somewhere he does not truly belong."
Again, the indication was that Dorigen believed a larger fate to be guiding this encounter. Danica was not so convinced as her counterpart She believed in the power of the individual, in the choice of the individual, and not in some predestined path.
" Aballister will likely punish me for letting the young priest through," Dorigen went on, against Danica's doubting expression. "He hoped I would kill Cadderly, or at least exhaust Cadderly's magical powers." She chuckled and looked away and Danica realized that she could spring atop that desk and throttle Dorigen before the wizard ever reacted. But Danica did not move, held by the continued note of sincerity in the wizard's voice.
"Aballister thought the malignant spirit, the evil personification of the Ghearufu, would end the threat to Castle Trinity," Dorigen went on.
The ghost that you sent after us," Danica accused.
"Not so," Dorigen replied calmly. "Originally, Aballister did send the Night Masks to Carradoon to kill Cadderly, but the return of the spirit was purely coincidence - purely a fortunate coincidence as far as Aballister was concerned.
"He did not know that Cadderly could defeat that spirit," Dorigen continued, and again came that curious chuckle. "He thought that his storm would surely destroy you all, and so it would have, except that Aballister did not know that you were far from Nightglow by that point. Fearful would he have been indeed, if he learned that Cadderly could defeat even old Fyren after he was finished manipulating the wyrm."
Danica nearly fell over backward, her almond-shaped eyes opened wide.
"Yes, I watched that battle," Dorigen explained, "but I did not tell Aballister about it I wanted his surprise to be complete when Cadderly arrived so soon at Castle Trinity."
"Is this penitence?" Danica asked.
Dorigen looked down at her desk and slowly shook her head, running her crooked fingers through her long black-and-sUver hair. "More pragmatism, I would guess," she said, looking back to Danica. "Aballister has made many mistakes. I do not know that he will defeat Cadderty, or you and your other friends. And even if we win this day, how can we hope to conquer the region with our army shattered?"
Danica found that she honestly believed the woman's words, and that made her more defensive, fearing that Dorigen had cast some charm enchantment over her. "Your reversal now does not excuse your actions over the past months," she noted grimly.
"No," Dorigen agreed without hesitation. "Nor would I call it a 'reversal.' Let us see who wins in there." She indicated the swirling mist on the wall. "Let us see where fate guides us."
Danica shook her head doubtfully.
"You still do not understand, do you?" Dorigen asked sharply, and with the change in tone, the agile monk was down immediately into her threatening crouch.
"What are you talking about?" Danica demanded.
Dorigen's answering shout stole the strength from Danica's knees, hit her so unexpectedly that she could not even babble a retort They are father and son!"
Ivan fared the best of the three trapped friends as the fighting in the dining hall raged on. In the tight opening along the side of the cubby, the stout dwarf and his mighty axe formed an impenetrable barrier. Men and monsters came against him two at a time, but they couldn't hope to get by his furious defense. And though Ivan was sorely wounded, he took up a dwarven battle chant, narrowed his focus so greatly that it did not allow him to feel the pain, did not allow his wounded limbs to weaken.
Still, the relentless press of enemies prevented Ivan from going to his brother, or to Shayleigh, both of whom needed support. The best that the yellow-bearded dwarf could do was yell out, "Dead snake!" every now and again to heighten Pikel's fury.
Shayleigh blew away the first man who tried to come over the counter, hit the next adversary, a bugbear, with four arrows in rapid succession, the hairy creature slumping dead before it ever got atop the narrow area Shayleigh then fired one to her side, between Pikel's legs, catching an ore in the face, then turned back as another enemy, a goblin, leaped up on the counter.
She shot it in the chest, dropping it to a sitting position, then shot it again, putting out the light in its eyes.
The goblins behind this victim proved smarter than usual, though, for the dead goblin did not fall away. Using its bleeding body as a shield, the next goblin in line came up atop