“I still don’t understand why a nasty, powerful necromancer would show Alec that seal, and help him get out,” said Micum.

“A nasty, powerful necromancer probably wouldn’t,” said Seregil. “Which begs the question, is the woman who Alec interacted with a necromancer at all?”

“She’s the one who I saw pick up Mika, and I saw her in the tower before she got to me.”

“You saw a woman with some powers in a red dress,” Seregil replied. “That doesn’t make her a necromancer. Perhaps she’s the one who put the seal there.”

“Wouldn’t she be dead after all these years?” said Micum. “For that matter, wouldn’t the necromancer?”

“Not if she’s a dyrmagnos,” said Thero, sending a chill through all of them. “Which would explain the lengths taken to contain her.”

“By the Flame, I hope not.” Micum rubbed absently at the scars left on his leg by Irtuk Beshar, the dyrmagnos they’d destroyed on that lonely stretch of Plenimaran shoreline. The most powerful necromancers sometimes lived on for centuries as gruesome animated husks, growing more powerful with time.

“She didn’t look like one,” said Alec, emptying the last of the water into his cup. “Irtuk Beshar was a dried-up, leathery corpse. This woman is young and beautiful.”

“And how would she live there, if she was human?” asked Seregil. “The place saps the strength out of you every time you go in, and I’m reasonably sure that you would have died of hunger and thirst if you’d stayed any longer than you did.”

“Could a dyrmagnos survive there?” asked Micum. “Do they eat?”

“I’m not sure,” Thero replied. “They’re so rare that not a lot is known about them, apart from their powers and how difficult it is to kill them.”

“But we know how to kill one,” Micum pointed out. “You know the magic Nysander used on Alec’s arrows, don’t you?”

“Yes, in theory at least.” He thought a moment. “Whether she’s a dyrmagnos or necromancer or whatever else she might be, apparently something is sustaining her.”

“Do you remember anything else about her, Alec?” asked Seregil.

He thought a moment, picturing her in his mind. “She was the only one wearing fine clothing. I don’t remember seeing any other bright colors but that of her gown. When we were in the cave, she gave off light. That’s when I got a good look at her. Like I said, she was beautiful, and not frightening, either. She made me go where she wanted me to go, but she didn’t hurt me. Whatever the case, I have to get back there and find Mika.”