‘Yeah, but Korlok and Angmire aren’t ruined ruined,’ said Cronyl. ‘I don’t mean fallen stones and traces. The woods are full of that kind of rubble. I thought we were talking places that are still standing.’

‘This place would be intact,’ Drusher said to Voriet. ‘At least, in recent memory. There was somebody living in it maybe fifty or sixty years ago.’

The deputies shook their heads.

‘Nowhere like that, sir,’ said Edde.

‘You sure you mean Keshtre?’ asked Garofar.

‘What about the name Draven Sark?’ asked Drusher.

The deputies looked blank.

‘Let’s go check it,’ said Macks. ‘All the research material is in the library. Garofar, you come along.’

‘Do you need me?’ Nayl asked Voriet.

‘Get your things together, Harlon,’ said Voriet. ‘Take Cronyl and Edde, and do a sweep. Make sure we’re locked down.’

Drusher and Macks followed Voriet up the stairs to the library. Garofar hurried along behind them, buttoning his service jacket.

Drusher hadn’t seen the library before. It smelled of damp. Rain battered at the shutters and rustled the plastek sheeting. The room was lit by glow-globes and candles. The wind was fluttering the candle flames and stirring loose papers stacked with the piles of old books.

Audla Jaff was sitting on the chaise, working methodically through a pile of tomes.

‘Anything?’ asked Voriet.

‘The name Keshtre appears in three folk tales,’ she replied. ‘It’s not a location. It’s just a myth. An imaginary place.’

‘Why would he have told me a lie?’ asked Drusher.

‘Who?’ asked Macks.

Drusher shook his head.

‘The word is not Unkaran dialect,’ said Jaff. ‘All the fortresses have names of Karanine origin. Even those of the Pre-Udaran Era. “Keshtre” is a derivative of the Fent language of Outer Udar. Possibly a pre-Gothic proto-root. It means “speaking place” or “meeting place”. A moot or court, perhaps, but there is a sinister aspect to it. Literally, “forbidden speaking place”, or “place of unholy speech”. I repeat, it’s not a physical location. It’s not on the maps. It’s not in the histories.’

‘It could be an old name for somewhere else,’ said Drusher.

‘Not that I’ve found,’ said Jaff. She looked somewhat annoyed.

‘Keep looking through the old man’s books,’ said Voriet.

‘There are only a few I haven’t reviewed,’ Jaff replied.

‘Then go back over the rest,’ Voriet snapped.

‘I retain everything I read, interrogator,’ Jaff protested.

‘Just do it,’ said Voriet. ‘I’m not doubting your abilities, savant. We now have key words to look for. Names. Keshtre and Draven Sark. We have an approximate location. You may make a connection that you didn’t make before.’

She sniffed.

‘Of course,’ she said, and turned back to the books.

‘We’ll look over the area maps again,’ said Voriet. Garofar and Macks were already rolling out the Magistratum charts on a side table. They had territorial surveys dating back nine decades.