The work was done. Ark hoped Mucum and Shiv were ready. Now came the most dangerous test of his skills. They had all agreed that trying to convince the King at this stage was folly. Better to produce hard evidence. That was why he was now standing right outside the King’s private chambers. A second ago, his breath shallow and his feet rooted in shadow, all the two guards had noticed was a slight smell of mustiness.

Their eyes went wide with recognition. It couldn’t be! “Buddy holly! How did you get in ’ere, again?”

“The ravens ‘ad you for a bite to eat!” the second soldier chimed in.

“And they spat me out,” Ark snarled. “I don’t taste so good these days! Now, I told you once before that the King is in grave danger.”

And as before, the first soldier did what his training dictated. The left hook was fast, a clenched fist powering through the air. Explanations could come later. The King was in grave danger from an around-the-U-bend sewage worker.

“Please don’t do that,” asked Ark in a reasonable voice, his eyes connecting with his attacker the moment before the punch made contact.

Who could refuse such a reasonable request? Though it went against the grain, the soldier suddenly liked the boy’s politeness.

“Have you gone hazelnuts?” shouted the second soldier at his befuddled colleague, as he lashed out with a kick that should have snapped several of the boy’s ribs.

Ark neatly stepped to one side, watching a foot do no more than disturb a few particles of dust. “I mean the King no harm. It is Councillor Grasp you need to worry about.”

Something in the voice, in the silky tones that delivered it, made both soldiers pause. Ark was suddenly glad of Corwenna’s skills. Like mother, like son. If he slowed them down for a second, maybe he could tell them a story with more truth than the Councillor could ever guess.

Five minutes later, he’d won them over. Skeptical Dendrans were a tougher business than mealworms and boars. Such minds took a great deal of convincing. “The point is,” he concluded, “are you with me and with Arborium?”

“When you put it like that.” A short while before, the first soldier’s instinct was to put down the interloper. Now he hung on his every word.

Ark was flabbergasted. Perhaps truth was the simplest weapon. It was how you applied it that mattered. Before the boy left, one of the soldiers actually shook his hand, though the other still cast suspicious glances up the corridor as Ark strode away.

“You don’t think it’s a bunch of make-be-leaf?”

“Nah. I heard Grasp talking to one of his inside men the other day. He shut up quick when he saw me. Didn’t think about it at the time. Makes sense now.”