Feathers tore away in Magiere's hooked fingers, and a squealing caw echoed through the chamber.

Torn black feathers turned to vapor before they reached the floor.

The shine upon the raven's plumaged faded as it righted its tumbling body. Magiere whipped the falchion in the air, and it wheeled away out of reach.

Leesil didn't know what these creatures were, but he saw an advantage.

Magiere's falchion inflicted true injury on an undead, so these birds were something akin. And when they couldn't harm her in their shadow state, one had appeared to turn solid for an instant.

"Watch for light on their feathers!" he shouted as Sgaile rose and backed toward Magiere. "That's when they can be struck!"

Leesil reached for Osha to drag him clear of the wall.

The black shadow of a wolf's head thrust through the stone, its jaws spreading wide.

Wynn knelt upon the floor near Li'kan.

Her pity mixed with fear as she tried to read aloud from pieces of writing on the walls. Every word drew a cringe from the pale woman, though her eyes were filled with hunger for the sound. She had been alone for so long that she no longer recognized the wall writings as her own. Chap urged Wynn on, hoping to learn more from whatever memories flashed through the undead's mind.

He was able to gather that Li'kan had been one of three guardians who once existed in this place, perhaps as far back as its original construction. She was the only one left.

Though Li'kan had the attributes of a vampire, Chap sensed no hunger in her, at least not for the blood of the living. What sustained her remained a mystery.

Time and again, Wynn halted over a mislettered word she couldn't make out. A few times, Li'kan slowly mouthed something. Wynn tried to catch the woman's voiceless, breathy utterance, sounding it out as best she could.

Some writings described events Wynn could not understand, but most were incoherent ramblings. In the worst places, the characters grew haphazard, perhaps written after Li'kan's mind had deteriorated too much.

Wynn dearly wished to return to the iron sheaf's hide pages or any other texts she could lay her hands upon. The clearer prose might hold far more than the mad marks upon the walls. She grew weary from constant fear, and her throat was getting dry. And she wondered if she would ever again leave this place.

Li'kan's fascination with her voice, her words, seemed to be all that was keeping Wynn and Chap alive. But it also made them prisoners. If Wynn stopped talking too long, Li'kan became agitated.

Chap stayed close, but often, Wynn dared not turn her attention from Li'kan to ask what he learned.

He suddenly pricked his ears and looked to the doorway.

Li'kan rose fluidly to her feet, turning the same way.

"What is it?" Wynn asked.

From a distance, she heard a voice shouting, and then the hint of metal striking something hard.

Li'kan darted out of the study. Chap lunged for the doorway, halting to look about the outer corridor, and Wynn quickly joined him.

Outside, the passage had dimmed once more. Had they been in this chamber all day? But Wynn saw no shadows moving. How far had Li'kan brought them beyond the pillared corridor?

Stay behind me, Chap ordered as he trotted out.

Wynn hurried after him. Ahead down the corridor, Li'kan's white form turned right at an intersection.

Chap rounded the corner ahead of Wynn. When she followed, she caught a glimpse of Li'kan far ahead. Dim light from outside spilled through ice-glazed windows high along the corridor's right wall. Wynn shuddered as the undead passed through those shafts.

Li'kan did not even flinch as waning daylight slipped across her naked body.

The shouting ahead grew louder, and Wynn ran on behind Chap as one voice became clear.

"Watch for light on their feathers!"

Li'kan swerved left into the opening of a narrow passage.

"That was Leesil!" Wynn cried. She followed as Chap turned in behind the undead.

Li'kan raced out the corridor's distant end. The space beyond was lit by a soft amber glow. Chap bolted out, leaving Wynn behind, until she, too, skidded into the open.

Magiere stood in a huge chamber before a wide staircase, and shadow ravens circled high above. Leesil reached for Osha, crouching beside a broad archway.

A wolf shadow lunged from the wall, directly behind them, snapping at Osha's leg.

"More damned dead!" Leesil spit.

He jerked Osha aside, and the lanky elf tumbled away as the wolf's transparent jaws closed on air. Another wolf shot from the small passage on the chamber's far side, and it charged at Sgaile. For an instant, amber light glittered upon black fur and eyes.

Images of Li'kan mangling the two anmaglahk flashed into Wynn's mind.

"Li'kan, stop this!" she shouted.

Leesil spun about at her cry, as Sgaile ducked around the stone banister, poised to strike the wolf coming for him. Leesil ran to Wynn, grabbing her coat and pulling her backward.

The ravens lighted upon the stairway's rail high above.

Both wolves came to a halt, poised as their heads turned toward their mistress.

Li'kan stood staring at Magiere.

Magiere's eyes were flooded pure black, and a livid snarl twisted her face. She lifted the falchion, gripping it with both hands, and closed on Li'kan.

"No!" Wynn shouted, for Magiere did not know what she faced.

Magiere looked into the naked undead's teardrop-shaped eyes. This thing had to be one of the "old ones" that Welstiel had hinted at. But the woman looked nothing like what Magiere had expected. Frail and small, too tiny to be a true threat.

Yet she had taken two anmaglahk before they could fight back. And she had stolen Chap and Wynn.

Magiere wanted her head.

She swung the falchion back and up. Both hands gripped the hilt as it rose past her shoulder. When she charged, she faltered at a glint of metal.

"No!" someone cried.

Magiere saw the thick ends of red-gold metal with protruding knobs about the undead's slim throat. The white woman sprung forward with a silent snarl, and Magiere twisted aside, bringing her sword down. A frail white hand caught the falchion's blade, and the sword stopped without cutting through.

The impact shuddered through Magiere's arms and into her shoulders. The little woman wrenched the blade aside, and it twisted in Magiere's grip. This only made her angrier, and her hunger erupted.

"Leesil, stop her-she cannot win against Li'kan!"

Magiere heard Leesil's name, and her eyes shifted once to find him. Wynn struggled, pinned in one of his arms as he held a winged blade before her. A flash of doubt passed over Leesil's face.

The woman's colorless eyes widened, mirroring Magiere's hunger. She shook, and her mouth gaped, exposing sharp teeth.

Magiere released one hand from the falchion's hilt and grabbed for the undead's white throat. More quickly, the woman latched her other hand around Magiere's wrist.

They stood straining against each other. Black fluids ran down the falchion from between the white undead's fingers. Magiere tried to press her blade forward but couldn't, and her boots started to slide upon the stone floor. One of her legs began to buckle.

She let one knee drop to the floor, then thrust upward with her whole body.

The white woman's narrow feet lifted sharply, but her grips tightened on Magiere's wrist and sword. Magiere pivoted before the undead could come down, and whipped the woman's small body in an arc.

Glistening black hair snapped wildly around the woman's white face, until her body slammed into the stairway's side. The stone railing shattered, scattering pieces across the floor.

The grip on Magiere's wrist broke, but the woman's momentum jerked Magiere off her feet. Her sword clattered from her hand as she hit the floor and rolled onto all fours.