While Queen Estie held her breath, the woman continued.

—Yesterday, we feared that some or all of the General’s men were dead. But they made fires. With flames and lightning, they set their dead mounts burning. That kept them alive. This morning, most of them arose.

She hesitated.

—Perhaps not all.

There the Farsighted fell silent. She may have believed that she had said enough. But Magister Oblique had more. For Crayn’s sake, she repeated herself as she wrote.

—The Farsighted have also scanned Amika. They have seen no sign of the enemy. All of your bridges are gone. Commander Forguile guards Fivebridge with a company of riflemen—and with a man we take to be Prince Lome. While he has guns and grenades, the Commander can hold the Line River.

Estie said nothing. She could not think about anything except Bifalt.

Briefly, Oblique stroked the Queen’s forearm, wiping other words away so that she could resume her own tidings.

—Also, there is this, Queen. It is speculation, but we lack certain knowledge. To come so far in so short a time, General Klamath must have been pursued by the Great God’s cavalry. But then the cavalry withdrew. Why, we cannot imagine. The fact remains. Those men and beasts have returned toward the Open Hand.

—His infantry march toward us. Their numbers are immense, but they are not swift. Only their sorcerers are mounted. Time will pass before they can threaten the General again.

Queen Estie shook her head. She should have been grieved by what Klamath and his army had suffered—and relieved that he had survived. Instead, she received Magister Oblique’s news without attending to it. The shock of learning that Bifalt lived shook her foundations.

The pressure pulled her to her feet. She needed to anchor herself until she recovered her balance.

Then she remembered the sense of purpose that had taken her to face Tak Biondi, and had sustained her past his death to her confrontation in the librarian’s workroom.

Trembling, she asked, “How is Magister Avail?”

Magister Oblique rose from her seat, clasped Estie’s forearm. Quickly, she tapped:

—He is in his quarters with Magister Rummage. They have locked the door. They refuse healers. They refuse servants with food. They have turned the librarian away. Their distress must be extreme.

As if she were not staggering, Queen Estie faced the Magister. “Will you take me to them?”

Oblique looked helpless.

—You do not understand, Queen. They—

Estie was a monarch who had forsaken her people, abandoned her husband—and for what? So that she could become deaf? She had no patience in her. Politeness was impossible.

She interrupted Oblique sharply. “I understand well enough. I expected dishonesty from Magister Marrow. But they trusted him”—Avail and Rummage. “To them, he was worse than dishonest. He disregarded their well-being.”

Unable to bear the delay of an argument, she turned to Joyly. “Will you take me?”