“Take Sedge and some of his guards with you,” Klia told Seregil and the others. “I don’t want anything happening to you.”

Micum pulled the amulet the wizard had made for him from the neck of his shirt. “No dra’gorgos will bother us so long as we keep these on, right, Thero?”

“You should be safe, but be careful all the same. I’d rather you went in there later, when I could be with you.”

“We’ll be fine,” Seregil told him.

Chapter 13: Tears

KLIA was quiet as they rode back toward the camp and Thero left her to her thoughts, not wanting to embarrass her in front of the others by treating her like an invalid.

By the time they reached camp the sun was nearly down. Torches and braziers were already being lit. A soldier directed them to the large tent set aside for Klia, and Thero followed her inside.

A young servant woman sat by a small brazier inside, but Klia dismissed her. When the girl was gone, Thero closed the tent flap and cast a silence spell on the tent. Klia sank down on the cot and rested her head in her hands.

“Damn that woman, letting you walk into that cave without any warning!”

“No harm done, love,” she replied, voice muffled by her fingers. “No one else was affected. Although I thought Seregil looked a little odd when I joined him in the middle chamber.”

“He always looks a little odd to me.”

Klia laughed. “I’m serious. It was like he was listening to something I couldn’t hear. You know, the way he did in Sarikali?”

“I’ll ask him about it. I’m surprised he didn’t say something about it at the time.”

She sighed and looked up. “You’d better go see how Mika is getting on. You’ve been gone a long time and it’s dark.”

Thero looked into her lovely blue eyes. “Are you sure you want to be alone?”

“I told you, it was just a momentary distemper. Probably just the torch smoke in an enclosed place, or the vapors. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for the oracles …” She trailed off and Thero was amazed to see tears welling in her eyes as she whispered, “Do you think they really were children, Thero?”

“It was just a stool, love. We can’t read too much into any ancient object without other evidence. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”

She cupped his cheek and kissed him. “Go fetch Mika and we’ll keep each other company while you’re gone.”

“Very well.”