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it.”
    What she remembered the most was the way he had held her for a long time, as if she were the most important thing in the world to him. She longed for the feel of his sheltering arms around her again. So why then, if he cared that much for her, and there were so many pivotal issues facing them, had he killed himself? Magda swallowed and tried to put the memory from her mind lest she be overwhelmed by tears.
    “As I had hoped, Baraccus once again managed to accomplish the seemingly impossible and eliminated their ability to create more dream walkers.” Lord Rahl regarded her with a determined look. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t do anything about the ones that already exist. They are easily trouble enough to annihilate us. That element of the threat must be countered as well.”
    Magda knew the truth of that. Baraccus had told her that after a person had been enclosed by that constructed spell, the power from it was fused into their being, into their very souls. They were in part the same person, but now they were more. They became beings with powers and abilities that others didn’t possess and couldn’t defend against.
    From their name, Magda had at first thought that they were able to steal into a person’s dreams while they slept, but Baraccus had explained that it was more sinister than that. They actually slipped into the infinitesimal empty spaces between thoughts, like water seeping into the voids of a sponge. It wasn’t that they used dreams to enter a person’s mind, it was more like they became the victim’s real-life nightmare.
    Magda paced a few steps away, thinking, worrying. She hadn’t wanted to press her husband for details when he had returned. She had been so thankful that he had come back safely to her that she had just wanted to hold him.
    She turned back. “Can a dream walker invade anyone’s mind?”
    “Technically, yes, however entering a person’s mind is profoundly difficult, so, to help them, dream walkers use the victim’s gift. In essence, they seize control of a person’s own magic and turn it against them. Where dream walkers are concerned, having the gift is a dangerous liability.”
    “What about the ungifted, like me?”
    “It’s much more difficult for dream walkers to get into the mind of an ungifted person and even more difficult yet to control them. Not that it can’t be done, but it requires great effort. The real question is why would they want to? After all, dream walkers were created as weapons, so they would be expected to seek out high-value targets. That implies the gifted.”
    “That makes sense,” Magda said as she tried to put the pieces of what she knew together with what she was learning. “But the person would be aware of it, wouldn’t they? They would know the dream walker had invaded their thoughts.”
    “No, not necessarily. A dream walker can be in your mind, watching, listening, and unless they want you to know, you would be completely unaware of their presence. Once there, without you ever realizing it, the dream walker not only has access to all your thoughts, he can also overhear anything you hear—plans, defenses, names, anything that might be useful to the enemy.
    “But if he wishes to, a dream walker can make his presence known and force you to do anything, or use you for any purpose he chooses. He can, for instance, use you to help him identify other important targets. You would be helpless to stop yourself.
    “A dream walker often uses a seemingly harmless individual as an extension of himself, as a tool—in other words, as a surrogate assassin. People who are gentle or even timid offer a perfect cover. If he wants, a dream walker can force even such a person to assassinate their closest friend or a loved one.
    “A dream walker’s control is absolute. He can remain hidden and you won’t even know he’s there, or be an insidious presence, whispering suggestions that you interpret as your own thoughts. If he wishes it he can