Kurik sighed. ‘Use your head, Sparhawk. When people are on a journey, they usually start out first thing in the morning – about the same time that other people are going to work. A lot of workmen drink their breakfasts and so the taverns are usually open. When a tavern keeper’s waiting for the first customer of the day, he watches the street fairly closely. Believe me, Sparhawk, if Martel left Kadach in the last three days, at least half a dozen tavern keepers saw him.’

‘You’re an extraordinarily clever fellow, Kurik.’

‘Somebody in this party has to be, My Lord. As a group, knights don’t spend a great deal of their time thinking.’

‘Your class prejudices are showing, Kurik.’

‘We all have these little flaws, I guess.’

The streets of Kadach were very nearly deserted, and the few citizens abroad hurried along with their cloaks whipping around their ankles in the stiff wind. The torches set in the walls at intersections flared and streamed as the wind tore at them, casting wavering shadows that danced on the cobblestones of the streets.

The keeper of the first tavern they tried appeared to be his own best customer, and he had absolutely no idea of what time of day he normally opened his doors for business – or even what time of day it was now. The second tavern keeper was an unfriendly sort who spoke only in grunts. The third, however, proved to be a garrulous old fellow with a great fondness for conversation. ‘Well, now,’ he said, scratching at his head. ‘Lessee iff’n I kin call it t’ mind. The last three days, y’ say?’

‘About that, yes,’ Kurik told him. ‘Our friend said he’d meet us here, but we got delayed, and it looks as if he went on without us.’

‘Kin ye describe him agin?’

‘Fairly large man. He might have been wearing armour, but I couldn’t swear to that. If his head was uncovered, you’d have noticed him. He’s got white hair.’

‘Can’t seem t’ recollect nobody like that. Might could be he went out one t’ other gates.’

‘That’s possible, I suppose, but we’re fairly sure he was going east. Maybe he left town before you opened for business.’

‘Now that’s hardly likely. I opens ‘at door there when the watch opens the gate. Some of the fellers as works here in town lives on farms out yonder, an’ I usually gets some fairly brisk trade of a mornin’. Would yer friend a-bin travellin’ alone?’

‘No,’ Kurik replied. ‘He had a Churchman with him, and a lady of aristocratic background. There’d also have been a slack-jawed young fellow who looks about as stupid as a stump, and a big, burly man with a face like a gorilla.’