"No Boss", replies Duplar, "at range I can do no more than search for
someone and I need an item of theirs to focus through.   I think
Reylorna can?   Her safety... well I don't want to think of the
Academy as being more unsafe than here, but between here and there who
knows?"

"The call sounded close.  Not as if from across the city." Ryzar adds,
"Mistress Tanala is a member of this Guild, is she not?  Just as
Mistress Reylorna is?  If she were HERE -- in this building -- where
would she most likely BE?"

"Ryzar", Duplar replies, "Mistress Tanala and Apprentice Reylorna are
members of the Academy of the Mind.   This is the Karazthan Guild.
Tanala has a most powerful mind: in her case 'close' could be almost
anywhere in the city.  Still, I suppose if she were tinkering with
dangerous technology she is more likely to find it here than anywhere
else.   We could check our vaults and storerooms."

Still, unfortunately, a bit out to sea, Hank asks, "What WAS that? Who
made it? Is there anything I can do?"

"It was the Wizard Tanala", says Jathren, "The day we left the city,
many days ago, there was a mental interrogation of a prisoner in the
Citadel. Someone suspected of murder and attempted murder, including
that of our own guildmaster.  The man himself was a dangerous wizard,
and would not submit to normal questioning, so the wizard Tanala had
to be summoned to 'mind ream' him.  To overcome his resistance we used
a machine called 'The Device', which amplifies power. Unfortunately
the machine failed.  The backlash killed the prisoner without getting
us any information, and badly injured Tanala herself"

Kala d'n Konyen, the acting guildmaster, speaks up.  "Tanala was
recovering slowly", she says, "In the hands of the Healers of Valarna.
The last I'd heard was that she'd come out of the coma.  If *that* was
indeed her, something bad has happened to her.  But her welfare is the
business of her own guild, the Academy of the Mind".

--
Tim Hall
Weblog: http://www.kalyr.com/weblog
Photos: http://kalyr.fotopic.net/