When she lowered her arm, the room was thick with smoke and a dragon curled around itself where Oreg had been, filling the room.

Then Oreg stood in the dragon’s place, staggered a few steps forward, and fell to his knees. Duraugh rushed to his side and helped him to a chair.

“Oreg?” he said. “Are you all right?”

The wizard nodded his head, breathing heavily. “I can’t get to him,” he said in a voice that shook. “I haven’t seen wards like those since . . . It’s warded with dragon magic. I couldn’t get through. If I were inside, with him, I might have been able to get him out—but not from here.”

“They have a dragon?” asked Tosten tightly.

Oreg shook his head. “More likely some remnant piece—a tooth or scale would be enough.”

“Are you sure you could get him out from inside?” Tisala asked.

Oreg smiled grimly. “Yes.”

She rubbed her hands over her eyes. “I’ll see what we can do. There is only one cleaner for that section. It’ll be difficult to remove her again without arousing questions—not to mention the prevalence of mages who might notice a wizard strolling through their doors, for all that he’s dressed like a cleaner.”

8
WARDWICK

What you do when no one is watching reveals your true character.

DAYBY DAYIWAS FAILING, HOUR BY HOUR IT WASharder to ride the pain. The greater portion of the panic gripping me had nothing to do with the herbs in the water I drank; I lost hope.

Oreg, where are you?

Sometimes the demons brought me back to my cell when the morning sun trickled through the small, grated window far above me. I would stare at the pale light on the straw because the window hurt my eyes. In my more cognizant moments I realized they weren’t letting me sleep.

At some point I quit eating the food they left, but I managed to remember that the water was important, and I gagged it down before crawling to my straw cave.

ICOULD TELL IT WAS ALMOST TIME FOR THE MONSTERSby the relative clearness of my thoughts. The door opened and I tried to pretend I wasn’t there, burrowing into the straw until they couldn’t find me.

But it wasn’t the usual monsters, because the door shut, leaving the intruder caged with me. The break in routine was frightening and the resulting adrenaline rush sent me to my feet.

A woman stood just inside the door in a plain woolen robe. In her right hand she held a wooden rake.

“Tisala.”The small voice spoke for the first time in a long time, but it was virtually lost in the sea of terror that drowned me. It hadn’t taken long to learn that anything new was bad.