The carriers bore their burden with exquisite care, setting the silken-curtained palanquin slowly down on a raised block of speckled marble at the chamber’s far end. All eyes were now centered on the stone, though they had seen it many times before. A gasp went up from the onlookers as the vixen Lantur seemed to materialize from the speckled marble block. She had been standing there since the first rat entered, completely undetected, camouflaged by the stone’s pattern. Lantur held her paws wide as two water rats hurried forward and draped the brown-green cloak about her shoulders. At a nod from her the Guard Commanders raised their spears, calling out as in one mighty voice: “O eternal Silth! High Queen, live for ever! Beauty be yours alone!”

The harsh rasping voice that issued from behind the curtains held a petulant note, like that of a spoiled young one. “Noise! All night long. Noise! I hear the waters of that lake, trying to eat away the rocks of my island! I hear the night breeze whispering like death, swirling about my castle, trying to find me! But what have you done about these things . . . Nothing! Sleep will not come, it flies away from me on dark wings, I cannot catch it. Why?”

The water rat Commanders stood rigid, not daring to move a muscle, watched by the bright searching eyes of the magpies above them. Lantur strode up and down between the ranks, chastising the hapless rodents with her tongue. “You are growing fat and idle while your Queen suffers. There are no excuses for your stupidity. At night, while you are shirking your duties, the White Ghost wanders the rooms and corridors of Castle Marl!”

The Queen’s voice interrupted Lantur, shrill with fear. “Fools! I know what you are thinking, but I have seen it!”

At that point one of the unfortunate Guard Commanders dropped his shield. The clang of metal upon stone echoed through the chamber. Athrak launched himself from a crossbeam, calling his tribe.

“Rakkarakkarakka! Gerrimclaw!”

The magpies zoomed down like lightning upon the wretched creature. Talons and beaks gripped fur, paws, tail and tunic cruelly, lifting him bodily from the floor. Knocking other rats aside, the magpies rushed their prisoner forward, chattering gleefully as they dropped him in front of the marble block and stood surrounding him. The water rat lay cringing on the floorstones. Silth’s voice was harsh and accusing. “Have you seen the White Ghost?”

A thin smile played about Lantur’s features. She adopted a tone of reasonable inquiry. “Well, friend, have you seen the White Ghost or haven’t you? Answer your Queen.”

The rat was in a quandary. If he said he had seen the White Ghost Silth would make him describe it. If his description did not ring true, then what? His only hope was to tell the truth.

“O High Queen, I have not seen the White Ghost, I swear it!”