Triplet

"Just the opposite, actually. He was mad as a fury over what Melentha's demons did to his house and lar." Abruptly, Hart stopped, cocking his head sideways. "Hoofbeats," he murmured.

Danae licked her lips and nodded silently, feeling painfully naked out here without any protection at all. A quick lar invocation, perhaps... but if it was Melentha out there, calling up a spirit would be about as clever as setting the whole copse on fire. "How are we going to attract his attention?" she whispered.

"We don't; I do. You'll stay here while I ride out and check."

Silently, Danae slid oft" the horse, thinking furiously. There had to be a way... "Wait a second," she said suddenly as Hart reached up to pull himself up. "If it's Ravagin he'll be alone... plazni-hy-ix!"

"What—? Oh; a jinx spell."

"Right." Holding her breath, Danae watched as the almost invisible cloud faded off toward the distant hoofbeats in response to her placement gesture. If it was Ravagin out there, he would hopefully notice the spell and come to the proper conclusion. If it was Melentha and her demonic entourage, the spell should at least buy her and Hart some time to get away.

Abruptly, the hoofbeats faltered and came to a halt.

Unconsciously, Danae's hands curled into fists, aware of the gamble she was taking. A jinx wasn't nearly as conspicuous as a lar, but even so Melentha's demons would probably be able to trace it back to the point of invocation in nothing flat...

The hoofbeats began again. Coming closer.

Silently, Hart squeezed Danae's arm and moved a short distance to the side. Danae gritted her teeth as the shadow of a mounted rider loomed against the dimly lit landscape—

"Danae? Hart? Anyone there?"

Danae exhaled in relief, the tension draining out of her body along with the air. "We're here, Ravagin, in the trees," she called out softly.

"You both all right?" he called. The pace of the hoofbeats picked up, but remained somehow oddly cautious.

"Yes," she told him. "How'd you get away from Melentha?"

"With great difficulty, and only temporarily unless we get the hell out of the area."

"Well, then, let's go," she said, stepping to their horse and climbing up. "Hart? Come on."

The shadow that was Hart didn't move. "It might be a good idea first," he said calmly, "for our friend here to prove he's really Ravagin and not some illusion created to smoke us out."

Danae's mouth suddenly went dry as the memory of Coven and the doppelgangers Ravagin had himself used came flooding back. "But... how do we—?"

"Danae, on Shamsheer you tried to rescue a woman who was being picked on by three of her relatives," Ravagin interrupted her. "I kept them off you with a scorpion glove and we got arrested for our trouble. Your turn."

"Oh—I see. All right. I had a bad case of acrophobia on our first sky-plane ride. I saw a castle-lord's bubble in the distance. And I was furious that you insisted on a low buzz over Castle Numanteal."

"You were that mad? I didn't realize that. Hart? Go ahead."

"I tried to bribe my way onto the trip with you the night before you left," Hart said. "You turned me down and had me taken away from the Crosspoint Building. The guard on duty that night was named Grey."

For a moment there was silence. "Well?" Danae asked at last. "Is that it? Can we get out of here now?"

"Sure," Ravagin said wearily, sliding off his horse. "Just as soon as we figure out where exactly we're going to go. And how we're going to get there alive."

Chapter 27

"What do you mean, where are we going?" Danae asked. "We're going to the Tu

Ravagin shook his head, peering into the darkness at her. The visibility was lousy; but even so, it was clear she was suffering badly from fatigue. Fatigue, or something worse. "The Tu

"But if we hurry, Melentha at least won't be there in person to oppose us," Hart pointed out from the shadows to Ravagin's left. "I've been told it's difficult to manipulate spirits long-range."

"Agreed," Ravagin nodded. "Especially since they don't react well to situations outside the scope of their specific orders. And of course Melentha won't be able to have a demon sitting out there indefinitely waiting for us to show—there's a limit to how long a non-binding invocation lasts. But there are other things she can do."

"Such as?" Hart asked.

"Such as keep a dozen demons or so circulating between her and the Tu

"So we just time our escape to come between the waves—" Danae began.

"She may also have human allies she can call on for help—spirit-possessed or otherwise," Ravagin cut her off. "And some of them may live close enough to the Tu

"Given all of this," Hart said, "it still seems to me that the longer we delay, the more time she'll have to set up a water-tight barrier around the Tu

"Will they be able to identify us, though?" Danae asked. "I didn't think spirits saw us as faces."

"You'd have to ask Melentha exactly how it is spirits see us," Ravagin said grimly. "Unfortunately, Hart's got a point. Especially since they already have our names to work with."

"Our—oh." Danae inhaled sharply. "Damn. That does make a difference, doesn't it?"

"A big one," Ravagin nodded. "It's not quite as simple as when you send a sprite off with a message for a particular person, but even with the more advanced spirits there's some kind of coupling between name and image."

"So you're basically offering us no choices at all," Hart said quietly. "If we race to the Tu

"Courier training doesn't cover this type of situation," Ravagin shook his head. "But I may have an idea." He looked at Danae. "Do you still remember how to do that demogorgon invocation?"

From the corner of his eye he saw Hart stiffen. "I had a full mnemonic treatment, you know," Danae told him. "Of course I remember it."

"Do you think you could stand to try it again?" There was the barest hesitation before she answered.

"If it'll help get us out of here, I'll try anything."

"There aren't any guarantees, I'm afraid," he warned. "For that matter, I'm not even sure if the spell I want really exists. But if it does, a demogorgon will probably know it."

"And what would this possibly nonexistent spell do?" Hart asked.

Ravagin pursed his lips. "Make us invisible to spirits."

For a moment there was silence as the other two seemed to digest that. "Uh-huh," Hart said at last.

"Interesting approach. If spirits can't see us, the majority of Melentha's spy network becomes effectively useless."

"Not only the spy network, but the bulk of her defenses, too," Ravagin pointed out. "One trick she'll probably use to get around the spontaneous release problem is to bind some of her spirits into wild animals and set them to prowling around the Tu

"Sounds like a worthwhile gamble," Hart said with a nod. "Yes, we'll try it. Ms. mal ce Taeger, you'll need to tell me how to do this demogorgon spell—"