"He wants Grianne Ohmsford. He wants his Queen. You would bring her to him, he thinks."

Redden stared. "Why would I do that? Even if I could, why?"

"You are her family. She would come to save you."

The boy almost laughed. "She's dead. A hundred years ago dead. If she weren't, she wouldn't come for me anyway. She doesn't even know who I am. What is Tael Riverine thinking?"

The Ulk Bog squinted at him. "Family is important. Especially to the Straken Lord, who has no family. He wants children. She will give them to him."

Redden shook his head. This argument was going nowhere. "He doesn't care about Grianne and children. He wants to conquer the Four Lands. He wants to make us all slaves."

Tesla Dart shrugged. "No one has ever escaped him. Just her. He thinks about nothing else. Everyone knows. He doesn't want to look weak. Having her bear his children will help."

"But he doesn't need to bother with any of that."

She gave him a look. "He needs what he doesn't have, what he lost when he lost her. He will never quit searching for her."

Oriantha had finished cleaning herself and had shape-shifted back to her old form. Pulling on the rest of her clothes and wrapping herself in her travel cloak, she took a quick look back at the enemy camp and said, "We have to be going. They'll be coming for us."

"Where do we go?" asked Tesla Dart.

They stared at one another for a moment. Until now, not much consideration had been given to the question.

"We should go to Arborlon," Redden declared. "That's where Railing and the others are likely to be. That's where we can be safe."

"We can be safe nowhere," Tesla Dart muttered.

But they set out anyway, Oriantha in the lead, the other two following. They were undecided about how to go, aware of the danger with the demon army so close at hand. Traveling directly north would take them through the Tirfing to Rover communities where they could find an airship offering passage to Arborlon. Without air travel, it would take them days or even weeks to get to their destination. But the terrain north required they pass just to the rear of the attacking army, threatening to expose them in a way none of them was willing to risk. So after a hurried conference, they decided that the safest choice was to go back the way they had come, west toward the rent in the Forbidding until they found an opening in the folded landscape that would allow them to move safely out of sight to the north.

Oriantha had already decided that the attack on Arishaig would keep the enemy locked up where it was for at least another few days, which should give them time enough to make their way to safety. Tesla Dart, on the other hand, was not so sure.

"The battle will end today," she announced. "The city will fall, the Straken Lord's army will go elsewhere. Tael Riverine will see it done."

"That city is heavily defended," the shape-shifter argued. "It won't be taken so easily."

"Today," the Ulk Bog repeated and refused to say more.

So even though there was a good deal of doubt about the Ulk Bog's prognostication, it generated a fresh sense of urgency, and the little company moved ahead quickly.

Even so, the three companions had progressed no more than an hour, traveling mostly back toward the Forbidding to find passage north, when Tesla Dart brought them up short.

"Wait," she cautioned, one hand raised. She sniffed at the air and listened intently for a long time. "We are tracked. Lada! Ari'sho trush!"

The Chzyk darted back in the direction from which they had come, even as the trio continued moving ahead. He was gone perhaps fifteen minutes before reappearing, racing across the barren landscape in a flash of dark movement, spines flaring out in warning. Tesla Dart dropped to one knee and bent close to the little creature as it charged up to her, and the two of them began chattering away in a mix of non-words and rough grunts.

The Ulk Bog rose swiftly, shaking her head. "This is bad. Tarwick hunts us with Goblins and wolves. The Straken Lord's Catcher can find anything he wishes. We will not escape if we try running. Another way is needed."

"An airship would give us a way," Redden declared.

"The only airships near are those fighting in Arishaig." Oriantha cocked an eyebrow. "You don't want to go back there, do you?"

There was a moment's silence. "Horses," the boy said.

"No horses out here, either. This isn't settled country. Not until we get to the Tirfing. We're a day from there."

"Too far!" Tesla Dart snapped.

"We can hide our trail," Redden said, though in truth he had no idea how they could do this.

But Tesla Dart clapped her hands. "No, we can do better! We can hide where they do not think!" She paused, looking from one to the other, excitement etched on her rough features. "We can go back inside the Forbidding!"

Redden stared. Surely, he had not heard correctly. "What did you say? Go back inside the Forbidding? I am not going back inside the Forbidding again. Ever!"

"Wait." Oriantha was suddenly interested. "How long would we have to stay?" she asked Tesla Dart.

The Ulk Bog grinned toothily at Redden. "You see? She knows what I do." Her bright eyes shifted to the girl. "We go quick, then out again. Lose Tarwick in land of Jarka Ruus, if he comes for us, get out again closer to place you want. See?"

"You mean we go back in long enough to travel to where we can find another way out and then leave again?" Redden demanded, flushed and suddenly terrified. "But what if we can't get out?"

"Lots of ways out! The wall crumbles many places. The magic is weakened. Can find ways for us, you see. Tarwick never catch us there. I know more than he does. Weka taught me. I can keep us safe."

It was a huge gamble, but the boy also saw why it made sense. There was reason to believe the pursuit might end at the entrance back into the Forbidding. Would anyone reenter while the Straken Lord's army was here? And Weka Dart had outfoxed the Straken Lord and his last Catcher in the time of Grianne Ohmsford. Maybe Tesla was similarly well informed.

But to go back into the Forbidding? Redden shivered, cold to his bones.

Oriantha moved around in front of him. "Let's do it. It has to be safer than trying to outrun pursuit out here. We're too far away from any help, and we have no one we can turn to. If we don't find an airship or horses, we'll be run down before the day is out."

"You realize what you're asking of me?" Redden snapped.

The girl leaned close. "No worse than what has been asked of you already." She paused. "I will stand by you to the end."

So we can both die together, Redden thought. But that was being small-minded and ungrateful. She was trying to reassure him. Clearly, she believed that this was their best chance.

He backed away from his anger and fear. She had not failed him so far. She had saved him when no one else could. She deserved his attention. And at this point, her judgment was admittedly better than his.

He took a deep breath and exhaled sharply, feeling all of the power that remained leaking out of him. "This nightmare is never going to end, is it?" he muttered. And without waiting for a reply, he started back toward the entrance into the Forbidding.

CHAPTER Twenty

Deep inside Arishaig's walls, huddling in the shadows of the doorway to a shop that was closed and locked in the wake of the assault on the city, Arling Elessedil tried to decide what to do next. She had been running for two days, first from the crowds that swarmed the streets when the demon army appeared on the ridgeline and then from her own personal fears as she realized that the escape she had envisioned was now impossible. She had spent most of her time determining that this was so, running from one gate to the next to find all of them sealed and guarded, futilely tracking along the walls in search of other ways out, and finally stumbling exhausted through the streets in search of someone who might be able to help her. She hadn't stopped moving in all that time, desperate for help and terrified that Edinja might find her. What rest she'd gotten had been taken in brief snatches, all too quickly ended.

Now, about an hour before sunset on the second day, she had reached the limit of her endurance and could go no farther. She settled down on the doorstep and leaned back against the door in despair, crying silently.