after, a dragon in the form of a woman appeared at his door.
“I’m Tasia. Lady Bragador asked me to watch for your couriers. They have arrived.”
Two Sky Knights entered, looking a little pale.
“Lord Reishi, we’ve come as quickly as our wyverns could carry us,” the lead man said.
Alexander got up, leaning heavily on his cane, and hobbled to the strongbox. He removed a book, tied securely with a stout leather thong, and set it on the table before relocking the box.
“Take this book to Conner Ithilian in Fellenden City,” Alexander said. “Do not open it for any reason.”
As the man grasped the book, Alexander didn’t let go, but instead fixed the man with his blind eyes.
“Give me your oath that you will not permit this book to be opened,” he said.
“I swear on my life, Lord Reishi.”
“That’s good, because if you open this book you will surely die,” Alexander said. “Make haste and deliver it into Prince Conner’s hands and no other’s.”
“It will be done, Lord Reishi.”
Tasia escorted the knights back to their wyverns, then transformed into her true form, a magnificent iridescent silver dragon nearly as large as Bragador, and flew with them until they passed over the Spires on their way north to Fellenden. Alexander watched with his clairvoyance until they were clear of the dragons’ domain.
“Just one more piece to put into place,” Alexander said. “I think I’ll wait until tomorrow before I go to Blackstone. That conversation’s liable to take some time and I’m not looking forward to the aftermath.”
“So use your dream-whisper to set things in motion,” Jack said. “Blackstone should still have some Rangers sleeping in shifts to receive your messages.”
Alexander snorted, shaking his head. “I’d gotten so caught up in this new ability that I’d forgotten Blackstone is the one place where I can reliably send word without projecting an illusion. I’ll be back soon.”
He went to the message board first, disembodied awareness floating unnoticed in Kelvin’s workshop as his people toiled on a variety of projects. There were a number of messages for him:
1. Blackstone’s magic has failed. The heartstone is shattered.
2. Lucky has become a mage.
3. Wren has vanished, but we’re certain that she didn’t leave by crossing the bridge.
4. We’re moving the Wizard’s Guild to Glen Morillian.
5. Duane reports that the assassins assigned to kill Elred Rake have failed. Their heads were delivered to his sentries in a basket.
He floated there reading the messages over again, trying to make sense of all that had transpired. The news of the heartstone was grave and worrisome, yet expected.
Lucky’s ascension to mage was a triumph that had the potential to turn the tide of the entire war. His security had quite suddenly become of paramount importance.
He was happy to see that Kelvin had decided to relocate his guild to the relative safety of Glen Morillian and sad to hear that four more good people had died by his order in the attempt to kill Elred Rake.
Wren’s disappearance puzzled him. She was a beautiful and vibrant young woman, precious beyond measure for the simple fact that she was alive, but in the grand scheme of things, she was nothing more than a serving girl who’d befriended his wife and sister. Her disappearance troubled him, more for the inexplicability of it than anything else.
He faded into the firmament and thought of the waifish young woman. A moment later, his awareness coalesced over a small ship sailing south along the west coast of Ruatha near the Great Forest. He pushed into the ship, disembodied awareness floating among the crew. The men were pirates, but there were three among them that were more—two wizards and a wraithkin. Alexander avoided them and went into the hold of the ship.
He found Wren chained to a bulkhead. She was wrapped in a single thin blanket, shivering and crying softly.
Alexander materialized and knelt next to her, whispering her name softly. She looked up with a start, fear in her wide innocent eyes.
“Lord Reishi? Is that really you?”
“Yes and no,” Alexander said. “You’re seeing a projection of me. I’m not really here.”
“So you didn’t come to save me?” she sobbed.
“I just discovered you were missing,” Alexander said. “You have to believe me, I’m going to help you and you’re going to make it through this, but right now I need to know who took you and why.”
“I don’t know,” Wren said. “I was in bed when they came. It was dark. They gagged me and put a bag over my head. A