the best sounding board. I looked around. I dont want anyone else to hear this.

Silent nodded. He made complicated, fluid gestures too quick to follow. Suddenly, I could not hear anything from more than five feet away. You would be amazed how many sounds you do not notice till they are gone. I told Silent what I had found.

Silent is hard to shock. He has seen and heard it all. But he looked properly astonished this time.

For a moment I thought he was going to say something,

Should I tell Soulcatcher?

Vigorous affirmative nod. All right. I hadnt doubted that. The news was too big for the Company. It would eat. us up if we kept it to ourselves.

How about the Captain? One-Eye? Some of the others?

He was less quick to respond, and less decisive. His advice was negative. With a few questions and the intuition one develops on long exposure, I understood Silent to feel that Soulcatcher would want to spread the word on a need-to-know basis.

Right, then, I said, and, Thanks, and started trotting up the column. When I was out of sight of Silent, I asked one of the men, You seen Raven?

Up with the Captain.

That figured. I resumed trotting.

After a moment of reflection I had decided to buy a little insurance. Raven was the finest policy I could imagine.

You read any of the old languages? I asked him. It was hard talking to him. He and the Captain were mounted and Darling was right behind them. Her mule kept trying to tromp my heels.

Some. All part of a classical education. Why?

I scrambled a few steps ahead. Were going to be having mule stew if you dont watch it, animal. I swear, that beast sneered. I told Raven, Some of those papers arent modern. The ones One-Eye dug up.

Not important then, are they?

I shrugged and ambled along beside him, picking my words carefully. You never know. The Lady and the Ten, they go way back. I let out a yelp, spun, ran backward gripping my shoulder where the mule had nipped me. The animal looked innocent, but Darling was grinning impishly.

It was almost worth the pain, just to see her smile. She did so so seldom.

I cut across the column and drifted back till I was walking beside Elmo. He asked, Is something wrong, Croaker?

Uhm? No. Not really.

You look scared.

I was scared. I had tipped the lid off a little box, just to see what was inside, and had found it filled with nastiness. The things I had read could not be unlearned.

When next I saw Raven his face was as grey as mine. Maybe more so. We walked together while he sketched what he had learned from the documents I had not been able to read.