"You believe me!" sighed Llian. "I had begun to think that I was the monster that everyone makes me out to be. Or might as well be."

"Never think that! Be true to yourself and your calling. Do your work with proud indifference; time will prove you right. Beware to be too curious. And if you ever need help, you have only to ask." He put what seemed to be an extravagant amount of money on the table. "Now, take my arm. Help me back to my rooms. Then, I regret, you must take yourself back to your cell. Your parole has run out."

Llian felt crushed. He had been hoping that his imprisonment was over. "You are staying in Thurkad?" he asked as they went slowly along.

"For the time. The library is in good hands, and this business needs an eye from someone who stands to gain nothing from it. And a word of caution: beware Yggur, and Mendark too."

"Mendark?"

"He suffered a devastating loss in Havissard, as you will hear. He has come back full of fury and bitterness, and knowing him as I do, he will be looking for someone to blame. Be careful."

It was time for the Council to begin. Mendark was already sitting at the Council table and Karan was shocked at his appearance. He looked like an old, old man who had tried and failed, and could not come to terms with that failure. He did his best to hide it, but not quite well enough. Though months had passed since his defeat in Havissard, the bitterness still showed. She could hardly imagine it was the same man they had traveled so far with. He now looked like an aged, withered raptor. His skin had shrunk tight all over, pulling his nose into a beak, his ears out sideways and his fingers into claws. He moved like a robot, as if his garments were far too tight, and his eyes were as dull as cooked fish.

"What's happened to him?" Karan whispered to Tallia, beside her.

A strange, almost panicky expression passed across Tallia's face, then she turned away. "He had a very hard time of it, in Havissard."

Karan knew Tallia was dissembling but did not press her.

Yggur entered last of all. He seemed not much changed but for wearing spectacles with lenses as thick as bottle ends. He still walked with a limp, though now he carried a cane. Yggur sat at his own small table, overlooking the larger, staring down as if sorting people, but Karan noticed that his eyes did not move.

Watching him, she saw that he weighed everyone at the lower table, his broken eyesight stripping them to their essentials: friend, enemy, troublemaker, fool ... But when he turned his head to Mendark, a fleeting cold rage passed across his face, a terrible thing to see.

The Council was full of posturing and power games between Mendark and Yggur. Mendark harped incessantly about the past, about his great deeds at the time Rulke was imprisoned and since-his heroism in Katazza particularly. But somehow he was unconvincing, almost plaintive.

Yggur listened in silence, growing ever more irritable; then, for no reason that Karan could see, abruptly broke up the meet and hurried them all out of the chamber. That night a messenger came to Shand's rooms, to tell them that there would be a small meet in a few days' time.

Shand was furious. "Damned if I will," he roared, shaking his fist in the messenger's face. "If Mendark and Yggur are going to play games, I'm going home."

"I would be grateful if you could stay long enough to dine with me," said Nadiril, who had dropped in for tea. "Are you free this evening?"

"I am," said Shand, suppressing his anger.

"Good! It must be ten years since we last ate together, and there is a lot to catch up on."

Nadiril, noticing that Karan was eavesdropping, drew Shand over into the corner. "Not least this business of Llian. Sometimes I don't understand you, Shand."

"I know what I know!" Shand said stubbornly.

"I don't think you do. Your prejudice against the Zain is quite irrational. Now come, which of us is the more impartial judge of character?"

"You are," Shand said, grinding his teeth.

"So I am, and I say you have done Llian very ill. But we will talk about that over dinner."

That evening they did dine together, a dinner that was almost as long as the previous one, but the old friends fell out at the end and Nadiril went home by himself in the early hours. In the morning a haggard Shand packed up and, telling only Karan that he was going back to Tullin, suddenly disappeared.

That night Nadiril took Karan to dinner. She enjoyed the evening immensely, for he was a charming, sensitive dinner companion. Only one notable thing came out of it, however, when late at night she asked what had happened to Mendark.

"That's his secret," Nadiril said after a long silence. "Though I suppose there's no reason why I shouldn't tell you. Mendark is very old and Havissard nearly killed him. He was forced to renew himself, though he knew it was one time too many. It was not a complete success, and the best spellmasters in Thurkad have not been able to undo the damage."

"Renew himself?"

"We old humans age quickly, Karan. Even mancers cannot live for a thousand years without renewing their bodies many times. But there is a limit and Mendark has pushed beyond it. I can say no more than that."

"Have you done that too?"

Nadiril laughed. "This grizzled cadaver is the original me. One life is enough, for me."

"So that's why Mendark is so preoccupied with his reputation!"

"Obsessed, almost to the point of madness," said Nadiril, then turned the conversation to other topics.

The following day he lunched with Malien and by the end of the week he had dined with everyone who was involved in the affair. But he kept his counsel.

The meeting was held some days later, in a small dark room upstairs in the citadel. When Karan arrived she found Tensor (attended only by Asper), Malien, Tallia, Nadiril and Yggur. Shortly after, Mendark came in, leaning on Llian's shoulder.

"Perhaps some among you have wondered at this subterfuge," said Mendark, standing at the end of the table. Even his voice was different; it was gravelly, like gallstones rattling in a bottle. He cast a scowling glance at Yggur, who was looking down his nose at them from a higher table. "It is well known that I have come back from a long hunt. It could hardly be otherwise, coming as I did by ship, in such haste. And after all the events of the past year, it takes little to set tongues wagging."

"Not to mention the loose mouths of certain chroniclers," snapped Yggur. "Consider yourself on probation, chronicler. Were it not for Nadiril you would be chained to my dungeon wall, not privileged to be here as recorder."

"My dungeon wall, as it happens," said Mendark. "You will recall that we separated in Faranda each to undertake our particular purpose. And what have we found?"

"For my part, very little," said Yggur. "I sent trusty lieutenants to Alcifer. What did I find? Regarding the making of flutes, nothing. About the Mirror, nothing. Of Aachan gold, only this!"

Opening his fist, he let fall on the table a ring, too small to fit a man's hand. It rang out, a richer and more mellow tone than that made by ordinary gold. It was a luxurious golden-red, like Karan's hair.

"Are you sure it is Aachan gold?" asked Tallia.

"The color is quite characteristic, though I suppose that could be faked. But I put it to the test anyway. I am satisfied."

"I'm not!" cried Mendark. "Let Tensor verify it in front of us."

Tallia carried the ring down to Tensor. He accepted it with reluctance, but did not even look at it and handed it back at once. "It is," he said hoarsely. She brought it back.

"What do you know about it?" Llian asked Yggur, leaning forward eagerly.

"Not much, though I've had it for a thousand years. I found it in Alcifer just before Rulke was taken!"

That caused a sensation. Mendark leapt to his feet, his mouth hanging open. "You're trying to get at me! Well, it won't work."

Yggur leaned back in his chair, his hands clasping the back of his neck. Light from an overhead lamp fell on the long bones of his face. His eyes were closed but he was smiling.

"You needn't worry, Mendark," he said, in his deep, slow voice. It seemed that he relished the coming contest. "It's just a simple ring as anyone might have worn." He passed it around.

"What a beautiful thing," Karan said when it came to her. It was made of the finest golden wires, woven together into a flat braid of five strands. She slipped it onto her ring finger and held it up. It fitted rather well.

"Look at it carefully, Llian," said Yggur. "This ring was used in the betrayal of Rulke."

Llian pricked up his ears. What had Rulke said about that, in the Nightland? I was betrayed, and the woman I was to pair with, an innocent, was destroyed. Clearly there was more to the tale than The Taking of Rulke revealed.

"It's much too small for Rulke's finger," said Llian.

"It was a betrothal ring for his bride-to-be," said Yggur. "Seek out that story and you will have another Great Tale. One that has never been told, for it reflects an ugly light on us all."

"Shut up, Yggur," snarled Mendark.

Yggur smiled. "Your reputation will need all the polish you can give it, Mendark, after I've finished with you." He looked directly into Llian's eyes. "In that struggle, Llian, we all did evil in the name of good. To win the war against Rulke, to save our world from him, justified any crime. I would not have the Histories speak false about this matter."

Mendark's mouth had gone as hard as a steel trap, but he said no more. The relationship between Mendark and Yggur was changing. The defeat in Havissard had undermined Mendark, but Yggur was slowly consolidating his power after Katazza and the loss of Maigraith.

Mendark briefly spoke about his encounter with that unidentified woman in Havissard, though he glossed over how easily she had humiliated him. Nor did he tell how Tallia had rescued him from the brambles. He showed the book that the woman had dropped in her flight. "It must be important; why else would she have taken it? But I can't read it."

"What a strange script!" said Llian. "You say that Yalkara wrote this?"

"It would appear so, just before she left Santhenar. Can you read it?"

"I don't know. It..." Llian flipped the pages. "It's like a primitive version of the Charon script, which no one can read. And at the same time it has elements in common with the Faellem writing, which I can read haltingly. How can that be? The origins of the two are utterly different. It's also similar to the script engraved on the Mirror, though not the same."

The book was passed around the room but not even Nadiril could shed any light on it.

"What about Shand?" said Mendark, suddenly realizing that he was not there. "Where is Shand?"

"He's gone," said Nadiril. "He went back to Tullin this morning."

Mendark swore, but there was nothing to be done about it. "Well, Llian, this can be your next labor. Have a go at deciphering this script."

"You get ahead of yourself," said Yggur coldly. "First we must debate Llian's behavior."

Karan held her breath, thinking that Shand had informed on Llian, but Yggur continued, "After we've finished with Havissard, Mendark."

"Before you get onto Havissard you should know what Karan and I learned in Chanthed," said Llian.

"Yes, Shand told me that, but the meet needs to hear it from your own lips."

Llian told the story, beginning with Faelamor's behavior in Katazza that had first aroused his suspicions, then telling how the original sketches, that showed who had first gone into the burning tower, had been stolen, apparently by Faelamor.

"Oh, well done, chronicler!" said Yggur. "You may yet redeem yourself. You can confirm this, Karan?"

"In every particular," she replied.

"So, we have more enemies than we thought. We'd better come back to Faelamor. On with your tale, Mendark. What have you not told us about Havissard, apart from how you got in and back out again? Let's see what you found there. Bring out the gold!" Yggur leaned back with an expectant smile.

Mendark shivered. "How I got in is my own business," he said gracelessly. Then he took command of himself and bowed to Llian. "You have indeed done well, but unfortunately too late. The gold was in Havissard but I was beaten to it by an hour. When I recovered the woman was gone and the place where the gold had been was empty." He told that story, save for parts that showed him in a bad light.

"A convenient tale!" said Yggur. "Don't be insulted, but of course you can prove it?"

"Of course I can't prove it! But if you care to make the journey you can check it yourself."

"Who was the woman? That's the important question."

"We can only guess. My guess is Faelamor."

"Very likely. Well, our plans are scuppered," he said to the meeting, "if Mendark is telling the truth. We can't discount the possibility that he's hidden away the gold for himself."

"We can't," Nadiril agreed. "Though I am inclined to believe him."

Mendark bowed ironically. "But you two are doing Rulke's work for him," Nadiril said. "So let's get on."

"How could Faelamor get to Havissard so quickly?" asked Malien, who had hitherto said nothing. "And how did she get in?"

"To both, the same answer. She made a gate."

"And she was not alone!"

"I think not."

"Hmmn," said Yggur, squinting at a calendar through a magnifying glass. "Faelamor was seen in the camp in Bannador just before,"-his voice cracked-"Maigraith disappeared, and that was only weeks before you encountered her in Havissard. This supports the gate theory. Well, later on we can address ourselves to the question of what she will do with it and where to find her. I think I might take charge of that myself.

"Now we come to the matter of Llian," Yggur continued. "I found him going through the Council archives. What were you really doing there, Llian?"

"I was looking for papers about Kandor."

"Liar! You were found in the secret archives. The vault!"

Llian hesitated.

"Well?" said Yggur. "Your life may depend on how you answer."

"The door was open," Llian said weakly. "All the doors were, even the vault."

"Entrapment!" said Nadiril. "Really, Yggur! This rather poisons your case, not to mention your own credibility."

"I don't know the layout of the archives," Llian continued. "I was looking for the right place when you found me." He reminded them of his suspicions about the death of the crippled girl, and told of Kandor's letter that he had found at the citadel a year ago.

"Why did you not tell me this at the time?" Mendark shouted, banging his fist on the table. A vase of wine toppled, sending a yellow flood everywhere. Papers were rescued hastily. "Show me the letter."

"I destroyed it in Katazza," said Malien. "I thought that box was best left unopened."

"But Faelamor has opened it now. We need to know what the letter said."

"I have a copy," Llian said. "I found it in Kandor's bedroom. As well as a later one to Yalkara."

Karan produced the letters that she had safeguarded all this time and they were passed across the table. Yggur scanned them and tossed them aside.

"A distraction! Let's get back to Mendark. I don't believe-"