"Niles," Kerra whispered, careful to keep her voice down so that the Aldrimar guards that surrounded didn''t hear. "What are we still doing here?"


    But Niles was crouched down beside a young woman who seemed to be on the verge of hysterics. He looked up, "We''re waiting for them to come back." He nodded toward the four bodies that lay half submerged in the water. "Zak said they''d be back."


    "If what that girl said was true, and they''re in Death, they won''t be coming back."


    The guards turned and the girl began her crying again.


    Kerra sighed. Mother had told her stories of people who could cross over and walk with Souls, but she''d also told how dangerous the River of souls was, how even a clean soul was at risk as it drifted to its final end.


    "Don''t say that," Niles hissed. "If Zak says they''ll be fine, they will be."


    Zak Aldrimar didn''t seem half as impressive slumped in a heap on the ground as he had in his armor, nor did he live up to the legends Niles told. To Kerra, he looked just like any other noble second-born in too-fine linens and leathers. But Niles had never said anything about elrima.


    “That’s worries me more,” said Kerra. “If they’re coming back, I really don’t want to be here. If you knew the things elrima can do, you’d run too.” She circled around to face the guards. “All of you.”


    The guards tried not to pay her any attention, and the girl only sobbed harder, clutching to that book and that glowing stone. It hummed a high et.


    “Girl,” said Kerra. “Let me see the book.”


    She shook her head, shaking even more of her long chestnut hair loose from its braid. Kerra bent to pull the book from her grasp. "Stop!“ the girl said.


    They pulled back and forth, but stopped suddenly as one of the unconscious girls began to cough and flail. An errant swing of the arm knocked Kerra to the ground with a splash.


    One of the Aldrimar girls coughed herself awake while the other thrashed as if waking from a dream of falling. “Alizia!” the girl’s shout echoed through the waterways. Guards moved in to help the girls to their feet.


    Behind them, Zak sat up suddenly, sucking in breath.


    Kerra swore as pain shot up her spine and cold and wet soaked through her leathers.


    Zak stood and helped the his nieces to their feet. “Are both of you alright?”


    The little golden haired girls nodded.


    “Sir,” said one of the guardsmen. “It is getting very late. We should be heading to the surface now.” For once the guards were talking sense. Kerra dreaded spending another minute in these forsaken tunnels. Nearly two nights had gone by without sight of the Moon, and she was beginning to feel it in her bones.


    “What about Henric,” one of the girls asked. “You said he’d be awake when we got back.”


    The lord of Zaksburg was still slumped, sword in hand in the pile of corpses near the tunnels junction.


    “He’ll be alright,” said Zak, placing a hand on his niece’s shoulder. “I’m going to stay with him until he wakes.”


    “That won’t be long,” Kerra said. She could already hear the beat of his heart growing stronger.


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    Zak nodded. “See, and Niles will go with you, to keep you safe.”


    And Niles, looking half the wild man in his torn tunic and two day’s growth, sword hanging naked from his belt, was beaming. He finally had real, actual damsels to protect.


    Sir Aldrimar stood and leaned in close to Niles, but stared straight into Kerra’s eyes. “And don’t think of leaving before my nephew and I return. I wouldn’t have you spending another night sleeping in the dirt old friend.”


    Niles laughed and slapped his old friend on the back, but Kerra didn’t share his excitement. She’d heard the threat in Aldrimar’s words. He was prepared to treat them like prisoners.


    As the guards were leading the girls up and out of the tunnel, their brother coughed himself awake. The suddenness of it startled one of the guards, and he stepped back into the other, almost causing a collapse. But the girls rushed past them to the young lord’s side.


    “Henric,” the brown haired girl said, lifting him so his back was against a wall. “Henric?”


    “Megan?” he muttered weakly. “Good. You’re safe.”


    “I’m safe?” she said. “What about you? What about that thing? Is it...”


    “It’s gone,” Henric said. “I made sure of that. It didn’t hurt you did it?”


    She shook her head.


    The guards, having finally sorted themselves, interrupted. “Come, ladies, we must go.”


    “Yes,” said Zak. “Go on ahead, I’ll help Henric up.”


    “Just relax,” Niles said. He was stretched out on the plush sofa, freshly bathed and shaved, wearing a freshly tailored tunic while taking a healthy bite of a peach. “And don’t say I never take you anywhere nice.”


    Kerra rolled her eyes. While Niles was fully dressed, she still had to wrap herself in her cloak while she waited for her dress to be finished. And yes, it had to be a dress. At least that argument had been in Cirgi.


    “Would to not dream,” Kerra said. Erazi always felt strange on the tongue after speaking another language, and it always took longer than she like before it started to make sense again.


    Niles laughed and took another bite of his peach. In this situation, some other men might have tried to peek under her cloak, while other might have insisted she take it off altogether, but not Niles. Given that it was long since past that he had seen her naked, even before then he was never anything but courteous.


    “Really though,” he said. “I have a plan.”


    He shot a glance at the door behind her, and to the guardsman they both knew was posted right outside it. Leaning in close, he continued in hushed tones.


    “They don’t know it yet, but the Aldrimars are going to help us get that dagger back from Milyen.”


    Kerra shook her head and felt for the purse of coins tucked into the pocket of her cloak. That impossible purse. She still didn’t believe that they had escaped from Milyen’s with their lives and the money, and had been counting her blessings that they might finally be able to afford passage to some more civilized part of the world. To that day she was still unsure how exactly Niles had convinced her to go west with him.


    “We should just let that be done,” she said. “Go east instead. We can see the singing towers of Alayos.”


    Niles pulled back, surprised. “I thought you’d be excited.”


    “I am,” she said. “We have the money. More than we thought we’d get. We can go.”


    “If that’s what you want,” Niles smiled. “I wouldn’t mind seeing Sairetha.”


    “Now there’s an idea!” Kerra said. The City at the Center of the World was said to have the most magnificent theaters and an appreciation for the arts like no place else in the world. Even since she was a girl she’d longed to see the city’s towers ginting in sunset.


    Just then a knock came at the door and two handmaids stepped in carrying a stretch of green fabric between them. They presented a dress to her, gold and green like forest leaves in summertime, and pulled her behind a screen to dress her. Kerra was opposed to the whole process until they held up a silvered mirror and she could see her own reflection.


    “Aldrimar’s people do good work,” Niles said behind her. “And they were quite right to put you in that dress.”


    Kerra had to agree. The old woman had certainly known how to make a dress look both modest and flattering, without being too restrictive. Unlike some of the other dresses she’d had to wear, in this one at least did not feel like it was trapping her.


    She turned to face him, and he slipped his arm around behind her back and pulled her close, pressing his lips firmly against hers.


    When they finally broke apart, Niles only said, “I felt like if I didn’t kiss you just then, I was going to regret it.”


    Sometimes, Niles’ timing was not so bad.