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"Are you faithfulBors?"

The hint ofin the name sent a chill down his backbone "I am faithful, Great Lord I cannot hide from you" I am faithful! I swear it!

"No, you cannot"

The certainty in Ba’alzamon’s voice dried his mouth, but he forced himself to speak "Command me, Great Lord, and I obey"

"Firstly, you are to return to Tarabon and continue your good works In fact, I command you to redouble your efforts"

He stared at Ba’alzaain behind the mask, and he took the excuse of a bow to pull his eyes away "As you command, Great Lord, so shall it be"

"Secondly, you atch for the three young erous"

Thein front of Ba’alzamon How can I do that? I can see the except his face His head felt about to burst Sweat slicked his hands under his thin gloves, and his shirt clung to his back "Dangerous, Great Lord? Farerous to the man at the point, but not to thethe sword is a fool, or careless, or unskilled, in which case it is twice as dangerous to hih that I have told you to know theh that you obey me"

"As you co those who have landed at Toman Head, and the Domani Of this you will speak to no one When you return to Tarabon "

The man who called hi open The instructions made no sense If I knehat soether

Abruptly he felt his head grasped as though by a giant hand crushing his te lifted, and the world blew apart in a thousand starbursts, each flash of light becoe that fled across his mind or spun and dwindled into the distance before he could rasp it An impossible sky of striated clouds, red and yellow and black, racing as if driven by the irl? -- dressed in white receded into blackness and vanished as soon as she appeared A raven stared hione An arilded like soed to one side, beyond his view A horn, curled and golden, ca note it sounded as it flashed toward hi his soul At the last instant it flashed into a blinding, golden ring of light that passed through hi hiht and ripped out his throat He could not screa him He could barely remember who he was, or what he was The skies rained fire, and the moon and stars fell; rivers ran in blood, and the dead walked; the earth split open and fountained molten rock

Thein the cha him, all silent Wherever he looked, up or down or in any direction, the es that had flooded into his one frohtened, Ba’alzamon always before him

"Great Lord, what -- ?"

"Some commands are too important to be known even by he who carries them out"

The man who called himself Bors bent almost double in his bow "As you command, Great Lord," he whispered hoarsely, "so shall it be"

When he straightened, he was alone in silence once h Lord, nodded and bowed to someone none else saw The man who called hi to hold on to soh he was not completely certain he wanted to remember The last re what it was that he was trying to recall I know there was so! Wasn’t there? He rubbed his hands together, griloves, and turned his attention to the three figures hanging suspended before Ba’alza form

The muscular, curlyhaired youth; the farmer with the sword; and the lad with the look of mischief on his face Already, in his mind, the man who called himself Bors had named them the Blacksmith, the Swordsman, and the Trickster What is their place in the puzzle? They must be important, or Ba’alza But from his orders alone they could all die at any time, and he had to think that some of the others, at least, had orders as deadly for the three How important are they? Blue eyes could mean the nobility of Andor--unlikely in those clothes--and there were Borderlanders with light eyes, as well as some Tareni, not to mention a few from Ghealdan, and, of courseNo, no help there But yellow eyes? Who are they? What are they?

He started at a touch on his arm, and looked around to find one of the whiteclad servants, a youngby his side The others were back, too, more than before, one for each of the one The Myrddraal was gone, too, and only rough stone here the door it had used had been The three figures still hung there, though He felt as if they were staring at him

"If it please you,those dead eyes, he glanced once ures, then followed Uneasily he wondered how the youth had knohat nae carved doors closed behind him and they had walked a dozen paces that he realized he was alone in the corridor with the servant His brows dren suspiciously behind his mask, but before he could open hisshown to their rooms, my Lord If you please, my Lord? Time is short, and our Master is iround his teeth, both at the lack of information and at the implication of sameness between himself and the servant, but he followed in silence Only a fool ranted at a servant, and worse, re the fellow’s eyes, he was not sure it would do any good And how did he knohat I was going to ask? The servant smiled

The man who called himself Bors did not feel at all comfortable until he was back in the roo, and then not s un