Hkuan'duv waited until the last of them vanished into the broken mountainside. He had expected Sgailsheilleache to bring his charges back, but no one had returned to the camp. He began second-guessing his decision to wait.

What if Magiere had not assisted in searching for her small companion? What if she had already found what she sought, whether the others located the young female or not? And what did these other two and their hunched entourage have to do with any of this? Did they seek the artifact as well?

"Follow?" Danvarfij asked.

Hkuan'duv finally nodded. They slipped out of hiding, trailing low and carefully in silence.

Welstiel did not need to scry for Magiere. Out the chute's top, he found a clear trail again. The strides of the footprints were long, as if Magiere and her companions were running, and Welstiel picked up the pace.

They traveled a long while until they reached a steep rocky incline narrowly breaching two tall peaks. Three ferals grunted in protest, but he drove them on to the top and stopped upon the crest.

Out on a vast white plain, couched between high peaks all around, rested the six-towered castle.

After so much effort, and so much planning and manipulation…

Welstiel looked upon the end of his search and the promised end of his suffering.

His night sight sharpened under the moon, and the relief inside him wavered.

Even in darkness, the castle was not the same as in his dreams. It looked old and decayed. The trail resumed at the slope's bottom, heading toward the fortification.

Magiere was already there.

Welstiel hurried down the rocky slope.

Hkuan'duv and Danvarfij followed from a safe distance, letting the pack of humans keep a good lead. But when they reached the boxed gully, Danvarfij halted, still as the snow, and stared at Kurhkage's frozen corpse in the chute.

A'harhk'nis's head lay uncovered where someone else had found it. Hkuan'duv knew that Sgailsheilleache would be aware he had been followed, and his suspicions might grow.

Danvarfij sank to her knees. "What could have done this?"

When Hkuan'duv had returned to camp last night, his need to suppress shock and pain had kept him from relating too many details. She had not pressed for more.

"I believe this white woman is one of the humans' undead," he began, and then faltered. "They had no defense against her… she was too fast and strong."

"But this," Danvarfij said, looking at A'harhk'nis's head, "to one such as him… We cannot leave them untended."

"We will perform rites after our purpose is fulfilled."

Danvarfij lifted her eyes to him and, for a moment, he thought she might argue. Then her expression flattened until no trace of anger or grief remained. Their purpose came first, even if it meant irreverence for their dead. Danvarfij stepped up the chute as if she had seen nothing at all.

Hkuan'duv followed and suppressed his trepidation as he passed between the stone walls-past the place where he'd seen a white face with colorless eyes like ice.

They breached the chute's upper end and saw no one, but the trail in the snow was clear. They trekked in silence until the path led to a rocky slope through a narrow saddle between two high peaks. When they crested the top, they both halted above a wide white plateau between the mountains.

"Look," Danvarfij whispered, pointing.

Upon the sunken plain stood an ancient fortification of pale gray stone, and the distant specks of the two male humans and their band drew closer to it.

Hkuan'duv hurried down to the plain's edge and crouched to wait and watch. There he spotted a paw print in the snow near the rocks.

The majay-hi had survived and traveled on in the night without the others. Hkuan'duv closed his eyes, considering what to do next.

If the dog had tracked the white woman, then she was inside as well. All tracks led to this hidden place-the journey's end-and more than likely, Magiere and Sgailsheilleache were already inside. The deceptively frail monster might be a guardian for this ancient artifact that Most Aged Father wanted. A battle for the object's possession seemed inevitable, but Hkuan'duv could not see how anyone could get past the woman. And how did these other humans, now trekking across the plain, fit into the growing tangle?

"If A'harhk'nis and Kurhkage could not best this undead," Danvarfij said, "then Sgailsheilleache and Osha will not fare any better. They are in danger."

"Sgailsheilleache would never betray his guardianship through recklessness, " Hkuan'duv replied. "He would not allow his charges to fight a hopeless battle. He may possess knowledge in this matter that we do not."

Even so, Hkuan'duv did not know what the object truly was or where it lay in the vast structure. He only knew that Magiere was to retrieve it, and he would procure it from her.

He looked over the pristine plain, waiting for the pack of humans to get closer to the castle. Once they were hard to separate with his elven eyes, he knew their limited human sight would not detect two followers. He and Danvarfij slipped out across the snow.

They stayed within the broken trail to hide their own passing from anyone who returned. Halfway there, he spotted the snow-capped outer wall. They traversed its outside until tall iron gates loomed before them. All trails passed through the tilting gate, and they backed away along the wall to hunker against its stone.

"If Magiere succeeds, she will return with the artifact," he said. "We will find cover and see how many of her companions survive as well. Once they head back for their camp, we will trail at a safe distance and take them among the crags."

"But if Sgailsheilleache survives and-"

"His guardianship must end, overridden by Most Aged Father's request. Sgailsheilleache is loyal. He will do what is right."

"And if others, besides Magiere, resist?"

"Dispatch the small human, but only incapacitate the half-blood." He paused, still scanning the valley. "Then we will attend our dead and return the artifact to our caste's safekeeping."

Danvarfij paused, absorbing his words. Her face looked thin and tired. They had both spent too many days and nights on half-rations in this ice world.

"I agree, but…," she began.

"You have another option?" he asked.

"No… but I dislike leaving Sgailsheilleache and Osha to face this alone, while we wait so close."

Her honesty was always admirable. Had she felt any other way, she would not be Danvarfij.

"I know," Hkuan'duv answered and pulled his cloak tightly about himself.

Wynn breathed in relief at the sight of Osha hurrying toward her. He drew close but did not embrace her.

"Are you well?" he asked.

Sgaile crept down the thick stone banister and dropped silently off its end. He did not take his eyes off Li'kan.

"I am thirsty," Wynn said.

Osha dug inside his tunic and produced a leather-sheathed water flask. She took it gratefully, but kept watch on Magiere and Li'kan. Neither had moved.

Sgaile studied the white woman with revulsion, as if uncertain whether to attack or hold his ground.

"Why did she stop?" Leesil asked.

Magiere's falchion still lay on the floor, but her black eyes were locked upon Li'kan. She looked almost weary.

At first Wynn gave her behavior little notice, but then she remembered the times Magiere had come out of her dhampir state. She had often succumbed to exhaustion, but only after, never during.

Li'kan swayed in a half-aware state. Her small mouth moved as if whispering voicelessly to herself. Wynn gulped down three mouthfuls of water and crouched to pour some in her hand.

"Psst… Chap, come here," she whispered.

He glanced over and then backed toward her rather than break his vigil. When he had lapped away the water, Wynn poured more, but he ignored it.