"Who dispelled Caladnei's wards," Galaeron said. "The Dalesmen were already mind-slaves when they arrived, and the phaerimm knew they were the last ones you'd expect treachery from. He came in first and dispelled the wards, and the phaerimm came in between the other two."
Alusair raised her brow.
Galaeron nodded, but did not bother to explain further. When it came to the phaerimm, he just… knew. It was a little gift from a Shadovar he had known once.
"Well, thanks," Alusair said with a smile, then leaned over and kissed him-hard, and on the lips. "You watch yourself. I'm going to miss you."
CHAPTER TWO
10 Flamerule, the Year of Wild Magic
Beyond the shadowshell, Takari Moonsnow saw only dark forms-nebulous disks and hazy pillars that could be monster or mineral, that could be beholders and bugbears or boulders and broken blocks of stone.
They never appeared to move, which favored the inanimate, but whenever she glanced away for a moment and looked back the shapes were in different places. That favored the animate-the sinister, even, and the dangerous. Providing, of course, that the change was not just her imagination playing tricks on her. Reconnoitering through the shadow-shell was like peering through an obsidian window. She could tell that something lay on the other side, but what it might be was anyone's guess.
Takari cursed and started back toward camp, her flesh warming in the hot Anauroch sun as she moved away from the shell's icy darkness behind. According to the latest news from within the Shaeradim, a trio of phaerimm had been seen several days before herding an army of mind-slaves in Takari's direction. Unfortunately, that was all anyone knew. Spying on the phaerimm was invariably lethal, so every report from inside came at a steep price.
Nor could the high mages sent by Evermeet scry the information.