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cooperate we'll put in a good word for you when the time comes." He reached down a hand to help the
warlock up.
The older man rolled over and took Hanner's hand.
A moment later the entire party was once again marching down Fish Street, leaving the surviving inhabitants
of the neighborhood, now warily emerging from their ruined homes, to put out the fires and clean up the mess.
Chapter Eight
Kirsha sat in the middle of the street, wrapped in wine-red velvet while a cluster of stolen jewelry orbited
slowly above her head, and shivered, despite the warmth of the summer night and the heat from the burning
tannery a block to the north. Bolts of cloth lay strewn on the street around her. It wasn't a dream. She was
sure of that now. She had begun to doubt it some time ago, when she realized she could feel the heat of the
flames and the hard ground beneath her bare feet when she landed. Her dreams were never so detailed as
this.
It was magic, some terrible magic, and she had been caught up in it and done crazy things. She had stolen
all this pretty cloth, a dozen silver rounds' worth at the very least, and the jewelry, which was probably worth
the same in gold. She had smashed in people's shop windows, and had flung broken window glass at people
who annoyed her ...
She shuddered at that, and thanked the gods that she hadn't hit anyone.
At least, she didn't think she had.
Just then she heard voices and looked up to see a woman flying.
For a moment she almost reconsidered, and decided she was dreaming after all. The woman practically
glowed red in the torchlight and moonlight and firelight; her clothing was all red and gold, her very hair was an
orange color Kirsha had never seen before, her face was heavily made up so that her cheeks shone red, and
she was flying along as casually as a hummingbird.
Then the woman called to her, "Are you all right?" and she knew it wasn't a dream.
"No," Kirsha said miserably, huddling down under her stolen velvet.
"Lord Hanner!" the woman in red called. "This way!"
Two more flying apparitions appeared around the corner, and a small crowd of people on foot. Kirsha felt
something close around her, and suddenly the spinning, flying jewelry fell to the ground.
A plump, curly-haired young man in a silk-trimmed tunic came trotting up to her. "Are you injured?" he asked.
"She's fine, physically," the woman in red replied.
"Just upset," said the other flying woman, who wore green and brown and was fatter and older than the first.
"Who are you?" Kirsha asked.
"I am Lord Hanner," the plump young man said. "These are warlocks under my command-people affected by
this magic."
"Like me?" Kirsha asked.
"More or less," Lord Hanner said. He frowned. "It looks to me as if you've been ..."
"Stealing," Kirsha said, lifting up a length of velvet. "I know. I went a little crazy, and thought it was all a
dream, or that the whole World had gone mad."
"We've seen quite a bit of that," Lord Hanner said. "I think you'll have to come with us-the overlord's
magistrates will want to talk to you." He looked around at the scattered fabric. "First, though-do you know
where all this came from? We should take it back to its rightful owners."
Kirsha nodded. "I think I remember it all."
"Good," Hanner said-and the bolts of cloth rose into the air around them, like a tent being lifted into place or
banners being raised. Kirsha's eyes widened.
She wasn't doing this.
"Lead the way," Hanner said, offering a hand to help her up.
Lord Faran straightened his tunic slightly as he stepped into the lesser audience chamber, and tried his best
to look completely untroubled by all the madness around him. Lord Azrad looked up at him.
"Well, it's about time you got here!" the overlord said.
"Your pardon, my lord," Faran said, essaying a small bow. "I was attending to urgent business elsewhere in
the Palace."
Azrad eyed him suspiciously. The overlord was always foul-tempered when his sleep was interrupted, but his
expression seemed unusually sour even so.
"In the Palace?" Azrad asked.
"Yes, my lord. Attending to a few personal matters, and then checking to see who had been awakened and
who had not, who was where, and so on-seeing to the overlord's business as best I could."
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