pale face was strangely illuminated by an orange glow- Sgaile had already lit a torch. They stood within a natural rock tunnel wider than Leesil's arm span and half again the height he could reach up on his toes.

"We continue," Sgaile said and walked off down the tunnel.

"We're not there yet?" Magiere asked, but he ignored her.

Leesil sighed and trudged on. When he glanced back past Magiere and Chap, he saw nothing, for the tunnel curved sharply into the dark. He couldn't even guess how far or deep they had come.

They walked down winding passages with craggy walls, but the floors were smooth. Leesil's patience was beginning to wane when suddenly the torch's light reached only open space, and he followed Sgaile into a vast cavern. Before he could look about, his gaze caught on the cavern's most prominent feature.

A large oval of shimmering metal was embedded in the cavern's far wall.

Magiere pushed around him, heading straight for it. Leesil followed with Sgaile and Chap trailing more slowly. When he was within arm's reach, Magiere ran her gloved hand over the metal.

Leesil saw the barely visible, razor-straight seam. The oval split down the center into two doors, but he saw no handle or hinges, or other way to open them. Orange-yellow torchlight glimmered on their perfect polished surfaces, a bleached silver tone too light for steel or precision metals. Leesil recognized the material.

These doors were made of the same metal as anmaglahk blades.

"They're warm," Magiere whispered.

Leesil put his hand upon the metal. More than warm, they were nearly hot.

"Turn away," Sgaile said wearily.

"Why… how do they open?" Leesil asked.

He heard cloth crumple on the cavern floor, and the sound of a blade sliding across leather.

Chap growled.

"I said turn away, now!" Sgaile commanded, and his voice echoed around the cavern.

Leesil turned quickly and dropped one hand to a punching blade.

Sgaile stood before his fallen cloak, his glistening features strained, as if any word or action would cost him. He held a stiletto, its metal gleaming as bright as the doors.

Chap tensed behind Sgaile, ready to take him down if he moved an inch.

The only memory he caught in Sgaile's mind was a brief glimpse of this place-and Sgaile waiting frozen in dread as the silver-white doors began to swing open. The memory faded too quickly, and now it seemed Sgaile would not tolerate either Magiere or Leesil knowing how the portal opened.

"Please… step back," Sgaile said more deliberately. "And turn away."

Magiere's hand wrapped around her falchion's hilt, and she didn't move.

Chap was sick of dealing with anmaglahk and their paranoia. But all that mattered was finding out what waited beyond these doors-what Brot'an had been scheming up this time. Chap circled wide around Sgaile and huffed once at his companions.

"What makes you so obliging to him?" Magiere asked, but she kept her eyes on Sgaile.

"This is ridiculous," Leesil said. "Sgaile, just open the doors!"

"Keep quiet," she said. "You're the one who let him blindfold us."

Chap huffed again. They had come all this way, and he was not about to turn back. He hopped at Magiere and nipped her breeches at the knee.

Magiere jerked her leg back. "You watch it!"

But she finally turned away, and Leesil joined her with a sidelong glance at Chap.

Sgaile's expression remained tense, but he did not ask Chap to turn away. He merely approached the door, stiletto in hand, and then hesitated with the blade point held up.

"Your oath…," he said, "do not forget."

He touched the blade's tip upon the portal so lightly it did not even click. A low grating creak began, and Chap watched as the seam split.

"Move away," Sgaile told him and sheathed the stiletto.

Chap backpedaled toward Magiere and Leesil as Sgaile also retreated.

The doors separated, each swinging outward as they ground across the cavern's level stone. A wall of heated air rushed out to strike Chap's face, and the cavern's temperature rose sharply with a stench like burning coal. He choked on the hot air filling his lungs.

"You will adjust in a moment," Sgaile said, but he had a hand over his own mouth and nose.

The unpleasant burning in Chap's throat slowly became tolerable. Leesil's face was flushed, though he seemed unhurt. Magiere let out a strangled cough and buckled to her knees, fighting for air.

Leesil grabbed her shoulders. "Magiere!"

A few more breaths and she nodded that she was all right.

"You might have warned us," she gasped.

"Apologies," Sgaile offered, but his face was as flushed as Leesil's.

As Sgaile retrieved the torch, Chap circled back to stand between the wide doors. Beyond them stretched a wide passage, and the farther on Chap looked, the darker it became. Sgaile's torch cast only the barest glistening points of light on its craggy walls. The heated air made it difficult for Chap to breathe.