Triplet by Timothy Zahn

could have warned me before you shouted like that,” her voice came from his right. Oddly enough, she didn’t seem upset.
    â€œYeah. Sorry.” Stepping to the Tunnel wall, he found the lockers and got one open. “You need some light?” he asked as he chose some clothing by feel and held hers out into the darkness.
    â€œNo,” she said, almost too quickly. Her hand found his, took the clothes, and retreated. Keeping an eye out for the sprite’s return, Ravagin shook out the tunic and trousers to make sure no insects had taken up residence there and began to dress.
    He was almost finished when the glow-fire reappeared. “There are no other humans, beasts, or spirits within the region,” the squeaky voice reported.
    Ravagin nodded. The exit into Karyx was usually clear, but it never hurt to make sure. “Good. Then I want you to take a message to a woman named Melentha living in a large house just to the west of Besak: that Ravagin and one other have come and will be arriving tomorrow. Carash-mahst. ”
    Again the sprite flared its understanding and vanished. “Whenever you’re ready,” Ravagin told Danae, fastening his last buckle and locating a short sword on the locker’s weapons shelf. “I’d like to try and get a few kilometers toward Besak before nightfall.”
    â€œAll set,” Danae grunted, and he sensed her come to his side. “Do I get any weapons here, or don’t women carry blades on Karyx either?”
    â€œMany of them do,” he said. Groping for her hand, he placed a sheathed dagger into it. “Your profile said you’d had some knife training, but just the same don’t draw it unless you absolutely have to. Stick with your spirithandling spells, or better still just stand back and let me handle any trouble.”
    She snorted, but fastened the weapon to her side without comment. Ravagin debated invoking a dazzler, decided against it, and started along the Tunnel. They could make it through well enough without light, and once outside he could be a shade more discreet about making sure she had her outfit on straight, anyway. He’d stomped her toes enough this trip—though why he should give a damn about that he didn’t know. After the shoddy way she’d pressured him into this trip in the first place he didn’t owe her anything but guidance and protection and the most basic of courtesies.
    They walked the rest of the way to the Tunnel mouth in silence. Ravagin gave Danae’s garb a quick once-over as they started up the last ramp-like section, found she’d indeed managed to get all the primitive buckles and ties fastened properly. They stepped out into Karyx’s more muted sunlight—
    â€œHuh,” Danae grunted, looking around. “Hardly worth invoking a sprite to check this place out.”
    Ravagin shrugged. She had a point—no animal in its right mind would live in the hilly wasteland that surrounded them on all sides. “It’s worse just a few kilometers northwest of here,” he commented. “The Cairn Waste is about as desolate as any place could be.”
    â€œSo I’d heard. Site of some long-ago battle or something, wasn’t it?”
    â€œThat’s the legend. No one knows for sure.”
    â€œCouldn’t you ask a spirit?”
    â€œThere are some things even a geas spell won’t make them talk about,” he shook his head. “The Illid ruins and Cairn Waste are one of them.” He glanced around one last time, pointed toward the east. “The road between Besak and Torralane is about ten kilometers that way.”
    â€œWho is that woman you sent the message to?” Danae asked as they started off through the mounds.
    â€œMelentha’s the mistress of the Besak way house, like Essen was in Kelaine City,” Ravagin explained. “It’s standard procedure on Karyx to inform one of them when you’re