“You don’t even know what you’re talking about!” North’s voice exploded through the pass. I winced.

“So you deny that you took her because you wanted to study her?” Dorwan peered around North’s shoulder.

Don’t believe that, North’s look seemed to say. But why couldn’t he just say that aloud? What did he mean, study me?

“Sydelle, you’d better come with me now,” Dorwan said. “It would be a shame for you to witness what I’m going to do to Wayland if you don’t.”

“You disgust me,” I spat. “I’d lie in a bed of snakes and spiders for all eternity before leaving this place with you. We’re going to Provincia to stop this war, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Are you honestly stupid enough to think you have a choice?” Dorwan said. “There’s no stopping the wheels of chaos now that they’ve been set in motion. It’s a glorious time to be alive in this world! I’ve seen to it that the wizards will be destroyed in this war, and you, dear girl, will help me to establish the new regime.”

North’s fingers tugged at the knots holding his cloaks in place, and time slowed around us. All of the cloaks fluttered down silently, ripples of color in the air, landing in a puddle of fabric between the two men.

“What are you doing?” I cried.

“What makes you believe I’d ever agree to a wizarding duel?” Dorwan’s smile made my skin crawl. “Those rules are antiquated and useless to me.”

“But you love a challenge, don’t you? You’d love nothing more than a chance to use whatever dark magic you’ve created to end my life,” North said. “If you give me time to take Sydelle to safety, that’s the only rule I need.”

Dorwan nodded, obviously reluctant. “There’s no room for nobility in battle, Wayland. You’re too soft.”

“If I win, you’ll leave us be. You’ll never look at Sydelle again, or think about her, or try to stop us from going to Provincia,” North said.

“If I win,” Dorwan said slowly, looking straight at me, “the same terms apply, only I demand the surrender of your talisman as well.”

“Fine,” North said. “Are we in agreement, then?”

“Don’t you request my talisman if you win?” Dorwan asked, seemingly confused.

“Why would I ever want such a piece of rot?” North said. “No, thank you.”

Dorwan was silent, pulling a long, thin dagger from its sheath. Its hilt, worn with use, was wrapped with blue string; one long braid of strings, ranging in color from midnight to sky blue, hung down from the hilt.

Dorwan opened his hand, letting the dagger fall on top of North’s cloaks. A palpable buzz of energy filled the air, touching my skin with a slight shock. When the sensation finally faded, Dorwan bent to retrieve his talisman.

“I’ll let the two of you say good-bye,” he said, and turned, walking back into the sunlight.

“Great gods,” North grumbled as soon as Dorwan was out of our sight. “Oh, bloody fantastic! I hate that rotting misericord, and he knows it!”

I stared at him helplessly.

“The mercygiver?” he clarified. “The dagger? Used by sodding tricksters and sneaks because they can’t fight with a real weapon? Great. Oh, bloody great.”

“You’re worried about…the dagger?” I asked incredulously, wondering if I had misunderstood him. He shrugged his shoulders slightly. “Are you insane?” I said. “You just challenged him to a duel! What’s gotten into you? We have no time as it is!”

“It was the only way to make sure he stopped chasing us,” he said, stooping down to pick up his cloaks. “I didn’t see another choice.” He shook out the cloaks to clean the dust from them.

“Besides,” he continued, “I’m much stronger than he is. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

“What good is strength if you have no sense?” I asked. I grabbed his forearms. He took the opportunity to wrap the black cloak around us; when it fell away, we were back at the head of the mountain pass.

“No!” I said, turning to run back into the pass. “I won’t let you leave me behind, not again!”

“Syd!” he said, catching me in two strides. “Listen to me—you have to get away, all right? Stop!”

“No!” I said. “I won’t!”

North gave me a hard shake, forcing me to look him in the eye. “Just for a little while,” he said quietly. One of his arms wrapped around me, and his other hand came up to touch my hair. “Until the fight is over.”

“What was he talking about?” I asked him. “When he said you took me because you wanted to study me?”

“Because…,” he began.

“Don’t lie,” I warned. “There’s something you’re not telling me. After hearing you and Pascal, and now Dorwan—”

“You can’t believe a word he says, Syd.” North pulled away. “He’s full of deceit.”

“Then why would he want me?” I pressed.

North dropped his bag unceremoniously over my shoulder. “Keep this safe for me, will you?”

“It’s not because there’s…something unnatural about me? About my magic?” I asked.

“There is nothing unnatural about you,” he said sharply. “Nothing.”