Jellan leaned toward the Regent, his mind racing.

“This is…this is what you must know. It was not me. It was a woman named Marian. But the Beast is risen. He is amongst us.”

Jellan would have said more but Cassius’s gaze shifted to the side, and he said, “I know.”

Jellan looked in that direction and stood solid when he saw five men had moved to the front of the crowd at that side.

The highwaymen.

He pointed at them.

“Those men set upon me to steal my purse!” he cried. “They are highwaymen!”

“I must admit, I had my suspicions, but as I have no evidence…” Cassius muttered, sounding amused.

Jellan’s attention whipped back to him.

“You must listen to me,” he begged.

“Do you deny any of this?” he asked.

“Yes!” Jellan shouted. “All of it! I must tell you of Marian.”

“Marian? G’Ry’s acolyte who’s gone missing?”

This question came from Farah.

“Yes, my queen.” He nodded repeatedly, not knowing if this was true, but willing to say anything to sound important to them. “It is vital you listen to what I have to say. The Beast—”

“Has great claws that can sever a man’s head and great strength that he can crush one. He can also transform from looking like simply a man, a fair-haired, blue-eyed one, to his real incarnation.”

It was Mars that spoke this.

How did they know so very much?

The priests and those girls who had gotten away.

They must have discovered them.

“Yes.” Jellan nodded fervently. “He is fearsome and conniving. He can act guileless, but he is not. It is falsity. He…he…also bleeds,” he shared, turning to the highwaymen. “When they set upon us, they used their whips.” He looked back to the podium. “They made him bleed.”

“And now he wanders about the countryside of Airen with a woman,” Aramus remarked.

“Yes.” Jellan continued nodding. “She is…not to be trusted. And he is, I do not know. I think he searches for something.”

“But you know not what?” Aramus asked.

Jellan did not wish to, but he shook his head.

And then his mind tripped upon an idea.

“But I think he is…he has some affection for her. As well as…as well as…” He swallowed. “Me. They think I am lost. A fright my horse took when we were set upon by the highwaymen. This I maneuvered in order to escape. I took a grave risk in order to come to you and warn you that the quakes were as we suspected. That it is good the prophesied are at full strength. And…p-perhaps, I-I could be used to…to lure him, to…to…bring him to you so that maybe you can use these dragons of which you speak—”

“Rest assured, G’Jell, we will be utilizing everything we have to eradicate this creature from Triton,” Cassius told him.

Jellan nodded again.