“Shh,” Janel said before returning to Kihrin. “When we met in the Afterlife, you told me your story. You’d died trying to stop Gadrith D’Lorus, whom you suspected of plotting to kill the emperor. On waking, I discovered the emperor was dead. Gadrith was dead. And someone had broken the Stone of Shackles, which freed all gaeshed slaves—but likewise freed all gaeshed demons. And I know destroying a Cornerstone like the Stone of Shackles requires the sword Urthaenriel, also known as Godslayer.”

Kihrin managed not to swallow. She’d hit the major points. “All very interesting, but I’m not hearing an explanation.”

She lifted her chin. “I was looking for you, but I couldn’t find you.” Janel lowered her voice again. “Magic couldn’t find you. And since I’d used a Cornerstone to search, the easiest explanation for why it failed was that you must be holding Godslayer. It’s somewhere on you, right now. Since we had no way to track you, we took a chance that sooner or later you’d try to use the gate system.”

“And…?” Kihrin motioned for her to continue.

“And we bribed the Gatekeepers Guild to watch for you.”

“That way they would link you here to this Gatestone rather than your original destination,” Qown added.

“Jorat.”

Janel tilted her head. “Excuse me?”

“I was already coming here. To Jorat. Because I need to—” Kihrin stopped himself.

Because I need to find the Black Knight, Kihrin thought. Because a single person isn’t going to fulfill the prophecies as the Hellwarrior. We suspect they refer to a quartet, with only three accounted for so far: Therin’s son, Doc’s son, and Sandus’s son.

Which means there’s one more son to go.

Kihrin realized she still waited on him to finish explaining why he was there. Instead, he smiled and asked, “Where are we in Jorat, anyway?”

“Avranila,” Janel said. “A town in the northeast.” She sighed. “I’d hoped you might make it here sooner. What delayed you?”

“I needed a bath,” Kihrin said.

She didn’t seem to find that funny.

Kihrin sighed. “There was a Hellmarch going on in the Capital. Refugees swamped any Gatestone within ten miles of the Capital, and we had to walk because Scandal wasn’t about to let anyone ride her. We ended up traveling another thirty miles to reach the next available gate. And I wondered at how easy it was to bribe that Gatekeeper; he must have been taking extra metal to follow your orders.”

Janel cleared her throat. “Just as well. We worried some enterprising Gatekeeper would try to play it both ways.”

Brother Qown added, “There is a reward offered by House D’Mon for your ‘safe return.’”