"Look 'ere, Champ, don't go gettin' the wrong idea," Billy said. "We appreciate the 'elp an' all, but truth

"Look 'ere, Champ, don't go gettin' the wrong idea," Billy said. "We appreciate the 'elp an' all, but truth

"Are you picking up any trace emanations at all?" asked Tony as they rode along at a brisk walk.

"Nothing," Wyrdrune replied. "I'm sorry. We don't seem to be making any progress." He gave the

unicorn a pat on the neck. "We've just about covered this sector. If you guys are tired, maybe we should

pack it in for tonight."

"Don't mind Champion," Tony replied. "We'll be just fine. You two just do what you have to do. We've

got to find that necromancer."

"Yeah, but the only trouble is, we'll never cover the entire town at this rate," Wyrdrune said. "Not by

Friday, anyway. And what if the Dark One isn't in Santa Fe? We haven't even considered that. He could

be holed up somewhere outside of town. If that's the case, then we're just wasting our time."

"As long as we're doing something, we're not wasting our time," said Merlin. "And right now, there's

nothing else wecan do."

"I know," said Wyrdrune. "It's so damned frustrating! I feel completely helpless! Two people died

tonight and there was nothing we could do to stop it. And tomorrow night, it'll be the same. The Dark

One's getting stronger while we're just wearing ourselves out."

"You two! On the unicorns! Pull over!"

The voice came over the P.A. of a patrol car that had silently pulled up behind them. The driver had

turned on his flashing lights.

"Now what?" said Wyrdrune. "What the hell did we do, run a stop sign?"

"That looks like the same police car Kira and I jumped back at the alley," Merlin said, glancing over his

shoulder.

"Terrific," Wyrdrune said. "We can't afford to answer any questions about that."

"We'll have to teleport," said Merlin.

"I'm not sure I can teleport both the unicorn and myself," said Wyrdrune. "Modred's already teleported

twice tonight. My energy's down. If it wasn't for the runestones, I'd be flat on my back."

"And I still haven't recovered sufficiently to teleport us all," replied Merlin, who had teleported himself

and Kira and both unicorns only a few hours earlier. "Champion, will you and Tony be able to get back

on your own?"

"Don't worry about us," the unicorn replied. "We'll be just fine. Go!"

"I said, pull over! Now!" the officer in the police car repeated.