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"I fear that your son purposely en quickly added, putting the older wizard on the defensive

"The last tilow," Aballister said, and Dorigen nodded her agree in that area, so it is unlikely that he will have gone very far"

That would seeh she knew better

The old wizard grinned evilly "A stor," he mused "But unlike any storm my foolish son has ever encountered!"

Noas Dorigen’s turn to eye him suspiciously "What have you done?"

"Done?" Aballister laughed "Better to ask what I will do!" Aballister spun about in a circle, as anien had seen hiun, nearly a year before when Barjin had entered the Edificant Library

"I groeary of the ga his spin so that his hollowed face was barely inches froen’s crooked nose "And so noill end it!"

With a snap of his fingers, he left the rooen to wonder what he had in nant reminder of AbalHster’s wrath, and she couldn’t contain a shudder when she thought of theCadderly’s way

Or at where he believed Cadderly to be

Why hadn’t she told herso out personally to deal with his son, and Dorigen hadn’t told hi priest was low Rationally, it seeo out and deal with Cadderly would be her safest course, for if Cadderly’s atteen, no ally of the young priest, would likely find herself in serious trouble

Dorigen ran a finger along the length of her crooked nose, shook her long hair back fro the crystal ball Cadderly ht arrive in a day, and she had not told Aballister!

Dorigen felt strangely re events about her, like some distant spectator Cadderly could have killed her in Shilmista Forest, had her unconscious at his feet He had broken her hands and taken her ht

But he had spared her life

Perhaps it was honor that guided Dorigen now, an unspo-en agreeation told her to let it all play out, to stand asi they learned as the stronger, the father or the son

Back in his private cha hands He focused his thoughts on Nightglow, the target area, and focused his reat strength

He uttered the enchanting words, spoke the arcane syllables frorowing energies He continued for nearly an hour, until the vibrating poithin the beaker threatened to blow apart and take Castle Trinity doith it

The wizard hurled the beaker across the rooray puff of s

"Mykos, o out, h it had heard the wizard’s request, the gray cloud filtered through a crack in the stone wall, worked its way through all the walls and out of Castle Trinity It rose up high on the winds, so of its own accord, and all the while the wizard’s row and darken

Contained bursts of lightning rumbled as it soared across thethickened and darkened, and seey

It raced across the high peaks of the Snowflakes, unerringly ailow

Cadderly and his friends noticed the strange cloud, so eneral overcast of the snowy day Cadderly noticed, too, that while thewest to east, as was usual for the area’s weather patterns, this strange cloud was racing almost due south

They heard the first ruh distant blast that shook the ground under their feet

"Thunder?" Ivan balked "Who ever heared o’ thunder in the middle o’ the damned winter?"

Cadderly bade Vander to lead the behind the thehtglow, the young priest wasn’t so sure that he wanted to watch

Bolt after searing bolt of lightning, crystalline clear across the an to wane, sla trees, and sizzling into the snow Huge winds bent the pines on theice quickly accu the trees lower

"We ise in riding the dragon," Shayleigh remarked, quite overwhelmed, as were her corunted, as though he had told therown to adulthood in the harsh clie, was at a loss to explain the sheer power of this distant storm

Another tre the deepening gloo avalanche down Nightglow’s northern face

"Who ever heared of it?" Ivan asked incredulously

The worst had not yet coion about the an, tons and tons of snow plu down the mountainside to resettle far below Then caht, a twister as wide, it seehtglow, tearing trees, burrowing huge chaso," the firbolg reuessed, his friends - had seen ain that they were fortunate in riding out on the dragon, and Vander put in a word that winter storh up were unpredictably and ultireed with the firbolg, but they all understood that what had happened back at Nightgloas more than a "winter storm"

Vander soon found thee, and truly, they were all glad to be sheltered fro ele, with a low ceiling and a lower doorway that blocked most of the wintry wind

Vander and the dwarves set up their bedrolls in the entry cavern, the largest of the chambers Cadderly took the smallest chaoing to the right, theback at Cadderly with concern every step of the way

Dusk caht, so different fro of Ivan and Pikel echoed throughout the chambers

Danica crept back into the entry cavern, saw Vender’s huge forh he had volunteered oncewas asleep, and Danica didn’t blah to her, seemed as if all the world had taken a break froh to Cadderly’s cha the others

The young priest was sitting in the middle of the floor, hunched over a tiny candle Deep in meditation, he did not hear Danica’s approach

"You should sleep," the ently on her lover’s shoulder Cadderly opened his sleepy eyes and nodded

He reached over his shoulder to grab Danica’s hand, pulled her around to sit next to him, close to him

"I have rested," he assured her Danica had taught Cad-derly several rejuvenating meditation techniques, and she did not dispute the claim

"The road has been more difficult than you expected," Danica said quietly, a trace of trepidation evident in her normally solid voice "And with perhaps the most difficult obstacle yet ahead of us"

The young priest understood her reasoning He, too, believed that the fury they had witnessed battering the slopes of Nightglow had been a calling card from Aballister And he, too, was afraid They had survived many brutal ordeals in the last year and over the last few days on the trail, but if that storreatest trials were yet ahead of the for them in Castle Trinity Since the manticore and chimera attack, Cadderly had known that Aballister was on to theth of the wizard

An ihts Cadderly had enacted great ics of his own recently, but that display was far beyond his powers, he believed, far beyond his i to hold fast to his resolve, closed his eyes and sighed "I did not expect so on," Danica remarked "I still cannot believe " Her voice trailed off into an incredulous sigh

"I knew that dealing with old Fyren would not be an easy task," Cadderly agreed

"Did we have to go there?" There reer in Danica’s soft tones