He found Mist arguing with several unfamiliar Tervola. He located Dahl Haas. „Dahl, pick some good fighting men and get them up here." He scanned the room. He had a little help... . The big map table was gone. Wounded carpeted the floor where it had stood.
Varthlokkur joined him. „I'm calling Radeachar."
„Good."
Mist noticed them. She seemed puzzled.
„The Baron was right," Bragi muttered. He sent guards to the portals, told Varthlokkur, „I get the feeling we weren't expected."
The woman said something to her companions, came their way. „I see you made it back."
„Some of us. A lot of my men died out there. Hsung laid a trap. It almost worked."
„My people were hit hard too. The trickster who almost stopped us wants to meet you."
„Hsung?"
„Lord Hsung."
„Ain't Lord Nothing to me, Mist. Don't go taking your self too seriously. Not in my territory."
„Of course. I'm sorry. It's been an emotional day."
Lord Hsung introduced himself. „Keeping your job?" Ragnarson asked. „Still going to be boss of the occupation?"
„Her Highness has chosen to entrust me with our western provinces."
„Guess I can expect the same old crap then, eh?" Lord Hsung stiffened. Ragnarson did not relent. „My turn to do a little arm-twisting. I won't cry about Hammad al Nakir. I won't even whine about you putting spies in my palace. All part of the game, right? But I am irked about my caravan people. A whole lot irked."
Glass shattered behind Ragnarson. A chill crawled his spine. Help was here. The Unborn had come. It had forced one of the blocked windows.
„You know how much good glass costs?" Mist shrieked. „We're on the same side, remember?"
„We weren't first to forget," Varthlokkur countered. „I can't prove it, but I'm morally certain the King and I weren't supposed to return from the raid."
Bragi said, „I get mean when people mess with me. You're going to be a guest of the Crown for a while."
Mist looked deflated. „For how long? We're involved in two desperate wars."
„Two?"
„That thing in the east."
„Ask me how much I care. The worse the whipping you take, the more weight off my back."
„This thing has big nightmares, Bragi. It hates the world."
Varthlokkur made a warning gesture. Why? And why was he so pale all of a sudden?
Mist led Bragi aside. „I didn't have any choice, Bragi. You don't understand what you mean to those Tervola who survived the Great Eastern Wars. They want you bad. I made it a soft trap, hoping your famous luck would hold. It did. We all got what we wanted, didn't we? Can we go on being friends?"
„Okay." But I won't forget, he thought. I'll get my turn. „But don't screw around with me. All I ask is that you deal with me straight. I'll hurt you if you don't. What does he want?"
Varthlokkur was gesturing excitedly. He called, „Radeachar got it!"
„Got what?"
„He found our man. He followed the assassin into the city and watched him make contact. In the park. His control is one of the Queen's men. Radeachar couldn't tell which. He has an identity shield."
Ragnarson cursed. „We'd better stake him out. An Itaskian, eh? I figured some of them were spies, but... . Let's go."
„Home at last," the wizard mumbled. „You realize I haven't seen my daughter since she was born?"
„I haven't seen Inger."
„Why the long face?"
„Thinking about our other problems. Dahl! Get us a couple horses. Tell Sir Gjerdrum he's in charge. He can let Mist's people go."
Dahl clicked his heels and bowed stiffly, imitating Itaskian military fashions. Ragnarson sent a disgusted look after him. „He's getting carried away with the etiquette and honors."
„He means well," Varthlokkur observed. „A little more of that and the Estates might take you seriously."
„The Estates can put it where the moon don't shine. Hurry up, Dahl."
„You're changeable today, aren't you?"
„In and out of an ‘is-it-worth-it' mood."
Haas brought the horses. Ragnarson started toward town. Varthlokkur cantered up beside him. „I've been through it a hundred times. You always end up going on. You have to. Too many people are keeping your wagon in its ruts."
„Just as many are trying to push it off the road."
„No. That's another rut." Later, Varthlokkur said, „Might better keep your eyes open. We left our body guards."
„Think Norath sent more than one nine?"
„No. Somebody else might try. The somebody who paid Norath. It's a good time to strike. The country is confused. It's ready for bad news." The wizard glanced up. The Unborn drifted overhead, high enough to attract little attention. „There's Radeachar, of course, but crossbow bolts strike quickly. Especially if the assassin has a shielded mind."
Rowdy drunks howled just inside the city gate. The streets seethed with mobs trundling about shrieking the victory song of the Charygin Hall Panthers.
„Damn it all!" Ragnarson swore after hearing the news. „They beat Cynith's Bears by three goals. The Bears were supposed to be better than the Guards. Smart money went with them when we held the Panthers close in the second game."
„I could put a curse on them." Varthlokkur chuckled at Ragnarson's reaction. „Thought creative cheating was part of the game?"
„There's cheating and cheating."
„Pity. Radeachar would make a hell of a striker. He'd give the game a new dimension."
„Get thee behind me."
The wizard chuckled again.
Bragi listened to the chatter in the streets. Most people were too busy to notice him. He seldom dressed more elegantly than his soldiers.
„Going to be dusk when we get there," Bragi observed.
„Uhm. I'll have Radeachar scout ahead."
„Right."
It was dusk when they reached the park. Ragnarson was saying, „You don't realize how much you miss, sometimes. Out of town one week and it turns into a foreign city."
„Quiet. Ah. I thought so. Swordplay. Over there. Where Radeachar said the assassin was hiding." He looked up. The Unborn drifted above the trees.
„Let's go." Ragnarson dismounted, hastened into the orchard with ready sword. „Uhm," he muttered. „Getting stiff." His wounds weren't bad, but they ached abominably.
The wizard was a step behind him, running with a lightness remarkable for an old man.
The clang of swordplay grew louder. A man cried out, mortally wounded. Blades met again. Ragnarson panted, „Can you stop them?"
„I can try." Varthlokkur stopped, closed his eyes. Bragi ran on.
A second death cry howled among the fruit trees.
Ragnarson found Josiah Gales panting over two dead men. One was the assassin. The other was an Itaskian stonecutter named Thorn Callison.
„Drop the sword and back off, Gales."
The sergeant spun, came to guard, took a step forward. He looked panicky.
That faded. He composed himself, deposited his weapon on the trampled earth, backed away. He seated himself, hugged his knees.
Ragnarson rested his swordtip on the earth. „Start talk ing." He wished there were more light. Gales' shadowed face could not be read.
Gales did not hesitate. „Callison acted strange all day. He was supposed to work on the dolphin fountain. This morn ing he asked for a pass so he could pick up a tool he'd had made. I gave him the token. He went and came back. I didn't see any tools. Next watch he gave Beckett the same story. I didn't find out till a little while ago, by accident. I went to see how he was doing on the fountain. He hadn't hit a lick. I talked to a couple men from back home. They told me he was acting spooky. I went looking for him. And I'll be damned, there he was, heading out the gate. Carrying a sword. I hadn't seen Thorn Callison wear a sword in ten years. I asked at the gate. They said he was going to town to pick up a tool. How come the sword, I asked. They said he said he was worried about getting jumped. It would be dark before he got back.