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THE LAST OF THE WILDS
 Mirar? How can this be? Then she realized what the gods wanted her to do and
felt her heart sink. Oh, Leiard. Will you ever forgive me?
:He won t, Huan told her. Leiard is Mirar.
 Leiard? Auraya exclaimed. For a moment she could not think. Then she
laughed in disbelief.  That can t be. I ve seen his mind. Well, I did before he 
:Mirar is Leiard. He deceived us. He deceived the White and, worst of all, he
tricked and used you. We are not sure how he managed to hide behind the
persona of Leiard, but we are certain of his true identity. When you linked with
him to learn his healing Gift, I saw the truth.
 You were there& ?
:Yes.
Auraya shook her head in disbelief. She had caught glimpses of Leiard s
thoughts during the link. None of what she had seen had revealed anything but
healing knowledge.
:While you were distracted he let his guard down, believing he was safe.
She searched her memories of Leiard. First she recalled him as he had been
when he had lived in the forest near her village, teaching her about cures and the
world. Had there been any sign that he was really Mirar? She couldn t recall any.
Next she considered the man who had been her adviser in Jarime. He had been
so uncomfortable in the Temple. She had assumed any Dreamweaver would be.
Was his fear of all things Circlian an indication of his true identity? He had
overcome that fear and become Dreamweaver Adviser. It hadn t been his idea,
however; it had been hers. Dreamweavers had benefited from his work, but there
was nothing unusual or wrong in that. Any Dreamweaver would have aimed to
do the same.
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Unless he had somehow used his position to gain other advantages without her
knowledge&
:You are not seeing the depth of his deception, Auraya. Leiard does not exist. He
never did. The man you knew was an invention designed to manipulate you.
Auraya frowned. She was looking for something unusual in Leiard s behavior.
She should consider what Mirar s behavior had been. If he had set out to deceive
her by inventing Leiard, he had succeeded. He had gained her friendship and
trust, then her love. She thought of the dream links, the declarations of love, the
promises. None of it had been real. She shivered. She had& done things with a
man she didn t really know, whose intentions couldn t have been good for her,
the gods or Circlians.
What was Mirar s real intention, then? Did Juran ruin his plans by discovering
our affair and sending him away? Did Mirar come to Si hoping to encounter me
and resume our affair?
As the possibilities occurred to her she felt a rising anger. I was willing to risk so
much for Leiard! But I saw that he had changed, she realized. When we linked so
he could teach me, I sensed a difference. What did he say again?  I am not the
person I was.
:Now you do see the truth, Huan said. It will cause you pain. We wish that it
were not so. Better that this mistake had never been made. Hold on to your
anger. You will need it to do what must be done. The other White are too far
away to act. You are close, and have the advantage of surprise. He will not
expect you to be the one to execute him.
 Execute him? Auraya went cold to the bone.
:Yes. You hesitate to kill. That is good; we would be disappointed in you if you
did not. But he must die properly this time. I will guide you.
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 When?
:Now.
 But the Siyee& ?
:It will not take you long, Auraya.
 Oh. She felt strangely disoriented. I m not going to have time to get used to
this, am I? I ll have to sort out what it all means afterward.
:Yes. You must not let anything distract you, Huan warned. He is strong. It will
be difficult. He will try to manipulate you. He will try everything to stop you.
Of course he will, she thought. I doubt he wants to die.
:I will guide you. Go, Auraya. Find him.
37
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The breath of the rowers misted in the air, yet Imi was warm. She had wondered
at first why Imenja was not heating the air around the crew with her magic, but
then as she noticed sweat glistening on their brows she realized that they were
hot enough already from their exertions. If they d been inside Imenja s area of
warmth they d have been uncomfortable.
Clouds were visible at the horizon to one side. They muted the light of the
coming dawn. The sea, the boat, even the tanned faces of the rowers were an
unhealthy gray. All color seemed to have been leeched from the world.
The coast was a dark mountainous line emerging from the night sky, separated
from the dark water by a band of pale sand. Imenja turned to Imi. Her eyes were
steady and she did not smile as she placed a hand on Imi s shoulder.
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 This is as far as we can come without risking being seen, she said.  Are we
close enough to shore?
Imi nodded.  I think so.
 Don t take unnecessary risks.
 I won t.
 We ll return here this afternoon. Good luck.
Imi smiled.  I ll see you then.
She moved to the side of the boat. It was rocking too much with the waves for
her to leap off into the water safely. She decided the best way to get into the
water would be to sit on the edge, move her legs over, then drop from there
when the boat tipped her way.
It worked well enough, though it was hardly an elegant exit for a princess. The
water was deliciously cold. Taking a deep breath, she dove under the surface and
started swimming toward the coast.
The distance had looked small from the boat but it took longer than she expected
to get to shore. The water was murky and the pre-dawn light was still too faint to
reveal much below the surface anyway. Imi had rarely been in such an open
place, and never alone. She could easily imagine something emerging from the
gloom around her. Something large and ponderous. Or maybe something smaller
and quicker like a flarke, seen only a moment before it attacked.
She felt on the brink of a shiver, like the feeling that she had sometimes when
she felt she would sneeze soon, but never did.
Suddenly the water lightened. She surfaced, expecting to find the sun had risen,
but nothing had changed. The beach lay ahead, now forming an arc around a
shallow bay. Looking down again, she realized that she could see the pale sea
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THE LAST OF THE WILDS
floor beneath her. She swam on.
Soon the water around her began to push and pull. It roiled above her, curling
and twisting. She had heard of surf before, but had never tried to swim in it. A
water dancer had told her about it once. He d said you could ride the waves, if
you knew how. Swimming up one of them, she sought the right part to ride. She
knew she had found it when she felt the force of the wave catch and propel her
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