tones, they could more than counter any such distance attacks, and their dis-cussion of taking a captive proved to him that these two did not comprehend the power that would come against them. "lead them in to us," he bade pony. "let us prepare the battleground."

the small plateau seemed an obvious choice for an encamp-ment, set on a ledge on a rocky hillside with but one approach, and that being steep and dangerously exposed. there was one open area, a small campfire burning, surrounded on three sides by more rocks and on the fourth by a small copse of trees.

brother youseff smiled wickedly; the garnet indicated that magic was in use up there. he put the stone away in a pouch on the rope belt of his brown robes, which he and dandelion had donned again when they left the city, and took out the sunstone, bidding dandelion to take his hand, that they might combine their powers to make the antimagic shield that much stronger.

"they will try to use magic against us," youseff explained. "that is their primary weapon, no doubt, but if we are strong enough to defeat that use, then their conventional weapons will prove worthless against our training."

dandelion, so physically strong and skilled, grinned at the prospect of some solid hand-to-hand fighting.

"we kill the woman's companions, first," youseff explained. "then we go after her. if we must kill her, then so be it. otherwise we will take her and the gemstones and be on our way."

"to palmaris first?" dandelion asked, for he wanted another chance at connor bildeborough.

youseff, understanding the supreme importance of this part of their mission, shook his head. "straight through the city and back to st.-mere- abelle," he explained. he closed his other hand over dandelion's. "concentrate," he instructed.

a few moments later, the antimagic shield strong and in place, the pair began easily scaling the rocky cliff, moving silently and confidently.

near the top they peeked over the ridge, and both smiled even wi-der, for there, sitting beside the woman, was connor bildeborough - all the eggs in one basket, it seemed.

with a look to each other to coordinate the movement, the two monks hauled themselves over the lip, landing gracefully and in a defensive posture.

"welcome!" connor cried, his tone light - and to the monks, confusing. "remember me?"

youseff glanced at dandelion, then took a sudden stride for-ward, covering a third of the distance to the still-sitting man. then he lurched, a small arrow boring into the back of his calf, cutting right into the tendon.

"oh, but my friends will not allow you to approach," connor said happily.

"you do not understand how hopeless your situation is," added roger lockless, stepping out from behind some rocks directly be-hind pony and connor. "have you, by chance, met the one called nightbird?"

on cue, the ranger, looking splendid atop symphony and with hawkwing in hand, stepped out of the copse of trees.

"what are we to do?" brother dandelion whispered.

youseff snapped his angry glare over connor. "you have dis-credited and disgraced your uncle and all your family," he growled. "you are an outlaw now, as surely as are these ragged fools you call friends."

"brave words for one in your position," connor replied casually.

"think you that?" youseff remarked, suddenly calm. with the hand that was clenching his wounded leg, he gave a subtle signal to dandelion.

suddenly, brutally, dandelion charged past his companion, springing upon connor as the man rose and drew out his sword, moving too quickly for anyone to react. he slapped aside connor's sword, then laid the man low with a wicked forearm smash to the throat. then he ran right over the falling connor, forcing roger back against the stones.

youseff sprang forward from his good leg right behind dande-lion, thinking to get to the woman, to put her in a deadly hold that he might bargain his way out. but as in the initial assault, the confi-dent monk underestimated his opponent, did not appreciate just how powerful pony was with the gemstones. the antimagic shield was still strong, though not as much so with both its creators other-wise engaged, but even if youseff and dandelion were doing nothing but concentrating on the sunstone, they would not have de-feated pony's power.

youseff felt his feet slip out from under him, not to fall, but rather to rise, harmlessly, into the air. his momentum continued to carry him forward, toward pony, but when he reached for her in this unfamiliar weightless state, he tumbled headlong, turning a half somersault. then he felt the sudden sting in his back as pony rolled over and kicked out, both feet landing squarely, propelling youseff back the way he had come, back out over the cliff to dangle helplessly in midair.

overwhelmed by the charge, roger was in no position to counter as dandelion swung back the other way, again smashing connor as the man tried to rise, then falling down atop him, pin-ning him to the ground. up came the big man's arm, fingers stiff and straight, poised for the killing slash into defenseless connor's exposed neck.

connor growled and tried to cry out, tried to wriggle free. he closed his eyes for just an instant.

the blow did not fall. connor opened his eyes to see dandelion still poised above him, struggling to drop the punch, a look of ab-solute incredulity on his face that anything could so hold back his powerful arm.

nightbird held him fast by the wrist.

dandelion spun with amazing agility for one so large, turning and putting his feet under him, at the same time dipping his shoul-der to bowl the ranger over. but elbryan, too, was moving, spin-ning right under dandelion's arm, turning about with a vicious jerk that popped the man's elbow out of joint.

howling with pain, dandelion spun about and launched a heavy punch - which never came near to hitting nightbird, the ranger sidestepping, then wading right back in with a powerful combina-tion of blows on dandelion's face and chest.

on came the big monk, growling past the pain in his arm, ac-cepting more punches, that he could get close enough to wrap elbryan in a tight hug.

the ranger cupped dandelion's chin with one hand, grabbed the back of the man's hair with the other, meaning to turn him aside. he stopped, though, feeling a curious prodding in his chest. at first he thought dandelion had somehow deceived him and brought a dagger to bear, but when he looked past the man, to connor bilde-borough standing behind him, the ranger understood.

dandelion, connor's sword right through his back and chest, slumped in the ranger's arms.

"bastard," connor muttered grimly, shifting to keep his hold on the sword as dead dandelion rolled to the ground.

nightbird let the man fall free, then went to symphony and took up hawkwing, fitting an arrow and turning his attention to youseff. he leveled and drew back.

but the threat was ended, the monks obviously defeated, and elbryan could not simply kill this man.

"do not," pony said, in full agreement as the ranger eased his bowstring back to rest.

"i will kill him," connor said grimly, finally extracting his sword from the heavy corpse.

"as he hangs there helpless?" pony asked skeptically.

connor kicked at the ground. "drop him to the rocks, then," he said, but he wasn't serious; he could no more kill this helpless man than could elbryan.

pony was glad for that.

"we are going to find our friends," the ranger said to youseff, "whom your father abbot has unjustly imprisoned."

youseff scoffed at the sheer folly of such a claim.

"and you will lead us, every step," the ranger finished.

"to st.-mere-abelle?" the monk replied incredulously. "fool. you cannot begin to comprehend the power of such a fortress."

"as you could not comprehend the force prepared against you in this place," elbryan calmly replied.

that hit youseff hard. he narrowed his eyes dangerously and glared at elbryan. "how long can you hold me here?" he asked, his voice even and deathly calm. "kill me now, fools, else i promise to avenge - "

his bluster was lost suddenly as a small form rushed past him, spinning him over in the air. he flailed and tried to respond, and realized that he had lost his grip on the sunstone. when he finally straightened out again, youseff saw the winged elf land easily on the ledge beside the others.

"sunstone, as you guessed, nightbird," juraviel said, display-ing the pilfered stone. "i suspect the garnet is in his belt pouch, if not on the dead man."

elbryan watched youseff closely as juraviel spoke, and saw that the elf's words, too, were unnerving the man.

"he may have a soul stone, as well," pony interjected. "some way to keep in contact with his leaders."

"of course, we'll not let him use that," connor said with a chuckle. "but i must disagree with your decision," he said to the ranger. "he'll not lead us to st.-mere-abelle, but will be returned to st. precious, where he can answer for the murder of abbot dobrinion. i will take him myself, with roger lockless beside me, and let the church learn the truth of its father abbot!"

elbryan looked long and hard at connor, considering for just a moment the implications of his actions, which had saved the man's life. if he had hesitated for just an instant, then connor bildebor-ough, this man who had so wronged pony, would also be dead.

the ranger would tolerate no such weakness within himself, and so he dismissed those dark thoughts out of hand, and knew in his heart that he would have thrown himself in the way of the deadly monk's strike if that was the only way to save connor, or any of his companions.

he looked back to youseff then, and considered the truth of connor's words. he remembered the fervor of the first brother justice, and understood that youseff would be no willing guide, no matter the threats. but if they did as connor suggested, then per-haps they would not be alone in their quest to free their friends.

would not the church have to admit its complicity, thus discred-iting the father abbot?

it seemed plausible. "bring him in," the ranger instructed.

belli'mar juraviel flew out from the ledge, moving behind the dangling youseff. using his bow as a pole, the elf prodded the man toward the ledge. at first youseff offered no resistance, but then, as he neared the lip, as the drop beneath him became not so far, he spun suddenly, grabbed at the elf and caught hold of the bow as juraviel wisely let it go. the monk had no way to stop his mo-mentum, though, and so he continued to rotate right around.

to see elbryan at the edge of the lip, fist cocked.

the blow sent brother youseff spinning head over heels away from the ledge, and sent the man's mind flying into unconsciousness.

juraviel, laughing at the outrageous sight, retrieved his bow and prodded the now limp monk to the ledge.