“No,” the king said. He leaned back in his chair and gave Arcolin a measuring look before continuing. “Duke Arcolin, Duke Serrostin has told me that you now know about the resurgence of magery in this kingdom. Did he also mention the situation in Fintha?”

“No, sir king.”

“Magery has appeared there, and though the Marshal-General convened a council to consider revising the Code, there has been … unrest.” He turned to High Marshal Seklis and nodded.

“The Marshal-General is determined to change the Code,” Seklis said. “And that has not set well with some of the Marshals in Fintha and many of the people. To them the Code is Gird himself, his very words.”

“Though we know it has been revised over the years,” the Marshal-Judicar said.

“They’ve had children killed, in Fintha,” Seklis went on. “And one or two Marshals who were in favor of the change. There’ve been attempts on the Marshal-General herself, rioting in marketplaces. It is not quite a war there yet, but it may become one.”

“Which would be a disgrace—Girdsmen against Girdsmen? I would have said unthinkable before this.”

“What about here?” Arcolin said. “Tsaia’s as Girdish as Fintha.”

“Not … quite,” Oktar said. “The Code as administered in Tsaia is not the same as in Fintha; that saved Duke Verrakai’s life, as well as that of Beclan and the prince.”

“There has been very little open opposition to the king’s decree,” High Marshal Seklis said. “And that was not to change the Code—which he has no authority to do—but to defer all cases until a decision by the Marshal-General unless magery is used to commit another crime.”

“What I want from you,” the king said, “is an accounting of anyone, child or adult, in your domain who shows mage powers and your best estimate if those powers are innate or imposed by someone else.”

Arcolin could say nothing at first; the thought of near war, of trouble spreading east, filled his mind. “I have seen nothing I recognize as magery in my Company or on my way here,” he said at last.

The king nodded. “We think it is very rare, showing itself mostly in children. We do not know why the gods have chosen to bring it back at this time. But we must prepare for more and prepare the people so they do not panic.”

“That is the best we can do until Gird speaks to each of us,” the Marshal-Judicar said.

“I know a man Gird speaks to,” Arcolin said, surprised to hear the words come out of his mouth. “I met him in Aarenis; I stood his sponsor to the Fellowship.”

“A crazy man?” the Marshal-Judicar asked.

“No.” Arcolin told them quickly about Arvid and his conversion, including Paks’s part in it, and that Arvid had left Aarenis with his son to go to Fin Panir.

“Gird talks to a thief and not to Marshals?” The High Marshal sounded indignant.