The captain of the Home Guard stared at the Elfstone, and then he looked up at the boy. “How could you have found something like this, Kirisin?” he asked. “Are you sure of what it is?”

But before the boy could answer him, a familiar figure appeared in front of them, big and looming. “So there you are, Little K.”

Kirisin looked up to find Tragen standing next to them, his dark features lined with a mix of worry and confusion. And something else. Despair? Desperation? Kirisin wasn’t sure. The big man tried a quick smile. “Hello, Sim.”

“What is it, Tragen,” Maurin Ortish asked, clearly irritated by the interruption. Tragen looked exhausted. His clothes were torn and dirtied, and his face was scratched. “I need to speak with the King at once. Things are much worse than we thought.”

“Give your report to me.”

Tragen shook his head. “If I give it in the presence of the King and the members of the High Council, maybe I can say something that will help Kirisin and Simralin. About what they are telling you. About the Loden Elfstone. Please, Captain, let me come inside with you.”

Kirisin blinked. How long had Tragen been standing there? How much of what was said had he heard?

Where had he come from, for that matter? He hadn’t been there before, had he?

Ortish glanced past the big Tracker. “Where are the others?”

“Dead. We were discovered, attacked, and then chased. The enemy caught up to us all, one by one. I was lucky. I fell down a ravine, and they lost sight of me in the dark. I hid until they had wandered away and I was able to crawl out again. Captain, please.”

Kirisin suddenly realized that he was standing there holding the Loden in his hand for anyone to see who happened to walk up to him. He closed his fingers around it and dropped it back into his pocket.

“Maurin, I think we all need a chance to speak before the High Council,” Simralin repeated. “Please give it to us.”

Maurin Ortish nodded. “I won’t promise that you’ll get two words out before the King has you hauled away. But I will take you into the chambers and let you do your best. Tragen, you might as well come with them if you’ve got something to say that bears on this.”

He signaled over to four of the guards. “But you’ll have company, so please don’t do anything to make me regret this decision.”

Leaving the remainder of the Home Guard without, he led the way over to the chamber doors and pushed them open.

TEN