Then he carefully pulled him to his feet and steadied him. After a moment, he began walking him out of the skrail camp. Kirisin glanced again at the guard, but the guard didn’t move.

“It can’t see you,” Logan Tom whispered.

Kirisin didn’t understand. Then he looked more closely. The skrail’s head was cocked to one side at an unnatural angle. It was dead.

His rescuer put a finger to his lips once more. The strange mottled face and unnaturally bright eyes mirrored something the boy couldn’t quite define. One rough hand reached up to grip his shoulder.

“Leave no footprints,” the Knight of the Word whispered, and his smile was bright and fierce.

TWENTY-ONE

KIRISIN WALKED AWAYfrom his captivity as if there were nothing to it, as free as the night air, although inwardly he was still grappling with how quickly things had turned around. He followed Logan Tom through the darkness, filled with a mix of relief and gratitude that exceeded anything he could remember. He had been certain of his fate when the skrails had caught him trying to escape, his hopes dashed, his courage gone. He had told himself that Simralin would come for him, but he’d had no real expectation that she would.

No real expectation that anyone would.

But here was Logan Tom, come out of nowhere, finding him when Kirisin knew in his heart that no one could. It was a genuine miracle, and he was so grateful for it that he almost cried. Logan kept him moving, steadying him as they walked until at last he was able to continue unaided. Some distance farther on, just inside the screen of a grove of withered trees, the Knight of the Word turned aside to retrieve the clothing he had shed earlier. Kirisin stood silently nearby, watching him dress. He took his time, in no apparent hurry, using sleeves torn from his shirt to wipe himself clean of the camouflage paint before slipping back into his clothes. He said nothing to the boy the whole time. When he was finished dressing, he bent down to retrieve his black staff from where it was lying on the ground. It took a moment for Kirisin to realize what that meant, and when he did, he was stunned. Logan Tom had gone into the skrail camp without his magic to protect him! He had left his staff behind!

The Knight of the Word caught him staring and turned away quickly. “Let’s go, Kirisin.”

They started out again. “Is Sim all right?” the boy asked him. “Has there been any sign of her? Of any of them?”

The other shrugged. “Can’t tell yet. It’s too early to know. Don’t talk. Not until we’re farther away.”