Daja was at the forge when she realised something was wrong. Carefully she put down her tools, taking care to keep the hot iron away from the bench top, and closed her eyes to concentrate.

It was Briar. She could sense immediately that he was scared, and that scared her, because Briar was never frightened. Briar? She called, hoping he would let her see through his eyes so she could help. But he didn't even seem to hear her. He was moving though, she could feel that, moving quickly. Her tie to him was vibrating in a way it never had before. Briar?

Suddenly she felt a wave of fear so strong it almost brought her to her knees. For a moment she was sure there were… things around her, bearing down on her. She summoned the heat of the forge to her palm and blasted it towards where she felt the danger. It passed through empty air and impacted with the stone walls of the forge, leaving a black scorch mark.

She was alone in the forge. She shook herself angrily - of course there was nothing there! For a moment she'd been acting like a frightened little girl.

Daja? Sandry's voice sounded very small.

I'm fine, Daja said quickly.

Did you feel it?

Daja blinked. Yes… yes I felt it. For a moment she had a vision of Sandry sitting in a pile of loose thread that had unwound itself from everything around, from the curtains to the dresses of the poor seamstresses who were now cowering by the door, covering themselves with their hands. What on earth did you do?

I don't know… I just went to pieces all of a sudden. Where's Briar?

Daja felt quickly for the magical link to Briar. For a moment she couldn't find it at all. It was there all right, but very faint, as if he was very far away, but somehow she knew that he wasn't. He was going to Winding Circle, she said. To see the mind healer. I have no idea what happened.

Find him. Tris' voice sounded muffled, but then, she was still several hundred miles away. Something's happened.

I don't like this, Daja said crossly, masking her worry with harshness. It's like when we were little and our magics kept getting messed up.

No, it's not, said Sandry, and Daja could tell she was apologising to the seamstresses and leaving the room, heading to the stables. This time its just one of us with a problem, and the rest of us are feeling it. I do hope he's all right…

Serve him right for not going earlier, if he isn't, Daja said stiffly, extinguishing the hot iron. It was a waste of materials, but finding Briar was more important than finishing her current project. Can you tell where he is?

No, said Sandry. We better start at Winding Circle. I'll meet you by the road on the hill.

Daja took the carthorse. The mare looked surprised at being taken out and saddled without being hitched to anything, but there was no time to walk.

Sandry was as good as her word, riding a white horse from the Duke's stables. Her clothes were immaculate as usual, since the threads in her garments were too well-trained to twist apart when she had a panic. Not that she had done anything like that in years.

They didn't say much as they rode up the path towards Winding Circle. She could tell Sandry was just as worried as she was, maybe more. There was nothing more from Tris either, and Daja wondered if she was still there, listening, or if that was too hard for her, from so far away. She was prepared to believe anything, at this point.

They saw nothing on the path. At the temple they found the mind-healer Briar was supposed to have met, and were unsurprised to discover that he had never arrived.

"But where could he have gone?" Sandry said despairingly. "Discipline?"

"Maybe, but then he wouldn't feel so… far off," Daja said. It was hard to describe the feeling she was getting in words. It was as if she had missed something, something important. "Let's go down the path again, just in case, then we'll send someone to the cottage in case he's there."

Sandry nodded, and they turned the horses back down towards the town. Daja was just starting to think that she had imagined whatever feeling she thought she had, when a flicker of light caught her eye.

"Sandry, wait!" she called out to the girl, who had gone on ahead a way. She turned the mare slightly and narrowed her eyes, sharpening her magical sight. There was something there, on the ground, not visible to the naked eye but it lit up faintly to her magical ones.

"It's faded," Sandry said, when Daja had shown her what she saw. "But… it looks like…"

"I know," Daja said grimly. Tris? she called. We need you a minute.

"She said she could only talk to us if she initiated it," Sandry said, but Daja had been paying attention. Tris had jumped into more than one conversation over the past few days. It took her a minute, but she answered.

What is it? Did you find him?

No, we found something else. Take a look at this. Daja showed Tris the flicker on the ground.

Mage trap, Tris said confidently. Strong one.

Daja and Sandry looked at each other. You don't think…

Briar isn't stupid, Daja said quickly. And he can see magic. He wouldn't just walk into something like this.

He might if he was frightened enough he wasn't looking where he was going, Sandry shot back. You felt it, before… it was like the nightmares. He was terrified.

So was I, said Tris.

Me too, said Sandry.

Daja was not going to admit to being frightened. She put her hands on her hips and glared at the mage trap. Tris, is there any way to find out who put this here?

Yes, Niko could do it, but there might not be time. It's a very consuming spell, and he doesn't have me to help him.

What do we do then? Sandry exclaimed. How on earth do we find him?

I've an idea where we can start, said Daja. The man Briar saw in the market - you know what he looks like?

Yes, but…

That's the only lead we've got.

But I looked already, Daja. None of the Duke's men know who he is.

Then we'll ask the harriers, the merchants, the students. Someone has to know.

But… what if we find him, and he has nothing to do with it? Then we've wasted time.

That's why I'm going to go get Rosethorn, and we'll try it the other way, Daja said firmly. Even if we can't find him, his shakkan must be able to.

Sandry relaxed a little at this. All right, she said. Tris?

No answer.

Tris?

"She's gone," said Daja. "Never mind. Stay in touch, all right?"

"Of course. Good luck with Rosethorn."

Daja grimaced. "I might need it."

~*-D-*~

~*-D-*~

Rosethorn looked worried when Daja filled her in on the situation. "What in the Green Man's name is that boy up to?" she muttered. She went to the garden and let her hands twine into the vines that crept up the wall. She stood there for a moment in silence, her expression growing gradually grimmer as she asked the plants to search for Briar, enlisting the help of the shakkan, as well.

"Well?" Daja asked, when she couldn't stand it anymore.

Rosethorn shook her head. "Nothing."

"Nothing? How can there be nothing?"

"They can't find him. He must be somewhere with no plants, perhaps a high building, thick stone walls."

"The palace?" Daja suggested. It was the only place she could think of like that.

"Even the palace has pot plants." Rosethorn suddenly looked very tired - Daja wasn't quite brave enough even to think the word 'old'. "Now I wish I hadn't told him it was nothing to worry about. Clearly someone has an dangerous interest."

"Well that was my one idea," Daja sighed. It was starting to get dark. "Unless Sandry has something, we might not get any further until tomorrow."

"Make sure Sandry makes a full report to the harriers," Rosethorn said. "Kidnapping is a serious crime in Emelan, even of a full-grown mage."

"I'm sure she will," Daja said. "She's good at - "

Suddenly her tie to Briar flared, the same way it had earlier but worse, much worse. Rosethorn, her hands still tangled in the vine, gasped.

BRIAR! Daja shouted down the link. WHERE ARE YOU?

There was no reply, only more fear. Briar! She heard Sandry call, and then Tris, but he didn't seem to hear them. Briar!

And then Daja felt a tug on her heart, a sharp pain that made her stumble and catch the wall for balance. Briar?

There was silence. Rosethorn's face was white and her eyes wide. Daja could hear Sandry sobbing somewhere in the back of her mind. What had just happened?

Briar? she tried again, but he was gone. Her link to him was no longer faint, it was missing entirely.

What is it? she asked her foster-sisters, her mind unable to process what she knew to be true. What happened?

For a while there was no answer from them, either. Sandry was crying, and Tris was silent. Then she heard; he's gone. I don't… he's just… gone.

No! Daja shouted back, angrily. He - he can't have -

Rosethorn untangled herself from the plants and stepped off the garden. As Daja watched, she knelt on the grass and put her hands over her pale face, and her shoulders began to shake. Daja didn't think she had ever seen Rosethorn cry.

"Rosethorn?" Evvy had come to the door of the house and was staring at them both in confusion. "What's wrong?"

Daja stared at Rosethorn. Somehow, seeing her like that was more convincing than any of her own feelings. She could disbelieve what her magic was telling her, what Tris and Sandry might say, but she could not argue with stiff, unbreakable Rosethorn sobbing on the grass like a child.

She looked up at Evvy. Someone had to tell her. "I think…" she began, stopping to clear the lump that had risen in her throat. "I'm sorry… I think… Briar is dead."