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would have done—but Iscara and the other healers grew him a
new one . That’s what my man said they did, and I believe him. He’s not the
sort of man who would make something like that up. He hasn’t the imagination
for it. Now, Angus was unconscious for a long time while they healed him, and
afterward, but something odd happened. Iscara had another patient—at least, she said he was a patient—who was skulking about her shop that made my man
uneasy. He was all wrapped up with bandages that covered his face and hands,
and he walked as softly as a ghost and moved like a cat. That bothered my man,
but as long as this other fellow didn’t do more than raise his hackles, he had
more important things to do. It’s too bad that he didn’t know about the patrol
that had fought with a man wrapped in bandages like that, or he would have
dealt with him differently. But that particular incident hadn’t been circulated
through the ranks, yet. I only just put the two together myself, and if it is
your desire, I can ask Iscara about it.”
    A man wrapped in bandages hiding at Iscara’s? One that
walks as softly as a ghost? There’s only one man it could be: Typhus. “No,
Captain,” the king said. “You need not trouble yourself with the matter. I will
discuss it with her myself this evening.”
    Captain Blanchard nodded. “Of course, Sire,” he said. “The
man in bandages seemed to know Angus—at least, something happened
between them that made the man in bandages scream in horror and collapse into
unconsciousness. Iscara said the disease that afflicted the man gave him
fainting spells, but my man didn’t believe her. He didn’t pursue it, though; he
hadn’t talked to Angus yet.”
    King Tyr waited for Captain Blanchard to continue, but when
it was clear he wasn’t going to, he asked, “And when your man talked to Angus,
what did he find out?”
    “Oh,” Captain Blanchard replied. “Aside from his suspicions
about where the fishmen are, not much. It was enough at the time for him to
know that it was just another rumor, and Angus agreed to talk to him at length
once he had had a chance to recover. Based on the injuries they saw, he thought
it would take a few days, even with the healing.”
    “Very well,” King Tyr said, keeping his eyes fixed on the
symmetry of Captain Blanchard’s brow. “Return the Banner Registry to the gate
and track down this Angus. He may have spent last night in Willowby’s Inn.
Start there. I would like very much to talk with him about these fishmen. We
have made little headway on locating them, and if he knows something more about
where they may be, I want to hear it from him.” He stood up, and Captain
Blanchard gathered up the Banner Registry, bowed, and turned away.
    King Tyr moved to reposition the chairs, and just before
Captain Blanchard reached the study door, he stopped him. “Oh, and Captain,” he
said, “send word throughout the kingdom. If Angus, wizard of the Banner of the
Wounded Hand, arrives in any outpost or city, he is to be restricted to that
location and I am to be told at once of his arrival. Since he is a wizard of
some note, his spells are to be temporarily confiscated, and if it becomes
necessary to arrest him, they have leave to do so. Also, call up the Banner of
the Wounded Hand for special duty. I may have use of them in the near future.”
    “Yes, Sire,” Captain Blanchard replied. “What orders shall I
give them?”
    King Tyr frowned. He didn’t know what he was going to do
with them yet. But if Angus was responsible for what happened beneath the
castle, if he had done something to Grayle…. “Have them wait for further
instruction,” he said. “That is all.” Pug is dead , he thought. Is
Grayle? I may not be able to act openly to avenge what has happened to her, but
surely there is some task I could assign to them that would lead to Angus’s
death? A jaunt into The Borderlands, perhaps? The missing soldiers aren’t just
a rumor; something