Bartimus nodded and replied, "I can, but these things are never guaranteed to work, and there are always unintended side-effects. I'm giving you these warnings so that you will be fully aware of them and not blame me later if it doesn't all turn out as wonderfully and romantic as you're envisioning right now. Furthermore, I have to say that-"

"Are you quite done?" Denrick asked, cutting off the babbling man. "I don't want a full lecture on the details. I just want to know if you can do it or not." The wizard simply nodded. "Good, then get on with it."

Emriana sobbed and began to thrash in her bonds again, shaking her head violently back and forth, mmphing through the wad of cloth shoved back in her mouth, pleading with Denrick not to go through with his foul game. The young man simply gestured expectantly toward her while staring down the wizard.

Bartimus walked cautiously over to stand near Emriana, shoved his glasses farther up his nose, and said, "All right; we've got a couple of choices here. I think perhaps… yes, that should do nicely."

Emriana whined plaintively at the man, trying to make him see her side of things, but Bartimus was effectively cowed by Denrick and he totally ignored her, other than to begin the casting.

That's when Emriana began to rock her chair back and forth again. She had been moved farther away from Jaleene so that they couldn't help one another escape again, and the handmaiden had been gagged, too. But Emriana wasn't trying to reach her companion in the hopes of getting her knots untied. She simply wanted to tumble over, fall flat on her back, knock herself unconscious, perhaps. Anything was better than being magically charmed into crawling into bed with Denrick right at that moment.

The girl heaved her weight around, trying to increase the motion. As she got into a rhythm, Denrick came around and grabbed the chair, halting it. Emriana whimpered in absolute disconsolation. Then Denrick slapped her, once, hard enough to cause her to grunt again. He leered at her.

"All right," Bartimus said, "I think I'm ready to begin. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

Denrick stepped back from Emriana's chair and replied, "Yes, use your magic to make her drawn irresistibly to me. I want her to desire me and take me willingly to her bed."

Bartimus opened his mouth to begin, but he never got even the first words out, for both his and Denrick's attention were suddenly drawn to something behind Emriana. They were looking in the direction of the doorway leading out to her patio.

The girl turned her head, straining to see behind her, but the chair's angle and high back made it impossible.

"If you don't shut your mouth right now"-it was Vambran-"I'll plant this crossbow bolt right into the middle of it."

Em closed her eyes in relief.

"Damn you!" Denrick cried as Bartimus stammered, mumbled, and backed away. "How the hells did you get past the guards?"

Vambran advanced into the room and into Emriana's view. She could see that he carried a crossbow, which he had leveled at Denrick's chest.

"Hello, Em," Vambran said, giving her a smile, though he never took his eyes off his target. "I came as soon as you called."

Emriana gave her brother a steady stream of joyous, thankful, but incomprehensible gibberish through her gag, though she knew he understood the gist of it.

He made it, she thought, and not a moment too soon.

"Well," Denrick snarled, glancing down at the girl. "You managed to do a little more than untie your hands while I was gone, I guess." He backed away from Vambran, who was slowly closing the gap between the two of them. "And you managed to show up where you weren't wanted all over again," he said to the mercenary. "Just like the other night, when you had to go dashing in to save poor, pathetic Jithelle. You messed everything up!"

"And you're a sad, spoiled little boy who never learned that the world and the people in it don't belong to you just because you're wealthy," Vambran replied. "Now, you're either going to drop down to the floor and plant your face on the tiles, or else I'm going to put this bolt right in your nose. Your choice. What's it going to be?"

In response, Denrick grabbed Bartimus, who had edged over by the merchant's son, and he thrust the wizard between himself and Vambran. Denrick gave Bartimus a good shove to send him careening in the direction of the mercenary then he took the opportunity to dart out the door.

Vambran cursed and stepped forward, apparently intending to chase the fleeing man, but the wizard hindered him just enough that it was obviously a fruitless exercise, and Vambran held up after only a couple more steps.

Instead, he turned back to the wizard and snarled, "Get over there and untie my sister, you lecherous little worm."

Bowing and holding his hands up in front of his face, as though trying to ward off Vambran's anger and the impending bolt that might be fired at him, Bartimus scurried over to where Emriana sat and went to work on the knots.

As soon as one hand was free, Emriana yanked the gag free of her mouth once more and drew in a deep, fresh breath.

"Oh, thank Waukeen you got here when you did!" she gushed, wanting to get up and hug her brother. She grew impatient with the wizard's fumbling fingers and knocked his hands away.

"Go untie her" she ordered Bartimus, pointing toward Jaleene.

The wizard nodded and ran over to comply, leaving Emriana to free herself. The girl finally managed to get the last of the bonds undone, and she leaped up and hugged her brother with every ounce of her strength. She didn't want to let him go.

That's when Jaleene screamed. Emriana released Vambran just in time to see a huge black hound materialize right in front of the chair where the handmaiden was still bound. The beast wasn't quite there, but seemed instead to be made of shadows. Even so, its huge fangs and glowing red eyes were visible enough. The hound, a mastiff, growled low in its throat and reared back to lunge at the helpless Jaleene.

At the same time, Bartimus was waving his hands through the air and murmuring in a low voice. As Vambran reacted, raising his crossbow to fire at the wizard, a blue, shimmering curtain of light formed next to the pudgy man. The curtain parted to reveal a doorway, and Bartimus leaped through it, the crossbow bolt glancing off his cloak. The doorway winked out.

Emriana stared, dumbfounded, as Vambran rushed forward, dragging his sword free of its scabbard in one smooth motion. Just as the shadow hound was about to bite Jaleene, Vambran got between them, slashing down with his blade.

The huge dog howled in pain and leaped away, landing in the corner. It turned to face Vambran, who was closing with it, his sword held defensively in front of himself. Warily, the two of them began to circle one another, the hound snapping and biting at the blade, Vambran feinting and thrusting back.

Emriana ran over to Jaleene, who was trembling. The girl began to work on the knots that still held the woman tightly. After several moments of frantic tugging, she managed to free her companion and pulled her out of the chair.

At that moment, Emriana turned to see her brother lunge at the hound again, drawing thick, black blood. In response, the dog opened its mouth wide and let out an ear-splitting bay that chilled the girl to the bone and made her want to flee right out into the night. She and Jaleene together ran to the opposite side of the room and cowered in the corner, watching Vambran combat this magical creature of shadow.

He didn't seem fazed by the unearthly howl. He slashed down again, cutting a deep furrow into the dog's shoulder, which caused the dog to turn and jump into the shadows, disappearing.

Emriana gasped.

"Gods, what is that thing?" she whispered as Vambran searched for the beast, poking and prodding at the spot where the dog last stood.