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.As they scrambled up, she looked around to see Thamalon.Tugging at her again, he cried, "This way!"He ran toward the north side of the courtyard, and, wondering what he could possibly have in mind, she followed.The shocks of their pursuer's footsteps made it a challenge merely to stay on their feet, and they had to keep glancing back to watch for its next attack.The elemental raised its foot to stamp, and they scrambled out from underneath.Then Thamalon led Shamur into one of the buildings constructed along the base of the wall.Glancing about, she found herself in a chapel, with a few rows of benches, and plaster statues of Torm, Tempus, and other deities perched on little wooden stands.Rocked by the giant's footsteps, some had already fallen off and shattered.Having seen the elemental stride through the castle ramparts, she knew, as Thamalon seemingly did not, that this place was no refuge.Not unless some god intended to manifest to protect his effigy from harm, and she rather suspected that wasn't going to happen.But Shamur's husband kept rushing her toward the other end of the chamber, and after a moment, she saw the reason why.A short time ago, he'd evidently shifted the altar aside to uncover a square opening in the floor.With a clattering crash, the elemental swept the roof of the chapel away as easily as a maid clearing cobwebs with a broom, leaving the chamber open to the sky.Leaning over the top of the wall, the creature reached for its quarry.Shamur could see the top rung of a ladder affixed just below the rim of the shaft, but she and Thamalon had run out of time to use it.The nobleman took a last stride and jumped, and as the creature's hand plunged down at her, she did the same.She fell for less than a second, then hit bottom, lost herbalance, and sprawled on an earthen floor.An instant later, the giant's hand smashed into the mouth of the shaft, and, too large to penetrate farther, lodged there, blocking out what little light had reached the bottom before.Clods of dirt pattered down.Immediately there came a grinding, crunching noise, and more earth fell.Shamur realized the elemental was trying to force its arm down the shaft, and she thought it entirely possible that it would succeed.Even if its raw strength proved insufficient, it might have some sort of power over soil and stone.Groping for her in the blackness, Thamalon's hand brushed the top other head."Did you hurt yourself falling?" he asked."Are you still able to walk?""I am.""Then come on." He hauled her to her feet, then pulled her into what must be some sort of narrow, low-ceilinged tunnel.By banging her shoulder on one, she discovered that splintery wooden supports stood at intervals along the way.The lightless passage shook, the supports groaned, and chunks of dirt rained down.Crashing and pounding sounded through the earth.Evidently the giant had abandoned its efforts to force its hand down the shaft and was tramping around overhead demolishing the rest of the castle.Shamur couldn't guess whether the creature was hoping she and Thamalon would come up elsewhere in the ruin, expressing its pique that they'd eluded it, or deliberately trying to collapse the tunnel.In any case, she feared that the ceiling might indeed be on the verge of falling.Just ahead of her in the darkness, one of the support timbers gave a sharp crack.Dirt showered down all around her, and then something much, much harder crashed down on top of her head.The sharp, unexpected pain slammed her down on her knees.She felt consciousness guttering out and struggled desperately to hold on, but still, everything slipped away.** ** * *Shamur cried out in frustration and fear, and her eyes flew open.Peering about, she saw she was lying in a dilapidated lean-to, likely some hunter or charcoal burner's shelter.A fire smoked and crackled in the center of the floor, and the russet cloak she'd dropped back in the clearing covered her like a blanket.Outside the hut, daylight shone on a tangle of leafless, snow-silvered trees, proof that she was still in the woods.Wrapped in his own cape with its bloodstained ermine collar, utterly filthy, Thamalon sat cross-legged on the other side of the fire, watching her.His long sword lay naked beside him, while her own weapon was nowhere in sight.She supposed she'd lost it when she'd been knocked unconscious."You called out," he said, his tone cool, his face impassive."You're awake.""Yes," she said, her throat so dry that her voice was a painful rasp.She swallowed."I was dreaming about our escape.You must have realized I'd gotten hurt, and carried me out of the tunnel.""Yes.""How did you know the passage existed?""First things first.Do you still want to kill me?"Her eyes widened in surprise.She sat up, though it made her head throb cruelly."Ilmater's bonds, of course'not! I know now that you didn't poison my grand-niece.That shadow that spoke with Lindrian's voice.I don't understand it, but somehow, when I talked to him, I was actually talking to it.Moreover, the fact that the phantom's master could even conceive of such a ruse implies that he's the one who truly committed the murder.""Or rather, that he has ties to those who did," Thamalon said, his voice little warmer than before."He seems too young to have slain anyone thirty years ago.How are you?""Sore—especially my head—stiff, cold, grimy, thirsty, and hungry," she said."But essentially all right.""I can do a little something about the hunger," he said,handing her a bundle of paper, which, when she unfolded it, proved to contain a square of date-nut bread.Trust him not to venture into the woods without a snack tucked into the pigskin pouch on his belt, or a flint, steel, and tinderbox, for that matter.She took a bite of the pastry."I still want to hear how you knew about the tunnel," she said through the first mouthful.His green eyes widened, and she realized that never in their three decades together had he ever seen her gobble a morsel with such unladylike voracity.But of course it was far too late to worry about such things now."I've built my share of strongholds over the years," Tha-malon said."Trading outposts and Stormweather Towers itself.I wanted to make them secure, so I undertook a study of fortifications, during which I happened to learn that these old castles Rauthauvyr raised often had a secret tunnel leading out.I didn't know exactly where it would be located, so I had to leave you to guard my back while I went to look for it.""And since they didn't know it existed, our enemies must think the giant killed us, and our bodies lay buried somewhere in the wreckage of the fort.""Since they stopped hunting us and went home, it would appear so.""Good.We should try to figure out who the wizard is.""Not so fast," said Thamalon."I've had faceless enemies before.This one will keep for a few more minutes.What I want to know now, and without another second of delay, is, who are you? I've thought of one possibility, but it seems preposterous."Shamur hesitated.She'd guarded the secret for so long it was hard to divulge it even now.Finally she said, "If you're thinking I'm the first Shamur, the robber in the tales and ballads, you're right.""Explain," he said."All of it."And so she did, beginning with the bored, hoydenish adolescent she'd been more than eighty years ago, a girlwho had started sneaking out of Argent Hall to taste the boisterous life of the streets, and eventually become a thief for the excitement.Thamalon grimaced."So that's where Thazienne getsit."Shamur blinked in surprise."You know about her thieving?""Not everyone manages to deceive me," he said sourly."The way you two quarrel, I'm surprised you know.But go on with your tale
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