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.Idalia wasthere, too, along with a young man Citrine had gathered from earlier encounters was her son, Varcasiol.As if the shackles they wore were not enough to hold the prisoners, four guards flanked the group.The guards doubledas lantern bearers so the immediate vicinity was brilliantly lit, bordered in a dancing aura of stark black shadow in whichCitrine hid as among the trees of a dense forest.Reassured by the sour expression on Idalia's face that she had not missed witnessing the finding of the treasure hoard,Citrine turned her lantern down as low as the flame could go and made sure the shutters were tightly closed.Then shesettled behind a heap of rocks to watch.The first thing Citrine noticed was that Grateful Peace looked as if he'd had a terrible fall.There were cuts and bruiseson his face and he moved as if every bone in his body ached.Whenever he could, Peace braced his one remaining armagainst the wall, as if he couldn't stand on his own.When he must move without that support, he wrapped his arm acrosshis front to hold his side.Edlin also showed signs of battering.His lower lip was swollen so that his normally cheerful features were set in apermanent grotesque pout.He had a black eye and a welt across one side of his face.Edlin hovered as near to GratefulPeace as he could and that protectiveness told Citrine more than she wanted to know.Confused as her thoughts could sometimes be, Citrine was not a fool.She had seen various guards strike Peace, evenwhen Idalia was not present.She had seen the hatred Idalia bore her brother.She was also no stranger to the rivalries andresentments that can grow between those whoùby an accident of birthùare supposed to be natural allies.Citrine did not need to make a great leap of imagination or memory to know why in less than two full days GratefulPeace had gone from being a bruised cripple to a physical wreck who could hardly move without assistance.Nor did it takeany tremendous reasoning power to realize how Edlin had received his own disfiguring injuries.As this unhappy information flooded Citrine's brain the voices began their clamoring."Idalia's killing him!""What of it? When Mother was here she didn't stop the guards from beating him.""She stopped them from hurting him too badly.""Did she really? She started talking to him, sure, but she didn't really tell them to stop.""But Mother has a use for him.That's obvious to the dimmest eye.If Idalia keeps this up, Peace won't last much longer."A new voice, gentler, more wistful, entered the debate."And Peace was very kind to me when he was Jalarios and I was Rios.Doesn't it make you even a little sad to see what'shappening?""No! What's important is that Mother needs him.""But that doesn't mean Idalia can kill him, right? I mean, if Peace dies, Mother won't be happy.""No wonder Mother feels she needs to be everywhere at once.Idalia doesn't realize what's really important.She hatesPeace too much.She'll kill him and then Mother will be very angry.""Idalia's crazy!""And what about what Idalia's doing to Edlin? I tell you, she's going too far there.She has no reason to hurt him.Whatdid he ever do but protect a one-armed old man?"The arguing continued in this fashion until Citrine pressed her hands to the sides of her head, certain that her head wouldsplit.A thin, shrill keen of pain and frustration burst from her lips and echoed off the tunnel walls.The guards jumped, stiffening to alertness.Idalia looked around wildly, then turned accusingly to Grateful Peace. "What was that?" she demanded."I have no idea," Peace replied in a voice so full of pain that Citrine hardly recognized it."Echo?" Edlin offered."Someone's sword scraping against the rock?"Idalia looked as if she wanted to be convinced, but Varcasiolùa youth of about seventeenùwas unconvinced."Is it true that the Founders still walk these tunnels?" he asked."That's what the storytellers say.""Nonsense," Idalia said, but she sounded less than convinced.One of the guards raised his lantern high so that the upper reaches were illuminated."Maybe bats?" he proposed."Or rats?""That's it," Idalia replied with certainty."Bats disturbed by our lights.Are you ready to move on, Grey Pee?"Grateful Peace was studying some characters etched into the rock with such close attention that Idalia had to repeatherself before he looked up."Oh, yes.If you wish.""I do wish," Idalia said, then paused."What do you mean, 'If I wish'?"Grateful Peace looked as if he'd been about to shrug but winced instead."These writings," he said, "are a warning against going any further down this tunnel.Quite reasonable."Peace stopped talking, caught in a fit of dry coughing.Edlin handed him a canteen, his defiant gaze daring anyone toprevent him."Can you talk now, old man?" Edlin asked kindly."I think our fair hostess is interested in what you have to say."Peace looked back at the etched rock face.The finger he traced them with, Citrine noticed with a horrified acuteness ofperception, looked as if it had been stepped on repeatedly."Really," Peace said, with what was clearly meant to be a reassuringly urbane smile but which looked ghastly when theleaping lantern light reflected off a broken front tooth, "it's nothing to be alarmed about.Just about what one would expectif treasure were hidden near here."He coughed and Edlin offered him more water."Beware of the dog, what?" Edlin said brightly."Property guarded?""Rather like that," Peace agreed.Idalia looked so alarmed that Citrine couldn't help giggling.The shrill sound caught against a rock and broke intomyriad echoes.The guards jumped and several unsheathed their swords.Varcasiol looked about wildly."Give a complete translation," Idalia insisted, frowning at her son.Peace gave one of his wince-shrugs, and Edlin put his hand out for one of the lanterns so that he could hold it nearer tothe inscription.The nearest guard, eager to get a more solid grip on his sword, handed the lantern over without question.Citrine waited eagerly for what Peace would say, certain she was the only person here who wasn't afraid.After all, sheknew where the noises were coming from.She smothered a giggle behind her hand and leaned a little closer."'Pass not beyond this point,'" Peace read," 'lest you wish your blood to boil even as does the water in the rocks.'"He paused as if reluctant to continue.Idalia raised one hand as if to strike him and Peace quickly bent his head again tothe task." 'Your eyes shall melt in their sockets, the very marrow in your bones turn to fire.Trespass at your peril.'"Peace looked up, letting his hand drop to his side from where it had been tracing beneath the characters."Rather theatrical," he said, almost apologetically.Varcasiol had come forward to peer more closely at the inscription."I recognize the characters for boiling," he said, his voice tight and anxious, "and there's one that looks like eyes andanother like a thighbone.Why couldn't the First Healed One have had the old script taught more widely!"Peace looked down his nose at the nervous young man."It is, Nephew, in the Illuminator's college, and several others, but the old symbols are rather cumbersome for dailybusiness."Citrine sensed a well-worn family argument in the glare Idalia turned on her brother, but before Idalia could put herindignation into words Edlin set the lantern down near his feet and straightened
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