Arcolin pulled the roll from its tube and glanced at it. “Sir king—it is what I feared might be true but was not confirmed before I left. The Duke of Immer has Andressat’s youngest son—”

“Andressat—the old man I met last year?”

“Yes. As I said before, rumor had it his son had disappeared, supposedly between Andressat and Cortes Cilwan. He was taken somehow—is now captive of the Duke of Immer. The Duke of Immer also has the necklace which is part of the regalia you hold and has moved up the western branch of the Immer. He controls Immervale and Lûn and will probably take Cortes Cilwan sometime this winter. Andressat’s daughter and son-in-law, ruling Cortes Cilwan, have fled to Andressat.” He looked at the king. “Sir king, Vaskronin has sworn to flay Andressat’s son alive if Andressat does not yield his holdings … and if Vaskronin has Cilwan and Andressat—which Siniava never captured—he is well placed to threaten the pass. Selfer has spoken to those who saw the man use magery, whether of his own talent or by blood magery, he does not know. Selfer asks my permission to make contract with Foss Council as representative of the Guild League—with whom we had the contract this past summer—to serve through the winter as necessary.”

“And will you then go south to command them?”

“That is your choice, sir king.”

“My choice!” Mikeli looked grim. “My choice would have been to come to my crown in peace, for my cousin Beclan to have escaped peril, and for magery to lie quiet through my reign.” He stopped abruptly. “Kings have few choices, my lord Duke,” he said, in a quieter tone. “We have necessity. You must not go south now. I need you in the north. If your Company can hold the pass, well and good; if not, I need you and the forces you have in the north here. It is not a matter of distrusting Duke Verrakai, but of needing two experienced in war in my councils.”

“I suspect, sir king, that Vaskronin waited until I had left to make his attack, knowing I would be far away.”

“Then let us hope your young captains have wits enough. If word can still pass the mountains, tell your Captain Selfer to make what contract he will with the Guild League.”

Arcolin wrote notes to Selfer, to his banker, and to the Foss Council magistrates he had known before, giving permission for Selfer to make the contract and do all other business necessary. “I will be down as soon as the pass opens in spring,” he added at the end. “If you can find a gnome trader in Valdaire, ask if he can take word to the prince of the Aldonfulks in these words: ‘That which we spoke of is begun.’ ”