"Dr. Makepeace, about Modred..." Kira said.

"Yes, yes, of course," said Makepeace. "That's what I called to talk to you

about."

"Something's happened to him, hasn't it?" said Kira. "I can feel it."

"I'm afraid it has," said Makepeace. "I had a dream about him last night."

Wyrdrune glanced up at him sharply. "What kind of dream?"

"I dreamed he was being kept a prisoner somewhere, chained up in some kind of

a

dungeon," said Makepeace.

"We had the exact same dream!" said Kira. "I knew it! I knew he was trying to

send us a message! He's tried to reach you the same way!"

"That doesn't make any sense," said Wyrdrune. "Why would he send us dreams?

Why

wouldn't he simply get in touch with us through the mind link?"

"Mind link?" said Makepeace, frowning. "You have some sort of telepathic link

with him?"

"Well, I guess he didn't tell you everything, did he?" Wyrdrune said

sarcastically.

"Will you settle down?" said Kira. "What's wrong with you?" She turned to

Makepeace. "The milestones somehow allow us to communicate telepathically,

even

over great distances," she explained. "Modred seems to have better control

over

it than we do, maybe because he's a naturally more powerful adept. He can

form

the mind link with us at will, but we can't always do it anytime we want to,

the

way he can."

"Hmm," Makepeace said with a grunt, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps

that's because his descent from the Old Ones, through Gorlois, is more direct

than yours."

"Jesus, you know that too?" said Wyrdrune.

Makepeace closed his eyes wearily. "Melvin, give it a rest, will you, please?

I'm not just anybody, you know."

"Yeah, I know," said Wyrdrune sourly. "You're never-never land's answer to

King

Kong."

Makepeace glared at him and started to twitch at the corner of his mouth. A

low,

rumbling growl came from deep down in his throat.

"Will you stop?" said Kira. "I've about had it with you two! We haven't got

time

for this!"