“Herald—” He tried to ignore the insistent voice in his ear, but the man would not go away. He turned impatiently, to see that his persistant companion was the Councillor, Bard Hyron. Hyron was enough of a trained bowman to have warranted a place back here, alongside Griffon.

“Herald—the tales say these things are dependent on their sorcerer. If you kill him, they’ll vanish!”

“What if the tales are wrong?”

“You won’t have lost anything,” the Bard pointed out. “Look—the mage must be in that knot of people back by the standard; just to the left of the center and the rear of Ancar’s lines.”

“Get me a Farseer!” Before Griffon had finished speaking, the man was off, running faster than Griffon would have guessed he could.

The Bard was back in an instant—too long for Griffon, who watched, sickened, as the demons carved down another swath of the Guard.

“I’m looking, Grif—” It was Griffon’s red-haired year-mate, Davan, who came stumbling up in the Bard’s wake—stumbling because he had one hand pressed to his forehead, trying to “See” as he ran. “I’ve—Moody hell! I know he’s there, but they’re blocking me! Damn you, you bastards—”

Davan went to his knees, face twisted and unrecognizable with the effort of fighting the blockage the mages were putting on him.

“Come on, Davan—” Griffon glanced up; and swallowed bile and fear. The demons were continuing to advance. He concentrated, and sent the nearest up in flames, but another took its place.

Hyron froze for a moment, then ran off again. Griffon hardly noticed; he was doing what he could—and it wasn’t enough.

Pounding hooves and a flash of white that Griffon saw out of the corner of his eye signaled the arrival of another Herald. Distracted, Griffon turned to see who it was.

Dirk—and not Ahrodie, but Rolan!

Dirk slid off the stallion’s bare back, and took Davan by the shoulder, shaking him. “Break it off, little brother—that isn’t going to get you anywhere,” he shouted over the noise of battle. “You two—don’t argue. Link with us—”

Griffon did not even bother to think, much less argue. He linked in with Dirk, as he had so often done as a student—

To find himself, not in a four-way linkage, but a five. Dirk was linked to Rotan—who in his turn was linked to-Talia?

Yes, it was Talia.

Dirk’s ability at Mindspeech was limited, but urgency made it clear and strong. :Davan, follow Her. Mage used death to raise power—pain, despair—She can track it to him. Grif, follow Davan-I hold here.: