Simralin straightened, winced from the resulting pain, and quickly lay back again. “All right. Then we need to warn Arissen Belloruus and the High Council. We need to tell them to get everyone out of there.”

“How are we going to do that?” Kirisin demanded. “The King and probably the entire Council think that

we killed Erisha! They think we’re some sort of traitors! They won’t believe us!”

His sister stared at him a moment, then said, “We’ll make them believe us.”

“Oh, that shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“Wait a minute, Little K. Maybe we don’t have to tell anyone. Think about it. An entire army moving on the Cintra? The Elves probably know about it already. Their scouts and sentries will have told them. They’ll have seen something that big coming from miles away.”

Kirisin shook his head. “Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know how they planned to do this. Maybe the army isn’t supposed to get close until the Elves are trapped in the Loden.”

His sister nodded. “Maybe. Maybe nothing is supposed to happen until you get back. The other demons can’t know that Culph is dead. Or his four-legged companion, either. They have to wait to see what happens. That gives us a chance.”

“A chance to get ourselves thrown into the cells by the King,” Kirisin said. “I still don’t know how we’ll ever convince him that we’re speaking the truth. Even if he sees the army coming, he’ll probably think we had something to do with it. I bet he’s already made up his mind about that, too.”

Neither said anything for a moment, looking at each other across the silence of the cavern chamber, the darkness and cold pressing in around them. Kirisin was thinking that they were all alone in this; there was no one they could turn to, no one who would help them. He was thinking that it wasn’t likely anything would change this.

“We’ll be all right,” his sister said softly.

Sure we will, Kirisin thought. Assuming we can learn to fly and disappear into thin air.

“I know,” he said instead. He yawned. “I’m exhausted, Sim. I’m going to get some sleep. Maybe you should, too.”

Simralin didn’t say anything. She just sat there, staring at him. After a moment, she said, “You’ll see, Little K. We’ll be fine.”

She was still sitting there, staring, when he fell asleep.

HE AWOKE TO SHARDS OF DAYLIGHTspilling down the cavern passageway through ice-frozen cracks in the ceiling. Simralin was moving quietly about the chamber, gathering up their gear and redistributing it into two packs. She looked pale but steady as the light caught the planes and lines of her bruised, ravaged face.