wondered if that was a good thing. The magical energy appeared as if it would soon boil over, and Cadderly still had not figured out how he might begin to counter or dispel it
It seemed to the young priest as if the golems were growing impatient.
"Speak the word!" Their unified chant rang out as a final warning. Cadderly wanted to tell Danica to dive away, hoping that she, at least, might get free before the nasty daggers struck, or those swords chopped in.
The word is Bonaduce," came a call from beyond the door, a female voice that the two companions recognized.
"Dorigen," Danica breathed, her face scrunched with sudden anger.
Cadderly agreed, and knew that trusting in Dorigen would surely be a move wrought of desperation. But something abcut the word, "Bonaduce," struck a note of truth, a note of familiarity, within the young priest.
"Bonaduce!" Cadderly yelled. The word is Bonaduce!"
Danica's incredulous stare turned even more disbelieving as the golems shifted back to their frozen, impassive stances.
Cadderly, too, did not understand any of it. Why would Dorigen aid them, especially when they were in such dire trouble? He started forward for the door and pulled the curtain fiilly aside.
"It must be trapped," Danica reasoned softly, taking hold of Cadderh/s arm to prevent him from reaching for the pull ring.
Cadderly shook his head and grabbed the ring. Before Danica could argue, he yanked the door open.
They came into a comfortably furnished room. Soft, padded chairs were generously placed, quiet tapestries of solid color lined every wall, and a bearskin rug carpeted the floor. The only hard-edged furnishing was a wooden desk, angled in a corner opposite the door. There sat Dori-gen, tapping a slender wand against the side of her crooked, oft-broken nose.
Danica was down in a defensive crouch in an instant, one hand going down to her boot to draw a dagger.
"Have I mentioned before how much you both amaze me?" the woman calmly asked them.
Cadderly sent a silent, magical message into Danica's thoughts, bidding her to hold easy and see how this might play out
"Are we any less amazed?" the young priest replied. "You gave us the password."
"So she might kill us herself," Danica added grimly. She flipped the dagger over in her hand, grasping it by the point so that she could flick it out at Dorigen in an instant
"That is a possibility," the wizard admitted. "I have many powers" - she tapped the wand against her cheek - "that I might use against you, and perhaps this time, our battle would have ended differently."
"Would have?" Cadderly noted.
"Would have ended differently if I held any intention of renewing our battle," Dorigen explained.
Danica was shaking her head, obviously not convinced. Cadderly, too, had trouble believing in the woman's sudden change of heart. He fell into the notes of his song, sought out the aurora, the aura sight
Shadows flickered atop Dorigen's delicate shoulders, reflections of what was in her heart and thoughts. These were not huddled, evil things, as Cadderly expected, but quiet shadows, sitting in wait
Cadderly came back from his spell, stared at Dorjgen with heightened curiosity. He noticed Danica slide a step to the side and realized that she was trying to put some ground between them, giving the wizard only a single target "She speaks the truth," the young priest announced.
"Why?" Danica replied sharply.
Cadderly had no answer.
"Because I grow tired of this war," Dorigen responded. "And I grow tired of playing Aballister's lackey."
"You believe the horrors of Shilmista will be so easily forgotten?" Danica asked.
"I do not wish to repeat those horrors," Dorigen replied immediately. "I am tired." She held up her hands, fingers still bent from the beating Cadderty had given them. "And broken." The words stung Cadderly, but Dorigen's soft, benign tone did not
"You could have killed me, young priest," the wizard went on. "You could now, probably, with my own ring, which you wear, if with nothing else."
Cadderly unconsciously clenched his hand, and felt the onyx-stoned ring with his thumb.
"And I could have let the golems kill you," Dorigen went on. "Or I could have assailed you with an assortment of deadly spells as you walked through the door."
"Is this repayment?" Cadderly asked.
Dorigen shrugged. "Weariness, more than that," she said, and the woman did indeed sound tired. "I have stood beside Aballister for many years, watched him assemble a mighty force with promises of glory and rulership of the region." Dorigen laughed at the thought "Look at us now," she lamented. "A handful of elves, a