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No, not a vision. He set the small blue glass vial on the table.
Lilia, who sat next to him, let out a small gasp of surprise.
Your grandmother s potion. You used it.
I did.
Selene s? What is it? This time it was Iann who spoke.
I honestly don t know. I was hoping maybe someone here
could tell me. He related the story of how his grandmother had
given it to him, with Lilia nodding and inserting an occasional
comment. And then he told them how he d tried a drop of the
potion and when he went to sleep he d been inserted into Keiran s
dream. I assume that s what it does& it puts whoever s using it in
someone s else s dreams.
No, not dreams. It puts the user into another being s reality,
Elliesán said, her liquid silver voice strangely calm and almost
aloof-sounding. Gaige wondered if that was a trait all elves shared.
You know what this is? Gaige picked up the bottle.
Yes. It s called ingil. It s very rare and only made by the most
advanced elvish potion masters.
Elvish? How would my grandmother have an elvish potion?
The elves have been gone from these lands for a very long time.
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FIRES OF BALLIAN
It s told in my world that once, long ago, a great winged lord
visited our lands over the Onyx Sea. My people don t encourage
outside visitors, but because this was a lord, the lord and her
attendants and escorts were treated well and hosted in the castle of
our king. While there, the elf king found the lord s company to be
worthy and true. When the lord left, the king sent with her many
gifts elvish cloth, jewels, and a supply of a rare potion that could
be used to see.
See. That s what my grandmother said.
I didn t hear her say that, Lilia said, her face scrunching in
thought as if she were trying to remember.
A few times she s communicated with me telepathically,
Gaige said. After she gave me the potion this morning she said,
See.
None but a draegan seer can use it, Elliesán said. Only the
seers have minds strong enough to handle the magick. It s quite
powerful. I assume what your grandmother gave you is the last of
what the draegan lord was given so long ago your grandmother
was a seer for Lord Hareldson s mother, was she not?
Yes, she was.
When taken, the potion puts a seer in the mind of another
being. Allows the seer to see that being s reality. You can see why
it was entrusted only to the draegan lord for use by a draegan seer.
It s something that could easily be abused.
But with Keiran it put me directly into his dream.
Then that must be his reality at the current time.
Pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. Ahhh, that makes
sense. That s it, exactly. It put me in Keiran s dream because, right
now, his entire reality is in the dreams he s living. The dreams
Moh dredion feeds him.
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FIRES OF BALLIAN
Death is making him dream? I don t understand? Wen said.
That s how Moh dredion feeds. He takes his victim to Ballian,
the shadow world, and puts them into a deep, magickal sleep.
While they sleep, he forces them to dream of horrible things,
whatever he can find in their minds that scares them. Then he feeds
on their fear until their life force is gone. With draegans, he feeds
on the fear and the magick.
So you were able to see what Lord Hareldson s dreaming?
Lilia asked.
No. Not just see it& live it. I was there with him. I fought by
his side as he battled strange beasts. I talked to him, touched him.
He waited to hear some kind of untoward remark from Jax, but the
draegan remained silent, as he had since he d gotten here.
A live dream, Wen said.
Very live. He pulled up his sleeve to show them the ragged
gash on his arm he d received from one of the spiked clubs.
Good gods. Marta s expression was one of shock. You
carried wounds back with you?
Yes. And that s what s so terrifying. Everything that s
happening to Keiran in these dreams, is happening to his real body
as well, where it s trapped in sleep in Moh dredion s caverns.
Death is obsessed with Keiran because he doesn t just have regular
draegan magick, he has lord magick. If he were able to feed off
Keiran s magick, Moh dredion would be strong enough to escape
Ballian and go anywhere, any time. He could, and would, feed on
entire towns or even worlds.
Oh, my gods, Marta murmured.
Keiran s holding him off, refusing to do any magick at all.
Moh dredion s angry with him and keeps upping the danger in the
dreams. Each day it becomes more and more treacherous for
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FIRES OF BALLIAN
Keiran as Death tries to push him into using magick to defend
himself.
Eventually Death s going to get tired of such a game,
Elliesán said. If it feels Lord Hareldson won t ever give up, then
he ll no longer serve a purpose to Moh dredion.
Death will kill him, Marta whispered.
Exactly what Gaige had told Keiran.
And it gets worse, Gaige said. Time passes differently there.
Here, Keiran s been gone three weeks. On his end, it s been
months, maybe longer. So even a few days here could mean weeks
there. And as angry as Moh dredion is&
He may not have long, Iann said.
No, he may not. Gaige fought against the lump that filled his
throat.
But with the passage closed, what do we do? Wen wanted to
know.
That s what we have to figure out. Death was able to open a
portal and come through at the encampment in the forest. He didn t
need to use the old passage. He came to us. And Byram has to be
getting the sacrifices through to him as well. Gaige frowned.
Thomas, have you found anything in further translation of
Byram s grimoire explaining how he s been communicating with
Moh dredion?
He mentions no details of that. I ve wondered it myself. It s
almost as if&
As if?
As if the entire story isn t written on the pages of the book. As
if parts are missing, m lord. He gives basic facts, but not much
detail about how he s doing the things he s doing.
Frustration gnawed at Gaige. Missing information? Damn it all.
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