Castien, an elf mage who cannot speak except with the aid of a magical dagger, has been captured while on a mission. He is freed by his companion, the warrior elf Daeron, and returns with him to Daeron’s homeland. There they will join forces to rid the land of a Lord bent on the destruction of the elves.<br><br>Theirn, a young half-elf thief, attempts to rob Castien during his stay at an inn and is caught by the mage. Much against Theirn’s will, he is enlisted into the group of rebel elves. But as Theirn's infatuation with Castien grows, he becomes more than eager to risk treachery, betrayal, and even death on dangerous missions just to be close to the man he is growing to love.

Mage of Silence

“Let us just pray it has not been found, or some disaster, natural or otherwise, has not collapsed it,” Alassiel murmured. That thought had all of them worried.


The distance they had to travel was not inconsiderable. As the hours wore on, with darkness surrounding them except for the mage-lights, and the tunnel’s cold, clammy, and eventually algae and lichen-covered walls closing in on them the deeper they moved into it, the quartet began to feel the strain. Castien and Lain suffered more than the other two because, although neither of them was tall by normal standards, they still found they spent a fair amount of time trying to avoid the places where the roof of the tunnel dropped down precipitously. Even Theirn and Alassiel had to duck occasionally when it became too low.


Chapter 38