Nicci could tell by Sa'din's gait how tired he was. His ears lazily swiveled toward the drop to each side as they crossed the bridge. Richard and Cara's horses, though, were lathered and blowing hard. Nicci knew how well Richard treated animals, and yet he was showing these no mercy. He obviously thought there were higher values involved than the lives of animals. She knew what that value was: human life. One in particular.

The walls of the Keep, composed of intricately joined blocks of dark granite, rose up like a cliff before them. Coming off the bridge, riding between Richard in front and Cara at the rear, Nicci stared up at the Keep's complex maze of ramparts, bastions, towers, connecting passageways, and bridges. The place looked somehow alive, as if it were watching them approach the gaping entrance of arched stone where the road tunneled under the base of the outer wall.

Without hesitation, Richard trotted his horse in under the raised, massive portcullis. Given a choice, Nicci would have been a bit more cautious in her approach to such a place. Her skin crawled with the power emanating from within. She had never before felt such a strong sense of the force of magic from within a place. It was like standing alone on a plain as a vast, massive thunderstorm was about to envelope her.

The sensation gave her some measure of the shields that guarded the Keep. From what she had to conclude by what she could sense, the shields at the Palace of the Prophets had been child's play by comparison. Too, those were predominantly Additive and the palace had been built for an entirely different purpose. Here, Subtractive shields were employed in equal service. The lethality of their dominion was not concealed, but manifest to those whose business it was to know of such things.

Almost unnoticed, hazy clouds had closed in overhead, leaving the late-afternoon sky a flat, steel gray. The gloom that replaced the sunlight made the stone of the Keep look all the darker, all the more forbidding, almost as if the Keep itself had drawn a shroud of clouds tightly around itself as it watched the approach of a sorceress and a wizard able to command powers that yet haunted this place.

After coming out from under the arched opening in the thick outer wall, they emerged on a road that continued through the deep interior canyon of the Keep. Beyond, the road tunneled through another dark wall that provided a second barrier, should one ever be necessary. Without pause, Richard rode on into that long, dark passageway. The sounds of the horses' hooves echoed off the damp stone under the murky, arched passage.

Beyond the tunnel, they emerged beside an expansive paddock growing thick with lush grass. The gravel road ran along the side of a wall to the right with several doors. The first doors they'd encountered just inside the portcullis would have been where visitors entered. Nicci surmised that this, beyond the second wall, was probably the working entrance to the Keep. A fence along the other side of the road enclosed the paddock. Beyond, to the left, the back side of the paddock was walled off by the Keep itself. At the far end stood the stables.

Without a word, Richard dismounted and opened the gate to the paddock, letting his horse go in but leaving it saddled. Perplexed, Cara and Nicci nonetheless followed his example before following him across the grounds toward an entrance with a dozen wide granite steps worn smooth and swaybacked over time. They led up into a recessed entryway where simple but heavy double doors into the Keep proper began to creak open.

An old man, wavy white hair in disarray, peered out like a homeowner surprised by visitors. He gulped air, apparently winded from having run through the Keep when he'd realized that someone was coming. He had no doubt been alerted by webs of magic that announced anyone taking the road up to the Keep. In ancient times there would have been people closer at hand to see to anyone newly arrived. Now there was only the old man. By the way he was breathing he must have been clear across the Keep when the alarms had warned him.

Even through the look of astonishment on his thin, wrinkled face, Nicci recognized elements of the features. She knew that he could be none other than Richard's grandfather Zedd. He was tall, but as thin as a sapling. His hazel eyes were wide with wonder and a kind of childlike excitement, if not innocence. His plain, unadorned robes marked him as a great wizard. He wore his age well. It was a pleasing preview of how, in part, time might treat Richard.

The old man threw his arms up over his head. "Richard!" A joyous grin swept across his face. "Bags, is that really you, my boy?"

Zedd emerged from the doorway and started down the worn steps into the dreary light.

Richard ran to his grandfather and lifted him off the steps, hugging him fiercely enough to drive the wind from the already winded old man. They both laughed, a pleasing sound with obvious kinship.

"Zedd! You can't imagine how glad I am to see you!"

"And you, my boy," Zedd said in a voice turning teary. "It's been too long. Far too long."

He reached a sticklike hand past Richard and gripped Cara's shoulder. "How are you, my dear? You appear to be near to spent. Are you all right?"

"I am Mord-Sith," she said, looking a bit indignant. "Of course I'm all right. Why would you think I look anything but perfectly fine?"

Zedd chuckled as he pushed back from Richard. "No reason, I suppose. You both look like you could use some rest and a meal or two is all. But you do look fine and I'm mighty happy to see you again."

Cara smiled at that. "I've missed you, Zedd."

Zedd waggled a finger. "Not very Mord-Sith of you to miss an old man. Rikka will be astonished to hear such a thing."

"Rikka?" Cara asked in surprise. "Rikka is here?"

Zedd waggled a hand back in the direction of the partly opened door. "She's back in there, somewhere — patrolling, I imagine. She seems to have two preoccupations in life, patrolling and harassing me. I'm telling you, I have no peace of mind with the woman. Worse, she's too clever for her own good. At least she's a talented cook."

Cara's brows lifted. "Rikka can cook?"

Zedd winced, pulling a breath through his teeth. "Don't tell her I said that or I'll never hear the end of it. The woman.»

"Zedd," Richard interrupted, "I have trouble and I need help."

"Are you well? You aren't ill, are you? You don't look entirely yourself, my boy." Zedd pressed a hand to Richard's forehead. "Summer fevers are the worst, you know. Heat on top of heat. Bad combination."

"Yes-no-I mean, it's not that. I need to talk to you."

"So talk. It has been a long time. Far too long of a time. What's it been? Two years this past spring, if I'm not mistaken." Zedd drew back a bit and squeezed Richard's arms as he looked him up and down. "Richard, where's your sword?"

"Look, we'll talk about that later," Richard said, irritably disengaging himself from Zedd's grip in order to wave away the question.

"You said you wanted to talk. So talk and tell me where your sword is." Zedd redirected his broad grin at Nicci. "And who is this lovely sorceress you've brought along?"

Richard blinked at Zedd's smile and then glanced at Nicci. "Oh, sorry. Zedd, this is Nicci. Nicci, this.»

"Nicci!" Zedd roared as he danced back up two of the steps as if he'd spotted a viper. "The Sister of the Dark who took you away to the Old World? That Nicci? What are you doing with this vile creature? Why would you dare to bring such a woman.»

"Zedd," Richard said, forcefully cutting his grandfather off. "Nicci is a friend."

"A friend! Are you out of your mind, Richard? How in the world do you expect.»

"Zedd, she's on our side now." He gestured heatedly. "Much the same as Cara, or Rikka. Things change. Before, either of them would have.»