not be strong enough to accomplish something like that. She would

have to concentrate her energies on one localized disaster in order

to control the spell.”

“Where do large numbers of people gather in one place?” asked

Wyrdrune. “Sporting events? Concerts? Shopping centers? Train

stations during rush hour? Airports? Hell, in a city as crowded as

this, it could be anywhere. There’re masses of people everywhere

you look. There’s no way to second-guess her.”

“It would have to be a very powerful spell, ” said Modred.

“We may simply have to count on the runestones detecting it and

hope that we can get there in time to stop her.”

“Yeah, only that didn’t quite work the last time, ” Kira said. “We

got there all right, but not in time to keep the Dark Ones from

escaping. And a lot of people died.”

“There isn’t anything that we can do about that, ” Modred

replied. “I’ve told you before, many more people are going to die

before we’re finished. Hundreds. Perhaps thousands. Fighting the

Dark Ones is like trying to irradicate a deadly epidemic. Until a

cure is found, there’s going to be a lot of death.”

“I know, ” said Kira with a sigh. “But knowing it and accepting it

are two very different things.”

Fugisawa finished talking on the phone. “I just spoke to

Kobayashi, ” he said. “And he claims he never gave an order for

those men to take us out.”

“What did you expect him to say?” asked Wyrdrune wryly.

“Curiously enough, I believe him, ” Fugisawa said. “He seemed

extremely upset about it. ” He glanced at Modred. “And he was

particularly anxious that I convince you he had nothing to do with

it. He said that if those men tried to kill us, they must have been

acting on their own, perhaps hoping to impress him. And he says

that anything he can do to convince you of his honorable intentions,

anything at all, he’ll do without question. And he not only agreed to

cooperate with you, but he actually volunteered to be placed under

a spell of compulsion, so that you could satisfy yourself that he’s

telling the truth. He’s afraid of you and he doesn’t want you coming