Because I've been hearing whispers about El Murid maybe trying a comeback. They say Megelin hasn't turned out. They say he's getting more unpopular every day."

„Then your sources are better than mine. All I hear is how the honeymoon is still on. I've got to run. I want to get some bets down before I head for the woods. I'm staying at the palace. I'll be riding mornings. Send a message if you want me to wait on you."

Aral smiled. „Don't forget about the Fat Man's. I think you'll be surprised."

Michael brushed the rainwater off his forehead. He hated hats. Sometimes you had to pay for your quirks. „I'll think about it."

Ragnarson was crossing a courtyard to the stables when he spied Varthlokkur atop the castle wall. He shifted course.

The man was staring at the east as though it might bite. And he'd behaved strangely earlier. „Is it something you can talk about?"

„What? Not really. It's nothing concrete. Something in the east. Not entirely with the flavor of Shinsan."

„You didn't mention it this morning."

„Nepanthe. She's lost too much. I wouldn't want to crucify her with a false hope."

„Oh?"

„It's Ethrian. He might still be alive." Ethrian was Nepanthe's son by her first marriage, lost during the Great Eastern Wars.

„What? Where is he?" Ragnarson owed his godson a huge debt. A cruel fate had compelled him to slay the boy's father.

„It's just a touch of a feeling I get sometimes. I can't track it down."

Ragnarson babbled questions. The wizard didn't re­ spond. He thought Bragi overly romanticized his one-time friend, Mocker, and the events surrounding the man's death. Bragi had had no choice. It had been kill or be killed.

Ragnarson mused, „We never saw any proof that Ethrian died. Is there anything else?"

„Anything else?"