With a great splash of flame, the fireball struck, and for a moment the roaring fire concealed Jerrik and Marjani. The heat blistered Kevlin's face and flames licked up the wall toward him and Drystan.

  Then the flames dissipated. The two victims lay completely unharmed.

  "What did you do?" Masego shouted. His sadistic glee changed in a heartbeat to unbridled rage.

  "I will not allow you to harm anyone else."

  That voice was like a song in Kevlin's heart.

  Indira.

  She stood just inside the door at the far end of the room. Still dressed in her stained Healer's robe, her midnight hair disheveled, she had never looked more beautiful. Adalia entered the room behind her and scanned the room, not looking shocked to see dead and dying scattered everywhere.

  "About what we thought," she muttered.

  Masego snarled and lashed out one hand. A crimson spear of magic arced through the air toward Indira. Just before reaching her, it shattered into thousands of glittering rainbow shards that floated around her like a halo.

  Indira stepped farther into the room, her expression determined. "You will harm no one."

  Twang!

  With characteristic speed, Adalia loosed an arrow at the fat Sentinel. The shaft burst into flame, disintegrating before reaching him.

  "Don't insult me," Masego said.

  He looked at Adalia again and snapped his fingers. Fire erupted around her, enveloping her in a deadly storm.

  The tiny archer stepped through the flame, scowling but unharmed. "This fellow be the one wot's been killin' folks, eh Indira?"

  "Yes," Indira said, again advancing.

  "You cannot interfere with me!" Masego shouted. He raised his arms and a fierce whirlwind sprang into life around the two women, shattering nearby furniture and flinging the pieces around the room in a deadly storm.

  They walked through it unharmed, their hair not even blowing out of place. Kevlin grinned with renewed hope. Masego couldn't stop Indira. She'd slap him as soundly as she had Ceren.

  Masego howled and pointed at the ceiling. With a terrifying crack, it gave way. Huge timbers and chunks of masonry cascaded over the two women with a thunderous roar. Stinging dust billowed into the room.

  "Indira," Kevlin cried, worried despite his earlier optimism.

  Masego bounced on his toes while he waited for the dust to clear. He probably hoped to catch a glimpse of their shattered corpses.

  He was disappointed.

  The debris had fall around the women, forming a natural doorway through which they could step. Dust coated their garments, and Adalia coughed a couple of times.

  "Your evil magic has failed," Indira said. "You can do no more harm here."

  "You can't stop me," Masego shouted, and raised his hands again. A thick wall of ice materialized in front of the women, stretching across the room and blocking them off.

  "You should have kept Felix around," Kevlin mocked in an attempt to draw Masego's attention away from Indira. "He might have been able to learn the secret you want to know."

  "Felix is a weakling." Masego spun to face Kevlin. He waved one hand, and another chair slammed into Kevlin. The pain rolled over him in a suffocating wave that pushed him into the welcome darkness of unconsciousness.

  Kevlin came back to himself slowly, and wished he hadn't. He hurt. A lot. His torso throbbed like he'd been kicked by a horse for a month, and his wrists burned from the pressure of the shackles.

  As soon as he moved, Masego shouted, "Tell me where the stone is." The fat Sentinel was now standing in front of him, his eyes blazing with barely controlled madness.

  "Tell me!" Massego shouted again.

  "I know where Tia Khoa is," Kevlin whispered through bloody lips.

  "Tell me!"

  "I'd have probably told Felix, but I'll never tell Masego."

  Kevlin wanted to glance at the ice wall to see if Indira had found a way through yet, but didn't dare draw Masego's attention back to it.

  "Tell me!" hollered Masego again.

  He needed to try something new. Then again uselessly repeating the same demand over and over was a lot less painful than some of his other tactics.

  Kevlin shook his head. "You're never going to find out."

  "Tell me or I'll kill everyone you've ever loved."

  As if he knew all of them.

  "Felix, what did Kevlin do now?"

  Gabral stood a little unsteady, clutching the Mace. At his feet, Sitara and Remiel lay close together, their hands clasped. Kevlin couldn't tell if they'd died yet or not.

  He realized that Gabral didn't yet know about Masego. Before Kevlin could shout a warning, Masego pointed at Gabral. Flames erupted around his head and torso.

  Gabral collapsed to the ground, falling beneath the fire. His hair was burning, his eyebrows had already singed off, and his face looked blistered. He screamed as Masego's fire dropped to cover him again.

  Then the Mace burst into blue fire that scattered Masego's crimson flames. Gabral rolled to his hands and knees as the Mace's protective flames rolled up his arm and enveloped him.

  "Felix is possessed by Masego," Kevlin shouted.

  Gabral grunted and stood. "Then they'll die together."

  "You first." Masego clapped his hands together, and a spear of crimson magic shot across the distance between them.

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  Gabral swatted the magic spear aside with the Mace. It exploded through the wall of ice blocking Indira and Adalia. Chunks of ice blasted past the two ladies and smashed into the wall. Several large chunks crashed right through the door, leaving its splintered remains swinging from the hinges.

  Adalia was ready, arrow nocked, and she fired at Masego.

  He snapped his fingers and the arrow changed course in mid-air and drove for Gabral's face.

  Gabral ducked and shouted, "Leave off! I'll deal with this." He advanced on Masego, who circled him, moving into the center of the room.

  Indira rushed past them both, heading for Kevlin. He grinned at her, yearning to take her into his arms.

  "You really should help Gabral," he said.

  "He doesn't need me," she said breathlessly. "You do."

  She placed both hands on the center of his chest and looked into his eyes. "You must defeat Masego."

  Her hands began to glow.

  Magic poured into Kevlin from the amulet as it captured Indira's power. Kevlin shouted with triumph, changed it and reached for Tia Khoa. He connected with the stone, and magic flooded into him from it, filling him with welcome strength, heightened senses, and pure joy.

  He looked past Indira, exulting in the clarity of magic-enhanced sight. Inside each person pulsed the light of life. Thankfully it still glowed inside the keisara, although it burned faint. She wouldn't live much longer without healing.

  With a thought, Kevlin burst the shackles that held him pinned against the wall. He dropped to the floor close beside Indira. She tried to step back to give him room, but he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her full lips.

  She leaned into him and kissed him passionately in return. That would motivate any man to become a hero.

  "Thanks," he said when he released her.

  "I trust you Kevlin. I know giving you magic is the right thing."

  "Yeah, that helped too."

  Then he headed for Masego, who still fought Gabral. The Mace bearer had closed to within a dozen feet of the Sentinel.

  "If you kill me, Felix dies too," Masego said.

  Gabral shrugged. "Sometimes victory comes with a price."

  He'd said the same thing when he'd almost killed Kevlin in his attempt to take Tanathos. In extreme circumstances, Gabral was right, but Kevlin hated that the Mace bearer seemed so willing to accept those sacrifices.

  Gabral lunged toward Masego. "You die now!"

  Masego retreated and pointed at the floor.

  A wide hole gaped open under Gabral's feet. The short colonel shouted in surprise as his victorious charge changed into an uncontrolled plunge to the lower level of the tower.

  Masego grinned at the distant sound of Gabral's crashing impact echoing back up through the hole.

  When he turned, Kevlin punched him in the jaw. Kevlin poured all of his anger and frustration that had been building for days. He plastered the Sentinel's nose against his face.

  Let him try rearranging that feature. Masego fell, rolling just past the edge of the hole Gabral had just fallen through. He stumbled to his feet and shifted to the side, placing the hole between them.

  As Kevlin moved to pursue him, Masego's form shuddered and softened into the features of Felix.

  "I'm free," he shouted. No trace of Masego remained.

  Kill him! Jerrik's thought echoed through Kevlin's mind.

  Kevlin hesitated. Could Masego really be gone?

  Felix's body shivered and settled once more into the hardened features of Masego. "That's the last time you ever see Felix," Masego said, spitting a mouthful of blood.

  "Then I guess he's going to die with you."

  Kevlin threw a dagger he'd picked up as he crossed the room. Just as he had in Tanathos's hidden fortress in Hallvarr, he focused on the blade and willed magic into it.

  Brilliant white light blazed around the weapon as it flew for Masego's heart.

  Masaego batted it aside and made a clutching gesture with his hands. More magic poured into Kevlin as whatever spell Masego had attempted was nullified by the amulet.

  Kevlin wished Harafin had trained him more in magical duels. The defensive measures they'd studied were crucial, but he lacked knowledge of how to attack.

  Harafin had said to use one's imagination. Kevlin did. He willed the pulsing magic into a weapon capable of reaching Masego across the yawning, eight-foot gap. A long whip of fire materialized in his hand and he lashed out and wrapped the burning length around the man's legs.

  Masego shattered the whip and replied with a ball of ice the size of a man's head.

  Kevlin dodged, forming one of the shields Harafin had taught him. The missile careened off and shattered against the far wall.

  Ice fragments pelted around Indira, but she remained untouched. Ice slashed into Drystan where he hung on the wall, and into Jerrik where he still lay against the wall on the floor.

  "Sorry," he whispered. Hopefully Indira would extend her healing influence so he didn't hurt anyone else by accident. If only he could reach Masego with a sword.

  Why not?

  A long blade of pure-white light appeared in his hand. He swung it at Masego, who stood a dozen feet away. The blade stretched to cover the distance and Kevlin slashed at the fat man's head.

  A blade of pure darkness materialized in Masego's hand, and he parried the strike just short of his face. Swift as thought, they sparred across the broken floor with blades of power. Sparks of magic erupted from the blades and cascaded high into the air, leaving tendrils of smoke hanging for several seconds.

  Kevlin's world contracted as it always did when he fought with the sword, and his concentration became complete. Battle lust raged through him and drove back the pain from his recently broken rib and multiple bruises.

  Masego might be skilled with magic, but he was no match for Kevlin with the sword. The distance between them proved meaningless as they fought with the weightless blades of magic.

  Kevlin pressed the attack, adjusting quickly to the unique form of battle. He struck several times, off-balancing his opponent, beating down Masego's defenses and creating an opening for a finishing strike.

  With a shout of triumph, he struck for Masego's heart. Masego released his own blade of darkness and caught the blade of light.

  The magical blade connected them, sparking and crackling dangerously in Masego's grasp. The smell of charred flesh wafted to Kevlin. The fat man grimaced but held on tenaciously, trying to subdue the magic and bend it to his own will.

  Kevlin called to Tia Khoa. The rock responded with a wave of magic that filled him to his uttermost capacity. He threw it all down the sword of light.

  It rippled down the glowing blade with the brilliance of a miniature sun and struck Masego in a blinding explosion of light. He cried out and tumbled to the floor. His great black cloak billowed around him like a cloud and temporarily concealed him from view.

  Kevlin stalked around the hole in the floor to deliver the fatal blow as Masego struggled within the folds of his cloak. Too much of a good thing could literally drive Kevlin insane.

  The pulsing magic revolted against his control. Kevlin stumbled under the onslaught, clutching his head. He should have expected it, but he'd hoped it would obey for just another minute. Especially since Tia Khoa had given it to him.

  The magic crashed against his defenses and a pounding headache formed between his temples. He had taken in so much magic, it assaulted his mind with stunning force.

  Kevlin's hands shook as he fought to defend his mental shields and hold the magic at bay until it submitted again to his will. Only now he felt the growing, insidious lust for magic that came with the Trembling Madness.

  All of a sudden he longed to embrace the insanity of the magic and release all restraint. Masego, the hidden enemy they'd hunted for so long, stood revealed. He had the power to destroy the hated man. All he had to do was strike now.

  Kevlin glanced at Masego and snarled to see the fat man regaining his feet.

  "You steal magic like a leech," Masego said, "but you lack the power to control it." He raised one hand, pointed at the low couch that Keisara Fideima had sat on earlier, and hurled it toward Kevlin.

  When it struck, it would break him.

  It never touched him.

  Kevlin couldn't fight Masego and resist the Trembling Madness. Maybe Leander was right. Maybe sometimes it was right to embrace insanity for the greater good.

  Time to test the theory.

  Kevlin dropped all restraints.

  Pain roared behind his eyes, blinding him for a split second and sending him staggering to the very brink of the hole in the floor. His mental defenses disintegrated, and magic surged through the breech, inundating him and drowning his mind in the Tai Pari.

  Kevlin descended into madness.

  After the first heartbeat of mind-numbing pain, he welcomed the magic that threatened to rip him to pieces. He embraced it as it tore through him and cast his mind over the precipice into chaos.

  In that instant of surrender, a shockwave of blue-green light blasted out from him. It shattered the flying couch into a thousand wooden splinters that burst into flames and vaporized into drifting smoke. Undiminished, the wave struck Masego, rocking the surprised man back on his heels.

  It shattered every window in the outer wall. Kevlin swayed drunkenly and he exulted with the joy of madness. He floated on a cloud of power. His vision tinged with rainbow light, and he laughed uncontrollably. The laughter sounded vaguely familiar, but he didn't care Fear and doubts evaporated, replaced by crazed confidence.

  He was power. He was magic. No longer a simple, weak human.

  No longer Kevlin.

  He was . . . The Catalyst.