The sea devil's eye

XX

3 Marpenoth, the Year of the Gauntlet

"The sahuagin destroyed the Ola, Aya, and Yea clan hatcheries at Es'rath over a month ago."

Pacys felt the horror and helplessness of the tale the locathah female told him. She called herself Tyhlly. Music tugged at the old bard's fingers, sending them quietly questing along the saceddar's gems. Though he didn't touch the inset gems, the notes filled his mind along with the images.

He sat on the ocean floor on a rise that overlooked the valley the sea elf caravan had come through only moments before. Taranath Reefglamor had ordered a brief respite until the scouts returned. The three older High Mages — including Yrlimn Tidark who had remained to himself studying ancient texts written on specially treated sharkskins-and the three new High Mages, sat with the bard and Khlinat. They talked with the locathah who'd come looking for Pacys.

During their long trip around the Pirate Isles, the locathah had maintained contact with the sea elf caravan. Most particularly, they'd maintain contact with Pacys, bringing him stories from all around Seros.

Despite the sea elves initial resentment of the locathah habitually seeking them out. the High Mages had recognized their value and even commented on their valor and loyalty. During some of the skirmishes they'd had with groups of koalinth, the locathah had even pitched in and fought.

Though they maintained contact with mages back in Sylkiir who routinely monitored Seros through crystal balls, there was much the sea elves missed. The locathah. however, were everywhere.

"Didn't the shalarin fight back?" High Mage Ildacer asked.

The locathah turned her attention to the sea elf and said. '"Yes, Lord High Mage." Tyhlly's deference to Ildacer was obvious, reflecting the locathah attitude toward the Alu'Tel'Quessir. "They fought, and they died. Over a thousand of the unhatched shalarin died as well."

"A thousand innocent deaths," Reefglamor whispered in a hoarse voice.

Pacys studied the Senior High Mage. During the long months of travel, the journey had marked Reefglamor with fatigue.

"If the merfolk had let us travel across the Hmur Plateau instead of having to go around it, mayhap we could have prevented those deaths."

"Better that you had not." Tyhlly stated.

"How can you say that?" the Senior High Mage demanded.

The locathah blinked her huge eyes and hesitated.

"I'm sure," Pacys interjected gently, "that she meant no harm by the statement."

"No harm. Lord Senior," Tyhlly said. "No harm intended at all. I give my life to Eadro and to improving our world in ways that will benefit all. I would not wish such a terrible thing on anyone." She paused. "I only meant that since the deaths at the hatcheries and the attacks on Es'rath, the shalarin now openly take up arms against the sahuagin. You have more potential allies in your quest."

"Aye," Khlinat growled. "She's got the right of it there."

"Why would the Taker attack the shalarin?" Ildacer asked. "He's already engaged a host of enemies above and below the sea."

No one seemed to have an answer. Pacys let his fingers wander across the saceddar, listening to the notes in his mind. Excitement filled him-he knew the fabled city of Myth Nantar was only a short distance away-but doubt lingered with him, too. So far there had been no word of Jherek, the boy he felt certain was the hero Xarros had told him about. He prayed to Oghma for guidance regularly, but there had been no definite course set other than the one he now followed.

Tyhlly broke the silence after a time. "There is a simple reason why he attacks the shalarin," she said.

"What?" Jhanra Merlistar asked.

"To take away further avenues you have open to you in the war against him," Tyhlly answered.

"What do you mean?" Ildacer asked.

"The Taker seeks to keep the races of Seros divided." Though the locathah spoke softly, Pacys knew she had the attention of everyone there. "The merfolk wouldn't let you cross the Hmur Plateau to get here. The Taker's attack on Es'rath and occupation of parts of the Xedran Reefs has assured that their paranoia has increased. The elves of the Dragon Reach have erected battlements to keep out those potentially hostile to them."

Pacys knew it was true from the conversations he'd had with Reefglamor. The Dragon Reach sea elves stayed on guard against sahuagin attack, as well as hostilities from the nearby coastal lands.

"How do you know this?" Ildacer demanded.

The locathah ranger pointed at the dolphins that had accompanied her. "The whales sing of it, and we are friendly with the whales."

"What would you have them do?" Ildacer asked sarcastically. "Lay down arms and let the sahuagin death tide wash over them?"

"No," Tyhlly answered. "Freedom is precious-something that should never be easily given up. A bigger foe may threaten you or imprison you for a time, but you should always be looking for your first chance at freedom. My people learned this long ago, and at great cost."

Pacys's fingers stroked the keys, echoing the locathah words.

"Now that the shalarin are put on guard," Tyhlly went on, how do you think they would feel about another race invading their lands?"

"They wouldn't tolerate it," Jhanra said. "They would fight against anyone who wasn't one of them."

Tyhlly nodded, turning her head from one side to the other to fix her other eye on the young High Mage. "Exactly. You do see."

"I don't," Talor Vurtalis grumbled.

Unlike the other two newly made High Mages, Vurtalis wore his seluldira gem openly on his forehead. Over the months-long journey, Pacys had learned the choice was in direct opposition to elven tradition and propriety.

"The Taker has allied himself with the morkoth," Tyhlly said. "If he joins with them again and marches on Eadraal, successfully forcing the mermen from the Lesser Hmur Plateau and Myth Xantar, where will they retreat to?"

"Possibly the shalarin lands." Reefglamor said.

Pacys saw understanding light the Senior High Mage's eyes.

"And, after the attack on the hatcheries," the locathah asked, "what would the shalarin do?"

"They would attack. Vhaemas's army and his people would be cut down from both sides." Reefglamor's answer was sobering. He stared at the locathah with new respect. "You have quite an understanding of war."

The locathah ranger spread her hands. "It is just that we have been involved with them for so long, Lord Senior. We have come to understand war, and we have come to understand that unity often means our freedom. In times past, when the locathah were taken as slaves, we were particularly vulnerable when we fought among ourselves. We have learned from those experiences and vowed never to make them again. Working together, we understand that we are stronger than we would be if we stood alone." She hesitated, then added, "Some of our leaders, as well as the whales, feel that is something the other races of Seros would do well to learn."

An uncomfortable silence followed her words.

Tyhlly rounded her shoulders self-consciously, making herself more vulnerable. "Forgive me if I have trespassed in my zeal to spread the news I have learned," she said.

There's no need to apologize," Reefglamor assured her.

"You have spoken fairly. Sometimes the truth is a hard thing to hear."

"Thank you, Lord Senior."

"Perhaps we should be thinking about a unity of some sort," Reefglamor suggested.

"With the mermen?" Ildacer scoffed. They wouldn't even let us travel across their lands. An alliance will be out of the question."

"I take it you are not in favor of it?" Jhanra asked.

Ildacer's answer was immediate. "Of course not. With all the wars between us, how could anyone entertain such an idea?"

"In some of those wars," Reefglamor said, "the Alu'Tel'Quessir and the merfolk were allies, not enemies."

"That was a long time ago."

"Currents change," the Senior High Mage replied. "Things are not as they once were."

"Aye," Khlinat put in. "Dwarves are known for their warrin' ways. Don't know if ye get much stories about us down here, but I can tell ye that nothing sets a dwarf afire with passion the way a good battle can. Different communities battled ores and goblins for caves where gems were mined and a dwarf could live if he had a mind to. They also fought one another for the same things. Now ye take a dwarf down to a tavern and him blowing the suds off a fresh mug and a human or elf get physical with him, why any other dwarf in the place would be the first to stand up for him if he got into more than he could handle."

"But if it was an elf or a half-ore in trouble, these dwarven feelings you praise so highly wouldn't be quite so ready, would they?" Ildacer asked sarcastically.

"Now there's a funny thought," Khlinat said without taking offense. "I seen mates on a ship, crew that had been together through some stormy weather and buckle to buckle against pirates what had tried to reeve them of their cargo-and they was a mixed bag, the lot of 'em. Aboard ship, they had their problems, but the cap'n set 'em straight. Mayhap on occasion they'd take an unkind hand with each other once they reached shore, but when it come to taverns and local roustabouts laving hands on 'em, why ye'd have thought they was long-lost brothers the way the›* took up for one another."

Everyone looked at the dwarf, who appeared suddenly as though he'd rather be elsewhere.

Finally Reefglamor broke the silence. "I've never heard you speak so much."

"I have me moments." Khlinat replied gruffly.

"Thank Deep Sashelas that you do, Khlinat. Your words ring true and I shall have to think upon them."

"I'm just saying there ain't no grand and perfect solution to how folks are to get along with one another," the dwarf said. "Neighbors ought to pay attention to who's in the neighborhood before they start picking fights with one another.*

"The mermen will never listen." Ildacer argued. "You know how proud and haughty they are."

Reefglamor glanced at his second-in-command. "How very like the Alu'Tel'Quessir they are, you mean?"7

"No, that's not what I meant to…"

Reefglamor sighed and looked out over Mount Halaath standing tall to the northwest. After circling under the Whamite Isles, the caravan had fixed on it and marched straight toward it. The City of Destinies lay between them and Mount Halaath.

"Senior, what I am saying is that we might be swayed by Khlinat's words while sitting here so far from our own homes, feeling perhaps a little lost and friendless, but King Vhaemas and his people are not going to feel the same. This place is the source of their strength. Even with the morkoth and koalinth adding to the ranks of the sahuagin, the Taker can't possibly hope to overrun all of Eadraal."

"From what I have pieced together," Pacys said. "The Taker only wants his eye."

"Have you found out what that is?" Jhanra asked.

Pacys strummed the saceddar. "Not yet. All that I am sure of at the moment is that it is some device the Taker had in his possession when Umberlee struck him down."

"Even so, to get the eye from Myth Nantar, the Taker will have to march through Eadraal," Reefglamor said. "As much as King Yhaemas hates the City of Destinies and all that it stands for, he won't see the Taker free to ravage it."

"Again," Ildacer said, "the Taker will have to raise up an army the like of which has never before been seen."

"And you have assurances," Reefglamor asked quietly, "that the Taker cannot accomplish this?"

"No, Senior."

"Good," Reefglamor responded. "So far the Taker has succeeded at everything he's attempted to do. We have no proof that we've set him back in any way at all."

"Except for the Great Whale Bard," Tidark commented in his whispering rasp. The High Mage was much older even than Reefglamor and usually given to his studies, not spending much time in the company of others.

Pacys knew it was true, but he didn't know what the whale bard had made his sacrifice for.

"We have every reason to believe that when the time comes," Reefglamor said, "the Taker will find the means to raise the army he needs to invade Eadraal."

The thought sobered all of the High Mages, Pacys noticed with satisfaction. The hardships of the journey, the turning away they'd experienced at the hands of the mermen, had tempered all of them.

A group of sea elf warriors approached from the north. Morgan Ildacer, young cousin to Pharom Ildacer and captain of the High Mages' guard from Sylkiir, came to a stop in the water. He bowed his head, his arms crossed at the wrist, and waited to be recognized.

"Captain," Reefglamor said, "your report."

"Our scouts have returned with good news, Senior High Mage Reefglamor. The way to Myth Xantar is clear."

"What of the merman guards?"

"If we move quickly enough, Senior," Morgan Ildacer said, "we'll be able to gain the city within the hour. Vhaemas's warriors seem to be concentrated to the south, prepared to defend their borders against the morkoth and koalinth. They're searching for groups much larger than ours."

"Very well," Reefglamor said. "Give the order, and let's get moving. Better this were done sooner than later."

"There are others of my kind in the area," the locathah ranger stated. "We can cover your backs in the event you are discovered. There are hiding places around here that not even the mermen know of."

"That won't be-" Morgan Ildacer started before Reef-glamor cut him off with a raised hand.

"That would be very kind of you," the Senior High Mage said.

Tyhlly stretched to her full height and bowed, then turned her attention to Pacys. "Your gods be with you, Lorekeeper. for you shall soon be sorely tried."

"My thanks to you," the old bard said. He spread his hand and touched palm to palm with the locathah ranger. "May Eadro give you only pleasant and free currents."

She leaped up and was gone in seconds, disappearing into the darkness of the sea.

Turning to face Mount Halaath, Pacys strained to pierce the gloom that lay ahead. He made out the glimmering blue glow of the Great Barrier that sealed Myth Nantar off from the rest of the world.

He'd come so close to one of his goals. Now it only remained to be seen how things would play out.

Laaqueel stood on the sandy, rocky western shore of Graubunden, the largest of the Whamite Isles, and peered out at Maelstrom at anchor in the shallow waters. The pirate ship's sails were furled around the masts, and crew filled her decks.

Iakhovas stood beside the malenti, an imposing figure amid the sahuagin warriors he'd brought with him. The sahuagin lay in the shallow waters to prevent their scales from drying out. Though he had barely talked to her in fully two months, concerned with all the battles and alliances he'd made, Iakhovas had commanded her presence for the day.

Attention, little malenti, Iakhovas spoke into her mind. You arc about to see the first culmination of my labors here in the Inner Sea.

Laaqueel turned her gaze to him.

Iakhovas smiled. He looked human at the moment, though she knew the sahuagin perceived him as one of their own.

Your astonishment astounds me, little malenti. Surely you didn't think I came here to conquer this place and never return to the outer seas.

The crew in Maelstrom's longboat rowed into the beach with consternation showing on their faces. They'd been waiting since early morning, the malenti priestess gathered from Iakhovas's comments, after arriving in the night. When they gained the beach, the crew bailed out and pulled the longboat up onto the sand.

Vurgrom stepped from the boat and approached Iakhovas. The pirate tried to act courageous, as if he wasn't standing in the midst of a hundred sahuagin warriors, but his nervous gaze and white-knuckled hand on the haft of his battle-axe gave his uneasiness away.

"Lord Iakhovas," the burly pirate rumbled in greeting.

"Captain Vurgrom," Iakhovas acknowledged. "Are you prepared to finish your part in this bit of business?"

"More than ready," Vurgrom replied. "Carrying that disk around without knowing what it does is getting to be worrisome."

"I know what it is," Iakhovas stated, but offered no explanation. "You have the map?"

Vurgrom patted his shirt over his heart. "Aye."

"March inland," Iakhovas ordered. "Follow the markings on the map and be in position three days from now."

Vurgrom hesitated, then asked, "What then?"

Iakhovas glared at him. "Wait."

The big pirate's face purpled, and for a moment Laaqueel thought he might actually speak out angrily. The malenti priestess thought that would have been interesting to see. Evidently Iakhovas needed the man or he would have done whatever needed doing himself.

In the end, Vurgrom lacked the nerve to stand up to Iakhovas. "As you say," the pirate said, "Lord Iakhovas."

"What of the kegs I asked you to prepare?" Iakhovas demanded.

"All of my ships have been outfitted with them, lord."

For a tenday and more, Iakhovas had commanded sahuagin groups to hole up in caves with air pockets so they could make the poison their people used. Laaqueel was versed in it as a priestess. Usually the sahuagin used the poisons on their weapons, coating them every few days as they had need. Iakhovas had come up with a new design.

Once the lethal poison had been rendered in powder form, it had been packed in thin glass shells, then placed in weighted wooden kegs that would sink to the ocean floor.

By design, the thin glass shells collapsed under the pressure of the depths at three hundred to four hundred feet. The poison quickly diluted into the water, killing anything that breathed it. The effect might only last a few minutes, though, before currents would sweep it away.

Iakhovas had told the malenti priestess he planned to use the kegs to completely destroy Myth Nantar once their initial attack was finished. Laaqueel had seen the effects of the poison kegs and feared them. Once the poison was released into the water, there was no way to escape it.

With no further word, Iakhovas strode into the water and disappeared under the incoming waves. The only sound was the lapping of the waves against the shoreline.

Laaqueel followed woodenly, aware of the pirates' leering stares at her nudity. None of them dared offer any comment. Underwater, she swam quickly and fell into pace a little behind Iakhovas. He swam effortlessly, totally at home in the sea. The sahuagin warriors flanked them. Scouts immediately flared out to watch for the mermen guards that swam through the area.

The malenti priestess scoured the ocean floor. She knew from Iakhovas's statements that the sea elf caravan from Sylkiir should be in the area as well.

They are further to the north, little malenti, Iakhovas told her. They believe their mission has met with success. They won't know any different until it is much too late.

What will happen then?

His tone, even in her mind, was mocking. I succeed, of course, and they'll find that their precious legends have ultimately betrayed them.

High in Azure Dagger's rigging, Sabyna studied Vurgrom and his pirates through her spyglass. The last of the sahuagin had disappeared into the sea some minutes ago, but the pirates didn't rush back to their vessel.

"Blessed Tymora," Azla said quietly at Sabyna's side, "those damned sea devils must not have swam under us. I thought we were lucky the first time they showed up and we weren't seen."

Arthoris had woven an invisibility spell that covered Azure Dagger, but there were drawbacks to the maneuver. Even though they couldn't be seen, the ship still made its usual noises, and those carried across the ocean. If they'd been too close to Maelstrom the crew would have heard the sounds and recognized them. They'd quietly dropped anchor during the night when Maelstrom was nearly a thousand yards away.

When they'd seen the sahuagin surface along the shoreline, they hadn't dared hope their good fortune would last. If one sahuagin warrior swam under Azure Dagger the ship would be sensed in the water or possibly seen against the sky.

Another drawback was that the ship's crew couldn't see each other or the ship. Despite being unseen, it was also a lot like being blind except that Sabyna could see the ocean and the island. Movement was done cautiously and only as necessary. Unaccustomed to moving about in the rigging, Glawinn remained below.

The longboat was rowed back to Maelstrom while Vurgrom and five pirates remained ashore. Sabyna wasn't close enough to see the pirate captain's expression, but she judged from the way he kicked rocks and gestured at his men that he wasn't happy. It was in direct contrast to the timid way he'd acted around Iakhovas.

Sabyna watched as provisions were lowered over Maelstroms side in a cargo net.

"Shore expedition," Azla said. "Maybe we're going to finally do something other than wallow around."

"Aye," Sabyna agreed.

In the months they'd followed Vurgrom and Maelstrom, they'd never had a proper opportunity to overtake the ship and board her. Even with the new crew that the voyages had given Azla time to whip into shape, Vurgrom's pirates outnumbered them two to one.

In frustration, Azla had limited herself to spying on the captain, hoping for a lucky break. During part of those times, Vurgrom had sailed with other ships under his command.

They'd become separated from Maelstrom three times during those months. Once they'd rescued a crew that had been attacked by sahuagin and barely escaped with their lives and lost a tenday getting the sailors to a safe port. Another time one of the freak storms that ravaged the coastal lands upon occasion had spun them into its clutches, then left them in a lull that lasted four days. Then, while in Ilighon, the island port city in the Vilhon Reach, they'd nearly gotten Vurgrom in an ambush while he conducted a trade for unknown items. They lost him again, but each time the enchanted astrolabe had brought them back to Vurgrom.

All of it had added up to the certainty that Vurgrom had an assignment in the area that he hadn't yet finished. Now, perhaps the time had come. Though they'd seen the pirate captain with sahuagin one other time, they'd never seen him act so contrite.

"That sahuagin he talked to must have been Iakhovas," Azla said.

"That was no sahuagin," Sabyna said. "Vurgrom talked to a man. Very tall, with a beard and dark hair."

"I saw no men there other than Vurgrom and his pirates. You must mean the elf woman."

"No," Sabyna said deliberately. "I saw what I saw."

"They say the Taker is very powerful," Azla replied after a moment. "Perhaps one of the guises we saw was only an illusion."

"Perhaps both were."

During their travels, they'd added to the lore they'd heard about the Taker. They'd also learned about the war going on under the waves they sailed upon. Several times they'd sailed through small islands of dead morkoth, ixitx-achitl, mermen, sahuagin, and koalinth being savaged by birds, crabs, and fish.

"We've seen enough," Azla declared. "If we're to keep up with them, we need to get to shore ourselves."

"Go on," Sabyna said. "I'll follow you down after you reach the deck."

She waited, clinging to the rigging as Azure Dagger heeled over repeatedly at the end of her tether. When slack returned to the rigging, she knew Azla had reached the deck. The ship's mage clambered down easily but paid more attention than normal to her efforts.

Once on the deck, she went forward, one arm before her and walking slowly so she wouldn't run into an unwary crewman. She ascended the steps leading to the forecastle and called, "Glawinn?"

"Here, lady."

Judging where the paladin was from the sound of his voice, Sabyna went over to the railing. "You've seen?"

"Yes. Captain Azla and I were just discussing when we should attempt moving the ship. Or whether we should just try swimming for the shore."

"We have the small boat," Azla said from nearby, "but there is the risk that well be seen once we leave the spell Arthoris has around the ship."

"We should wait," Sabyna said. "Vurgrom is moving a lot of supplies. He isn't planning on living off the land. I think hell be easy enough to find."

"Then we wait till after dark and pick up his trail?" Azla asked.

"Yes," Glawinn said. "He won't get so far ahead of us that we can't catch him soon enough. If he's stocking supplies, what he is going to do isn't going to happen too soon."

"Ill see to our own supplies," Azla stated. "We're going in stripped down. I want to be able to move quickly if the need arises."

"Agreed," Glawinn said.

Sabyna listened to the half-elfs footsteps recede from the railing.

"Lady?" the paladin asked.

"Aye."

"You're quiet."

"I'm thinking."

"About the young warrior?"

Sabyna hesitated. Upon occasion she and the paladin had talked of Jherek, but those talks had never brought much in the way of satisfaction. She couldn't help thinking that he might be dead and she'd never know, but the feeling Glawinn had told her would come if that were so never did.

"Do you still feel him close to you?" Glawinn asked.

"Not now, but earlier this morning. I could have sworn I heard him say my name on the wind again. It was foolishness, brought on by too much anxiety and too little sleep."

"And, mayhap, love?"

She hesitated. I don't know anymore, Glawinn. The way I feel has changed."

"Don't you still miss him?"

"Aye, but not like I did.'7

That's a good thing, though, lady. There's only so much pain a heart can bear."

"I don't know. Not missing him so much scares me."

"Why?"

She smiled at herself, then realized Glawinn couldn't see the expression. "When I was younger, just coming into my teens, I fell in love with one of the sailors on a ship my father worked on. He was seven or eight years older than I was, and he was so beautiful. I wanted him so badly to love me-to just notice me-but I was Ship's Mage Truesail's daughter, and the crew knew to leave me alone. My father was very protective then."

"So this love went unrequited?"

"Not entirely. I followed him around like a guppy staying with its school. He couldn't ignore me, but he didn't say anything. My mother noticed. She talked to my father. My mother is the only one who has the ability to convince my father to change his mind. She persuaded him to let me eat eveningfeast with the sailor."

"Did the sailor live up to your expectations, lady?"

Sabyna laughed at the memory, but there was a bit of sadness in the effort as well. '"No. It was horrible. We sat there at that little table across from each other and had absolutely nothing to talk about." She laughed again. "Well, I had nothing to talk about. All he did was talk about the things he'd done, the women he'd seen, and how he'd be captain of a Waterdhavian Watch warship someday.

"That was an infatuation, Glawinn. How am I to know this isn't?"

"I know love when I see it, lady."

She suddenly wished she could see the warrior's face. "How do you know it's love?" she asked.

"Close your eyes, lady, and imagine his face in your mind."

Sabyna pictured Jherek in her mind, as she'd first seen him aboard Breezerunner, then again as he'd fought for her when Vurgrom kidnapped them in Baldur's Gate. All the memories she had of him, of the way his chest had felt beneath her fingers, the way his lips had felt and tasted against hers, tumbled through her mind.

She seemed to see him again. His light brown hair twisted in the wind and a green-blue sea spread out behind him. White sailcloth fluttered overhead. There was a cut on his face, running vertically over his right cheekbone, half-healed and slightly red from inflammation.

Jherek?

Aye, lady. His lips moved, as though he spoke, but she couldn't understand any of his words.

Sabyna's heart swelled within her breast and ached so fiercely she thought she'd die. Then the connection blurred for a moment.

Come to me! she called.

He spoke again, smiling through the sadness in his pale gray eyes. She couldn't hear him this time either, but she read his lips. As you wish.

Opening her eyes, Sabyna remained somewhat confused. She couldn't see her own hands in front of her body due to the invisibility spell.

"Lady?" Glawinn asked.

"I'm all right."

"I called for you but you didn't answer."

"It was like I could talk to him, Glawinn," Sabyna said. "He felt closer than he'd been those times before."

"Maybe he is."

"I don't know whether to wish that was so or not."

"Why?"

"I hate not knowing if he's all right," Sabyna answered honestly, "and I don't like missing him-but we're so uncomfortable around each other."

"I know."

"I just don't see that changing."

"It won't," Glawinn said after a short time. "Not until the young warrior himself changes. But tell me, lady, when you imagined him, how did it feel?"

Sabyna thought about her answer. There were so many things she could say. "I like thinking about him."

"Then accept that as it is for now, lady."

"It's not that easy."

"No."

Sudden irritation at the paladin dawned in Sabyna, and her mind seized on something he'd said. "How did you know about my brother? I never mentioned it to you."

"Jherek told me," Glawinn said.

"Why?"

The silence drew out between them and Sabyna wished she could see the man's face.

"I would rather the young warrior tell you that."

"Is that part of the secret he won't tell me?" she asked. "How could it be?"

"Lady, as I said-"

"He's not here for me to ask him myself."

Sabyna grew more frustrated. If not for Arthoris's invisibility spell she could pin the paladin down with her gaze.

"The things I was told were told to me in confidence."

"Glawinn, I will have the truth. From you or from him, I will know what you both hide. I'm too deeply involved in this not to know." Sabyna made her voice harder. "Tell me, Glawinn. What is it about my brothers death that so concerns Jherek?"