Barius saw it at the same time Jig did. He lunged for his sword. Jig scrambled to his feet and pointed the rod at Barius. “Stop!”

Barius froze.

“Look out!” Riana shouted.

Jig aimed the rod at Ryslind and Darnak, who stopped moving.

“You don’t even know how to use it,” Ryslind said. “Goblins have neither the strength of will nor the depth of mind for true magic.”

“Neither do you,” Riana snapped.

Jig felt his lips pull back into a feral grin. “You taught us how to use it,” he said. He turned on Barius, who had begun to reach toward his sword.

“You can’t destroy us,” Barius said. “The rod is incapable of taking life.”

“No matter what you do to us, we will find a way to reverse the effects,” Ryslind added. “I’ve enough art left to see to that.”

“Put the rod down, lad,” Darnak said. “You go your way, we’ll go ours.”

Jig didn’t have to look to know how the princes were taking that suggestion. “For how long?” he asked. “How long before they come back looking for more gold, or to get revenge on the goblin? When they get greedy for more treasure, they’re not going to ask us to let them through. You know what will happen.”

Darnak didn’t answer.

“It’s not as though you have a choice, goblin,” Barius said. He had begun to smile again, believing he had won. “My brother is correct. You cannot kill us, not with the rod, even if you could control its magic.”

Jig wavered. But then he saw the smoking web in the corner, and his arm tightened. “You controlled it,” he said. He bared his teeth. “I bet I can do better.”

The magic felt similar to the power Shadowstar had given him, but much more powerful. Jig felt as though his entire body were being crushed into the end of the rod and squeezed out the other side. He saw the prince stumble. His vision wavered, and his head began to pound. He concentrated on keeping himself whole. The rod tried to pull him apart, but Jig pulled back. He could feel the magic begin to work. He sensed the instant Barius’s body started to reshape itself.

“Barius!”

Ryslind’s voice, angry and panicked. He was trying to cast a spell of his own. Jig turned and pointed the rod at the wizard. Again the magic poured through him, halting Ryslind in midstride. White ice pierced Jig’s brain as the rod’s power broke through Ryslind’s hastily erected shields. Backlash, he thought, remembering what had happened when Barius used the rod.

But even as Jig fell, he saw that it had worked.