“And don’t forget,” Merritt added, “we’re probably dealing with an enemy who stole the power of Orden. This sorceress may know something about all that. She may know who has the boxes or where they are. If we’re really serious, then we can’t be halfhearted. We dare not let this chance slip away, no matter who gets in our way. If we go down there and those guards won’t let us in to see this woman, we may have to end up killing them.”

Magda sighed in frustration. “You’re right. If we don’t discover the enemy’s plans before it’s too late, everyone could die. The risk is too great. We’re going to have to do what is necessary.” She looked over at him as they turned down a carpeted corridor. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Hope isn’t a plan. We have to get in and to do that we may need to kill the guards.”

“I’d rather bluff my way in.”

“If it works, I’m with you. But I need to be ready to have your back.”

“Magic doesn’t work in the dungeon,” she reminded him. “The dungeons are shielded to prevent any gifted prisoner from using magic to escape, or from any gifted ally of a prisoner from getting in and using their magic to break them out. Down in the dungeons, it’s muscle that matters. That’s why they have the kind of guards they do down there.”

Without looking over at her, he said, “The sword will still work down there. When they crafted the shields, they didn’t shield against the magic I invested in the sword.”

“How do you know?”

“Because it didn’t exist at the time. No one had ever thought of the kind of power I put into the sword until I did. It never existed until I created it, so it’s impossible for them to have shielded against it.”

“So if you have a way to defeat our shields, it would be foolish to think the enemy didn’t as well.”

“That thought had occurred to me.”

Magda nodded, already thinking about the journey down into the lower reaches of the Keep, into the place of the dead.

Chapter 70

Magda’s legs ached from the long descent down into the place of the dead. She was so exhausted that at times she thought she might fall over. She knew that what she was feeling was more than normal fatigue. She hated to think about the eventual long climb back up.