“Wait here. I’ll go get some together for you.” Micum went out.

“If I do go through, I’ll be careful and I won’t let her fool me again, I promise, Seregil.”

Seregil reached out and gave his disheveled braid a light tug. “It may not be your choice, given her apparent powers.”

“Tell me about the cave again while we wait,” said Thero with thinly disguised impatience.

“The one she took me to looked similar to the innermost one Seregil and I saw, except there was no water, no dripstone, and the pictures of the animals were evil. At the back was the black opal set in gold and it glowed. When I reached out to touch it, I didn’t feel anything but suddenly I was in the other cave, the one with the water. There was a ghost who spoke Aurënfaie. He was terribly sad, weeping and calling out.”

“What did he call out?”

Alec sighed. “As I told you, he called on Aura to protect a woman.”

“But he didn’t say who?” asked Thero.

“No—No, wait, he did say something else. ‘Nölienai talía.’ Something beloved.”

“Beloved Black Pearl,” said Seregil.

“But it wasn’t a pearl, it was an opal.”

Seregil gave his braid another tug. “It’s a term of endearment for a women. A darkly favored one, I’d say.”

“The necromancer?”

“Possibly,” said Thero.

“Then the ghost is evil, too.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions.” Seregil yawned. “We might speculate, however, that it is his skull bolted to that pillar, since he’s haunting the cave. I think I’ll have another look there, tomorrow.”

“I don’t think you’ll be in any shape for exploring.” Alec looked at the stitches in Seregil’s scalp. “The drysian did a good job but you must have lost a lot of blood.”

“Head wounds always bleed a lot. It looks worse than it is, I’m sure. I’m just hoping I can get the blood out of the hair that’s left. I’m in no hurry to be bald.”

“Come along, Alec,” said Thero. “Seregil, if we don’t get back tonight, tell Micum to keep an eye out for Klia’s messenger tomorrow for me.”

The pack of food Micum had readied for them was heavy, but this time they were taking horses as far as the grove. When they arrived at the oracle’s precinct, Thero silently handed his bag to Alec to carry and shouldered the heavier load.