Fifth Quarter by Tanya Huff Page A

within the Song, she asked if they were afraid. When it became obvious that they were, she asked if they were afraid of being trapped.
     
    Every candle on the altar burst into flame. A blazing tower of kigh surged toward the vaulted ceiling, individuals swallowed up in the terrifying column of white and red and gold. Gulping great lungfuls of heated air, Karlene fought to Sing over the fire's roar.
     
    She could smell her hair begin to singe.
     
    Hands raised to protect her eyes, she stumbled back a step.
     
    Then another voice joined hers, wrapping a tenor line around her Song, pouring in enough additional power to reach the heart of the holocaust. After a moment, the kigh began to listen. When together the two voices Sang a gratitude, the kigh whirled in one final, flaming vortex over the center of the altar and disappeared.
     
    Karlene coughed and waved away the streams of smoke and the stink of burned beeswax. The candles as big around as her arm had been completely consumed. Puddles of black grease dribbled down over the edge of the altar and into the circular fountain sucked dry by the heat.
     
    "Are you all right?" Gabris panted, dragging her around to face him.
     
    Was she? The skin over her cheeks and forehead felt tight and hot and questing fingers pulled off curled and brittle bits of hair. A quick check found brows and lashes still present. "I got a little scorched," she muttered, licking cracked lips and tasting blood. "But I'm okay."
     
    A gentle touch against her arm turned her toward the prince. A weight she hadn't realized she carried lifted when she saw him, pale and scared but unhurt. "What happened?"
     
    "What happened?" Karlene repeated, glancing down at the blisters rising on the backs of her hands. "I asked the kigh if they were afraid of being trapped."
     
    "What did they say?"
     
    "Yes."
     
    "That's all?" The two bards followed his gaze as he stared up at the arcing vault of the ceiling. Soot streaked the stone ribs in a circle the exact diameter of the altar forty feet below.
     
    Her heart pounding, fully aware of how close she'd come to losing control of the kigh entirely, Karlene could only give thanks that Her Majesty had insisted on both traditional dimensions and materials.
     
    "All they said was yes ?" The prince's voice threatened to crack.
     
    "Well, they said it pretty loudly." All at once, she was shaking so hard her teeth slammed together like some kind of macabre percussion instrument. She grabbed blindly for support as two pairs of hands settled her gently down on a bench. "I'm okay," she insisted.
     
    "What we need to find out now is what specifically they're afraid of. What is it they think can trap them?" Gabris murmured. Although the skin of his face looked stretched, he'd taken a lot less heat and a lot less damage.
     
    In unison, the prince and the two bards turned to look at the dry fountain.
     
    "If you don't mind," Otavas said with a shaky laugh, "I'm heading for higher ground before you Sing water."
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
    Vree'd never worn silk and she wasn't certain she cared for it. The soft caress of both long-sleeved tunic and wide-legged trousers against her skin made her feel as though she were wearing the wind and not much else.
     
    "What's wrong with clothes that feel like clothes?"
     
    Bannon lifted her shoulders, just to feel the fabric move. "I like it."
     
    "Can't say as I'm surprised." She curled her toes against the heavy sandals, also provided from Aralt's storeroom, and wished she dared to wear her boots. In a motion half comfort, half preparation, she lightly touched each concealed weapon and the medallion around her neck.
     
    With a last word to Aralt's stablemaster, Gyhard nodded a dismissal and started across the yard toward her. With no daggers to hide, he wore a sleeveless vest, the brown silk embroidered with deep green leaves. The graceful folds of green silk trousers flowed around his legs like water as he walked. While he