‘Our disguises didn’t work.’ Kalten shrugged. ‘A group of church soldiers waylaid us in an alley. It’s not serious.’

Sephrenia rose from her chair and came over to them. ‘Did you have it tended?’ she asked.

‘Sparhawk put a bandage on it.’

‘Why don’t you let me look at it? Sometimes Sparhawk’s bandages are a little rudimentary. Sit down and open your doublet.’

Kalten grumbled a bit but did as he was told.

She untied the bandage and looked at the cut in his side with pursed lips. ‘Did you clean it at all?’ she asked Sparhawk.

‘I wiped it down with some wine.’

She sighed. ‘Oh, Sparhawk.’ She rose, went to the door, and sent one of the young knights outside for the things she would need.

‘Sparhawk picked up some information,’ Kalten told the preceptor

‘What kind of information?’ Vanion asked.

‘I found Krager,’ Sparhawk told him, drawing up a chair. ‘He’s staying in a brothel near the west gate’

One of Sephrenia’s eyebrows shot up. ‘What were you doing in a brothel, Sparhawk?’

‘It’s a long story,’ he replied, flushing slightly ‘Someday I’ll tell you all about it. Anyway,’ he continued, ‘the Baron Harparin came to the brothel, and’

‘Harparin?’ Vanion looked startled. ‘In a brothel? He had less business there than you did.’

‘He was there to meet with Krager. I managed to get inside and into the room next to the one where they were meeting.’ He quickly sketched out the details of the involuted scheme of the Primate Annias.

Vanion’s eyes were narrow as Sparhawk finished his report. ‘Annias is even more ruthless than I’d imagined,’ he said. ‘I never thought that he’d stoop to mass murder.’

‘We’re going to stop them, aren’t we?’ Kalten asked as Sephrenia began to cleanse his wound.

‘Of course we are,’ Vanion replied absently. He stared up at the ceiling, his eyes lost in thought. ‘I think I see a way to turn this around.’ He looked at Kalten. ‘Are you fit to ride?’ he asked.

‘This is hardly more than a scratch,’ Kalten assured him as Sephrenia laid a compress over the cut.

‘Good. I want you to go to the motherhouse at Demos. Take every man you can get your hands on and start out for Count Radun’s castle in Arcium. Stay off the main roads. We don’t want Martel to know you’re coming. Sparhawk, I want you to lead the knights from here in Cimmura. Join Kalten down there in Arcium someplace.’

Sparhawk shook his head. ‘If we ride out in a body, Annias will know that we’re up to something. If he gets suspicious, he could postpone the whole thing and then attack the count’s castle some other time when we aren’t around.’

Vanion frowned. ‘That’s true, isn’t it? Maybe you could sneak your men out of Cimmura a few at a time.’