“Still . . . this’s better than my room or the stables,” Bear continued. “And nobody’s going to come all the way over here to ask me some stupid question about herbs that they can look up the answer to.”

He sounded more than a bit cross, and Mags didn’t blame him. Exactly that sort of thing was why he and Bear had been moved over here in the first place.

Bear was still not supposed to leave his bed or couch unless he had to, but Mags was under no such restrictions, and spent much of their first day here searching the room for anything the foreigners might have hidden there.

He knew of course, that far more competent people than he had already gone over the place; if they had actually found anything useful, he and Bear would be the last people to be told. But he couldn’t help hoping he’d find something overlooked. After all, they had left in a terrible hurry, so much so that it was hard to tell if they had taken anything with them.

“No luck with the beds, I suppose?”

Mags shook his head. He had gone over the bedsteads in meticulous detail, examining every seam, every place where the finish seemed to be a bit rougher than it should be, every place where even the tiniest of objects could have been hidden. He had found nothing, of course, and it was no use to look in the mattresses and pillows as he was certain those had been replaced and taken apart before he and Bear were brought here. In fact, it seemed that only a few innocuous things had been left behind by the first group of searchers.

“Do you ever wonder if those men were even from the country they claimed to be from?” Bear asked.

“I s’pose they could be.” He shook his head. “Not sure it matters.”

“And why did they wait a whole day after that madman killed himself to leave?” Bear continued. Clearly, he had forgotten that he had asked that question already, not once but several times. It was the effect of the medicine, Mags had been assured—just as he had been told that he was here with Bear as much to keep an eye on his friend and provide him with company as to recuperate himself. He didn’t mind. In fact, he was rather pleased that they trusted him so much.

“I reckon—I reckon they had somethin’ they needed t’ get or someone they needed t’ talk to.” Truth was, he didn’t know, and really couldn’t hazard a guess, but Bear seemed to find the answer satisfactory.

“And how could they get out and not be seen?” Bear continued—as he always did.