I shuddered and took the cup of weak tea he offered, and sipped it to warm my body and soul. “Yes. True dreams, I think. I’ll be glad to get far enough from Menogue that Aethervon leaves me alone.”

I shared the dream later with Oreg, hoping he could tell me how much power Jakoven could glean from a half cup of Tychis’s blood.

“I don’t know,” he said finally. “I never saw the Bane, you understand—only felt its creation and the disturbance it wrought. It’s been such a long time. After so many years the memories fade, faster because I never wanted to look back and see how long I’d been enslaved. I can no longer remember what was history and what was story told over a cup of ale.”

“It doesn’t really matter,” I said, rubbing Feather’s nose as I walked beside her. “We need to get Kellen to Hurog, get Shavig to support him, and then get him out to a safer place. We can’t risk sending someone to try and get rid of the Bane or the blood . . .” I hesitated. “I’d be able tofind the Bane,” I said—as I spoke I could almost hear it calling me. “If I could break it—or destroy Tychis’s blood . . .”

“Don’t be stupid,” snapped Oreg. “Icouldn’t get into that part of the Asylum. All that would happen is that you would find yourself Jakoven’s guest—and this time he would not underestimate you.”

“Right,” I said. “So we’ll hope Jakoven doesn’t have as much power as it appears.”

I knew the stable master slightly. He’d seemed like a good man. I hoped he’d die quickly, but I didn’t really expect that would be the case. I wouldn’t tell Garranon. There was nothing he could do about the poor man except feel guilt. As I was. But I could not risk going back.

A hunting horn blew three crisp notes and I tightened Feather’s cinch and swung back into the saddle. There was another part of the dream that bothered me. I wrestled with it as Feather trotted over the flat Tallvenish landscape.

When we walked again, I stayed in the saddle. My time in the Asylum had robbed me of endurance. I would just have to depend upon Feather.

By chance I found myself riding beside Garranon. He was walking beside his mount some distance from anyone else. We traveled in silence for a few miles, Feather as content to match her walk with Garranon’s as I was to match his silence.

Apparently it was more restful on my part than his because he said, abruptly and angrily, “Aren’t you afraid to catch it, too?”

Bewildered I wondered if I had dozed off and missed part of a conversation, or if my exhaustion had made me stupid.

“Catch what?” I inquired.