"I just don't like our chances," Lillandra said again.

  Arai looked at her, and Shell, and Sir Estil, in turn. Neither of them looked terribly excited about Arai's proposal, but he could hardly blame them: sneaking into a heavily-guarded army camp and absconding with Arliel XXI, the Holy Empire's own emperor, was going to be incredibly difficult, incredibly dangerous. They had faced danger before, in all kinds of ways and in all kinds of places, but even Sir Estil -- usually the most daring of them all -- was expressing doubts about this particular idea. "It is fraught with risk," he said carefully. "I'm not saying that it's impossible, but..."

  "I agree," Arai said. "And I don't like our chances, either. But we're going to need the Steelmen's help in Velon, and this is the easiest way to get it. Besides, you heard what Grizz said. Getting the emperor away from Dayan might be the key to ending this conflict. There's no telling how many lives we might save."

  "I don't doubt that," Sir Estil said. "Rescuing the emperor is a certainly an excellent idea, but ideas are easy; anyone can come up with an idea. It's bringing them to life that's hard. And the logistics of this concern me. How will we find the man? How will we escape with him without raising an alarm? There are so many things that could go wrong."

  Arai couldn't deny any of that. "We'll come up with something," he said. "We have to. If Dayan isn't checked here, he may invade Velon itself. If we don't deal with him here and now, we'll be dealing with him later."

  "Perhaps," Lillandra said distantly. Although she had expressed the same doubts as the others, she hadn't said as much; she seemed distracted. Arai asked her what was the matter.

  "The Nightfall," she said. "I don't understand what's going on there. If there really is some kind of magic in place, preventing people from entering, it's nothing that I did. It must be something new."

  "But who would cast a spell like that?" Shell wondered. "And why?"

  "I don't know. That's what's bothering me."

  "We can discuss it later," Arai said. "We have more pressing concerns at the moment, I think. Let's head down to this vault and have a look at these zemi."

  Vaix, who was Grizz's aide-de-camp, led them into the depths of the Crevak, through several cold and damp hallways, and into a chamber which he had to unlock with a large key. Inside were dozens of crates and boxes, most of them filled with maps and other documents, but some of which contained an assortment of zemi. One of these was the Crux of Illusion that Grizz had mentioned; it was a prism-like object, made of glass, but in the shape of a cross, which scattered any light that caught it. Lillandra picked it up and examined it.

  "It's old," she said. "Very old. And its magic is almost used up."

  "Can you recharge it?"

  "It would take years. It took ten years to gather enough magia to make my own Crux of Illusion, back at the Nightfall. They're very complex zemi, because they contain multiple spells -- three different Glamours, the Bewitching Beauty, the Perfect Blindness, the Nominal Invisibility, and the Irruption of Light and Shadow, to name a few."

  "How much magic is left in it, then?"

  She studied it further, frowning. "Enough to disguise the four of us for a few hours, perhaps," she said.

  "That's not much time," Arai muttered.

  "But what's this?" Lillandra set the Crux down and removed another zemi from the box. This one looked something like a glass pincushion, with needles poking out of it. "Ah! A Prickle of Ice."

  "What's that?" Sir Estil asked.

  "A zemi for producing ice and snow. A Prickle of Ice can freeze a man in his tracks. I used to have one of these, too." She looked the zemi over, sighing and shaking her head. "But this one's just as used-up as the Crux of Illusion. I doubt it could be used more than once."

  "It might come in handy anyway," Arai suggested. "Maybe we should take it with us."

  She put it in her pocket, along with the Crux of Illusion.

  "We're really doing this, then?" Shell asked. "We're sneaking into this camp and rescuing the emperor?"

  Arai took a deep breath. "I'm asking a lot of you, I know," he said. "But we're probably the only ones who can pull this off, and we really do need the Steelmen's help. What good will it do us to reach Velon, if the Al'mud have already taken it over by the time we get there?"

  The three of them thought it over. Sir Estil was the first to speak: "I trust you, Arai, and I have sworn myself to your service in any case. I will accompany you on this mission. It will be dangerous, of course, but I'm hardly in a position to lecture you on danger; the Perfect Knight knows I've spent most of my life in the midst of it. And if we succeed...well, it'll be something for the bards and minstrels to sing about, won't it?" He grinned, just a little.

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  "I don't like our chances," Lillandra said again. "But if you're really determined to do this, you're going to need my help, and I...I'm not going to abandon you."

  "Me, neither," Shell said. "Where you go, I go."

  "It's settled, then," Sir Estil said, "but as I pointed out earlier, we can't just rush into this. We need to plan this out, down to the minute if possible."

  Arai smiled. The fact that the three of them had such faith in him was gratifying, at least. "All right, then," he said. "Let's get to work."

  * * *

  Unfortunately they didn't have much time; Dayan's army was already on the move. "They've made camp at Gull's Bend," Vaix said later that afternoon. He had just returned from a brief reconnaissance mission. "It's a large village about eight miles up the coast. It looks like they're planning on staying there tonight, but their riders are already scouting ahead." He face was grave. "They'll arrive at the Crevak tomorrow."

  "This is our only chance, then," Arai said. "We have to do this thing tonight."

  With Grizz's help, and with some assistance from Vaix, who knew the lay of the land, they quickly assembled a plan: Arai, Lillandra, Shell, and Sir Estil would sneak into the enemy camp, free the emperor, and take him north, crossing the Highwater Bridge over the Mans River -- the border between New Carmal and Manrador -- and rejoining the Steelmen at a village called Seltah, notable for its large windmill. Lillandra gave Grizz one of her Rabbit's Feet, so that they would have no trouble finding each other.

  From there, they would continue north, meet up with Duke Galagus, hand off the emperor, and make their way through the Cyrilles to Velon.

  The hard part, of course, was going to be sneaking into the camp and running off with the emperor. There was a great deal they didn't know: How well was the emperor guarded? Would he come along with them willingly? How long would it take for Dayan's forces to realize he was missing? That latter question was crucial; they were almost certain to be pursued, after all, which meant they needed to put as much distance between themselves and the enemy camp as possible after they had collected the emperor.

  They gathered together everything they thought might be useful to them, including all of their zemi. Shell carried the Candle of Hours, her Badge of Deflection, and her Witch's Dagger, while Lillandra carried the Crux of Illusion, the Prickle of Ice, and their various other trinkets, such as the Mermaid's Glass, the Kraken's Nail, and a couple of hastily prepared Volcanics. She also wore the Assassin's Cloak over her shoulders, and her sword, Helene, on her back.

  Arai, for his part, was outfitted in the white armor that Sir Estil had given him, though he covered it up with a black-and-green surcoat that might give him some camouflage. Sir Estil, decked out in his polished blue armor, wore a similar coat.

  Shell had them drink down a couple more of Emi's potions: one that improved their vision and another one that improved their night vision. "That just about does it," Shell said sadly, looking through her collection. "All I've got left now are a few drops of this sleeping potion. I wish I knew how to make these myself."

  "You've got three hundred years of life ahead of you, at least," Arai reminded her. "I'm sure you can find someone to teach you."

  "Three hundred years?" She gave that a dark laugh. "I may not live out the night."

  Vaix gave them a map, which they studied carefully. "You shouldn't have any trouble finding the Highwater Bridge," he told them. "Just follow the river north."

  "Thank you," Arai said, folding up the map and stuffing it into his pocket. "Do we need anything else?"

  "A little luck," Vaix said doubtfully.

  Arai snorted. "You're not confident of our success?"

  He smiled faintly. "You killed the Night Queen, and made it all the way back here after being thrown to the other side of the world. Only a fool would underestimate you at this point. But..." He spread his hands. "Well, there's a reason no one else was willing to volunteer for this mission."

  "That's what I like about you, Vaix. You've never been afraid to speak your mind."

  "I'll see you in Seltah," he said. And he parted with them there.

  They received their final instructions from Grizz, who also wished them good luck, and with that, they left, on the three horses provided to them by the Steelmen. They rode out of the Crevak, heading east, just as the sun was setting, following a long, straight road to this village which the Holy Legion had occupied. Vaix had told them that the region would be crawling with scouts and spies, so after a few miles they left the road and turned onto a narrow path that Vaix had described to them, which ran through a dark, woodsy area north of the village. Shell activated the Candle of Hours, which allowed the horses to see where they were going, but she kept its light dim as possible to avoid attracting attention.

  After an hour or so they began seeing some spotty lights through the trees: the torches and cookfires of Dayan's Holy Legion. They heard voices as well, carrying through the quiet night.

  "We're getting close," Arai said, turning to Lillandra. "Isn't it about time you used that zemi?"

  "I need to get a closer look at these soldiers first," she said. "To see what they're wearing. I can't make us look like Dayan's men if I don't know what they look like."

  This complicated matters. "All right," he said, thinking it over. "You and I will sneak a little closer to the camp. Shell, Sir Estil...you stay here."

  Arai and Lillandra dismounted and approached the camp, emerging from the trees and crouching low to avoid being seen. The closer they got, the more Arai began to despair, for the camp was absolutely enormous, easily the largest single force he had ever seen in all his years of fighting throughout the Holy Empire. There might have been twenty thousand men in this horde; the tents and campfires, though centered around the village, extended far beyond it, into the dark and distant horizon.

  Grizz and Vaix had warned him of all this, of course, but seeing this gigantic army in person was another matter. "Damn," he muttered.

  Lillandra, her vision improved by Shell's potions, squinted at the soldiers, then nodded to herself. "All right," she said. "I think I've got a pretty good idea of how they dress." She turned to Arai. "Are you sure you want to do this? It's not too late to turn back."

  Arai shook his head. "The Steelmen are counting on us."

  "All right, then." She removed the Crux of Illusion from her pocket. "Let's go find this so-called emperor."