Belatedly, Borenson realized that he had departed from the script King Orden had written for him. He was trying too hard to be clever, working too hard to go his lord one better. By doing so, he might well have jeopardized his whole mission.

His face burning with shame, Borenson turned his horse around, began to leave. He doubted that Raj Ahten would let him go. The Wolf Lord had to be terrified, had to wonder whether King Orden had captured the forcibles in Longmot. Had to wonder how many might be offered in ransom.

“Wait!” Raj Ahten called at Borenson’s back.

Borenson glanced over his shoulder.

“What will you offer me, if I show you the Prince?”

Borenson said nothing, for at the moment he feared to speak, so he just urged his horse to walk slowly away.

Borenson rode his horse a hundred yards, fully conscious that this little encounter could still go astray. He was within bowshot of the castle, and Raj Ahten’s wizards manned the walls. Raj Ahten would not let him escape without trying to wring some information from him.

Yet Borenson asked himself once again, If Raj Ahten has the Prince, why does he not show him?

Borenson turned his horse, gazed up into Raj Ahten’s dark eyes. “Gaborn safely reached our camp last night,” he lied bold-faced, “and I fear that I can no longer offer any ransom. I came only to bring that message.”

Raj Ahten showed no emotion, but the frightened, self-consciously determined faces of his counselors spoke volumes. Borenson felt sure he had guessed correctly, that Raj Ahten did not have the Prince. He remembered a few scouts his men had killed last night, and another party of scouts his men had fought deep in the woods an hour ago. Why else would so many of Raj Ahten’s troops have been scouring the forest?

“However,” Borenson continued, “House Sylvarresta is an old and valued ally to my lord. I can offer something for the King’s family, for their safe return.”

“What?” Raj Ahten asked.

Borenson departed further from the script Lord Orden had composed for him. “A hundred forcibles for each member of the royal family.”

Raj Ahten laughed now, laughed with relief and scorn. Here in the North, where blood metal had been so scarce the past ten years, three hundred forcibles might seem a princely sum. But to Raj Ahten, who had forty thousand forcibles hidden in Longmot, it was nothing. Raj Ahten no longer believed that Orden had taken Castle Longmot, just as Borenson had planned.