Faith of the Fallen

"Well, I've been traveling hard…. It's not really all that late, is it?"

In the dark, she assessed him briefly. "I don't believe it's ever too late, according to the teachings of the Creator. And you do look emaciated-from your travels, I'm sure." Her smile warmed a little. "Food is always at the ready; we have soldiers who are active through the night and need to be fed. I believe I could find something for you." She returned her gaze to the indiscernible path.

"That would be a kindness," Zedd said in a jovial voice as he scowled at her back. "And I'm not emaciated; I'm wiry. Most women find lean men appealing."

"Do they`? I never knew that."

Sisters of the Light were a lofty lot, Zedd thought ruefully. For thousands of years it had been a death sentence for them to even set foot in the New World. Zedd had always been a little more lenient-but not by much.

In the past, the Sisters only came into the New World to steal boys with the gift-they claimed to be saving them. It was a wizard's task to train wizards. If they came for the reason of taking a boy back beyond the great barrier to their palace, Zedd viewed it as the gravest of crimes.

They had come for that very reason only the winter before, and taken Richard. Sister Verna was the one who had captured him and taken him to the Old World. Under the spell of their palace, he could have ended up being there for centuries. Leave it to Richard to make friends with the Sisters of the Light, of all people.

Zedd guessed he and the Sisters were even-that they had good reason to view him in a harsh way. He had, after all, set the spell that Richard had used to destroy their palace. But Ann had helped, knowing it was the only way to prevent Jagang from capturing the palace and acquiring the prophecies therein for his own purposes.

All around, guards, big guards, prowled the encampment. In chain mail and leather armor, they were an imposing sight. They watched everything as they slipped through the darkness. The camp was relatively quiet, considering its size. Noise could give away a variety of information to an enemy. It was not easy to see to it that this many men kept quiet.

"I'm relieved that our first incursion by someone possessing the gift turned out to be a friend," the Sister said.

"And I'm glad to see that the gifted are helping to keep watch. But there are types of enemy forays that the regular sentries could not identify." Zedd wondered if they were really prepared for those kinds of troubles.

"If magic is involved, we will be there to detect it."

"I suppose you were watching me the whole time."

"I was," Sister Philippa said. "From the time you crossed the line of hills, back there."

Zedd scratched his jaw. "Really? That far away."

With a satisfied smirk she said, "That far."

He peered over his shoulder into the night. "Both of you. Very good."

She halted and turned to him. "Both? You knew there were two of us, watching?"

Zedd smiled innocently. "But, of course. You were just watching. She was farther away, following, conjuring some little nasty should I prove hostile."

Sister Philippa blinked in astonishment. "Remarkable. You could sense her touching her Han? From that distance?"

Zedd nodded with satisfaction. "They didn't make me First Wizard just because I was wiry."

Sister Philippa's smile finally looked sincere. "I am relieved you came as a friend, rather than one intent on harm."

There was more truth in that than the woman knew; Zedd had experience in the unpleasant, dirty business of magic in warfare. When he'd come near their camp, he saw the holes in their defense and the weaknesses in the way they used the gift for their purpose. They were not thinking as their enemy would think. Had lie been intent on harm, the entire camp would be in an uproar by now, despite what they had done to prepare for one such as he.

Sister Philippa turned back to the night to lead him on. It was somewhat unsettling for Zedd to walk through a D'Haran camp-even though he knew they were, now fighting on the same side. He had spent a good deal of his life dealing with D'Harans as the deadly enemy. Richard had changed all that. Zedd sighed. He some- t times thought that Richard might make friends with thunder and lightning and invite them both to dinner.

Dark shapes of tents and wagons loomed all around. Pole weapons were stacked upright in neat ranks, ready, should they be suddenly needed. Some soldiers snored, and some sat around in the dark, talking in low voices or laughing quietly, while x others patrolled the inky shadows. Those passed close enough for Zedd to smell their breath, but in the darkness he could not make out their faces.

Well-hidden sentries were stationed at every possible approach route.