Zedd smiled a little. “Yes it does. Any visions?”

“No. Just the faint aura.”

The wizard nodded in thought, then brightened. “By the way, why has a woman as lovely as you not found herself a husband?”

She gave him a sidelong glance. “Three have asked. As each was on bended knee before me, I saw a vision of them lying with another woman.”

Zedd grinned. “did they ask why you said no?”

“I didn’t say no. I only slapped them so hard it made their heads ring like a bell.”

Zedd laughed until she was caught up in it. Trimack came at last to a halt before them. Commander General Trimack, may I introduce the Lady Bevinvier.” Trimack gave a smart bow. As are you, as am I, this lady is one who is at the task of keeping harm from getting a glance at Lord Rahl. I would like her to have a heavy guard at all times while she is in the palace. Lord Rahl needs her help, and I don’t want her life risked again as it was today.”

“While she is in the palace she will be as safe as a babe in her mother’s arms. By my honor.” He turned and gave a coded tap to his shoulder. A good two dozen men of the First File came at a dead run, freezing to a halt at attention, not even breathing hard. “This is the Lady Bevinvier. Every one of your lives before hers.”

With a sharp snap, every fist came to an armored heart as one. Two of them took Jebra’s weight from Zedd. She kept one hand tightly closed around the Stone. The purse of gold bulged in a pocket of her long, green skirt. It was covered most of the way down with dried blood.

Zedd addressed the men holding her up. “she will need suitable quarters, and meals brought in. Please see to it she is not disturbed by anyone but me.” He looked at her tired blue eyes and gently touched her arm. “rest well, child. I will visit you in the morning.”

She smiled weakly. “Thank you, Zedd.” As the soldiers helped her away, the wizard turned his attention to Trimack. “There is a woman staying in the palace, a Lady Ordith Condatith de Dackidvich. Lord Rahl is going to have enough trouble without her kind around. I want her out of here before the day is finished. If she refuses to leave, offer her the choice of a carriage or a noose.”

Trimack grinned wickedly. “I will see to it personally.”

“If there are any others you know of about the palace, who are of her temperament, feel free to make them the same offer. New rule brings change.” Zedd couldn’t see auras, but he was sure that if Jebra had been standing there, she would have seen Trimack’s brighten.

“Some are uncomfortable with change, Wizard Zorander.” The man had spoken more than his simple words. Are there any above you in command in the palace? Other than Lord Rahl?”

Trimack clasped his hands behind his back as his eyes swept the hall. There is one named Demmin Nass, commander of the quads, who gave orders to all but Darken Rahl.”

Zedd let out a heavy breath at that memory. “He is dead.”

Trimack nodded with what might have been relief. “Below the palace, quartered in the chambers of the plateau, there are perhaps thirty thousand men of the army. Their generals outrank me in the field, but in the palace the word of the commander general of the First File is law. Some of them I know will welcome the change. Some will not.”

“Richard is going to have a difficult enough time being the magic against magic—underworld magic—without troubles from steel. You have a free hand, Commander, to do as you see fit to protect him. Err on the side of duty.”

Trimack grunted acknowledgment, then went on. “The People’s Palace, one roof though it may be, is a city. Thousands live here. Merchants and supplies, trains of wagons to lone peddlers, come and go in an endless stream in all directions except to the east, across the Azrith Plains. The roads in are the arteries that feed the heart of D’Hara—the People’s Palace.

The inside of the plateau is chambered with twice the number of rooms of the palace above ground. As with any city of this size, the motives of the multitudes coming here are beyond our ability to judge with absolute certainty.

“I will have the great inner doors closed and seal off the palace above ground. It is something that has not been done in a few hundred years, and it will cause worry among the people of D’Hara, but I would risk the worried talk. The only way to the palace itself, if not through the inside entrances, is up the cliff road on the east side. I will keep the bridge up.

That still leaves us with thousands in the palace proper. Any of them could have designs not to our liking. Worse, there are thousands of battle-tested soldiers in the belly of the palace, many led by men I would not want getting a glance at Lord Rahl. I have a feeling the new Lord Rahl is not the kind of Rahl they are used to dealing with, and they are not going to like the change.

“D’Hara is a vast empire, the supply routes long. Perhaps it is time some of these divisions were sent out to see to the safety of these routes, especially the ones to the far south, near the wilds, where I have heard rumor there is unrest and trouble. And perhaps from the ranks of the ones I trust, the size of the First File could be increased threefold.”

Zedd studied Trimack’s face as the man continued to scan the hall. “I am no soldier, but your ideas make sense. The palace must be made as secure as possible. How you do it is up to you.”

“I will give you a list then, in the morning, of the generals to be trusted and those to worry about.”

“Why would I need such a list?”

Trimack’s intense gaze was steady. “Because orders such as these must come from one with the gift.”

Zedd shook his head, muttering, “Wizards should not be ruling people. It’s not right.”

“It is the way in D’Hara. Magic and steel. I want to protect Lord Rahl. This is what I think needs to be done.”

Zedd stared off into the distance, feeling the ache of exhaustion in his bones. “do you know, Trimack, that I have fought and killed wizards who wanted to take it upon themselves to rule?”

When an answer didn’t come, Zedd turned back to the officer. Trimack was studying him. “Given the choice, Wizard Zorander, I would choose to serve one who bears command as a burden, to one who wears the mantle as a right.”

Zedd sighed and nodded. “In the morning then. There is one other matter, the most important of all: I want the Garden of Life guarded. That is where the screeling first attacked. I don’t know if there will be more. There is a door up there that will have to be fixed. Put a ring of steel around the garden. Enough men that they have room only to swing an axe. No one, no one at all, is to be allowed to go in except myself or Richard, or by our order.

“Anyone attempting to go into that room is to be viewed as harm trying to get a look at Lord Rahl. Even one who tells you he is there only to pull weeds. And you can bet your mother’s honor that anything trying to get out is harm trying to have more than a look.”

Trimack clapped his fist to his armored chest. To the last man, Wizard Zorander.”

“Good. Lord Rahl may need what’s in that room. I don’t dare to move those things for the time being. They are extremely dangerous. Take very seriously the guarding of that room, Commander. More screelings could come. Or worse.”

“How soon?”

“I would not have thought we would have seen the first for a year or more. At least months. That the Keeper could have loosed one of his assassins so soon is a great worry. I don’t know who it was sent for. It’s possible it was simply sent to kill whoever was around. The Keeper needs no reason to kill. I must leave the palace tomorrow to learn what I can before we are surprised again.”

Trimack pondered this with troubled eyes. “do you know when Lord Rahl will return?”

Zedd shook his head. “No. I thought I was going to have time to teach him some of what he must know, but now I must send for him at once to meet me in Aydindril and see if we can discover what must be done. He is in great danger and knows nothing of it. Events have outpaced me. I have no idea what the Keeper is going to do next, but I now fear how deep his tendrils may be. That they were around Darken Rahl even before the veil was torn means I have already been an ignorant fool in this business.