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throw me off to have to hurry?
    “Do you have
any
idea where he went?”
    “We strongly suspect that he headed out East. At least, if I were pulling something like this, that’s where I’d go.”
    I shook my head. “That doesn’t make sense. Dragaerans out East are treated about the same as Easterners are treated here—worse, if anything. He’d be considered, if you’ll pardon the expression, a demon. He’d stand out like a Morganti weapon in the Imperial Palace.”
    He smiled. “True enough, but we have the fewest resources there, so it would take a while for word to get back to us. Also, we’ve had the best sorceresses from the Left Hand looking for him since we found out what happened, and we can’t find him.”
    I shrugged. “He could have put up a block against tracing.”
    “He definitely has done that.”
    “Well, then—”
    He shook his head. “You have no idea of the kind of power we’re pouring into this. We could break down any block he could put up, no matter how long he’s been planning it, or who the sorcerer is who put the block up. If he was anywhere within a hundred miles of Adrilankha we’d have broken it by now, or at least found a general area that we couldn’t penetrate.”
    “So, you can guarantee that he isn’t within a hundred miles of the city?”
    “Right. Now, it’s possible that he’s in the jungle to the west, in which case we’ll probably find him within the next day or two. But I’d guess he’d bolted for the East.”
    I nodded slowly. “So you came to me, figuring that I can operate out there easier than a Dragaeran.”
    “That’s right. And, of course, we know that you have an extremely formidable information network.”
    “My information network,” I said, “doesn’t extend to the East.” That was almost true. My sources back in my ancestral homeland were few and far between. Still, there wasn’t any reason to let the Demon in on everything I had.
    “Well, then,” he said, “there’s an additional bonus for you. By the time this is over, you’ll probably have something where you didn’t before.”
    I smiled at his riposte, and nodded a little.
    “And so,” I said, “you want my friend to go out to wherever Mellar is hiding and get your gold back?”
    “That would be nice,” he admitted. “But it’s secondary. The main thing is to make sure that no one gets the idea that it’s safe to steal from us. Even Kiera, bless her sweet little fingers, hasn’t tried
that
. I’ll add that I take this whole thing very personally. And I will feel very warmly toward whomever does this particular little job for me.”
    I sat back, and thought for a long time, then. The Demon was politely silent. Sixty-five thousand gold! And, of course, having the Demon owe me a favor was better than a poke in the eye with a Morganti dagger by all means.
    “Morganti?” I asked.
    He shrugged. “It has to be permanent, however you want to do it. If you happen to destroy his soul in the process, I won’t be upset. But it isn’t necessary. Just so that he ends up dead, with no chance of anyone revivifying him.”
    “Yeah. You say that the Left Hand is working on locating him?”
    “Right. The best they’ve got.”
    “That can’t be helping your security any.”
    He shrugged. “They know who; they don’t know why. As far as they’re concerned, it’s a personal matter between Mellar and me. You may not realize it, but the Left Hand tends to take less of an interest in what the council is doing than the lowest pimp on the streets. I’m not worried about security from that end. But if this goes on too long, word will get out that I’m looking for Mellar, and someone who notices that the council is having financial trouble will start counting the eggs.”
    “I suppose. Okay, I suspect that my friend will be willing to take this on.He’s going to need whatever information you have about Mellar as a starting point.”
    The Demon held his hand out to the side. The