He set it carefully on a chest near the door to the dressing chamber, very much aware of their eyes following his every move as he returned to the fireplace.

Rhys coughed gently to engage his attention.

"Can you tell us what you're planning now, or must we wait for the others?"

"I'd rather not have to explain it twice, if you don't mind."

They waited, Camber outwardly a.s.suming an air of relaxation but inwardly vaguely uneasy over the delay. Finally he heard the m.u.f.fled tread of footsteps approaching, and waved Rhys back to his seat as he himself went to the door. His hands were moving the latch even as the first faint knock sounded on the other side.

"Sorry we're late," Joram murmured as he and Cullen slipped through the opening which Camber permitted. "Cinhil detained us. I brought your incense."

"Thank you. Alister, were you able to get what I asked for?"

As Camber latched the door, Cullen reached into his habit and pulled out a lumpily folded packet of cloth, which he handed to Camber.

"It wasn't as easy as you thought. Some of the specific items you mentioned weren't there. Ariella may have taken them with her, or they're already being worn by the queen. I hope this one will do."

Camber sat in his chair and began unfolding the packet. Cullen, with a nod to Evaine and Rhys, dropped to one knee on the furs to peer over the arm of Camber's chair. Joram kissed his sister and touched his brother-in-law's shoulder in greeting before settling on a stool to Camber's right.

"Ah, the Haldana necklace!" Camber exclaimed.

He reached into the last folds of the fabric to withdraw a ma.s.s of diamonds and cabochon-cut rubies, none of them smaller than a pea. The stones flashed rainbow brilliance in the firelight as he laid the necklace across one hand.

Cullen leaned one elbow on the arm of Camber's chair and looked pleased with himself.

"You said you wanted something she'd worn a lot," he said in his gruff voice. "Now, would you mind telling me what you plan to do with it?"

Camber smiled and let his eyes focus through it softly, probing delicately with his mind.

After a few seconds, he closed it in his hands and looked up at them.

"This will be our link to Ariella," he said in a low voice. "Using this as a focus, I should be able to project images from her mind on the surface of a bowl of blackened water. If we're lucky, I may even be able to manipulate those Images a little, backward and maybe even forward in time."

Rhys's jaw dropped, and Evaine swallowed, and Joram lifted one blond eyebrow. Cullen pursed his lips and slowly shook his head.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Camber smiled. "I told you that you could be excused, if you wanted to be, and that offer still holds. But I don't really think your conscience is going to have any trouble with this one."

Cullen made a face and muttered something unintelligible under his breath, and Camber chuckled.

"Let's go into the next room, and I'll explain exactly what we're going to do."

Carrying the silver bowl, Camber led them into the room he had prepared. His clothing and other accoutrements he had put away in chests and garment presses, all of which had been shoved against one wall to block the door to another set of apartments not currently in use. The single, high window he had curtained off with a heavy tapestry, closing out the storm and the wan light of the rising moon. Even the garderobe shaft had been sealed off by a chest dragged over the opening in the floor.

In the center of the room, he had set a small, square table, covered with a white cloth. On it, a single candle lit a sea-green gla.s.s flagon of water and four new tapers partially folded in a linen napkin. A small, stoppered bottle nestled in the shadow of the flagon to one side.

Joram put down the small thurible he had been carrying and fished in the folds of his sash until he found a packet of incense. This he laid beside the thurible as Camber carefully set the silver bowl in the center of the table.

After locking the door, Camber rejoined the other four around the table, taking a place opposite the window. He laid the Haldana necklace beside the bowl, then reached inside the neck of his crimson robe to remove a small silver crucifix, which he placed on the table where he could see it.

"In a moment I'm going to ask you to help me invoke the four quarters and set wards, much as we did for Cinhil's ceremony of power," he said, giving what he hoped was a rea.s.suring smile. "Rhys, you're fine where you are; you're our Healer, Raphael. Joram, please change places with Alister and come here, on my right; you are logically Michael.

Alister, I'll ask you to speak for Uriel, in the north. Evaine is our Angel of the Annunciation, here beside me."

The appropriate shifts were made, and then an expectant silence settled around the table. The light from the single candle reflected off the bowl and cast a nimbus of candlelight on Camber's face. In front of him, between the bowl and the edge of the table, his crucifix gleamed friendly and rea.s.suring beside the cold fire of the Haldana rubies and diamonds.

Camber took up the flagon of water and poured it into the bowl, a wistful lift to one corner of his mouth as he glanced aside at Cullen.

"This is water-nothing more. Alister, would you please bless it?"

"A simple blessing, or something more involved?"

"The latter, I think. Use the Paschal blessing with the necessary changes."

"Very well."

Taking a deep breath, Cullen extended his priestly hands flat over the surface of the water as Camber put the flagon out of the way behind him.

"I bless and consecrate thee, O creature of water, by the living G.o.d, by the true G.o.d, by the holy G.o.d, by that G.o.d Who, in the beginning, separated thee by His word from the dry land, and Whose Spirit moved upon thee."

With his hand he traced a cross on the surface of the water, then scattered some of it toward each of the four quarters so that it sprinkled each of the watchers.

"Who made thee to flow forth from the fountains of Paradise, and commanded thee to water the world in four rivers. Who, changing thy bitterness in the desert into sweetness, made thee fit to drink, and brought thee forth from the rock to quench the people's thirst."

Again he signed the water, this time bending to breathe thrice upon it, as G.o.d, in the beginning, had breathed upon the water with the Holy Spirit.

"Do Thou, with Thy mouth, bless these clear waters: that besides their natural virtue of cleansing the body, they may be effectual for the purification of minds. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, Amen."

As he looked up, Camber handed him the four tapers.

"Now consecrate the tapers, please."

Handling the four as one, Cullen dipped the bases of the tapers into the bowl of water.

"May the power of the Holy Spirit descend into the fullness of this water, that it may purify all it touches." He removed the tapers. "Per omnia saecula saeculorum."

"Amen," the other four responded.

Cullen shook the excess water off the tapers, then handed them to Camber, who dried them with his napkin before giving one to each of them.

"We'll set the wards now. Rhys, when we're all ready, you can light your taper from the central one. Alister, I've purposely put you last so you can pick up the pattern and follow when your turn comes. Any questions?"

There were none-only returned gazes of varying confidence. With a brief smile of rea.s.surance, Camber closed his eyes and bowed his head, fingertips resting lightly on the cloth covering the table. After a few seconds he could sense the new light as Rhys touched his taper to the central candle. He could feel the p.r.i.c.kle of power beginning to build as Rhys spoke softly: "I call the mighty Archangel Raphael, the Healer, Guardian of Wind and Tempest. May thy winds blow cool and sweet this night, to send us that which we must know. Fiat, fiat, fiat voluntas mea."

To his right, Camber felt Joram stirring, to reach across and light his taper from the central flame. His son's voice was firm and confident in the stillness.

"I call the mighty Archangel Michael, the Defender, Keeper of the Gates of Eden. Lend thou thy fiery sword as protection this night, that naught may keep us from that which we must know. Fiat, fiat, fiat voluntas mea."

The air was beginning to crackle around him now, as Evaine brushed his left elbow in leaning out to light her taper.

"I call the mighty Archangel Gabriel, the Herald, who didst bring glad tidings to Our Blessed Lady. As we are born of water, so let knowledge be born of water here tonight, that we may learn what we must know. Fiat, fiat, fiat voluntas mea."

The circle was almost complete. Camber let himself relax a little as Cullen's light joined the others.

"I call the mighty Archangel Uriel, Angel of Death, who bringest all souls at last to the Nether Sh.o.r.e. Mayest thou pa.s.s us by this night, and bring instead that thing which we must know. Fiat, fiat, fiat voluntas mea."

As Cullen's final words ceased echoing in the dull hollow of the warded circle, Camber opened his eyes and looked at all of them again. Each face stared back at him with serenity now, even Cullen's reluctance lulled by the comfort of the gently glowing hemisphere which surrounded them at arm's length behind them.

With a smile of confidence, Camber picked up the central candle and elevated it a little.

"Air, Fire, Water, Earth-and Spirit." His eyes flicked to what was now the fifth light in his hand. "The unity of Man. All are joined in One within this circle."

He put the candle down again and took up the Haldana necklace.

"We come to the unknown portions now, my friends," he said easily. "We use something once belonging to the person with whom we hope to form a link-in this case, the necklace-and we use it as a focal point to concentrate on Ariella."

He hefted the necklace in his hand, then slid it gently into the silver bowl of water. The scarlet stones gleamed more quietly, seen through water instead of air; but none present, attuned as they were, could fail to notice a faint rush of chill as they stared at the gems-all of them already picking up residual energies of the woman who had last worn the necklace.

Camber took a deep breath, holding back his sleeve as he stretched forth his right hand and began tracing another cross above the water.

"Blessed be the Creator, yesterday and today, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega."

The cross which he had traced glowed in aftertrail in the air above the water, the Greek letters steady at the east and west aspects.

"His are the seasons and the ages, to Him glory and dominion through all the ages of eternity. Blessed be the Lord. Blessed be His Holy Name."

As he spoke, he traced the symbols of the elements in the four quadrants cut by the cross: Air, Fire, Water, Earth. Beneath the pressure of his hand and will, the signs sank into the water and disappeared in a wisp of mist. When he looked up, the very quality of the water seemed somehow to have changed.

He could feel their eyes on him as he picked up the bottle and removed its stopper, pouring its crystal contents on the water in the form of an encircled cross. The clear liquid turned a dense black and began to diffuse as it touched the water. By the time Camber had set the empty bottle behind him, the water was completely black, the necklace totally hidden from sight, though not from mind.

Camber waited until the surface had settled, then drew breath again and glanced up at them all.

"Joram, you can start the incense now. And then I'll ask you all to hold your candles against the edge of the bowl at the four quadrants, and to link your energies so that I can draw on them. If all goes well, I should be able to see images on the surface of the water after a time. Possibly you'll see them, too."

He extinguished the standing candle at that, then waited as Joram opened his thurible and held his hand over the charcoal inside. After a moment, the charcoal began to smolder and Joram shook a few grains of incense on it. Sweet, pungent smoke began to spiral upward as he replaced the pierced top. He watched it briefly before looking up at his father.

"Do you want it here, or shall I move it behind us? It can get pretty strong."

Camber pushed it close beside the bowl, so that the smoke curled up along the silver side and rolled across the water.

"This will be fine," he said. "I want the benefit of both the scent and the visual smoke.

Let's form our link now, and see what we can find out."

The other four moved closer to the table and set their tapers against the bowl, each instinctively reaching to his or her left to link with the right hand of the next person.

Camber edged a little closer to Joram, so that he stood midway between him and Evaine, reaching between them to lay his hands on the edge of the bowl. His wrists rested lightly on their forearms, physically linking him into the bond which was about to be forged.

He closed his eyes and began clearing his mind, letting the incense and the stillness carry him into a state of relaxed receptivity. He became aware of the familiar minds surrounding and meshing with his own -distinct, yet blurred in the bonding which they mutually forged. He could feel their closeness, firm and supportive, yet undemanding, pa.s.sive, as he slowly opened his eyes to gaze at the saltired reflection of candlelight on the silver-rimmed blackness.

Stillness. Antic.i.p.ation. A crystal clarity of all senses, as he tuned his awareness and focused in on his own mental processes. He could feel himself slipping into an even deeper concentration, and he let it happen. His vision tunneled, blurring all around him until only the blackened water remained, incense smoke rolling across the surface like heavy fog.

He put aside all conscious thought, letting conscious and unconscious merge and focus on and through the blackness which was there and not. He let a mental image form of Ariella as he had last seen her-proud and arrogant-merge with his knowledge of the necklace hidden beneath the inky water.

Dimly, no longer aware of anything else around him other than the safeness, the reservoir of energy, he quested outward and inward for some thread which would draw her essence nearer. He kept his blinking to a minimum as an image began to form at the edges of his vision.

There! A face-indistinct at first, but then a wizened, ancient-no, an infant visage, which quickly expanded to include the whole body! A child of perhaps five or six months, one tiny fist clenched beside the pursed, petulant mouth. Wisps of fine chestnut hair feathered the shapely skull. The child opened slightly bulging eyes of rich, golden brown and seemed to look directly at Camber.

Could it be that he was seeing Ariella's child, through her own eyes?

The image wavered as Camber blinked, but he managed not to lose it entirely. His vision swam for a few moments, but then it cleared and a new image began to materialize-a map this time, with a ringed female hand sprinkling water on that map. The map itself seemed indistinct-he could not seem to make it quite come into focus-but then he realized that was because the person sprinkling it was not concentrating on the map, but on magic connected with the map.

He was watching Ariella work her weather magic!

He blinked again, inadvertently this time, and lost the image-tried desperately to reschool his thoughts to tranquility.

He must regain the contact! He must somehow try to redirect Ariella's attention to the map itself. Her strategies were what they most desperately needed.

He closed his eyes briefly to rest them, then stared at the blackness again, this time concentrating specifically on Ariella and her connection with the map- any map! He could feel himself slipping even deeper into trance, and let himself go. Images formed and reformed on the blackness, only to fade and be replaced before he could read them.

He must read them! He was so close, he dared not fail now!

Another deep breath, a stretching to his very limits of awareness, as he tried to reach across the miles and touch her sleeping mind, actually to manipulate her dreaming.

Gently, he visualized a map of Gwynedd and its surrounding kingdoms, mentally marked the map with Torenth's capital, with Cardosa-and waited.

At first, nothing. And then, other markings began appearing on the map-notations and markings such as Cullen and Jebediah had been employing on their map earlier in the day.

Hands moving markers, deploying troops.

Abruptly, he knew the location of all Ariella's strength, knew where and how many and what kinds of warriors she could throw into any a.s.sault!

He was almost ready to withdraw, when suddenly the picture blanked and he caught an almost mind-splitting explosion of rage. A wrenching pain lanced behind his eyes, temporarily blinding him physically as well as psychically, and he realized that he had been detected. His touch had been too clumsy, his direction too direct! Ariella was awake, and aware of his link-and she was trying to sustain the link he had created, to surge back across that link and mentally destroy him!

With a cry of pain, he blinked and wrenched his eyes from the blackened water, gasping for breath.

"Joram, get me out of it!"

He did not know whether Joram or the others had seen what he had seen, or felt the awesome menace of Ariella's retaliation; but Joram and Evaine, at least, knew exactly what to do in such a situation. Joram threw down his taper and seized his father's shoulders, pouring power and protection into his father's mind. As Cullen joined forces with Joram, protective instincts taking precedence over caution, Evaine s.n.a.t.c.hed the silver bowl and hurried to where Rhys was already struggling to move the chest which covered the garderobe.

A wind roared outside, ripping the tapestry covering from the window and whistling into the room, but not inside the wards which they had set to prevent just such an incursion.

The wind died as Evaine poured the contents of the bowl down the garderobe, and Camber relaxed in his son's arms.

The link was broken.

The room seemed to undulate as Camber opened his eyes, and the first thing that he saw was Joram's ashen face, the gray eyes stunned, dulled with exhaustion. Camber swallowed and managed to get his feet under himself again, but he had to lean on Cullen's arm until he could steady himself against the edge of the table. He took a deep, sobering breath, but he knew that he had nearly reached the limits of his physical endurance. His defense had drained him.