“Actually, I can. I just can’t believe it.”

A servant came in with a tray and a jug. Thero gestured for her to leave them on the floor by the bed and go.

The aromas of soup, mince pie, and bread were too much to resist in his current state and Alec started in on the soup. The jug contained water and he drank directly from it, trying to assuage his terrible thirst.

“What do you think it is?” Micum demanded.

“It’s a Great Seal,” Thero replied.

“That’s all?”

Thero shook his head. “No, Micum, not the kind on a document. These symbols are used to seal away horrors. They come from the most ancient of Aurënfaie wizards’ practice, and the knowledge of them was passed down to some who became part of the Second Orëska, and through them to the Third.”

“Why would a necromancer want me to know about something like that?” Alec wondered, sopping up the last of the soup with a piece of bread.

“A very good question.”

“And what about whoever put it there, on that other plane?” asked Micum.

“They would have been trapped there,” Thero replied.

“An Aurënfaie gave his life to set the seal,” murmured Seregil.

“Not necessarily a ’faie. There were human wizards on Kouros once the Aurënfaie mingled with the Hierophantic people.”

“Let me see,” said Seregil. Thero held the parchment down. “I don’t recognize the symbols, but the rosette—I’ve seen that style back home, on very old furniture and jewelry. If it wasn’t made by a ’faie, it was made by someone who knew our art.”

“If the seal is so powerful, then how did Alec and Mika get in, and demons and dra’gorgos get out?” asked Micum.

“Maybe that’s not what the seal was designed to protect against,” said Alec, starting in on a wedge of pie.

“Clearly,” said Seregil. “But as far as we know, the necromancer can’t get out.”

“With a seal that potent, I’m surprised anything could,” said Thero.

“And yet Alec is able to get in and out at will.”

“Could something be wrong with the magic?” Alec asked, finishing off the pie and licking his fingers. “I mean, couldn’t a really old magic get weak over time?”

“Not this kind,” said Thero.

“Obviously something is awry,” Seregil rasped.

Thero plucked at his beard a moment in thought. “In a case like this, the Great Seal inside the plane could have been paired with another on this side.”

“To keep things on this side from getting in?” asked Alec. “I mean, you wouldn’t want anyone accidentally going in there with a necromancer. And what kind of necromancer gets sealed away by magic that powerful?”

“A very powerful one,” said Thero. “But you may be on to something.”