“I can think of a few possibilities,” Lord Raffis said, his jaw clenched as he rose from his chair. He grabbed a quill and paper, and scribbled down a list of names. “Please,” he said to Yarim, holding out the list to him, “help me find out who this man is. I will pay you double the amount I have already given you if you can identify him. My life depends uponit.”
Calrain opened his mouth to protest, but Yarim tucked the list away into one of his tunic pockets. “We will do our best,” he promised, shaking the man’s hand with both of his as he rose from thechair.
“Though we cannot make any promises,” Calrain addedhastily.
“I understand.” Lord Raffis looked so helpless that Calrain felt bad for couching his expectations. And yet, how could he do otherwise? He could not promise results, not when their own future was souncertain.
“Have you no heart?” Yarim demanded as they headed back to their lodgings in the back of another coach. “After everything he has been through, he does not deserve prison for a crime he did not commit, merely because some criminal overlord has decided to be rid ofhim.”
“Of course I have a heart,” Calrain snapped. “I am merely trying to be realistic. What if Tariel and the others have booked passage to the Empire on a ship that leavestomorrow?”
“You know that Tariel wouldn’t be able to stomach the idea of leaving Lord Raffis in the lurch like that,” Yarim countered. “She would want to helphim.”
The rest of the carriage ride was spent in silence while Calrain mulled over the situation. He couldn’t see this going well for any of them—this Lord M was obviously a powerful man who would not tolerate anyone poking into his business. Especially a couple of foreign upstarts, two of whom werefugitives.
“There you are,” Tariel said when they entered the room. She and Riann rose from the bed, where they had been sitting, and Wellion looked up at them from the armchair by the fire. “What took you so long? Did something gowrong?”
“We got the reward,” Yarim said, handing the purse over to Tariel, “but Lord Raffis kept us waiting quite a while. He is in great distress. Someone has framed him for taxfraud.”
Calrain stayed silent as Yarim explained the situation. “He gave me a list of possible suspects”—he pulled the piece of parchment from his pocket—“and asked us to look into it for him. I told him I would do what Icould.”
“Without asking the rest of us first?” Wellion snorted. “Typical.” He crossed his arms over his chest as Yarim glared at him. “I do not think that we should get involved in Lord Raffis’s predicament. Haven’t we done enough for himalready?”
“That doesn’t mean we should just leave him while he is in jeopardy,” Riann argued. “He could have easily turned you in, Wellion. Surely you owe him for sparingyou.”
“I feel for Lord Raffis’s plight,” Zolotais said, popping up behind Wellion’s chair, “but we should not allow ourselves to be distracted from our own objectives. Tariel, when are we supposed to leave for theEmpire?”
“The captain informed us that the ship is not going to set sail until the end of the week,” Tariel said. She chewed on her lower lip, a thoughtful look on her pretty face. “I think we should help Lord Raffis if we can. But we must be careful. Riann and I received word that a delegation of the Brotherhood of Roisen arrived here a few days ago, and have been received by the king in the company of the local Roisen priesthood in a special ceremony. Sir Jerrold is amongthem.”
“Blast it,” Calrainswore.
“So the bastard did survive after all,” Riann muttered, his eyes glittering with anger. “We will not be able to move about the city at all now, unless we are heavilydisguised.”
“I hope he is not carrying around that stupid wand everywhere he goes,” Yarim growled. “I should have broken that thing in two while I had thechance.”
“Perhaps we should abandon this investigation altogether,” Calrain said, his gut clenching at the thought of running into Sir Jerrold on the streets. The man was a zealous fanatic, and having already been bested by them, would be even more eager to capture and kill them. “It is not safe for us to be running around on the streets with the witch hunterhere.”
“Sir Jerrold will likely be spending most of his time in the palace,” Tariel pointed out, “and besides, if he runs into us in the street there is not much he can do. He has no authority in this country. As long as we stay disguised as often as possible, and do not venture off the main streets, we should befine.”
“Do you have any idea who this Lord M might be?” Yarim asked Wellion. “I know you have seen his face, but that alone may not be enough to identify him. What else do you know about theman?”
“Not much,” Wellion admitted, “but he will be a man whose enemies have a way of disappearing or becoming impoverished.” He reeled off the names of a couple of victims who had been delivered into his father’s hands by LordM.
“A few of those are on the list Lord Raffis gave me,” Yarimsaid.
“Then we should interview them all,” Tariel declared. “Speaking to them, or their surviving families, might give us a clue on who might have benefited from theircapture.”
“Their insurers are also suspects,” Yarim pointed out, “if such a thing exists here inCarliss.”
“Don’t you think it’s a bit absurd for us, as newly arrived foreigners, to try to ferret out a powerful man who is so well-established, and obviously very crafty?” Calrain argued. “Surely we are not the first people to try to expose this man. He has not survived as long as he has without being intelligent anddevious.”
“That may be so,” Tariel said, “but we are going to do what we can all the same. This man is indirectly responsible for Riann’s kidnapping,” she pointed out when Calrain tried to protest again, “and for terrorizing all those poor people, not to mention the merchants who have been forced to pay tithes for safepassage.”
“Fine,” Calrain relented with a sigh. “But if something happens, remember I tried to warnyou.”
Smiling, Tariel squeezed his hand, sending a pulse of reassurance through the bond that did little to calm Calrain’s nerves. “Now,” she said, looking at the others, “I think I’d like to visit the local shrine to the Mother Goddess. Who would like to accompanyme?”
