Atreus glimpsed what looked like a curved yellow dagger whirling out of the darkness, then cried out and raised his arm. Something soft struck his wrist and fell to the floor. The two guards in the Howdah rose and turned toward the window, directing their fellows below into the building. Yago roared in alarm and began to bull his way past his escorts raising a great clamor of clanging armor and whinnying horses. Atreus looked down and found a banana lying at his feet. Scratched into the peel was a brief message: "Be ready"

He glanced into the window and saw a plump silhouette retreating into the darkness, then snatched the banana off the floor.

Atreus looked back to see Yago, separated from the elephant by four double ranks of riders, shoving a startled horse out of his way. "There's nothing to worry about," he shouted Atreus displayed the banana, then quickly peeled it and tossed the skin out of the howdah.

"It's only a banana, Yago. Go back to your place." Yago furrowed his heavy brow in puzzlement, then turned to scowl at the nearest rider. "You call that guardin?" He pointed a dagger-length finger at the banana in Atreus's hand. "That coulda been a knife!" "But it wasn't," Atreus said. "So let's not worry about it." He turned forward again and passed the banana to his elephant driver. "For Sunreet."

You are too kind, Sahib," the driver replied, eating the banana himself. "She thanks you very much."

The guards guffawed loudly and called their fellows off. The procession resumed its slow pace down the street. Atreus sat back and tried not to look obvious as he scanned the verandahs and windows ahead. He could not imagine who had sent the message. Even if Rishi Saubhari had weathered his plunge into the moat, he hardly seemed likely to have the means to overpower two dozen of the queen's horsemen. That left only an unknown Ffolk nobleman, no doubt eager to use Atreus's hideous face in some intrigue that had less to do with finding Langdarma than unseating a sickly queen.