"Does that matter?"

"It's puzzling."

"Did he ever tell us the truth?"

"I don't know! In a way he never told us any lies at all."

"What?"

Wolf felt her shiver."Our teachers warned us that some people have no sense of wrong.They do not understand evil, so truth-sounding will not work on them. Ruiz must be one of those." She laughed nervously. "He's very good company, isn't he?"

"Very. We can still take Flicker's advice and strike inland."

But she was not willing to consider that yet, and when they reached the ship and held a whispered consultation with the others, neither were they. Even Flicker wanted to press on with the dangerous challenge Wolf proposed.

Quin had already shipped out as a deckhand on a Distlish vessel, homeward bound.

Next morning the mysterious Don Lope and his charming lady arrived at their new home-just the two of them plus one female servant and four great sea chests.Glorioushad already raised anchor and caught the tide.The villa was luxurious, at least by local standards, but one month's 261.

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rent would have sufficed to build it in Chivial.Wages for the three ser-vants waiting there came to almost as much, and the cost of the food they had already bought could have provisioned Greymere Palace for a week.This was Sigisa, the crumbling cliff-edge of civilization.

Rojas had been a little obvious with the servants, because they were all Distliards and any Distliard in the Hence Lands would rather starve than touch menial work. Perhaps Wolf was not supposed to know that. Or perhaps he was. None of the three impressed him, although Estavan, the gardener, could have uprooted palm trees with his bare hands, hav-ing being cast in the same giant mold as Heron-jade.

Gustavo of the black fingernails was chef, and the smiling Che said he was to be ma-jordomo, although he had no evident qualifications except a sensational profile.

Still, the hacienda was a mansion, a thatched, single-story wooden structure with several outbuildings, all reasonably furnished, all set in spacious grounds surrounded by a high stockade. The front entrance boasted a reasonable garden of trees and flowered shrubs. There was a gate on the ocean side, too, just above high-water mark, but currents off Sigisa were too treacherous for swimming-so Don Ruiz had said.Wolf ordered chairs set out on the lawn, where he and Dolores could relax in the shade of palm trees to enjoy a snack and the noble lifestyle they so richly deserved.The lawn itself was a scabby mess, only to be expected in the tropics and so near the sea, but the ground sloped down toward the ocean, giving them a fair view over the palisade. They debated whether the sail just dipping below the horizon might beGloriousde-parting.

Young Che brought out the food. "With your permission,senor,I will go out this afternoon to hire more workers, yes?" He flashed teeth like the breakers, white and dangerous.

"No," Wolf said. "Until we discover on what scale we shall be en-tertaining I cannot determine what staff we need."

"But,senor! A porter? Women to clean, surely?"

"Not yet! Meanwhile . . . tell Estavan I want those cactuses dug out. You can read and write?"

Che said, "Of course,senor."

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No need for truth-sounding to know he was lying. "Then prepare for me a detailed list of everything on the property from the beds down to the smallest spoon."

That ought to keep him busy.Wolf cut his food with a special Dark Chamber belt knife and so did Dolores. Neither blade changed color.

"The quarry is running true so far," he said. It was too soon for poi-son.

She nodded, not as cheerful as usual.

"And Megan is willing to sing her solo?"

"She says she can handle all three of them at once if necessary."

They did not expect the violence to begin yet, or they would not leave Megan alone, although even Flicker admitted Megan was no mean brawler. She bragged that she had taught him all he knew.

When they had eaten as much as they could of Gustavo's vile cook-ing, Don Lope and Dona Dolores announced that they were going out to explore the town.They began by strolling along to theAlcalde's resi-dence, where Dona Dolores called on Dona Fortunata to present her with a spectacular pearl necklace in gratitude for all her kindness. Curi-ously, Fortunata was as beautifully clad and groomed as she had been the previous day-apparently he kept her like that all the time. She wept over the pearls, and they certainly looked genuine. Rojas himself was not at home, to Wolf's relief.

They did explore the town a little, but not enough to lose their sup-posedly unseen followers. When they returned to the hacienda, they were admitted by Che, who seemed not quite his former joyous self.

"Something wrong?" Dolores asked innocently.

Alas, Estavan had been bitten by a tarantula and had gone in search of a herbalist.

"It is not to be tolerated!"Wolf said."A gardener so careless? Do not admit him if he returns."

"I was hoping it would be Gustavo," Dolores said as they went in search of Megan. "The shock might have shaken the dirt out of his nails."

"How long until the conjuration wears off ?"

"Three days. Maybe four for a man that size."

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They found Megan where they had left her, sorting Dolores's clothes. She seemed a little flustered, but no worse off than that.

Dolores gave her a hug. "You all right?"

"I am very well, thank you, mistress."

"And Che?"

Megan rolled her eyes. "A hard-fought battle. He was using some sort of charm, not just eyelashes, and I swear he has more hands than the King's stables. I had just decided I was fighting on the wrong side when we were interrupted by Estavan's screams." She sighed regretfully.

Dolores grinned. "And where was Estavan?"

"In the master's dressing room."

A strange place to dig cactus! Che had been distracting Megan while Estavan tried to open a warded chest. Estavan's arms were now useless.

"It is hard to find good help,"Wolf said.

They had raised the stakes and it was Rojas's turn to roll again.

7.Just after sunset that evening, Che served dinner on the patio. Nights were darker and stars closer in the Hence Lands than they were in Chivial and Wolf found the tropical air as soporific as sweet wine.There was something sublimely relaxing about the ageless rumble of the sea.

"This does beat ship life," he remarked, unobtrusively stirring his wine with his belt knife. He peered at it.

No danger.

"Except possibly for the food." Dolores was inspecting her plate of hors d'oeuvres. "The mushrooms."

"Odd-looking mushrooms!" Wolf cut one and held his blade near the candles. "Remind me what blue means?"

"Probably not fatal, but certainly not wholesome."

"Right." He scooped up all the mushrooms and put them in his pocket. "We go with Plan One.You get Megan."

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Feeling the joyous tingle that came before a fight, he strode around the house to the kitchen, which was an open-fronted shed, set apart from the main building as a fire precaution. Gustavo was stirring a pot on the stove, virtually outdoors, but Wolf's approach from seaward cut off his best line of escape. Megan had been backed into a corner beside the larder by the glamorous Che, although she did not seem very trou-bled by this situation. Wolf drew sword and dagger. Che noticed him and was distracted. Before he could start thinkinghostage,Megan butted him in the face and made her escape, grabbing up a knife from the table as she passed.

"Stay where you are, Che!"Wolf waved his dagger."Join him there, Gustavo. Don't try anything. I am an expert swordsman."

Senor!What is the matter?" Che's lip was bleeding.

Seeing Gustavo furtively comparing his distance from the back door to his chances of dodging around the hearth without coming within reach ofDiligence,Wolf said, "Don't even think it! I will slice you thin-ner than tortillas."The only advantage to having a face like his was that people did believe his threats.

Dolores walked in carrying her sword and a coil of thin rope. He felt safer with all three of them there, but he did not relax completely until they had made the two scoundrels secure. They sat them back to back on the butcher block, binding them to both it and each other, wrapping the rope around them repeatedly.

"Now!" he said, sheathingDiligence."Now you will answer some questions." He emptied his pocket of mushrooms and laid them in clear view on the table.Turning to Dolores, he saw she was strung as tight as a longbow. There was a world of difference between taking lessons in how to do something-run a rapier through a man's skull, say, or tor-ture a confession out of him-and actually doing it or even watching it done. "Er ...Megan, would you take the first hour?"

"Happy to do so, Don Lope.We may need some gags."

"There's a towel here." He ripped it in half.

"They won't be necessary for a little while. When they start to break ...Gustavo, why did you try to poison Don Lope and Dona Do-lores?"

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"I do not know what you mean, bitch!"

Megan sighed like a nurse about to administer a major enema. "Notch one!" Both men gasped in surprise as their bonds tightened."If you tell lies or do not answer, I will continue until the rope cuts you in slices.Why did you try to poison them?"

"I did not intend to harm thesenorandsenora," Gustavo growled.

Apparently that was a true statement, because the women ex-changed puzzled glances."What would have happened if they had eaten the mushrooms?"

He tried to shrug."Make them happy, see pretty things. Not worry. Put one in my mouth and I will chew it."

"And we wouldn't get anything more out of you tonight, would we? How long does the effect last?"

"A day? Two? It is harmless."

"Why did Estavan try to open the baggage this afternoon?"

"This is crazy!" Che protested. "Estavan never tried to-Eeeeee!"

Megan had just called for notch two.

They resisted until she reached notch six, by which time the rope was biting deep. They were in pain, yes, but fear of what was to come troubled them much more. No doubt they were surprised, as Wolf was, to discover the fiend inside his sweet-natured foster-mother-in-law.

"Don Lope," she said,"in the name of mercy we should adjourn for a while to let them consider." She flickered a wink they could not see.

"I don't see why. Keep going."

"Their ribs will start popping soon and no blood is reaching their hands.The risk of gangrene-"

"It is their own fault for being stubborn. We haven't got all night! Pop all the ribs you want."

"No!"howled Pretty-Boy Che."I will talk! I will . . . tell, but please give ...me air,senora! I am dying!"

"Notch four," she said, and they sighed in unison. "You weren't dying.You can suffer much worse than that before you die. If you start lying again, I am going straight to level eight, for half an hour. Now talk.

You were sent here to pretend to be servants?"

"Si, senora."

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"Truth, at last!" She sounded as relieved as Wolf felt. "Who sent you?"

"I do not know!" Che cried."It is the truth,senora! We were not told!"

"Someone must have sent you."

"Pablo told us a man wanted this."

"Who is Pablo?"

"A man, another man. He pays well!" Che was almost gibbering. He was not going to incriminate Ruiz de Rojas. He could not. His trail would stop at the mysterious Pablo, and Pablo's trail in turn would lead only one more link up a very long chain.TheAlcadehimself stayed out of reach. "Please, please,senora!

The cramps . . ."