Lord Rahl scratched his jaw as he searched for words. “We found something, something quite important.”

“You ‘found’ it?” Merritt asked suspiciously. “Where did you ‘find’ this important something?”

Lord Rahl heaved a sigh. “It was on a man we killed. Well, actually, we killed a whole bunch of men until we finally killed this particular one. By how well he was being protected, we knew that he had to be an important person, or have something mighty important on him. It turned out to be the latter.”

“So, what was it?” Magda asked.

Lord Rahl put his hands on the short stone wall of the sliph’s well and leaned back to look up at them with blue eyes.

“It was covered in jewels.”

Merritt was still looking suspicious. “You’re telling us that you found important treasure?”

“You might say so. These jewels were covering a box.” He gave them each a meaningful look.

“A box,” Merritt repeated carefully. “What sort of box?”

Alric Rahl arched an eyebrow as he folded his arms. “A box as black as the Keeper’s heart, and containing great power, if you catch my drift.”

Magda glanced at Merritt before looking back at Lord Rahl. “And what makes you think that this box contains great power? Did you try to open it?”

He frowned indignantly. “Do you take me for a fool?”

“No,” Magda said. “But you said that it contained great power. What do you know about this box?”

He shot her a look. “Are you forgetting that Baraccus and I were good friends? He told me about how the power of Orden was contained in three inky black boxes covered in jewels. The thing is, he said that the boxes had been sent away to the Temple of the Winds.” He looked from Magda to Merritt and back again. “So if they’re in the Temple of the Winds, what is one of them doing in this world in the possession of a dead man?”

“We’d better tell him,” Merritt whispered to her.

Magda nodded as she let out a long sigh. “The boxes were stolen from the Temple of the Winds.”

“Obviously. But who took them?”

Merritt shrugged. “I’d say Sulachan’s people if I had to venture a guess.”

“What about the other two?” Magda asked.

Lord Rahl, arms still folded, sighed unhappily. “Don’t know. I only have the one. And you would have a hard time believing how many men we had to kill to get this one.”

“I can only imagine,” Merritt said. “But if it was Sulachan who had it, you had better believe that a lot more men than that are going to come to get it back.”

“No doubt,” Lord Rahl said.

“We have to hide it,” Magda said to Merritt. “Trying to protect it is too risky. It must be hidden.”