Two Way River

She scolds them for their noise as they shinny to the top and use a magic-powered seeing device to peer down into a walled compound, Blue Caves Sanctuary, home of the most famous healers in the Kingdom. A large formal ceremony is in progress in the courtyard.

Shiranan spots her quarry, Lewin Eldone, Chief Healer of the Sanctuary. The device identifies the ceremony as the installation of Eldone's successor. Her first sight of this blue robed man stuns Shiranan.

Seeming about her own age, he is slightly built, but moves with an oiled smoothness bespeaking a perfect body beneath the robes. To her eyes, he seems outlined by a stark vividness contrasting sharply with the other healers in the courtyard below. The magical device informs her the ceremony will go on for some time. She concocts and launches her plan.

She has her youngest follower swathed in bandages. They rig a litter to swing between two horses, pretending he's badly injured. They are dressed as King Hardin's personal messenger and her men at arms.

During this, we learn that Shiranan has been crusading against corruption among the Assassins since her parents - who were members of Red Shadow Cadre at the time - died mysteriously. That was shortly before Red Shadow Cadre was wiped out attempting to complete King Hardin's commission to kill Chief Healer Eldone, so Shiranan never really learned all the details of her parents' deaths.

The Chief Healer is accused of treason against Hardin because he Healed the now exiled, former King Vennard when Hardin wounded him in their final battle. Shiranan detests Vennard because his policies drove her parents into becoming Assassins. So she has no compunctions about killing Eldone, the traitor Healer.

Likewise, via the assassins' comments, we learn that they resent Shiranan's leadership. She has seniority, having been raised as an Assassin, working from the time she was seven years old, but they feel she is taking them on a suicide mission. A superstitious dread surrounds Eldone because of the way a blizzard wiped out the ten members of Red Shadow that went up against him before.

Furthermore, her men feel it was her fault they were cut off from their old cadre, Silent Breath. She was the one who fought and killed a fellow member of Silent Breath, and they no longer believe that the one she killed had been corrupt. Not a single other member of the Assassin's Guild believed her story of corruption, and so the three were cut off from their former cadre, and no other cadre would have them. Shiranan's plan to redeem their honor by taking up the name and mission of the extinct Red Shadow Cadre once seemed clever, but now seems only like the demented ravings of one "shadowed."

Being "shadowed" is the fate of any Assassin who breaks oath and uses his or her skills against a sworn member of their own cadre. The "shade" or ghost of the victim attaches itself to the aura of the killer where it is subliminally perceptible to all, an indelible sign of ultimate disgrace.

But an Assassin without a cadre is held in even worse regard than a Shadowed Assassin, so they bundle the youngest into the litter and ride through the Sanctuary gate into the crowded Blue Caves Sanctuary courtyard.

The Blue Caves healers are assembled in the huge courtyard surrounded by the buildings where they live and work. Convalescing patients are watching the proceedings from their windows. They make Shiranan nervous because she knows that among them are some Kings' Men, loyal to King Hardin the First, while many of the others are still nurturing their loyalty to King Vennard whom Hardin deposed. The political schism is also evident among the assembled healers, though they tend to be silent supporters of Vennard.

Shiranan, known here as Rana, faces the Chief Healer, Lewin Eldone, as he addresses the crowd. She feels like a fraud, for she knows that she would never have been accepted for training had they known the truth about her.

But, for the thousandth time, she puts that truth behind her. She is no longer Shiranan the Assassin. The blue waters of the ponds in the healing caves washed all that out of her, and she was reborn Rana the healer. Or so she tells herself.

She is called forth, crosses her open palms before her breast in the greeting of a healer, and bows her head before her superior to receive the sigil of her new office, a gold medallion charged with a magic that resonates only to her touch. "By this token shall you be known to all, your skill recognized, your judgement unchallenged by those less qualified."

As the chain is placed around her neck, the main gates crash open.

Two mounted soldiers in the King's livery burst into the courtyard, healers scurrying out of the way of the shod hooves that strike sparks off the cobblestones. Between the two horses, a litter is swung, a fur wrapped form strapped to it. Clearly, the two horsemen are surprised to find such a mob in the courtyard.

The Captain of the men demands that the Chief Healer come and treat this Assassin who was found badly burned, lying at the edge of a small forest fire down the mountainside. It is imperative that he be questioned in a matter of great concern to the Crown, so the Chief Healer himself is charged personally with seeing to the man.

But Healers are sworn neutrals and non-combatants, so Shiranan expects no trouble if they're quick about their business and their escape.

Shiranan demands that the Chief Healer come and treat this Assassin who was found badly burned, lying at the edge of a small forest fire down the mountainside. It is imperative that he be questioned in a matter of great concern to the Crown, so the Chief Healer himself must personally see to the man.

By the time this announcement is complete, Rana pushes forward claiming that the Chief Healer no longer takes personal charge of patients. This is not strictly true, but she motions frantically to Lewin to stay back. She is highly suspicious.

By the time she completes her announcement, the Chief Healer's newly installed assistant pushes forward and identifies himself as Nathan Norby. He claims the Chief Healer no longer takes personal charge of patients. Shiranan does not believe him.

Strung tight, she bends to unwrap the furs from the supine man on the litter. He is dressed in the standard black uniform of Assassins and is wearing the badge of her own cadre. Her suspicions crystalize to a dread certainty. She starts to unwrap the bandages that cover his face burns, holding her breath against the odor of burn ointment. She senses no pain in him, and assumes he's unconscious.

She notices unusual tension in him as he bends to unwrap the furs from the supine man on the litter who is dressed in the standard black uniform of Assassins and is wearing the badge of Red Shadow. As Norby starts to unwrap the bandages that cover the presumed face burns, he announces that he senses no pain, so the victim must be unconscious.

Incredulous, she understands the plot - someone has allowed himself to be badly burned in order to be treated by Lewin, planning to strike at Lewin after the Healing, when Lewin would be least expecting it.

As she struggles with the last wrap of bandage, she sees a youth she doesn't recognize. Not surprising, for as far as she knew, Red Shadow Cadre had died to a man, leaving her the only survivor. She surmises that the Red Shadow Cadre has been recommissioned with wholly new recruits, and these three may be the only ones with guts enough to take on a dishonored cadre name and try to reclaim its honor.

As the last fold comes away, she sees that the youth is not burned at all. From deep tranced repose, he explodes into deadly motion, grabbing her clothing and tumbling her to the ground before realizing that she is not Lewin Eldone. Yanking her new medallion free, he throws it aside in disgust, and before else can react, he hurls himself at the Chief Healer.

But his eyes fix upon the badges and his face betrays his sudden understanding of the plot.

In that moment, the last face bandages come away, the supposedly injured youth explodes into deadly motion, grabbing his clothing and tumbling him to the ground. Yanking Norby's new assistant's medallion free, he throws it aside in disgust, and hurls himself at Chief Healer Eldone while Shiranan and Rollenby release the litter and clear a path with their horses.

There is no time to think it through. Rana flings aside her torn healer's robe, and attacks the Assassin, thwarting his surprise thrust at the Chief Healer. The supposed King's Men turn out likewise to be Assassins, and they attack Rana.

After one quick exchange in which she parries with a Red Shadow move, one of them accuses her, "You're Red Shadow!"

"Not any more. I'm Rana, a healer of the Blue Caves. The Red Shadow is dead." She circles warily, for the cadre's oath prohibits their turning their killing skills on each other - ever. And she is now sworn guardian of life, not a terminator.

In a dizzying flash, the supposedly noncombatant Norby flings aside is torn healer's robe and attacks the youthful Assassin, intercepting his deadly thrust. Shiranan and Rollenby drive their horses in to attack Norby.

Using a Red Shadow move, perfectly executed, Norby unhorses them both, dives and rolls and comes up in a ready crouch, holding the three Assassins at bay.

Without thinking, Shiranan gasps, "You're Red Shadow!"

"Not any more. I'm Norby, a healer of the Blue Caves. You're not Red Shadow. Red Shadow is dead." He circles warily.

Stung by that, Rana, despite seven years lack of practice, advances and throws the one wearing the Captain's Uniform to the ground. There is a dull crunch and the man's body writhes only from the waist up as he cries out. She turns to deal with the other armed man while other healers converge on the stricken man.

"See," taunts Shiranan, "you don't belong here. Help us." But repeatedly he blocks their approach to Eldone, who has made no effort to retreat.

Suddenly, Norby, showing only the slightest sign of being out of practice, advances and throws Rollenby to the ground. There is a dull crunch and the man's body writhes only from the waist up as he cries out. Norby swings around to deal with Shiranan and the youth. Several healers converge on the stricken man.

Since Vennard was beaten on the battlefield, and then healed at Blue Caves, he has not been heard from, but Hardin's men are still searching for Vennard. Within the kingdom, there is a growing resistance to Hardin.

No one loyal to King Hardin could be defending Eldone, so Shiranan has no compunctions about fighting them, but the odds are against the Assassins now.

She shouts to her young assistant, "Forget Eldone. We've got to take Norby. Come on!"

Seeing the odds turn against them, the two remaining Assassins converge on Rana and overwhelm her. They grab her up and, stripping the litter from between the horses, they ride out the open gate, leaving their fallen Captain behind. Rana is slung across the front of one saddle while the other horse is ridden by the "injured" youth. A bowman climbing onto the swinging gate takes a long shot and hits the youth who falls from his horse with a sickening thud, an arrow through his back.

The man with Rana across his saddle spurs his horse on and escapes into the broken hill country around the Sanctuary.

The two finally overwhelm Norby, bundle him over the saddlebow of Shiranan's horse, and ride out the gate, leaving Rollenby behind on the ground, surrounded by Healers.

The ignominious defeat stings, but at least they're alive. They've broken the jinx, she tells herself. Next time, they'll succeed. Then a bowman climbs the Sanctuary's gate and takes a long shot, hitting the youth who falls from his horse with a sickening thud, an arrow through his back.

Shiranan spurs her horse on and escapes into the broken hill country around the Sanctuary torn between joy at surviving and agony at losing her men.

Shiranan believes her parents were killed because of their ethics, but she has no proof.

In the seven years since Red Shadow failed, a superstitious dread has grown up around Eldone. By tradition, when a cadre is wiped out without completing the commission, no other cadre may accept that job. In other words, if a victim beats off an entire Assassin's cadre, he has bought his life - at least from the organized Assassins.

But in this case, it turns out now that Eldone never fought Red Shadow unless by magic.

Rana insists that he would never have violated his healer's oath in such a way. If he had, he'd have lost the power to heal - as she now has done by fighting and injuring Rollenby.

That being the case, Norby says, the superstitions may in fact be right and something protects Eldone, or Blue Caves, or both. And no Assassin is willing to deal with that something. Still, Norby maintains, he must return to finish that job.

However, Shiranan's survival changes everything. Red Shadow was not wiped out. Other cadres might be hired to finish Red Shadows' botched work, and that would end forever Norby's chance to redeem his own honor. So he must act swiftly. And Shiranan must, for the sake of her own honor, help him. Or since she's Senior, he will help her.

She is adamant in her refusal, and when Norby is convinced that she really meant to defend her target rather than strike at it, and when he realizes that she is willing to use Red Shadow skills to kill him, he has a heavy decision to make. By oath, no Assassin may kill her, even if she violates her oath to this extent. Since she can't be struck down, but is a disgrace to the Cadre - which now consists only of Norby and Shiranan - it is Norby's responsibility to exile her, then come back and finish off Lewin.

Norby argues that Eldone should not be a quarry, and he makes a sterling case. The Chief Healer is an invaluable asset to society, even to King Hardin, because he Heals impartially. Shiranan isn't buying this line.

By tradition, when a cadre is wiped out without completing the commission, no other cadre may accept that job. In other words, if a victim beats off an entire Assassin's cadre, he has bought his life - at least from the Assassins' Guild.

But in this case, it turns out now that Eldone never fought Red Shadow hand to hand. Combat by magic voids the custom.

Norby plants the suspicion in Shiranan's mind that the original Red Shadow was wiped out by a magician, a weather-scryer hired to give them false information on the weather. And maybe even a Beast Mage who sent the wolves after them. Who would want to do that and why are a mystery.

Norby, in desperation and in direct contradiction to his previous stance, argues that since he survived, she can't be Red Shadow because he didn't swear her in. Eldone's life is his to take as he chooses, in his own time.

She argues against that. He had been declared missing and, after the requisite year and a day, dead. Furthermore, he was forsworn, having taken Healer's Oath, and had thus the Guild Court would declare him cut off from his cadre and would, by tradition, give him to her for final disposition.

"Ah, so you admit I'm not Red Shadow."

She offers him the chance to throw off his Healer's Oath and swear again to Red Shadow through her, then to redeem their honor by killing Eldone.

He is adamant in his refusal, and when Shiranan is convinced he means it, she has a heavy decision to make. She can't kill him, so the law requires she must exile him, strand him where he can't come back to thwart her next attempt at Eldone or ever again interfere in Red Shadow affairs. But what she really wants to do is go back immediately and finish off Eldone.

That decision made, and with darkness falling, Norby sets to making camp. Every once in a while, he turns swiftly to spear her with a measuring glance even though she is tied hand and foot by an expert who knows all her tricks.

As she is fixing a stew, Shiranan watches Norby, not quite able to figure him out.

The searing resentment behind his tone penetrates Rana's fog, and she finally thinks to look to see if Norby is "Shaded," - haunted by the ghost of a dishonorable kill. Looking just so in the firelight, she can see it hovering above and behind him. And now that she's aware of it, she can feel it, like a not-quite heard tone grating on the nerves. She's surprised she still retains that much healer's sensitivity.

There is such a thing as a Healer being Shaded, though it is rare. But where a Healer has badly mistreated a patient, and the patient dies of it, the Healer may become Shaded by the ghost of that patient.

She begins to understand Norby, though not to like him any better. The low grade but constant reminder of dishonor that a Shade represented, the nerve grinding unheard buzz of its presence day and night, could drive a man to anything while it simultaneously drove all his friends away. A Shaded Assassin who died before redeeming his honor to the Shade's satisfaction had to face that Shade in the other world. Norby's behavior becomes understandable in the light of his constant torment and fear, but it brings up a number of other questions.

Norby squints up at her appraisingly, surprised that he follows her twisted reasoning. And at last he notices her own shame. "You're Shaded!" Shaded - haunted by the ghost of a dishonorable kill. "I should have felt it before."

Shiranan accuses him of having blunted his healer's senses by violating his healer's oath. It's a low blow, but she feels a need to hurt him as he has hurt her by destroying her chance at redeeming her honor. And she's ashamed. She knows just what a Shaded person feels like to those around her: an indistinct shadow hovering around and over, making it unpleasant to look directly at the person; an annoying not-quite heard tone grating on the nerves.

Without asking how she came to be Shaded, Norby just says, "I'm sorry. It must be very difficult for you."

The sympathy almost undoes her and she snarls at him and stamps off cursing him. A Healer may become Shaded if he has badly mistreated a patient who dies and blames the Healer, and this is the curse she hurls at him.

A Shaded Assassin who died still Shaded had to face that Shade in the other world. That was something Shiranan is determined to avoid. But she had no idea how she was going to shake off this Shade. He had died emotionally committed to forcing her into his own corrupt behavior. He would not leave her until she soiled herself by killing for money alone. This was a point he made repeatedly as he appeared in her dreams. She tells herself, "I'll never give in!"

[BEGIN HIDDEN COMMENT]

HERE MIGHT GO A FLASHBACK TO THAT FIGHT - LATER MIGHT GO A FLASHBACK TO HER TRIAL AND HER DECISION TO RED SHADOW

[END HIDDEN COMMENT]

She doesn't get a chance to ask them all at once, for Norby takes her, trussed up ignominiously, on a long journey. After a few days of being tied up and transported face down across his saddle, she gives him her word not to try to escape until he has sold her. They cross the foothills to the Two Way River, the greatest marvel of the known world.

The next day, she uses leather thongs to tie Norby across her horse's rump. He's light, and though large for a woman, she is also a much lighter burden than this war horse is used to. So they make fair time across the foothills to the Two Way River.

As they near the town of Thango, she extracts his promise not to try to escape until after she's sold him, then she lets him ride sitting behind her.

The people particularly fear ghosts, and won't traverse the tunnel with anyone who is Shaded. Fortunately for Norby, it isn't always easy to spot a Shade, and he's careful not to do anything to make his act up.

Shiranan keeps to herself as much as possible, and otherwise does what she can to keep her own Shade from being noticed. Since Norby is the only healer aboard, this isn't too difficult, for ordinary folk don't instantly identify the source of their subliminal discomfort around a Shaded person because Shading is rare.

But after spending so much time with Norby, who quietly insists on Eldone's worth to the world, she has sudden misgivings. What if by killing Eldone she is playing right into her Shade's hands and succumbing to corruption. What if Hardin is wrong and Vennard is right?

It is only as they emerge from the darkness that she's able to throw off that horrid feeling. She'll know when she kills Eldone and not before. If the Shade disappears when she kills Eldone, then she's been wrong, and Eldone should have lived. What would it be like to live the rest of her life free and unShaded simply because she'd compromised her own integrity and killed a man who didn't deserve it. Buying her freedom with an innocent death would be like taking money for an innocent death. She refuses to think about that eventuality. Eldone must die.

She also pushes and tests at her healing ability, finding it not wholly gone, yet not intact either. She has used Assassin's skills and thus sacrificed her Healer's skills. And still, she is not Shaded. Rollenby must still live. And he will be tended, she is sure, by none other than Eldone.

She keeps pressing him to come back to Red Shadow, and he steadfastly refuses. She is perversely delighted when, in another emergency, he discovers that his violating his Healer's Oath has not totally destroyed his healing ability.

She becomes so involved that she misses the clues that he is beginning to loosen the magician's blocks on his fighting ability. She does notice that he is not Shaded, which means Rollenby must still live.

Norby and Rana are vowed enemies, and yet, in such close quarters, through many dangerous and threatening situations, they come to know and rely on each other. By the time Norby sells her in Lithen, Rana is wishing mightily that she had met him before he acquired his Shade, or even that he had been Red Shadow on their original raid to kill Eldone, for she feels that had he been there, they wouldn't have failed.

But she also now knows that Rollenby is as much responsible for Norby being Shaded as Norby is. Rollenby had been Norby's senior in the Silent Breath cadre. Rollenby was ambitious and strove to wrest the leadership of Silent Breath from the older but still sharp, Rissel. Rollenby ordered Norby to refrain from an act of support for Rissel during a mission, and Norby knew what the result would be. Yet he did not act. Legally, he was in the clear since it wasn't his place to judge the results of his actions in the field, but only to obey Rollenby's lawful order. As a result, three of the Breath's cadre died, and one of them was his best friend who is now Shading him. Rissel survived sorely wounded.

At the trial of Rollenby and Norby, Norby was nearly acquitted until it was noted that he was Shaded. That proved that one of the dead, one of his own cadre, considered that Norby had wronged a sworn brother. Therefore, he was expelled with Rollenby, and no other cadre would take them in. Norby's response to all this vacillates between a self-righteous defensiveness, and a bewildered contrition. But the Assassins' own magician has assured him that the Shade will leave him when he has shown that he will not make that mistake again. This is the reason he and Rollenby could not defeat Shiranan in combat, even though she was out of practice. Norby is terrified of wronging her and earning yet another Shade, one that would be much harder to shake.

After the harrowing trip they've had together, Norby is reluctant to sell Shiranan, but he does it - and she understands why he feels he must. Still, she opposes his purposes with a steely determination. Eldone must live, even if it costs Shiranan her life and her honor.

Possibly Eldone will tend Rollenby, and if so then maybe Rollenby will complete her mission for her. She views this with mixed emotions, and it spurs her on to make haste.

By the time Shiranan sells Norby in Lithen, she is wishing mightily that she'd known him long ago, before all this started. Things might have been different.

Repelled by the leering attentions of some of the shoppers, she searches frantically for a way out. At the last minute, she spots a bidder who seems to be from her own home area, though dressed in local clothes. She crosses her palms in the Healer's gesture, a gesture not understood by anyone this side of the mountains.

The familiar bidder buys her for an astronomical sum, and she is ashamed, for she is not really a Healer any more. Worse yet, she feels compelled to lie about her background, saying that she was apprenticed at Blue Caves and has only rudimentary skills. To her surprise, this does not evoke fury from her new owner.

"If you can stitch a wound and set a bone, dress a burn or offset magic-backwash, we've a use for you. And I'll wager you won't mind that use one bit. Come along now."

She finds she has been purchased by a mercenary band made up mostly of refugees from Hardin's victory. Then, as she wins their confidence, she discovers they work for King Vennard, who is planning the very invasion and revolution Hardin has feared all this time.

By guile and forthright manipulation, she works her way into the direct service of Vennard's household, and finally wins audience with the him.

Shiranan lingers at the edges of the auction, curious beyond her ability to deny and angry with herself for it.

The obvious distress Norby displays wrenches at her heart. As the bidding heats and she realizes he's going to be sold as a male sex-slave, she worms her way through the throng and chooses the cleanest looking bidder present, a soldier or a private estate guard. He has the racial character of her homeland.

"He's a healer," she tells the man, and recounts what everyone saw him do on the caravan trek across country. "A real miracle worker. You could use one like that in your business."

With unexpected vehemence, the man turns on her. "What would you be knowing of my business?"

"Nothing. I just thought . . . you look like a soldier." She hastily fades back, realizing that this man might well recognize her for the Assassin she is whereas the natives here wouldn't know an Assassin from a musician. Belatedly, it occurs to her that this soldier might be one of Vennard's men.

The soldier-guard buys Norby for an astronomical sum, and she leaves him to his fate, wondering whether she's just sealed her own and Hardin's fate by getting a top notch Healer for Vennard.

She goes into the city and ferrets out magicians who can supply the illicit spells and devices she needs to execute her plan. If Vennard is active, then she must hurry.

Shiranan overhears comments about King Vennard and accidentally lets out her own opinion of him, and her support of Hardin.

After she's ordered her tools to be made, but before they've all been delivered, one of the magicians betrays her.

Late one night, she is accosted by several armed men and taken prisoner - not before she kills one of them and badly wounds another, taking a severe wound herself.

She wakes up in a stockade with Norby treating her wounds, and discovers that she is a prisoner of King Vennard who is indeed planning to retake his throne.

She's been taken prisoner because Vennard believes she will run right back to Hardin and betray his plans. He's right.

While she's a prisoner, she learns a lot about Vennard as a leader, from his men and from Norby who is now a freed man serving Vennard willingly.

Vennard still regards himself in debt to Eldone, for Eldone's skills saved his life. Once his magicians verified that Norby was Eldone's chosen successor (and the reason for the impairment of his Healer's powers), he was put in a place of honor in Vennard's household staff and the binding on his fighting skills was removed.

He has been now apprenticed to a magician who believes Norby's true skills lie neither in healing nor killing, but in magic. Norby is now learning quickly how to be a field magician with an army.

Vennard still regards himself in debt to Eldone, for Eldone's skills saved his life. Once his magicians have verified that Shiranan was Eldone's chosen successor (and the reason for her loss of Healer's powers), she is put in a place of honor in Vennard's household staff.

She is apprenticed to a magician who believes her true skills lie neither in healing nor killing, but in magic, which he regards as an uneasy blending of the two. He sets her Assassin's skills free, and she learns quickly some of the more useful techniques of field magic.

Vennard's spies bring alarming news. Now knowing what to look for, they have spotted Nathan Norby, but they are afraid to tackle him for he possesses fearsome (illegal) offensive magic of which he is not personally a Master. Magic aside, they refuse to tackle an Assassin about a lawful commission. "That's a suicide mission," they complain.

The man who bought Norby at the auction encounters Shiranan and eventually puts together Norby's story of how he came to be sold and realizes that the prisoner, Shiranan, must in fact be the Assassin planning to kill Eldone. When this finally gets back to Vennard, Norby hears of it and just before Vennard's men come to kill her (a measure of Vennard's respect for the Guild), Norby releases her from her cell and helps her escape.

He can't watch her die, yet he can't bear the thought of her killing Eldone either. He pleads with her to delay taking action until Vennard has his try at regaining the throne. If she doesn't warn Hardin, Norby promises he will bring his rudimentary magician's skills and his Healer's skills and pledge himself to the cadre under her.

She doesn't exactly believe him. He's too desperate. But she wants it to work out that way. Vennard isn't so bad as she'd once thought. Grudgingly, she admits the man has impressed her as a leader and as a king. Even his willingness to kill her to protect his loyal man, Eldone, is something to respect. And what she's heard of his policies does not support the idea that his mismanagement of the kingdom drove her parents to become Assassins.

But she's committed to her course and takes her freedom from Norby without giving any promises.

She picks up the magical tools from the magicians who didn't betray her, leaving the magician who betrayed her alone. Then she takes off for the river and home.

On the way, she decides to kill Eldone as quickly as possible. Once Vennard crosses the border, anything could happen. She does not want to take any chances. She's sure that with the charms she has bought, she can kill Eldone.

Her sojourn in Lithen has changed the way she sees the ordinary life of the kingdom, and suddenly it doesn't seem that Hardin is such a wonderful King. Things could be a lot better, and some of what she's heard of what Vennard wants to do seems reasonable. She fights off these treasonable thoughts and disciplines herself to her task.

Shiranan, as she's outfitting herself for the snow choked mountain journey, is involved in an incident where one of Vennard's spies tangles with a Hardin spy over a conspirator's message. She wrestles with her conscience, and finally, thinking what it would feel like to watch Norby slaughtered in the very pass where he saw the rest of Red Shadow die, she helps Vennard's man get away with the news of Blue Caves winter initiative.

But in the process, Hardin's man likewise gets away with the news. Shiranan, with her Assassin's skills, could find and stop him. But she chooses not to. She is uncertain of her own motives and very disturbed by the entire incident. It takes all her personal discipline to keep her objective in mind and continue to outfit herself for her last try at Eldone.

This forces Vennard's hand weeks too soon. He concocts a dangerous plan. Vennard and a small, mobile force are going to meet the Blue Caves army - before they emerge from the passes. Vennard will take over command and send them back to wait out the winter until his own well armed and drilled forces can arrive.

The news of the rebel initiative forces Vennard's hand. Shiranan is still in Thango, watching the weather, gathering equipment, and making forays to cache supplies along her retreat route when Vennard (with Norby) arrives with a small force disguised as a merchant family transporting packbeast trail food which will be needed by caravans leaving Thango in the spring. Actually, the cargo is human foodstuffs, "freeze-dried" by a magical process, and packed as animal food. It is destined to sustain the Blue Caves rebels until spring.

This requires that they bring rations to last such a contingent through the winter - for one reason they are planning this desperate gamble is that Blue Caves doesn't have food stores to support their numbers all winter.

Vennard takes his small force through the tunnel disguised as a merchant family transporting packbeast trail food which will be needed by caravans leaving Thango in the spring. Actually, the cargo is human foodstuffs, "freeze-dried" by a magical process, and packed as animal food.

They have a barge which they must operate themselves, and so they need a tunnel-pilot. While his people are searching for a suitable pilot, Vennard gathers his special force, and includes Rana, playing the part of his young bride.

During the trip, Rana uses her Assassin's skills to save Vennard's life when the tunnel pilot turns out to be a traitor. She then uses her magical skills to extract the basics of his trade from his dying mind, and proceeds to pilot (clumsily) the barge through the remainder of the tunnel. This is more dangerous than it sounds. Magicians are taught never to attempt this method of gaining skills for it generally leads even the strongest magicians into blubbering insanity. Rana's Healer's skills - which are forbidden such usage by vow, not by nature - aid her in avoiding that fate, but at the time, since no Healer has ever become such a magician as she has become, nobody knows for sure that she can handle it.

As Rana shows her mettle, Vennard becomes a bit more than attracted to her, and somewhat aggressive about it. But he is not thinking of her as a future queen, rather as a concubine, honored mother of his illegitimate children.

Rana discovers that she preferred being Norby's slave to being Vennard's "wife," even though she admires Vennard's politics and wants him to be King. She begins here to examine her heart where Norby is concerned, and the result alarms her. She has decided that it will fall to her to kill Norby but how can she do that when she loves him?

They have a time in Thango where Hardin's men are bivouacked, waiting for spring when they can "take care of" the insurrection at Blue Caves Sanctuary. Their orders are to destroy the place forever as a center that breeds traitors not healthy subjects.

That order is not popular in the streets, but the armed men are so numerous and Hardin's wrath so feared that no ordinary citizens are willing to declare against Hardin or the troops. Thango, however, has always depended on Blue Caves for healing, so Vennard is certain that he and his men coming behind him disguised as various sorts of merchants will be welcomed, not betrayed, by the populace.

Rana is still wrestling with her emotional quandary when they arrive with laden pack animals at the spot where the freak blizzard destroyed Red Shadow, and they camp facing a wholly blocked pass.

As a series of late winter storms batter the mountains, pinning down Vennard as well as Shiranan, a division of Hardin's army arrives and camps just outside Thango at the foot of the trail leading up to Blue Caves. Rumors are confused about whether Hardin is or is not with that division. In her heart, Shiranan is certain they came because she let the spy get away.

About the time they are ready to return to Thango in despair and await spring, assuming the mercenaries have given up for this year, the magicians inside Blue Caves begin clearing the pass, using wind to blow the loose, light snow up out of a narrow canyon.

Rana has to use all her skill to keep her party from being buried alive by the inept magicians, and then to glaze the sides of the cut the magicians have made through the snow so it won't fall on the emerging army - or on Vennard as he plunges in to meet them.

Busy to the limits of her powers, she misses the fleeting flicker that is the magic-shrouded Norby penetrating the newly opened pass. The only thing his expensive magic spell can't mask is his Shade - whom Rana has come to recognize.

Vastly outnumbered, Vennard can't wait in Thango. He'll have to get by Hardin's army. Shiranan, well equipped, circles Hardin's scouts, joining the Blue Caves trail way beyond where Hardin's men are watching. She must get to Blue Caves first and kill Eldone. If she's quick about it, she might even be able to rescue Rollenby. With those two tasks behind her, other Assassins would join her Cadre. Life could be good again. She has to argue furiously with herself.

She is still arguing when she arrives at the spot where the freak blizzard destroyed Red Shadow. She camps facing a wholly blocked pass.

When she is ready to return to Thango in despair and await spring, assuming the Blue Caves insurgents have given up until the spring thaw, the magicians inside Blue Caves begin clearing the pass, using wind to blow the loose, light snow up out of a narrow canyon.

With an insane boldness, the insurgents beat their way down the narrow channel the magicians have cleared. The blizzard they've created almost buries Shiranan alive, and does kill one of her pack animals, but just then Vennard and his small band appear on her heels. Norby uses his new skill with field magic to glaze the sides of the snow canyon and allow Vennard to meet with the insurgents.

Under cover of the confusion, Shiranan uses one of her stealth charms to get by them, but as she looks back and down she sees Hardin's army moving up in Vennard's wake. Then she notices Norby looking at the place where she crouches invisibly and realizes he sees her Shade, not her.

But Norby's attention is drawn away as others note the Hardin army's approach, and Shiranan slips into the Sanctuary, intent on her quarry.

Vennard succeeds in taking command of the volatile rebel band and leading them back into Blue Caves - closing the pass behind them to protect themselves from Hardin's men who are everywhere. Hardin also has magicians.

The problem is that Norby and Rollenby are sealed in with them.

As she explores and concocts a plan, Vennard takes command of the rebels and leads them back into Blue Caves. Norby closes the pass behind them just in time to block Hardin's army. The problem is that Hardin also has magicians capable of clearing passes.

Shiranan hasn't much time left, but she knows that haste won't serve her now. She will only get one shot, and it must be true.

During the next couple of days, she observes Norby frantically scouring the library and quizzing the other magicians trapped with them for anything and everything pertaining to Shades, and particularly to Shaded Assassins.

During this time, Rana sets herself to scour the library and the brains of the magicians stuck here with her, for anything and everything pertaining to Shades, and particularly to Shaded Assassins. She devises and tries several tactics for dealing with Norby's Shade. In the course of this, she holds several brief but intensely revealing conversations with Norby's Shade and discovers that he is indeed the best buddy Norby thinks he is. The Shade is outraged at Norby for just following Rollenby's order, knowing it would mean the death of his best friend, not to mention other sworn brothers. She fails, however, to discern what she can do to free Norby or the Shade from their bondage. She does learn much about the subject, and begins to fancy herself an expert on this esoteric branch of magic.

The best scheme she can concoct is to try to lift the Shade from Norby and attach it to Rollenby where, by her estimation, it really belongs. Yet she can't see quite how to accomplish this.

Knowing that the stealth and invisibility charms don't conceal her Shade, she is puzzled on one occasion when caught in the open, she isn't noticed. But gradually it dawns on her that during that moment, she felt a deep inner peace, a silence as if the Shade had vanished.

Then, during another such moment, she stumbles on Norby surrounded by magical regalia, conversing with her Shade. She stifles a leap of excitement at the farfetched idea that a Shade could be induced to leave its victim, and then discovers that Norby is scheming to accomplish just that. From Norby's scrawled and cryptic notes, she deduces that he is planning to transfer her Shade to Rollenby, who lives but is paralyzed. Apparently, Norby believes Rollenby is the one who deserves to be Shaded, not her.

However, Norby is a beginner at the stunts of Magicians, and the other more senior staff Magicians and Healers all scorn his efforts. Shiranan has mixed emotions about it. She wants to be rid of the Shade, but doesn't think it honorable to wish it onto a fellow Cadre member. So she's ashamed of her eagerness for Norby's success. On the other hand, she is deeply touched at his persistence in the face of ridicule. At the same time, Norby is the major obstacle between her and Eldone.

Meanwhile, to gain the freedom of the library and a relief from tension she badly needs, Rana has to confront Eldone with what she has become and why and make peace with him. She also has to convince him, the other healers, and the rebel magicians, that Norby is skulking about somewhere, intent on assassinating Eldone, and she is Eldone's only chance of surviving that attack. She also warns Eldone that Rollenby is a serious threat. Eldone, who has heard of her stunt with the tunnel-pilot's dead mind, doesn't quite believe her.

He takes shifts with the other magicians and soldiers guarding Eldone, and looks in on his old master at odd intervals - chiefly when he's lost track of her whereabouts. He is using his magical skills, his Healer's sensitivity to Shades, and his Red Shadow training to track her, and has subtly blocked several of her attempts on Eldone before they really got close.

Despite this, Norby persists along a path of his own.

She knows she's failed the day Rollenby doesn't seem quite so genuinely depressed, and Eldone is buying Rollenby's line that he is adjusting to his plight.

One night, when they think they've got the upper hand, the inevitable happens. Under cover of an intense storm, Hardin's magicians burrow through the pass, an immense attack force behind them. It is lead by none other than Hardin himself, come to smash Vennard and the insurrection and put an end to Blue Caverns Sanctuary once and for all.

Despite Vennard's Magician's best efforts, Hardin's army discovers the huge force moving up on their rear, and despite a vicious storm, they burrow through the clogged pass to attack the Sanctuary. It is only then that Vennard discovers that, sometime during the siege, Hardin himself has arrived to command his army, and he has brought reinforcements.

Rana has to turn out with Vennard's other magicians to try to stop that advance, and to call in their sparse forces from Thango.

Norby is called out with Vennard's other magicians to delay Hardin's advance until Vennard's own army can arrive.

Norby's distraction comes at a convenient time for Shiranan, for at that exact moment Rollenby is in Eldone's rooms setting him up for the kill. Rollenby is claiming that he's finally adjusted to his loss and is willing to start therapy to learn how to survive as he is, but Eldone must conduct the therapy sessions in private.

Norby, however, spots Shiranan's Shade going up the wall, and races to cut her off, leaving Vennard aghast at him for abandoning his post. After Eldone's many speeches impugning Norby's integrity, Vennard thinks Norby has sold out to Hardin.

Since Eldone refuses to participate in the military operation going on outside, the attack doesn't interfere with the "more important" business of healing this patient.

Rana sees Norby and races to cut him off, leaving Vennard aghast at her for abandoning her post when he's come to rely on her loyalty.

Aware that Norby is racing up a back stair heading for a secret passage into Eldone's apartment, Shiranan watches as Rollenby uses the dagger she provided for the attempt on Eldone.

Rana makes it up a back stair and through a secret passage into Eldone's apartments and arrives just as Norby comes crashing in the window. Her intention is to attempt the risky business of lifting the Shade from Norby and attaching it to Rollenby, thus disarming much of Norby's motivation in wanting to kill Eldone. Rollenby, because he's crippled, should be much easier to handle.

It takes so long for Rollenby to lure Eldone into his limited range that, as Rollenby finally strikes, Norby bursts into the room and takes Eldone down in a rolling tackle. Rollenby's strike goes wild.

In that same moment, Shiranan crashes through the window shutters and wrenches Eldone free of Norby's grasp exposing his back to Rollenby. She shouts, "Throw!" The dagger tip was poisoned, and even a nick might well do the job.

She's aware that Norby could still see it as his duty to recoup Red Shadow's honor by killing Eldone, but this she might argue him out of, whereas his obsession with ridding himself of the Shade can't be argued with. She believes that Norby is basically a decent sort of person, and free of the Shade, would behave very differently.

But Rana doesn't see that, for she is focused on Norby. She uses now, in a harebrained, ill-prepared gamble, a magical sequence she only understands in theory. She has had such success with wild chances that she is too bold and self-confident here. The spell does not banish the Shade, but rather makes it tangible - precipitating the Silent Breath cadre Assassin in all his battle-raging glory.

And he goes for Norby.

Norby ignores them and hastily deploys magical paraphernalia Shiranan has seen him use to summon her Shade. Before she can react, her Shade precipitates into a tangible figure in Silent Breath Cadre badges. He is Rissel, the very man she killed. She is paralyzed with an irrational terror.

The Shade goes for her throat in a neck-breaking Silent Breath move. The Shade's touch is solidified fire.

When she recovers from the shock, Rana goes to Norby's aid, and together they fight the Silent Breath man to a standstill.

Norby, unstrung by the very confrontation he has been running from all this time, turns to kill Eldone - having convinced himself that only Eldone's death will free him of the Shade.

Norby interposes with a Red Shadow move and together they fight the Silent Breath man to a standstill.

Shiranan turns to kill Eldone - having convinced herself that only Eldone's death will free her of the Shade.

When she has their attention, she convinces the Shade that Hardin set Red Shadow against Eldone who never did anything wrong and doesn't deserve to die any more than Shade deserved to die. Eldone healed Vennard, yes, but Eldone would have healed Hardin had the situation been the reverse. Eldone has twice tried to heal Rollenby, a man sworn to kill him. This is a man who should be an Assassin's target?

Red Shadow took Hardin's commission as mindlessly as Norby accepted Rollenby's order that resulted in Shade's death. If Norby completes Red Shadow's commission he is doing exactly the same thing he did by obeying Rollenby - only this time Hardin has set Norby to it.

If Norby refuses to kill Eldone, then he's learned his lesson and no longer deserves to be Shaded. And in that case, it's Rollenby who should be Shaded if anyone. Reference here to the folk tale of the Shaded King which shows that Shades could do more good in the world by choosing who to Shade more carefully.

The Shade insists that he didn't have much choice, but nevertheless sees the logic of her argument. Eldone, eyes riveted on the dagger poised over his heart, announces that Rollenby died of the poison on his own dagger several minutes ago.

Rana is shocked for she didn't see the knife strike Rollenby. But she isn't Shaded. Rollenby apparently accepted it as a true accident, both times she injured him.

Rana gathers herself, realizing that her wavering concentration is losing her the control over the Shade's materialization. Weakening, her grip on Norby's wrist loosening, she is eye to eye and practically lip to lip with Norby as she says to the Shade, "If you truly love Norby, your brother in Silent Breath, then your real quarrel is with Hardin, who has left Norby no choice but to kill Eldone or remain Shaded!"

With her last strength she bestows a light kiss on Norby's lips then collapses, nearly fainting. This leaves Norby holding the knife over Eldone while the Shade dematerializes. Norby, shaking with conflict, in agony because he does truly love this woman but can't bear the risk of remaining Shaded when salvation is within his grasp, finally throws his dagger aside and begs Eldone to heal Rana of magic-backlash.

The Shade but does not reattach itself to Norby. With a flicker of invisible motion, it flows out the window.

Eldone bends to heal Rana of the ravages of her ill-considered exercise of magic.

Norby realizes that had he stabbed Eldone, the man would have tried to heal Rana with his dying breath. As it seems Rana is dying of her foolish grasping at abilities beyond her, Norby tells her that he understands her wish at the center of the tunnel - a once in a lifetime wish that she spent not on herself but on Eldone's life. He gives her that life now, saying he'd rather remain Shaded than kill such a man.

"Shiranan, think!" He gestures to the Healer, "Will the world be better off without such a Healer? How could Hardin have justified a commission to kill such a man? Isn't the Assassin's Judgement what this is all about? Show me Cause why Eldone should die, and I'll redeem Red Shadow with my own hand!" He raises the dagger over Eldone.

Eldone ignores them all, concentrating on his efforts to deal with the poison travelling up Rollenby's leg.

It was, Shiranan admits, the principle her parents had died protecting, it was the principle she'd killed to protect, killed and become Shadowed for. A client had to show cause why the world would be a better place without the quarry. Even a King had to show cause.

And during the time she'd stalked the halls of Blue Caves Sanctuary, she had learned too much of Eldone. He would work as hard to Heal Hardin as he did to Heal Vennard. He was there now, frantically fighting for the life of the man who had twice tried to kill him. He was neither loyal nor disloyal to either King; he was loyal only to his Healer's Oath. Neither he nor any of his Healers had begun the rebellion. Though he didn't oppose it, he didn't support it either. He only Healed.

And if she killed Eldone, then she would have done just what her Shade had died trying to get her to do. She would have used an Assassin's skills to take a life unjustly. Shiranan tells Norby that she understands his wish at the center of the tunnel - a once in a lifetime wish that he spent not on himself but on Eldone's life. She gives him that life now, saying she'd rather remain Shaded than kill such a man.

She drops the dagger, and in that instant the Shade again attacks her in an eerie repeat of the battle they once fought, and which he lost.

Norby launches himself at his magical equipment. "Shiranan, stall!" Fumblingly, he produces a smoky whirlwind which engulfs the Shade before it can throttle Shiranan.

Enlisting Shiranan's aid, he uses the whirlwind of fog laced through with dangerous lightning bolts to force the Shade out the window. He commands it to depart this plane or find someone worthy of being Shadowed. Shiranan adds that it should be the person responsible for wiping out Red Shadow with weather magic and beast magic and Norby makes that a formal command.

At that moment, Rollenby goes into convulsions, and Norby pitches in with his Healing skills to help Eldone try to save him. But Rollenby dies of the poison. Eldone, working beside Norby to Heal, seeing how selflessly Norby gives of himself and how much of his Healer's power remains, begins to accept that Norby's integrity is intact, but is not that of a Healer. He never was an Assassin or a Healer, but his true identity is as a Magician - something of a cross between both.

They rush to the window and discover that Hardin, leading his troops in breaking down the Sanctuary gate, has suddenly become Shaded, and his men are turning against him.

Eldone is surprised to find that Hardin killed off the very Assassins he sent to kill Eldone. Hardin must have ordered Red Shadow's destruction since Norby commanded the Shade to go to the one who destroyed Red Shadow. Norby says that Red Shadow must have known something Hardin didn't want revealed, but Norby had been so young at the time, he hadn't been privy to the adults' councils. They deduce that Shiranan's parents were killed for the same reason - whatever it was. Probably by Hardin. Eldone suggests that certain mind-healing techniques might be used to reveal whatever secret it was.

He speculates that it might have had something to do with the way Hardin acquired his throne.

Shiranan says that it doesn't seem to matter now. Hardin is done for.

As they watch Hardin's army dissolve, and Hardin get killed in single combat against Vennard, Eldone asks Norby how he had the nerve to try such a foolish stunt with the Shade, and Norby admits he did have some doubts about his magical control of the Shade. The spell he used was supposed to work only if the Shading were unjust, but he is very relieved that his assessment of Shiranan was correct and she is indeed worthy of the Red Shadow badge.

Norby believes that Hardin wiped out Red Shadow because he knew they couldn't be bought, and he knows now that Shiranan is truly Red Shadow because she can't be bought.

Later, King Vennard is told by his magicians how Rana risked her life with magic far beyond her abilities in order to save his throne from the Usurper Hardin, and managed to sic a Shade upon Hardin thus winning the battle. No amount of protest on Rana's part that she had no intentions toward the battle can convince Vennard that he's wrong.

He awards Norby and Shiranan each lands and titles and a place in his court. Privately, he apologizes to Shiranan for the way he treated her on the river, and assures her that she has, from this day forward, earned her King's utmost respect as a Lady.

Later, King Vennard finds out how Norby actually did not desert his King at a crucial moment, but ran to save the day by attempting magic far beyond his abilities. Norby's protests are to no avail, and Vennard awards both Norby and Shiranan lands and titles and a place at court.