Crucible by Mercedes Lackey Page A

blood that flowed straight from her veins to seep down into the soil beneath her. Kade had said he would not leave her, but he had done this thing without her thoughts. He had trusted this man without her ideas.
    She didn’t want to be jealous.
    She wanted it to all just go away. She wanted it to all just shut off.
    At that moment a line of magic in the forest around her nearly caused her to gag.
    It tasted of salt and the remnants of lightning over a damp field as it clogged her throat.
    She poured her anger and her jealousy and her pure fear into that taste, and power from the forest flowed into her. She breathed it in, and she let it mix with her own suffering. Then it was as if she were everywhere at once, as if she moved with everyone in the village—the fiddler, and the dancer, and a man at the cauldron slurping the disgusting remnants of his stew broth. She saw what everyone saw, and she heard every conversation that was being held. The scent of food made her stomach clench.
    And she felt something else, too.
    It was the woman, now gone from the village proper, now slipping around the village in the dark shadows of elm and sycamore, carrying a bag full of gold and silver collected from the travelers here. She was picking her way toward the hut where Lord Pelten had taken Kade.
    Something was wrong.
    The tendrils of Nwah’s magic wrapped themselves around the woman, and she felt the ties the woman had to the Master Healer who had taken Kade into his offices. Nwah felt the plans these two had made, understood the deceit they had concocted. Then she sensed the pair of horses that were tethered to a tree behind the healer’s hut, already saddled and prepared for travel.
    Yes, something was terribly wrong.
    Nwah’s body rose as if on its own.
    She bolted across the open clearing, firelight reflecting from her tawny fur making her look like a blur.
    :Kade!: s
he called.
    There was no answer.
    :Kade!:
    The door loomed as the woman drew closer.
    Nwah took a last leap, focused her power onto the door, and clenched her shoulder as she crashed into it.
    The sound of splintering wood was intense.
    Nwah’s breath left her lungs as she hit the floor, rolling in shards of wood. Her legs slipped and splayed as she tumbled.
    Lord Pelten looked up from the table upon which Kade lay unconscious and flat on his back. The room was small, and lit by a pair of candle lamps at two corners. One of Pelten’s hands was on Kade’s skull, and he held a stiletto in the other, its blade poised over Kade’s temple in preparation for some horrific vivisection.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” he said.
    Nwah growled, and tried to stand.
    Pelten smiled as he took her in, the stiletto still gleaming in the candlelight.
    â€œI knew it,” he said. “The two of you are special, aren’t you? I sensed it earlier. A rogue Healer of a boy and a Mage Companion
kyree
.”
    Nwah bared her teeth and gave a hopping limp. Her hip hurt from the impact, but she saw Kade’s body and gathered her wits.
    The woman’s form filled the doorway, the bag of coins slung over her shoulder.
    â€œCome, Pelten,” she said. “We agreed to leave tonight.”
    â€œNo, Lavie,” he called, turning to face Nwah fully. “We can’t go now. These two are different. If I can learn how this has happened, it could give us powers beyond understanding.”
    She gave a birdlike glance over her shoulder. “There’s no time.”
    But Pelten ignored her to advance on Nwah.
    Nwah’s yowl split the night. She dropped her magic and leaped upon the Healer. Her reflexes were quicker than a human’s, and her eyesight more precise in thedarkness. She extended her claws and raked Pelten’s forearm. The reek of his blood was immediate and filled her senses as her body crashed into his.
    They both went tumbling, his stiletto falling to the floor.
    She sank her teeth into the Mage’s shoulder and