She held her hand out, palm down. "Then do it."
"Krystin-" Myrmeen began desperately.
"Shut up," Krystin said. "If you are the woman who gave birth to me, you waited a damn long time to come get me. I don't much care if you think it was worth the effort. But no one says I'm one of those things. How do I know the whole lot of you aren't with the Night Parade? This whole thing could be a punishment for me. They like to play games. That might be why you dragged me back to this filthy city."
Shandower regarded Myrmeen with the detachment of a professional assassin. "Do you wish this?"
"Forget her," Krystin said. "This is what I want." She placed her hand over his gauntlet, suddenly realizing that the flesh around his wrist was fused to the metal. "Do it."
He nodded and called upon the energies residing within him. The glove exploded in brilliant bluish white light. Snakes of green fire slithered up Krystin's arm. She remained perfectly still, only the sudden sweat that had broken out on her forehead revealing her fear. Then she smiled, the beautiful soft lights flickering in her eyes.
"What about the rest of you?" she asked.
One by one the Harpers rose and took the gloved hand. When it was over, Shandower allowed the mystical fires to retreat. Myrmeen placed her hand on Krystin's arm, attempting a weak smile. The girl shook her head impatiently and pulled away. The tall brunette felt her last embers of hope smolder and die within her heart.
Several minutes later, Lucius said, "As long as there is a chance that Krystin is not your daughter, as long as there is doubt, I will remain at your side. Both of you deserve to know the truth."
"But who can tell us?" Myrmeen asked.
"They can," Krystin said. "The monsters. They're probably the only ones."
"Do you want to go to Arabel?" Myrmeen asked. "It will be safe for you there."
"No." Krystin rose slowly and walked past Myrmeen and the Harpers. Without looking back, she said, "I've spent fourteen years not knowing who my parents are. I didn't think it mattered." She looked over her shoulder, at Myrmeen. "But it matters. I'm not saying that you can ever be my mother or that I could ever be your daughter, but it matters anyway."
Ord nodded. "Yes. More than you know."
"I can't ask the rest of you to continue," Myrmeen said.
"You don't have to ask," Reisz said. "Remember Morlan? We avenge our own. I'm with you."
"As am I," Ord said.
Myrmeen stood and addressed the group. "If we're to do this thing, it should be for the right reasons, not for vengeance, and not for personal gain." She looked down and shrugged, her hands open at her sides. She never knew what to do with her hands when she was making a speech. "I sound so pompous." She laughed. "It's just that I think of my friends, those we lost today. Burke and Varina were family to all of us. If they had a vote, they would vote to do this only to fulfill the sacred duty and obligation of the Harpers. That is what they died for, as much as anything else. More importantly, that's what they lived for. I think we should honor their memories as best we can."
The Harpers conferred alone and decided that they would stay with Shandower, gain his trust, and learn his secrets. They were particularly interested in this apparatus that the Night Parade wanted so desperately to reacquire. They wanted to send at least one of their number to the Twilight Hall to alert the other Harpers. However, they knew that Shandower's suspicion would have been aroused if one of them suddenly departed. This was not information that they could trust to a messenger. For now, they were on their own.
"If you will have us," Myrmeen said as she returned to Shandower, "we will join you."
"Allies are hard to come by in this war," Shandower said. "I'm honored."
Suddenly there was a rustling from the pile of debris at the warehouse's far side. The Harpers were stunned to see a blond youth standing beside the mound of trash. He made the rustling sound on purpose, to draw their attention.
"The boy from the Gentleman's Hall," Myrmeen said.
"Alden McGregor," he said brightly. "And considering my wealth of experience, dear Madame Lhal, I would hardly describe myself as a boy. \foung, maybe, but certainly a man. So, how would you like one more ally?"
The boy's wet hair was matted to his scalp, and he walked toward the Harpers, brushing at his fine clothes in a vain attempt to remove the ingrained filth from his black shirt, boots, and leggings. He had left his fine red jacket outside.
"Excuse the stench," he said sheepishly. "I had to crawl up through the sewage tunnels to get in here. You really have a very secure location-"
Shandower grabbed the teenager and forced him down over one of the grates. Alden yelped in surprise. "I've come to help you!"
"We'll see," Shandower said.
Reisz tapped Ord on the shoulder. "Take a lamp and check the grating. Make sure there are no more."
"I will," Ord said, hurrying to the task.
His back upon the crate, Alden stared up at Shandower and said, "You seemed so even-tempered."
"You work for Reraccinni," Shandower said. "He's-"
"One of them, the monsters, yes, I know," Alden said as he quickly explained the task he had been set to and his discovery at the Gentleman's Hall. He described Pieraccinni's transformation in great detail, and Lucius deduced Pieraccinni's nature, that of a living siphon of magical energy.
Ord returned. "We're clear. Reisz and I are going to check the perimeter."
"Good," Myrmeen said, drawing close to Shandower. Krys-tin joined her.
"Listen," Alden said, "if I wanted to betray you, I could have led those things back here to you. I didn't. I told Pierac-cinni I saw your party leave the city gates. They'll think you're gone. They won't be expecting anything from you."
"Let him up," Myrmeen said. "I believe him."
Reisz and Ord returned. The building was secure.
"Why betray your employer?" Shandower asked.
"I might not always be on the side of law and morality, but I insist on sticking with my own kind," Alden said. "You have something those monsters want, some kind of apparatus, and I have the feeling that if they get their hands on it, there's going to be a lot of human blood spilled."
"You're right," Shandower said. "But trust does not come easily. It has to be earned."
"Don't be so stiff," Alden said. "Whatever it is you want me to do, I'll do it. That's why I'm here."
He winked at Krystin. Her eyebrows went up in surprise.
Shandower suddenly noticed the gaunt mage's dark, burning stare. "Cardoc, did you have something to add?"
"Only that I think we should find a way to hurt these monsters, and I have an idea about where to begin…"
Ten
The cloud of flame reached into the night sky like an angry fist. The building seemed to shudder, its foundations rocked by the assault. Myrmeen stood a comfortable distance away, on a low rooftop, with Reisz and Ord flanking her and Krystin standing off to the side with a sullen expression. Both the Harpers and Myrmeen were armed with bows. "There's one," Myrmeen said.
"I've got it," Ord said quickly, a flickering light playing in his eyes. The source of the light was not the fire across the street; instead, the shimmering luminescence came from the bluish white arcane fires in which the shafts had been immersed, courtesy of Shandower and his sorceries.
Below, a creature with long, twisted horns growing from its head raced out of the building. It fell suddenly as Ord's shaft pierced its chest. Soon there were more of the monstrosities flooding into the street, driven there by the dual attacks of Lucius and Shandower, who had sealed off all other means of escape from the burning building. As the monsters ran outside, they were quickly dispatched by the sure arm of the archers across the street.