Chapter Twenty Eight

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Nobody moved for a long time after the draykons had flown away. Ana was slumped over Griel's body, as motionless as he. Tren had the vacant look of a man whose world has suddenly inverted itself. As indeed it had. The whurthags had vanished, and a profound silence reigned in the forest that was slowly reverting back to Ana's stone-built chamber.

   Eva felt stupefied. It seemed impossible to equate the day's events with anything that ought to be possible within the laws of nature and magic. No matter how hard she pushed her shocked brain, the edges refused to match up. At length she stopped trying. She stood up slowly, careful of her spinning head, and took a few deep breaths. The questions she placed to one side, to be examined later. A more pressing problem was Ana and Griel, if he was even still alive.

   Ana looked up as she approached. Her face was initially blank, but when she registered Eva's identity her expression grew harsh.

   'I suppose you've come to be kind to me.' She was a mess, her hands and hair stained with blood and her clothes torn. She wore it with a kind of incongruous insouciance, her air defiant rather than crippled. For the first time, Eva truly saw how dangerous she was.

   'I was more inclined to arrest you.'

   Ana laughed, a high-pitched sound with an edge of hysteria. 'You?'

   'Mr. Warvel, actually, as the nearest representative of the Chief Investigator's Office.'

   Tren came up next to her and stood looking down at the wreck of a sorceress. 'You're under arrest,' he said gravely. 'Anything to say?'

   Ana snarled something inarticulate. She grabbed Griel's body, dragging it close to her own. Then she disappeared.

   'Inevitable, I suppose,' Tren murmured.

   'Perfectly,' agreed Eva. 'I really must learn how she does that,' she added.

   'Add it to the list of mysteries.'

   'There's already enough there to keep us busy for a couple of decades, I should think.'

   'Then it's lucky that we're young and bursting with energy.'

   Eva laughed faintly. 'Speak for yourself.'

   Tren grinned lopsidedly. 'I don't think I was, even. I feel at least one hundred and fifty.' He rolled his shoulders, grimacing as joints cracked and popped. 'So... what just happened?'

   'Why are you asking?'

   'Because if I wasn't dreaming, a girl just appeared out of thin air, transformed into a draykon and flew away. It seemed significant.'

   'I mean. Why are you asking me?'

   Tren smiled tiredly. 'I view you as a fount of knowledge, that's why. If you're as confused as me, that's fine. You can just say that.'

   'I have some theories, but I wouldn't like to hazard anything without conducting some research.'

   'Admit it. You have no idea.'

   Eva grimaced. 'Fine. I'm a useless scholar and I have no notion what in the world is going on.'

   'Good. Well said.'

   'We can work on that later. The important point is that we have two draykons on the loose. One of them was a bag of bones until today, and the other used to be a human. That's the kind of thing that ought to be reported pretty quickly.'

   Searching for traces of her companions, Eva found the shortig cowering beneath a small table that was tucked into one corner of the room. Now that it was empty, the chamber seemed vaster than ever. Her footsteps rang sharply as she crossed the stone floor, the sound echoing off the bare walls. She coaxed the shortig out from his retreat, handing the small, shaking body to Tren.

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