“Here,” he said, gently wresting the bottle out of Lucius’s hands. “Drink this instead.” He dug in his carry bag and pulled out a biscuit, pressing it into Lucius’s hand. When the old man just sat clutching it, Han broke off a piece and put it in his mouth.

Lucius chewed mechanically, his bristled jaw working up and down. Dog lapped noisily at his water. Han rooted through Lucius’s cupboards and found an end of ham that he broke into pieces. He put part into Dog’s food dish and fed the rest to Lucius, bit by little bit, alternating with sips of water.

Dog wolfed his down.

“They said you was dead,” Lucius mumbled, and Han knew he was back to his senses. “I thought it was my fault, for telling you to keep the jinxpiece.”

“Who said I was dead?” Han asked.

“They said you was murdered down by the river,” Lucius went on. “Ripped apart by demons.”

Understanding flooded in. “Oh. That was my doing. I wanted people to think I was dead.”

Lucius stopped chewing. “Are they after you, then? The Bayars?”

Always the Bayars. “No. The bluejackets are after me. The Queen’s Guard. They think I killed a dozen people.”

“Ah.” Lucius heaved a great sigh of relief. “Thank the Maker it’s nothing worse.”

“It’s bad enough!” Han exploded. “I can’t go home, I can’t make a living. I’m stuck here on Hanalea.”

“There’s worse things,” Lucius said, eating on his own now. “Did you kill ’em? Those people?”

“No, I didn’t kill them! You know better than that. I’m out of that. Or trying to be.”

“Well, then. Give the bluejackets time. Once the hoopla dies down, they’ll be buyable again.” Lucius licked his fingers and reached down, groping for the bottle.

Han put the cup of water in his hand. “I think you’d better stick with this.”

Lucius sighed and said, “So you’re going to stay at Marisa Pines?”

“For now. I’m not going to be able to deliver for you for a while, anyway. I’m sorry.”

“Where’s the amulet?”

“It’s hidden. Back in town.” Which was inconvenient, now that he thought about it. It would be difficult to get.

Lucius coughed and spat on the ground, the way old men do. “Maybe you should consider going south, to Bruinswallow or We’enhaven. Or east to Chalk Cliffs, and get a job on the docks. You’d be safer there.”

“Well.” Han fingered the cuffs around his wrists. “I was thinking of Arden, or Tamron. It’s not so far away. I could get home to see Mari and Mam now and then.”

“There’s a war going on, boy, or hadn’t you heard?”

“I thought I could go as a line soldier,” Han said. This was his latest idea.