Alberic stood in the doorway, burly men behind him. He wore a silk tunic trimmed with dark fur and small boots that must have cost the shoemaker an immense amount of trouble.

‘Mmm.’ He glanced around the cell. ‘The guest room could do with a little more work. But then most of our guests don’t leave. What about you?’

Galen stood up, tall and grim. ‘We’ve decided. We’ll find your Sekoi.’

Alberic grinned, slyly. ‘Oh, excellent,’ he murmured. ‘I knew you would.’

The Bee’s Warning

The Bee’s Warning

6

The agent must carry out a proper surveillance.

Rule of the Watch

Journal of Carys Ärrin

Cyraxday

4.16.546

It was a light of some sort. Nothing like I’ve ever seen before. Something utterly, brilliantly white, and it flashed out from the top window of the fortress, facing east, two hours after dusk.

If I hadn’t been watching the place closely I might have missed it, though both the pack-beast and the horse skittered and stamped in fright. For a moment I was afraid they’d be heard, but I needn’t have worried; all the animals in Alberic’s pens were just as terrified; the clamour of geese and the barking of all the dogs came up clear through the drizzle.

I got to the fortress this afternoon, and camped on a rocky knoll above it. It’s sheltered here. Two great pines sprout out over the cliff; by climbing one I’m well hidden and have a good view of Alberic’s defences. (A separate report on these will go the Watch as soon as I find someone to take it.)

At first there were a lot of people about; as it got dark and the weather closed in, they went indoors. A fine, grey drizzle fell, but I was well sheltered. After the light flashed out, I lay along the branch and thought about it. First, it had to mean that Galen Harn was inside the fortress. Only he could have done that, or his scholar – though according to our information Raffael Morel has only been with him for four years, since Harn took him from his father’s farm.

And they must have used a relic. This was no wood and water mumbo-jumbo, no sacred trees or spirit journeys. This was something brimming with power, blinding. Something of the Makers.

For a long time I waited, fidgeting with curiosity. What was going on in there? Harn and Alberic must be in some plot together, brewing something against the Watch. If only I could have got inside!

Ten minutes later, the light came again.

I was ready this time, and it may have been nearer the window, or simply stronger, because the ray was breathtaking – pure white, so that in one instant I saw all the roofs of the buildings below lit in a sudden stark glare; squalid walls and rain and a pig lying on its side in a sty. Then blackness.