Upon seeing that deadly blade beginning its descent toward Vetch's neck, Lily felt an uncanny sensation burst forth within her mind and body, like a seedpod popping and scattering its contents throughout. Anger. Anger at the sight of her man's blood spilled. Anger that they would hurt him, that they meant to kill him, that they would dare destroy his life and take him away from her forever, as they had already taken her family. She wouldn't let them. They couldn't have him! She would not allow it!

Her body almost didn't obey her as she shakily raised her arm. Drawing on the last magical reserves left to her mind, she gathered that anger into a refined needle of strength, and put that strength behind her magic. Through confident fingers, she directed her hope and fear and rage into the form of a Barrier that she cast at the attacking swordswoman.

An ethereal golden cuff clapped around the woman's wrist so fast that her own arrested sword swing wrenched her elbow painfully, causing her blade to fly from her fingers and clatter across the floor.

"No, Lily ... wait ..." Marigold murmured.

Lily's ears were deaf to her Mage-Matron's warnings. Unsteadily pushing herself back to her feet, she lurched forward, eyes still set on Vetch. She got only as far as to where Fae was still Barrier-trapped, before slumping to the floor exhausted.

Down to only one opponent now, Vetch bobbed out of the swordsman's reach. After a beat, he pressed a sword thrust back in at the man. The Black Crux soldier parried it, but refrained from counter-attacking. A smirk curled his stubbled lip as he and Vetch regarded one another. The soldier exuded confidence. He knew he would win, for Vetch struggled just to hold his blade ready, curled forward as he was over his wounds and breathing raggedly. The swordsman prodded for his opening, forcing Vetch to further tire himself defending trivial jabs.

Lily prepared to act. Again, she concentrated on pulling together what little residual magic she had left. But everything felt wrong. Throughout her years of training, she'd had it impressed upon her to tally her Barrier spells meticulously, so that she might predict their cost in Slumber. She'd had no chance to adhere to those teachings since entering the castle. She'd lost track too many Barriers ago. She was in unfamiliar territory and casting well beyond her limits. As she groped around blindly within herself for her magic, her thoughts were muddled, refusing to coalesce. Focusing what paltry magic she could unearth into a proper spell felt like packing a snowball by catching individual snowflakes out of the air one at a time.

She began to experience the feeling of rising up off the ground—Slumber. It was a demon chasing her, trying to impose its will on her. She resisted it, but it was taking all her strength do so. She could feel it closing in, and she knew that avoiding it would only make the consequences worse when it finally captured her. 'Do not deny a natural state,' Marigold had always instructed. 'It will only hurt you in the end.' Lily couldn't think about that right now. She didn't care. There was no amount of harm she wouldn't endure in order to prevent harm from coming to Vetch.

Only the pitched ping of steel on steel in her ears alerted Lily to the fact that her eyes had been closed. She forced them open. Vetch parried another of the swordsman's attacks and stood waiting for the next. The swordsman moved in for another strike. Lily drew her hand in a tight circle around the swordsman's arm, casting a Barrier meant to bind him in place.

No Barrier appeared. Instead, Lily was struck by a sensation like having all the air driven out of her lungs. She swooned and fell to her knees, gasping. She could cast no more.

Still fighting for his life, Vetch barely dodged the next sword swing. He slipped in blood, caught himself, and resumed a defensive stance. As if from a far distance, Lily listened to the mortal dance steps of the two men's boots on the floor and felt helpless. By the sound alone, she knew that Vetch was flagging more with every step, with every wearying swing of his sword.

Lady Iris's lilting laughter joined the sounds of struggle. "Are we wearied, young lady?" she ridiculed Lily from her place of safety. "And you, as well, Mage-Matron? Shall I have rooms prepared for the both of you to Slumber in?" She made a derisive sound in her throat. With a wave of her hand, she dispelled the Barrier holding the swordswoman's wrist. "Hurry up and conclude this. I am tired."

The swordswoman hastened to pick up her weapon and re-join her fellow against Vetch. Two against one, with neither Lily nor Marigold able to give aid, it was only a matter of time until Vetch fell. Lily knew she and Marigold—and even Fae—would then be next. Lady Iris would see to that. She wondered if she should keep resisting Slumber and bear witness to her love's final moments, or allow oblivion to claim her, knowing she would never wake. Would she and Vetch be together in the afterlife? Or would they be condemned to forever wander the realm of spirits, searching for each other for all of eternity?

"Fae." Marigold's voice creaked on the word. "Lily, use Fae. Are you listening, girl?"

A weak thrust of magic passed before Lily's senses. She raised her eyes to see Marigold dispel the Barrier surrounding Fae, then collapse to her side. The old mage's face sagged. Her flesh appeared gray.

Fogged and confused, Lily protested, "She's hurt ... and exhausted."

"How many times've ... I told you, girl?" Marigold muttered weakly. "Magic ... ain't physical. Use 'er magic. 'S'why I got 'er for you."

Lily looked upon her beloved charge-beast. Fae appeared done in. The panthegrunn lay on the floor with her eyes lidded, panting heavy breaths. Lily dragged herself close to her, stretched her fingers out to caress the pale fur of her foreleg. Immediately, she felt an infusion of energy come into her. Not in the physical sense, but as a rejuvenation of thought and awareness. It was the same as she'd felt back in the forest, when Fae had aided her in defeating the Emotion-Caster who had ensorcelled Vetch. Digging her fingers into Fae's shaggy mane, she pulled herself upright. She rested her hand between Fae's horns, felt her warmth, her life and energy ... her magic.

As a withered sponge is restored by touching water, Lily felt restored. The panthegrunn's inherent magic filled and recharged her, bolstered her, reawakened her intellect. With sudden clarity, Lily could pierce through all the other magical distractions in the room—Lady Iris's fervent, malevolent Barriers; Marigold's waning protective spells. She could 'see' every Casting, both the faded and those still glimmering. Slumber receded like an outgoing tide, and taking its place was Lily's magical will.

The swordswoman, with her weapon back in hand, charged Vetch from the side. He saw her, but was occupied with the unrelenting soldier before him. The woman aimed a stab at Vetch's ribs. Lily drew on her reinvigorated focus and passed her hand through the air. A solid, curved Barrier swept into place around the woman's shoulders, stopping her dead in her tracks. Without questioning why the stab had not come, Vetch slipped between his two attackers, even as the fast action caused him to hiss in pain from his wounds and drop his guard. The swordsman aimed a heavy swing of his blade at Vetch. Lily was prepared for this. She cast a Barrier that seized the man's arm, as a mother might seize a child's arm before he could strike his brother.

Vetch discerned Lily's help now, and altered his tactics. Despite his exhaustion, he found an opening and pressed forward with an attack, lunging in with an overhead swing of his own. But it was not to be so simple as that. Before Vetch's blade could connect, Lady Iris dispelled Lily's two Barriers and wrapped one of her own around her swordsman, using her ability to make it move to pull the man out of the way. Vetch's sword bit into the floor, and suddenly he found both of his foes freed again.

The two came at Vetch from both sides. Drawing from Fae, Lily halted them with two quick motions of her hand. This time, Vetch anticipated her Castings, re-readying himself and scoring with a slash that raked the thighs of the swordsman, causing him to bellow in pain. Before he could follow up with a killing swing, Iris dispelled Lily's efforts. However, she not only freed her soldiers, but chased the Dispellings with a horrific new Barrier spell of her own.

It was by Lily's physical contact with her charge-beast that she comprehended with expanded clarity what was happening this time. She saw Lady Iris performing the hand motion, and felt the Barrier magic crystalizing. When she sensed where the Barrier was forming, she experienced a flash of purest terror and revulsion. Lady Iris was casting something inside of Vetch's body. Lily forced herself to tamp her feelings down. She couldn't allow them to overcome her, lest she squander even a single second.

Without consideration for how much it cost herself or Fae, she found the Barrier forming within Vetch's chest and dispelled it before it could become solid. There was no indication that Vetch had felt anything, but Lily knew how close Iris had come to ending him. The effort it took to prevent that caused a torrent of lightheadedness to slam into Lily. She put all her strength into resisting the sensation, and made herself refocus. As her awareness cleared, she locked eyes with the raven-haired mage across the chamber. There was a flicker of confusion in Lady Iris's gaze at how Lily had countered her. Then, her features hardened into a mask of venomous concentration.

It became a duel of attrition between Lily and Lady Iris, with Vetch and the Black Crux soldiers battling within the push and pull of their magics. Lily dug her fingers into Fae's shaggy fur and worked to hinder Vetch's opponents with Barriers that stilled them or confounded their thrusts. She lost track of individual Castings, simply flowing from one spell to the next. Any pause for thought could be the delay that spelled disaster.

Lady Iris lashed out with spells that sought to counter Lily's magic and help her soldiers press their numbers advantage. The soldiers and Vetch fought knowing that their sword swings might be hampered by a Barrier at any moment, and that their legs could become magically bound on any ensuing step. As fast as Lily could protect Vetch from such pitfalls, Iris cast new ones, and vice versa. So, it went, back and forth.

It took all of Lily's concentration to harden herself against what she saw while she focused on the magic. A sword battle was not how she'd heard them described in bard tales. It was not a few clashes of blades followed by a clean killing blow. The fighting that raged before her was ugly and horrific. The combatants were bloody and battered. They lashed out with blows from their pommels, grappled with arms and blades, kicked and punched and inflicted innumerous small wounds that bled freely. Lily had to put all her reservations aside and accept Vetch's craft for what it was if she was to help him. He was not only outnumbered, but his armor was missing, and his tattered shirt was a pitiful shield against sharp steel. Lily's Barriers had to be serve as his armor.

Then, suddenly, Vetch was facing not two enemy soldiers, but three. At some point, the alarm bell had finally ceased its ringing. The man who'd been sent to halt it now returned and joined the fray. If this were a normal battle dictated only by the physical, Vetch would have stood no chance. But as he and Lily worked together, swordsman and mage, they found the rhythm of one another—just as they'd done the night underneath the trees on the hillside—he anticipating her Barriers, and she his sword cuts. Vetch wove around and between the Barriers Lily cast for him, his sword whirling and striking at his enemies, trusting Lily to safeguard him from Iris's spells and the blade thrusts he could not defend.

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Along with that rhythm came an expanding confidence for the both of them. She spent magic without trepidation, while witnessing his demeanor change from one of self-preservation to one of initiative. He fought as though rejuvenated, surprising his foes by taking his attacks straight to them. Lily and Vetch worked as a harmonious pair, something that Iris and her soldiers could not match.

When Lily was able, at length, to break through one of Iris's Dispellings and bind one of her soldiers fully, Vetch was already in position to run his sword across the man's throat. Blood spewed from the ragged slice. Iris's eyes went wide as, too late, she released her soldier from the Barrier, only to watch his lifeless body collapse to the floor. It was a hideous thing, but Vetch's attention was already on the remaining two. Clearly, he felt no compunction about slaying these enemies while they were rendered defenseless.

And a small, wrathful part of Lily thought, Good. These were the raiders who had laid waste to Moonfane Forge. Had any of them showed mercy or fairness when they had burned her family's dairy to the ground with her parents and little brother inside? No. So, let them receive neither back from she and Vetch.

Spirits, she thought, as she cast her spells one after another, after another, let Vetch and I slay as many as we are able, and the evil mage with them.

As if that thought itself had drawn Iris's ire, the Lady of Black Crux turned her attention upon Lily and performed a precise jabbing motion with her fingers. Lily was unprepared for the vitriolic force of the magic that hit her. Panic and terror rose up in her as she felt a sharp pain between her ribs, a Barrier forming inside her. The Barrier wrenched through her painfully, doubling her over. It existed for less than a second before Lily was able to find the magic invading her body and will her hand through the motion to dispel it. But it had felt like a lifetime, and she could not know how much damage it had done to her.

The Dispelling itself was one born out of pure desperation, one she'd have thought beyond her skill. Perhaps, if she'd had time to think about it, she'd not have been able to do it. Again, the lightheadedness hit her, and much worse than before. Even with her panthegrunn's magic feeding her, Lily felt Slumber crashing against her mind like waves crashing against a crumbling sea wall.

But Lady Iris, also, had been left staggered. Through wavering vision, Lily saw the woman standing hunched over and bow-legged, swaying in place like a drunk sailor trying to keep her footing on a ship's tossing deck.

Recovering from her moment of fear and pain—and staring across the hall at the terrible mage who had inflicted it—one thought flashed through Lily's mind, that no mage should ever use magic in that way.

And, yet, no sooner had Iris recovered herself than she again raised her hand in Lily's direction, fingers aligning themselves in the same killing gesture. Lily felt the magic growing and coalescing throughout the hall like a rising storm, the strength of it incredible. The woman was mad! She would risk falling into Slumber forever just to take Lily with her. The taint of vindictiveness and hatred that rode with that swelling magic ignored all sense of self preservation. Lily knew that a mage willing to throw aside all precautions like this could do things unimaginable. She also knew she didn't have the strength to fend off a spell of such magnitude.

The only course of action was not to try. Lily had tried matching Lady Iris's reckless casting in their first encounter and had nearly died as a result. It wouldn't save her this time, either. Marigold had always counseled her toward restraint, to use no more magic than was necessary to get the job done. With this in mind, Lily settled upon her strategy.

Taking a measured breath—and choking down her worry about drawing too much—she drew deeply from Fae's inherent magic. She felt the panthegrunn's energy infuse her, amplifying her own focus and strength. The spells she had in mind, she would keep as small as possible, using only enough magic for each and no more. They would be two simple Barriers. No Permissions, no complexity. But their shaping would have to be nothing less than perfect.

Lily waited until she sensed Iris's magic contracting into a fine point, the moment of no return. Then, she made her move, sweeping her arm in a fast downward gesture. Like a glove of luminous glass, her first Barrier flowed into place from Iris's raised fingertips to her shoulder. Her entire arm became frozen in place, mid-Casting. A look of disbelief came over the raven-hair mage's face. Quickly, she raised her other arm, but Lily was already casting her second spell. Another glove of shimmering gold manifested like a second skin over Iris's other arm.

Pinned like a butterfly in a frame, Lady Iris tried to wrench herself free, only to find her arms completely immobilized. Unable to even twitch a finger toward casting a spell, she was powerless to release herself from her magical bonds. Recognizing the gravity of her situation, she screamed.

"You bitch! Release me! Release me at once!"

A weak, throaty chuckle issued from Mage Marigold. "Handsomely done, girl."

Never had Lily shaped any Barrier so perfectly. She was done. She could cast no more. Leaning heavily on Fae, she allowed Slumber to begin its inevitable seeping in.

No! Wait. Vetch! Just a little more, Lily. Toughen up, girl. Toughen up!

Against every natural force compelling her, she snapped her eyes open. Left without help to even the odds, Vetch still clung precariously to his defenses, as the two remaining Black Crux soldiers took turns trading attacks to wear him down. One sweep of Lily's arm arrested the swordswoman's ensuing lunge with a simple Barrier. Before she could react and step around it, Vetch stabbed his blade through the Barrier and into the swordswoman.

Thinking to take advantage of his companion's fall, the other soldier aimed a chopping swing of his blade down at Vetch's skull. A second sweep of Lily's arm formed a little Barrier between his feet, causing him to stumble. Vetch hadn't even bothered to protect his back. Anticipating Lily's help, he yanked his blade out of the swordswoman's gut, pivoted, and scored an upward slash across the stumbling soldier's chest. Neatly sidestepping, Vetch then followed that with a decisive blow across the back of the man's neck. The final Black Crux soldier fell at his feet, a pool of blood spreading around him.

Iris screamed, "No! No! You have no idea what you are bringing down on yourselves! I am Lady Iris of Black Crux! I have the ear of the king himself! There is nowhere in the kingdom you can go that my people will not find you and end you. Let me free at once!"

Dropping his sword with a clatter, Vetch sat down hard. Lily saw the look of pure exhaustion on his pale face ... right before she collapsed overtop Fae's back, her body feeling light as gossamer.

But before Slumber claimed her, she felt the tiniest shift of magic and her heart lurched. The Barrier she had set on the castle door had faded! Heavy boot falls sounded in the entryway and into the dining hall. It took all of Lily's strength to make her eyes open to a slit. The rest of her body refused to respond. She lay helpless and still, while a triumphant lilt broke through in Lady Iris's voice.

"Murzagis!" She laughed wildly. "Listen to me. Kill these people. Kill all of them. Then ... find ... the rest of my soldiers ... rest of ..."

Lady Iris's head slumped forward over her chest as she dropped into Slumber. She was a threat no more, but it mattered not. There was a new danger, in the form of three more Black Crux soldiers arriving in the hall. The sight of the one who led the way put a chill through Lily's heart. It was the man she and Vetch had seen in the markets, the one with the weathered face and long moustache, who Vetch had identified as the commander of the raiders. He strode into the center of the hall, gazing dispassionately around him at all his fallen kinsman, then at the Slumbering Lady Iris ... then at Vetch.

He stopped a few paces away from Vetch and, without uttering a word, drew his blade. The two men who accompanied him did the same and then spread out in a wide formation.

The scrape of metal on stone accompanied Vetch rising wearily to his feet with his sword in hand. In his state, he could barely stand, let alone stand toe to toe against these fresh soldiers. And Lily could not move! She could do nothing to aid him! No matter how she fought her state, even in contact with her charge-beast, she could not make her body move. Gradually, even her eyelids stopped obeying her. They fell closed and stranded her in a world of darkness, where she was unable to do anything but listen.

The sound of Vetch's withering steps scraped closer to her, then she felt the warmth of his hand on her waist, helping to seat her more securely over Fae's back.

"Marigold, are you still awake?" He spoke quietly, his voice ragged with fatigue. "Do you have one more Barrier left in you?"

There was a long pause and Lily feared that Mari had succumbed to Slumber. But then, she heard her old mentor grunt and stand. "One. Perhaps. Not enough to stop all three of 'em. Not enough to get us out o' this." Another pause, and Lily could imagine the way Marigold chewed her lip in thought before saying, "Like or not, I'll fall into Slumber soon, too."

In a quiet voice pitched for Marigold's ears alone, Vetch said, "The natural fissures behind the castle, there's a narrow place ..."

"I know of it," Marigold said.

"Good. Take Lily on Fae and use a Barrier to bridge across. Escape down the hill. I'll delay these three and keep them from following long enough to give you a head start."

There was defiance in Marigold's voice as she answered. "Don't be stupid, boy. You'll have a better chance of escapin' with 'er than me. I'm an old woman. I'll stay and—"

"I'm dying, Marigold." As if to punctuate this blunt assertion, Vetch erupted into a short fit of rattling coughs. He cleared his throat and spat, and there was a smell of infection. "Take Lily and get out of here. Dispel the bridge once you're across. Get her to safety however you can."

Silence. Silence that made Lily feel lost in a void. What was he saying? Why wasn't Marigold arguing?

Then, Marigold's gnarled hand alighted on Lily's back and the old mage whispered, "Fae. C'mon now, you great beast, get up. There's a good panthegrunn. This way, this way ..."

With a rolling lurch, Fae shifted her great bulk and stood up. Draped over her back, Lily found herself jostled rhythmically, as Fae's heavy hoof beats shadowed the lighter patter of Marigold's shoes. There was no sound to indicate Vetch following them.

No! Please, no! Make him come with us, Mari! Make him come with us!

She felt that she screamed the words, but realized her lips were not moving. Her desperate pleas were only within her mind. A surge of helplessness and despair overcame her, just as the wave of Slumber broke through her thoughts to drown her in oblivion. Lily felt the unwelcome sensation of her body drifting up into the air. ...

*

Vetch watched Marigold's wrinkled features harden as she considered what he had proposed. Same as it had for him, it took her only a few seconds to determine it wasn't just the best course of action, but the only one. To Vetch's vast relief, the old woman heeded him and went to coax Fae up onto her hooves. As she passed him, she offered him a tight-lipped nod.

It was settled then. He'd be giving Lily the best chance to survive. Now, he only needed to perform his part. He put himself between the panthegrunn and the newly arrived sellswords, ready for whatever would come. They'd drawn their blades, but made no move to attack yet. As a soldier, Vetch knew it was because their commander hadn't given the order. Also as a soldier, he wasn't about to waste a single thought on why.

It felt like a lifetime before the old master mage had gotten Fae up and walking. With Lily draped precariously over her back, Fae lumbered tiredly after Marigold as she led the way to a corridor at the rear of the dining hall. The panthegrunn barely fit in the doorway, but she shouldered her way through. Vetch trusted that Marigold knew her way about the castle well enough to find them an exit.

Out of the corner of his eye, Vetch watched the big charge-beast lumber away down the hall and around a corner. Before she disappeared entirely, he risked taking his eyes off his foes to glance back. The last sight of his beloved Lily that he was graced with was of her limp, and pale, and in Slumber. Then, Fae's lion-like tail swept around the corner and they were gone. He longed to chase after them. But he couldn't. Not if he was to give Lily a chance at living. He would die defending that corridor, knowing he would never again look into her lively hazel eyes, never again hear her laughter, never again taste her lips.

Nor she his. She'd had no choice in this. He could only pray she would not be angry with him for too long.

When Vetch returned his attention to the waiting swordsmen, he was almost surprised to find that they still hadn't moved. Had they been wary of the mage? Of the panthegrunn? It didn't matter. They were alone now. Vetch dismissed the two flanking sellswords from his thoughts and set his eyes on the man with the long moustache. He had his name now: Murzagis. No matter what he was called, he was the one who had led an army over Moonfane Forge, and he was the one who had set the ambush that killed the remaining garrison soldiers who'd accompanied Vetch after Marigold.

That meeting was still fresh in Vetch's mind. He'd been outclassed before by this hardened battler, even when he'd been healthy. He knew there would be no surviving this encounter with him, not exhausted and wounded and rotting inside as he was.

But he would make them pay dearly for access to the corridor behind him. He would give Marigold and Lily as much of a head start as he possibly could before he fell. And, then? ... He hoped they'd trip over his body on the way through.

It was not due to his fever, but his searing desire to exact some portion of revenge upon this moustachioed whoreson that turned his eyes into flaring cinders as he stared down his adversary.

Vetch raised his sword defiantly before him. "Well? Come on!"