"I need to ask you both a question of the utmost importance," Wigg said. "You will no doubt find my inquiry odd, but this is no joke, I assure you."

"What is it?" Tristan asked.

Pursing his lips, Wigg placed his gnarled hands flat upon the inlaid table.

"Have either of you been hearing voices?" he asked. "Voices carrying messages that you didn't understand, and were perhaps reticent to tell us about?"

After shooting each other puzzled looks, the prince and princess turned back to stare blankly at the wizard.

"No," Tristan answered flatly.

"Nor have I," Shailiha said. "Why would you ask such a thing?"

"Because of the sudden existence of this azure wall," Faegan answered. "The Tome contains a prophecy mentioning the appearance of such an edifice, an ominous prediction that Wigg and I have discussed many times. It was deemed of such great importance that for decades many of the late members of the Directorate attempted to research it further, but to no avail. This sudden appearance of the wall marks one of the greatest turning points in the history of the craft. And yet-and I believe I speak for Wigg as well as myself-it brings us no joy. The fact that no voices have come to commune with the prince or the princess does not bode well for any of us."

"What does the prophecy say?" Abbey asked.

Closing his eyes, Faegan began to recall the cryptic passage.

"With acts delayed activated within their blood, the Jin'Sai, the Jin'Saiou, or any others of the same womb will one day be able to commune with either the Ones or the Heretics," Faegan recited. "And should for any reason the mountains separating us somehow be breached, an azure wall shall arise to contain that breach. The wall shall be the ministrations of either the Heretics or the Ones. If the Ones bring the wall, it shall be employed so as to keep your side of the land safe from harm. But if the Heretics conceive the wall, they will unleash horrors from our side to yours-horrors such as have not been seen for aeons."

"I still don't understand," Adrian said. "What does it all mean?"

"The 'acts delayed' are Forestallments," Wigg answered. "And we now know that the mountains the Ones speak of must be the Tolenkas. The Tolenkas have now been breached by the ruptured orb. Whether this was accidental or deliberate remains to be seen. And the azure wall has risen, just as the prophecy states it would. Even though Tristan and Shailiha have been imbued with Forestallments, except for the princess' ability to commune with the fliers, these spells have not been activated. Because the wall is already here and neither the prince nor the princess has heard voices, then only one conclusion can be drawn."

"Wulfgar has been imbued with the Forestallment that allows him to commune with the Heretics," Tristan said. "Worse yet, he will soon have control over the wall.

"He's coming back, isn't he?" he asked the First Wizard. "The wording of the prophecy implies that the Heretics-or at least their spirits-reside on the western side of the Tolenkas. Wulfgar means to breach the wall, gain the help of the Heretics, and take Eutracia."

Tristan's face grew hard. He didn't like secrets. And yet there seemed no end to the secrets the wizards had been keeping from him and the other members of the Conclave. Trying to calm him, his new bride gave him a sympathetic look, but he just glared at Wigg.

"You knew, didn't you?" he growled. "Both you and Faegan have known this all along! Why didn't you tell me?"

"In fact we did not know," Faegan answered "Of course we assumed that the natural barrier the Tome refers to might be the Tolenkas, but we could never be sure. The barrier could also have been the Sea of Whispers, or the oceanic ice floes lying both to the north and the south, or the very sky above us, for that matter. But now we are much closer to the truth. The Heretics must still exist in one form or another on the western side of the Tolenkas. And they will very likely soon cede control of the azure wall to Wulfgar."

"I'm afraid it goes even deeper than that," Wigg said. "Wulfgar doesn't mean to only take Eutracia. He has other designs, as well."

"And what are they?" Celeste asked.

"You're forgetting the orb," the wizard answered. "Once he has landed on Eutracian shores, Wulfgar's battle plan will probably be threefold. First, he will divide his forces. He will lead one group to the pass to take control of the azure wall. A second group-probably under the control of his Black Ship captains-will search out the Orb of the Vigors in order to protect it from us at all costs. Wulfgar will turn his remaining legions south to Tammerland, to crush those of us who remain loyal to the Vigors. And as the polluted waters of the Sippora finally reach us, much of the city will go up in flames, only adding to Wulfgar's chances of success." He paused for a moment as he looked around the table.

"I doubt that even my powers combined with those of Faegan, Jessamay, and all the acolytes could effectively disperse the river's heat," he continued gravely. "As the refugees flood in and the city becomes a fortress, food and water will quickly grow short. Riots will break out. I know," he added sadly. "I have seen it all before."

His thoughts went back to those dark days when the Coven had nearly taken the capital.

"It seems that it is all about to happen again, old friend," Wigg said to Faegan. "We must prepare for a siege. If Wulfgar has already left the Citadel, we have little time to prepare. His Black Ships can travel much faster than his demonslaver ships, or anything that Tyranny has in her fleet."

Taking a deep breath, Faegan nodded.

"I don't understand," Shailiha protested. "Wulfgar wants to protect the orb? And from us? What in the name of the Afterlife are you talking about? I thought Wulfgar and the Heretics wanted the Orb of the Vigors destroyed!"

Suddenly understanding, Tristan nodded his head. "They do," he mused. He looked over at his sister.

"Don't you see?" he asked her. "Wulfgar doesn't need to destroy the orb; it's accomplishing that task on its own. If your blood and mine only can accept the powerful Forestallment that will save it, then Wulfgar will do everything in his power to try to keep us away from it."

"That's right," Faegan said. "And that is why we must hit him with everything we have when his forces are divided and he is at his weakest. If he reaches the wall and parts it, I fear that no power on earth will be able to stop him."

For several moments the only sounds came from the wood burning in the fireplace, and the happy gurgling of Morganna as she played on the floor.

"These horrors from the other side of the Tolenkas," Tyranny said,

"what are they likely to be?"

Wigg shook his head. "That is impossible to say," he replied. "The Heretics were the originators of the Vagaries, and we have always believed their gifts to be massive-far outstripping our own."

Tristan took Celeste's hand. Sighing, he looked down for a moment.

"So much of this is about me, isn't it?" he asked. "It all hinges on returning my blood to its original state. Supposedly only the Scroll Master can provide us with the calculations for the Forestallment that we need. But despite our trip to the Recluse, we're no closer to finding him than we were. The spell might be somewhere in the Scroll of the Vigors, but at least one-third of the scroll has been destroyed. For all we know, the calculations we need were destroyed with it that same night. Search the scroll as hard as we might, it could still all be for naught."

Faegan looked at Jessamay. "Do you have any idea what Failee meant about the Scroll Master guarding something called the Well of Forestallments?"

Jessamay shook her head. "Not really. Only that the Scroll Master was supposedly the world's greatest keeper of Forestallments. I have no idea what that means. And I have no idea what the Well of Forestallments might be. Failee claimed that they both resided in Eutracia. But I don't think that even she knew where, because she said that once Eutracia was hers, she planned to search him out and torture his knowledge from him." She was quiet for a moment, her forehead wrinkled with thought as she searched her memories. "She did say one other thing: that the Scroll Master could be found via the River of Thought, whatever that is."