Flight of the Nighthawks by Raymond E. Feist Page B

the hunter, but his skin was fair and his hair was white. He had eyes of the palest blue, but their set and expression were exactlylike Caleb’s. As he entered the room, another figure, McGrudder, stepped into the doorway.
    Zane scrambled to get out of the way as the stranger knelt to examine Caleb. After only a moment, the man said, “You did well to contact me. His breathing is shallow, his heartbeat is weak, and he burns with fever. If nothing is done, he’ll be dead by noon.”
    The man looked at Tad and said, “Who are you?”
    â€œTad,” he answered. “That’s Zane. We were traveling with Caleb.”
    â€œWhat are you to my brother?”
    Zane exchanged glances with Tad, then he said, “I suppose you would say Caleb was taking us to be apprentices.”
    The pale man frowned and said, “I wouldn’t say. What you are to him will be sorted out later, now I must take him with me to save him. You stay here.”
    â€œWait a minute, Magnus,” said McGrudder, coming into the room. “You know they can’t stay here.”
    â€œWhy not?” asked Magnus, standing up. “You know I can’t take them with me.”
    â€œBut you must,” said McGrudder. “They’ve seen you, and even a chance remark to the wrong person…” He inclined his head toward the boys. “You know.”
    â€œPut them to work,” suggested Magnus.
    â€œI can’t. You know your father will move all of us out of here in a day or two. Those men might have been bandits, as the boys told me, or they may have been more than that. Either way, Pug will move us, just in case, and there will be another innkeeper and his family. They’ll say that they’re distant relatives, or that this place was purchased, or some story.” He glanced around, as if already regretting the need to leave this cozy little inn. “The villagers know better than to say anything to strangers, but the old witch already knows too much and no one can keep her from doing whatever she wishes to; these boys just add two more potential problems if you leave them here. If they were followed, and if they were known to have traveled with Caleb…it’s best if all of us were gone from here as soon as possible.
    â€œBesides, if Caleb was apprenticing them, as they say, you know what that means.”
    Magnus glanced at the two boys and said, “He sees something in them. Very well.” To the boys he said, “Stand close to me after I pick up my brother.”
    He reached down, and even though Caleb was equal in size and weight, Magnus picked him up as effortlessly as if he were a child. “Now, stay very close,” he said.
    Tad and Zane did as instructed and were suddenly swept into darkness for an instant. The next second, they stood in a hall.
    Zane almost fell over, so sudden was the change and following disorientation. Tad looked around, blinking like a barn owl blinded by a lantern.
    The man McGrudder had called Magnus started walking down the hall, leaving the boys standing alone. They glanced at one another, each seeing a reflection of his own shocked, pale expression. Then Zane nodded and they were off, following after the man, for they had no desire to be left alone in this alien place.
    Even carrying his brother, Magnus moved rapidly, and the boys had to hurry to catch up. Their surroundings were lost on them until they realized that they were in some sort of massive building, for all the hallways they passed through had granite or marble walls and floors illuminated by torches bolted by iron fittings to the walls on either side of a series of heavy wooden doors. Each door had a small covered window, barely more than a peephole, in its center.
    â€œThis looks like a dungeon,” muttered Zane.
    â€œAnd how would you know?” asked Tad in a whisper. “You ever see one?”
    â€œNo, but you know what I mean. This is what dungeons