"Escaped?" Arai blurted.

  "She wasn't in her cell," Minister D'mai said. "I sent some of my own investigators to speak with her this afternoon, but Princess Yasmin's men refused to let them into the prison. When they finally forced their way in, they discovered that the prisoner -- Nessa, wasn't it? -- had vanished, and that the men guarding her had been killed." He snorted. "To the apparent astonishment of Princess Yasmin."

  "How could she have escaped?"

  "She couldn't have," D'mai said, "without help."

  "What are you implying?" Sir Estil asked. "That Princess Yasmin freed Nessa intentionally?"

  "I am not making that accusation," D'mai said, slowly and carefully. "But Nessa should not have been given into Yasmin's custody in the first place. She should have been turned over to the Queen's Men, or my own investigators. Instead Princess Yasmin rode out to your caravan, threatened to arrest your entire party unless you handed her over, and placed the assassin in her own gaol." He sighed. "The fact that your Lady Melei bore this insult without complaint speaks well of her."

  "What could Yasmin have to gain from freeing Nessa, though?" Arai wondered. "Didn't Nessa kill her sister?"

  "Indeed," D'mai said. "But forgive me. These are our politics, and of very little interest to you, I'm sure. But it's getting late, isn't it? And you must be tired. We can resume the tour in the morning if you'd like, but for now, perhaps you'd like to get some rest."

  That did sound good to Arai, but he wanted to speak with Lillandra and Shell before he went to bed, and so he asked to be escorted back to the caravan. The wagons were currently parked on the spacious grounds surrounding the palace.

  He found Shell first; she was chewing on some kind of Elentish delicacy. The queen's servants had been distributing gifts to the knights and merchants, apparently, and had prepared a sumptuous meal for them as well.

  "Welcome back," Shell greeted him. She was wearing her hood, to cover her ears; her green eyes seemed to shine out of its shadows. "Did you see the queen?"

  "Yes."

  "What did she look like?"

  He shrugged. "She looked like a queen. Where's Lill?"

  "Here," Lillandra said, emerging from one of the wagons. "How did it go?"

  "Pretty well, I think. Lady Melei was on her best behavior, and Queen Alfaze was polite enough."

  "I've been speaking with some of the servants," Lillandra said. "It seems Lady Melei was right. Hers is the first major expedition to have crossed the mountains in almost twenty years. There's been a few smaller ones, but most of them barely made it out of the desert alive. It's no wonder they were cheering for us in the streets."

  "So what happens next?" Shell asked.

  "I think it's time I talked to Lady Melei," Arai said, "to ask her about her plans. She's probably not planning on taking the caravan any further into Elent; certainly there's no reason for her to want to make her way into the Holy Empire. This is probably where we part ways."

  "We've been with her a long time," Shell said sadly. "I'm going to miss her. I'm going to miss all of them."

  "We owe her a great deal," Arai said. "But this was only ever a temporary arrangement. We'll be making our way into western Elent from here, and then through the Holy Empire, and then to Velon."

  "And then what?" Shell asked.

  "And then we'll be home," he said. "But there's something else. Nessa has escaped."

  Lillandra and Shell stopped and stared. "Escaped?"

  Arai told them what D'mai had told him. "He wouldn't come out and say it," Arai finished, "but I think D'mai was suggesting that Princess Yasmin freed Nessa intentionally."

  "Why would she do that?"

  "I have no idea." He threw a glance back at the palace. "I should go back inside. They've prepared a room for me. I hate to leave the two of you out here, while I sleep in the palace, but it would be rude to refuse."

  Lillandra shrugged. "I don't mind. I'm used to the wagon."

  "All right, then. Good night." He started to leave, but then stopped, turned, and gave Lillandra a little kiss good night. She allowed it, but quickly pushed him away. "Not in front of everyone," she grumbled.

  He grinned and left them there, returning to the palace and the room he had been given. One of the servants had filled a tub with hot water for him to bathe in; this seemed rather indulgent, but it had been a long time since he had a hot bath, and it seemed like a waste not to take advantage of it, so he stripped out of his clothes and spent a quarter of an hour soaking. He enjoyed it. He had bathed in some of the desert oases they had discovered in the Scarred Lands, and had used the Everlasting Chalice to clean himself up on countless occasions, but bathing in warm water was a different experience -- he felt the warmth penetrating his muscles; he felt the stiffness and soreness seep out of them.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  He stepped out of the tub, at last, and looked himself over. He frowned. He had acquired a dozen new scars since he had been transported to the east -- the swordsman Yaqui had cut deeply into his arm and forehead back in Addisport; Nessa had given him two or three cuts on his neck and hands; and the chthonic salamander, the Engulfer, and the monster they had encountered on the island in the Phantic Gates -- among others -- had banged him up in various places, leaving behind any number of ragged scrapes and scratches. He hadn't realized how scarred up he had become.

  He suddenly felt weary. He put on the robe the servants had provided for him and immediately climbed into the luxurious bed. And within a few minutes he was asleep.

  He awoke only a few hours later, however. It was still night, but the moon was shining into the room through a large window...which, he suddenly realized, was open; the curtains were fluttering, and he could smell the night air flowing through it.

  Who had opened that window? Alarmed, he started to sit up...

  ...And that's when he felt the knife at his throat.

  "Easy," a soothing female voice whispered. She used the knife to ease him back down into his pillow. "Let's not doing anything rash."

  The woman, he realized, was sitting on the edge of the bed, and he could see the moonlight glinting silver upon her blonde hair. "Nessa," he muttered.

  "We meet again," she said flatly.

  "You've come to kill me, I suppose."

  "Not quite," she said. "As a matter of fact, it's just the opposite. I've come to warn you."

  "Warn me? About what?"

  "You're in danger here."

  "Clearly."

  "No, not from me. From others. I suggest you leave the capital as quickly as you can."

  He frowned at her. "I don't understand."

  "Everyone who crossed over the desert, everyone who had any contact with me, is marked for death. You'll find out soon enough. The assassins have already received their instructions."

  "What the hell are you talking about? Why would anyone want to kill us? And why would you lift a finger to help us?"

  "You spared my life," she said. "You had every reason to want to kill me, but you didn't. That's something I take seriously."

  In fact Arai probably would have killed Nessa, if Sir Estil hasn't stopped him, but he thought it might be impolitic to point that out now. "I see," he said guardedly.

  "So I've come to return the favor. Get out of the capital, while you still can." She slowly withdrew the knife.

  "Who released you from your cell?" he asked. "Who's trying to kill us?"

  "You're probably better off not knowing. Some of them are capable of reading a man's thoughts." She rose and headed for the window. "I was never here," she said. "You never saw me."

  Arai studied her. "Was it really you who killed Princess Nattali?"

  She paused just long enough to give him a sidelong look. "Yes," she said, without inflection.

  And without another word, she climbed out the window and vanished into the night.

  * * *

  Arai never did get back to sleep; he got up, got dressed, and spent the rest of the night sitting on the edge of the bed, with Silus in his lap. In the morning, at the crack of dawn, he went outside to speak with Lillandra. The caravan was just as he had left it the previous night, and everything seemed perfectly in order -- there were no "assassins" here -- but he was unable to get Nessa's warning out of his thoughts. Were they really in danger? And if so, from whom?

  Lillandra was still sleeping; he shook her shoulder to wake her. She groaned and tried to pull the covers back over her head, so Arai shook her harder. "Lill," he said. "Wake up."

  She opened her eyes and stretched. "It's early."

  "I had a visitor last night. Nessa."

  Lillandra blinked and sat up. "Nessa?"

  The assassin had warned him not to tell anyone about her visit, but he told Lillandra -- he trusted her more than anyone, and he thought she might be able to help him piece together what was happening. When he finished the story, Lillandra frowned and said, "Why would she do anything to help us? To help you?"

  "I asked her that same question," he said. "Apparently it was some kind of gratitude for sparing her life."

  "Do you believe what she said?"

  "That we're being targeted by assassins?" He scratched his chin. "I don't know. Queen Alfaze has been more than hospitable, but there may be other factions here that we don't know anything about. I know a little about Elentish politics, but not enough to make sense of this."

  "Perhaps she was lying. Perhaps she made the whole thing up."

  "I can't believe she would break into my room, and risk being captured, just to tell me some outrageous lie. I would've understood it if she'd come to kill me. I don't understand this."

  "Hmm." She looked at him. "Do you think we should warn Lady Melei?"

  "I think we should keep it to ourselves for now. Nessa said something about these assassins being able to read minds. Do you have any idea what she might have been talking about?"

  "There's a spell called the Denial of Secrets that allows a sorcerer to read another's thoughts," she said doubtfully. "But it's very difficult to cast on the fly; it almost has to be implanted into a zemi. And it's not really very useful. Most people's thoughts are not very structured; they're full of images, sensations, distant memories. It's hard to make any sense out of it. At least, that's what I've read -- I've never bothered with these kinds of spells myself." Her frown deepened. "Are these assassins sorcerers, then?"

  "That would make sense," he admitted. "But I still don't understand why anyone would want to kill us."

  "Nessa didn't say who released her from her cell?"

  "No," he said, "but it was Princess Yasmin who had custody of her." He shook his head. "We don't know enough. It is possible Nessa was simply lying for some reason, and that we have nothing to fear at all. But keep your eyes open. I want to be ready for anything."

  Arai remained with the caravan for the rest of the morning. Around noon, some kind of royal messenger appeared, asking after Arai and Lillandra. "You're supposed to come with me," the young man said.

  "Oh?"

  "Princess Yasmin wants to speak with you."

  "With us, specifically?"

  "That's right. Arai, the swordsman, and Lillandra, the sorceress."

  Arai exchanged a glance with Lillandra. "What do you think?" he asked quietly.

  "It might not be a bad idea," she replied.

  He shrugged. "All right," he said to the messenger. "But could you give us a minute?"

  "Certainly."

  And Arai proceeded to don his armor and strap on his sword; he also told both Shell and Sir Estil where they were going, in case they should fail to return. The messenger made a face when he saw that Arai had equipped his armor, but said nothing about it, and he proceeded to lead them out of the palace and into a waiting carriage, which took them to an estate on the other side of the city.

  "What do you think she wants to talk to us about?" Lillandra asked, shortly before they arrived.

  "I don't know," he said. His thoughts drifted back to his midnight conversation with Nessa. "But I can guess."