Merritt pulled Naja forward by the arm. “I need you to heal Naja for me. You’ve always been better at healing than me anyway. I have some important things to do that can’t wait. Once you’ve healed her, she can explain why she’s here, about the half people, and the trouble we’re in.”

Quinn glanced at Naja’s face briefly and back to Merritt. “Well, I’ve never seen her before. Can you at least tell me who is she? And how she’s involved in what’s going on?”

“I was Emperor Sulachan’s spiritist,” Naja said before Merritt could explain. “I came here to help your people stop him.”

Quinn’s brow lifted. “You’re the defector I’ve heard rumored? I could never find out anything about you. People said that it must be gossip and nothing more.”

“Not gossip, real.”

“Did you get injured escaping, then?”

Naja fixed Quinn a serious look. “When I came here I was captured. Men said that I was a spy and sentenced me to death. They tortured me. That is how I was hurt.”

“Who did such a thing?” Quinn demanded, looking from one face to another. “What men?”

“She doesn’t know who they were,” Magda told him.

“They were torturing her to find out if she knows who the traitors in the Keep are and if she has others with her,” Merritt said. “They must be worried about being discovered.”

“And do you know?” Quinn asked Naja.

Naja looked genuinely downcast. “No. I’m sorry.”

Quinn ran his fingers back through his hair as he walked off a few paces, considering what he’d been told. “This is the very thing I’ve been worried about. I’m convinced that there are traitors, or at least spies in the Keep.”

Magda and Merritt shared a look.

“Do you have any information about such traitors?” Merritt asked. “Have you heard anything from all the wizards and important people who come through here to use the sliph?”

Quinn turned back to them. “No, no one knows anything. I have my suspicions, but I don’t have any evidence to base it on. With the war going badly people are making a scapegoat of Baraccus. You know me, Magda, and you know that I believe that Baraccus was our greatest champion, but people are beginning to believe Prosecutor Lothain’s contention that Baraccus was responsible for conspiracies that have harmed our war effort. He thinks those conspiracies are the source of the murders at the Keep. Lothain has been asking a lot of questions about Baraccus, trying to find out if he was working with enemy agents.”

“I know,” Magda said. “I’ve heard the accusations.”