Thero explained how he’d found the boy by the river.

“Did Mika say where those two came from?” asked Micum.

“I wish I knew. I haven’t had much of a chance to talk with him. He was very distraught. We don’t need that kind of trouble around camp.”

“That’s something to consider.”

“Stay with him,” Seregil advised. “We’ll go have a look around.”

The camp was quiet except for the familiar kitchen sounds. A few cooks were already up, brewing large buckets of tea and cooking ash cakes. Seregil charmed one of them out of three steaming mugs and a plate of hot cakes.

They ate quickly, then made their way through the fog to the riverbank.

“This could be the large rock Thero spoke of,” said Micum, pointing at a dark shape in the fog.

Upon closer inspection it did appear to be the right one.

“Here’s where he fell and struck his head,” Micum pointed out, nudging a smaller stone half embedded in the earth with the toe of his boot. “You can still see the blood on it. And the ground is soft enough that you can still see footprints.”

They examined the traces more closely, trying to piece together what had happened. The soft spring grass and wildflowers were pressed down where Mika had lain, and where Thero had knelt beside him; everything was covered with heavy dew, which had not been disturbed since. Small, deep toe prints that ended just short of the large stone showed where Mika had been running at the end. Tracing these back, they went about ten yards between the road and riverbank before losing the trail.

“That’s odd,” Seregil mused as they cast about, looking for more prints. “The way Thero told it, the attacker chased Mika and the younger one. There’s no sign of anyone else with him.”

“Maybe they didn’t come this far?” Micum suggested. “Or Mika made that bit up.”

Micum gave him a surprised look. “You think Mika lied? Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know. But you’re a better tracker than I am, and you don’t see signs of anyone else, do you?”

“No. Maybe he dreamed them, after he hit his head?”

“That’s more likely than him lying.” Seregil stared down at the single set of footprints. “But he was definitely running before he fell. I’m thinking you should spend the day with him, Alec. You’re closest to his age and he trusts you. Maybe you can get more out of him.”

Alec frowned. “Not go back into Menosi with you, you mean?”

“Just for today. If there’s a faction of Plenimaran sympathizers out here among the country people, they could mean to make trouble for Klia. Micum and I will keep to daylight.”

“I’ll see what I can do. But you be careful.”