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The landlord let go of the boy’s ear and cuffed him on the nape of the neck. With his other hand he reached into his apron pocket and handed a surprised Rodario an object wrapped in cloth.

The actor immediately recognized the cloth as being his own; after all, his initials were embroidered in the corner. But he had no idea what could be wrapped in it. He took the proffered item and exchanged glances with Mallenia before carefully unpacking it.

“He said he found it on the floor in your room. Under the bed where the lady was sleeping,” he blurted out. “There’s no way I’ll believe that, the scoundrel! Things have been going missing ever since he started here.” He boxed the boy’s ears again. “I swear by the gods I’ll chop your hand off myself if these good people insist! It’ll be a pleasure!”

The boy sobbed and tried to lie his way out of trouble.

Rodario had finished unwinding the cloth and stared at the dull stone that lay there. “It isn’t mine,” he whispered to Mallenia, who looked as shocked as he was.

“A turquoise smoke diamond. What do you think it’s worth?” she replied.

So far, neither the landlord nor errand boy had noticed their surprise, so the actor wrapped their find up again.

“Thank you for being so vigilant,” he said, fishing some coins out of his purse. “Here, as a reward.” He gestured toward the youth magnanimously “Let him go. It will be a lesson to him. If he doesn’t mend his ways, chop his feet off. Then he can still work in the kitchen for you.”

The innkeeper’s face brightened. “Thank you, sire! Very generous of you indeed!” He gave the boy a few kicks on the backside to propel him back inside.

Rodario unwrapped the stone again. “A smoke diamond. It really is,” he said, enthralled. But how did it get to be wrapped up in my handkerchief?”

Mallenia took the diamond, turning it in her hand. Dark shards of metal fell from the cloth onto the floor.

Rodario picked them up and handed them to the girl. “What do you think those are?”

“Perhaps they’re part of the original setting?” She examined the fragments. “This is tionium!”

“Apart from the fact that the stone is not mine, I haven’t even got a tionium pendant it could have hung on.” Rodario stroked his pointed beard, then smoothed down his mustache.

Mallenia laughed. “For a clever man you can be quite slow at times.”

He folded his arms across his chest. “Really?”

She held the smoke diamond out to him. “Tionium?”

Rodario studied the stone, then her face, and then he snatched it up. “All I can think of is Tungdil’s armor…” He hesitated. “You think this may be his?”

“But who cut the stone out and hid it in your things? And why?”

“To accuse me of theft, I suppose.” He leaned back against the carriage, tossing the diamond up into the air and catching it. “But it doesn’t make sense. Everyone knows I don’t need to steal.”

“Perhaps the real thief wanted to escape notice.”

“Then why not just chuck the stone away?” His eyes followed the diamond as he juggled it. “Perhaps they wanted to sow discord among our group on the mission.”

“But how would they know the group would split up?” Mallenia continued. “So he got what he wanted anyway.”

Rodario popped the stone in his glove and tied some string round it to stop it falling out. “Let’s assume it’s from Tungdil’s armor. What’s it for, do you think? I can’t remember having seen it before.”

“It may have been under a flap… or on the inside.”

“We must restore it to Tungdil,” said Rodario, about to spring up into the carriage.

Mallenia held him back. “That will be too slow. We’ll have to ride.”

“We?” He kissed her on the forehead. “I will ride, Mallenia. You stay here or you can follow in the carriage.”

She frowned. “So do you fancy being knocked down by a woman in full view of all these worthy citizens?”

Rodario sniffed to show his displeasure. “To underestimate the physical prowess of one’s companion is not a good basis for a successful relationship, my dear.”

“Exactly. It was just a question. No more than that.” Mallenia grinned and called the landlord to get them two good horses.

They waited impatiently in the inn, taking a simple meal of ham with bread, washed down with water.

“Do you think,” asked Rodario, taking a large bite, “that we could be responsible for bringing about a successful end to the battle?” He sighed. “Oh, this would make a great play. My forefather would have been proud of me! I seem to be walking in his footsteps when it comes to being instrumental in saving Girdlegard.” He chewed his food and reached for another slice of bread. “And then, of course, there’s my work as the bard of freedom.”

He tipped his chair backwards and forwards, staring up at the ceiling. “Maybe I’ll even have earned myself a royal position!”

“Do you want to rule Idoslane?” she teased him. “Then you would have to defeat me. You can’t do that. But Urgon’s throne is empty. Why don’t you apply?”

Rodario laughed. “It would be a considerable promotion in status. Quite incredible to think…”

“… of you as the new Incredible Rodario,” she said, completing the thought and standing up. The landlord waved them over. “I’ll believe it when I see it happen.”

They went out, paid the innkeeper and swung themselves up into the saddle on their chestnut mares.

“Do you know what I’d do first if I were king of Urgon?” He checked to ensure the diamond was still fastened securely at his wrist.

“No.”

“I’d conquer Idoslane and make you my personal slave.” Rodario grinned and rode off.

“Men!” Mallenia laughed and jabbed her heels into her horse’s flanks.

XXXII

The Outer Lands,

The Black Abyss,

Early Summer, 6492nd Solar Cycle

Ireheart was burning to give the command to attack, but it was not his place, even if the duel between famulus and master had now ended. Slin’s action had been against all the rules but had certainly decided the outcome. He had no objection to what the fourthling had done.

Tungdil reached Bloodthirster and was pulling it out of the muddy swamp with both hands when suddenly the warriors of the vraccasium-clad dwarf turned invisible. “Armies! Attack!” ordered the one-eyed dwarf. “Attack and kill!”

The dwarf-army charged forward, racing to where the opponents had been. All were uneasy, knowing they might be struck by blades they could sense but not see.

The ubariu, humans and undergroundlings moved swiftly in.

Lot-Ionan’s fingers sent blue energy flashes at the master, but the badly injured dwarf raised his right hand for long enough to catch the beams in the smoke diamond of his gauntlet; the gem glowed, but that was all that happened.

Ireheart saw their own magus grow paler by the moment and heard him call out to Coira. Confound it, so things are getting hard for him? She nodded reluctantly and pointed her left arm at the enemy. Lot-Ionan did the same. They must be wanting to combine forces on this.

The first of the transformed enemies must have reached the ranks of the army where fighting could now be seen. Their terror-inducing scythe-like weapons were coming into their own, the cutting edge slicing through soldiers, mowing them down, severing flesh, sinew and bone in one lethal semicircle after another. Heaps of mutilated warriors piled up all around. The invisible creatures worked their way through the army as if it were a cornfield at harvest time. Those struck not by blade but by spiked shaft were thrown off their feet and tossed, mortally wounded, through the air, landing among their own comrades. The enemy could not be seen.

The effect on the army was obvious.