«Looks like someone is blaming us for Rivi's crimes,» I sighed.

«Rivi is setting us up,» Hezekiah put in. «If she's taken over the brains of influential people…»

«I know. She could easily manufacture a case against us.»

«But how did she know we'd be here?» Wheezle asked.

I shrugged. «She probably checked the house in Plague-Mort after the dust had settled. When she didn't find our bodies, she concluded we were still alive. She asked around, discovered we'd made contact with November, and guessed we'd be heading for Sigil. Clever wee Rivi took the time to frame a nasty reception for when we showed…»

A sword point tickled the back of my ear.

«…up,» I finished.

The guards had clearly decided that arresting three bounty-paying murderers made better sense than tussling with one garden-variety drunk. In fact, they had pressed the minotaur into temporary deputyship; he was on his feet again, little the worse for the fisticuffs, and looking keen to take us down if it would earn a share of the reward.

The sword pricking my ear belonged to the desk sergeant, who showed strict adherence to the Harmonium Book of Clichs by saying, «Don't move a hair or you're dead.»

«Why not kill them anyway?» one of the other guards asked. «The signs say DEAD OR ALIVE.»

«Because these berks may know where the other three are… and if they start talking right now, we'll promise not to cut their throats.»

«Cut their throats?» Irene repeated. «How dare you threaten three royal princes!»

«How many princes've you killed, Saul?» one guard asked another.

«Including goblins, kobolds, mephits – upwards of a dozen, I'd say… and then, there's all the Prime world princelings, but who counts them?»

Hezekiah gulped. «We're really, really in trouble, aren't we?» he cried. With sobs in his throat, he reached out and grabbed a handful of my shirt, steadying himself on Wheezle's shoulder. «After everything we've been through…»

The boy blew his nose loudly on my lapel.

«Sorry,» I apologized to the nearest guard. «He's Clueless.»

«He is my prince!» Irene said, stepping forward to lay a comforting hand on his arm. «I shall stand by him for eternity.»

«As will I,» Wheezle pronounced. «Wherever we go, we shall go together, because we are joined as one.»

Which offered confirmation, if Hezekiah needed it: the boy now had physical contact with all four of us. The next moment, we were someplace far away from the squad station.

Hezekiah straightened up with an impish grin on his face. «I told you I could teleport us all. Sorry about the shirt, Britlin.»

«It will wash,» I answered graciously.

Hezekiah had teleported us somewhere he knew well: the street in front of the Mortuary. Not that it looked much like the place we had watched a few days earlier; the tenements were nothing but cinders, with occasional upthrusts of wood that had not burned completely to ash. Much of the surrounding pavement had been washed clean by rainfall – you can always count on Sigil for drizzle – but some patches of roadway were crusted over with crumbly residue that I guessed was humanoid skin… bits from the giant and the Collectors who'd been carrying him, grafted onto the cobblestones by the flash heat of the explosion.

The Mortuary itself showed little of its damage directly; the masonry had been black to begin with, so the singe marks blended in. However, a gridwork of scaffolding had been erected all around the building, with wooden beams propping up sections of the roof and walls. Even if nothing had collapsed immediately, the Dustmen must not trust the current structural soundness.

«It brings tears to my eyes,» Wheezle said softly.

«Do you want to go inside?» I asked. «Look up any of your friends?»

«That would not be wise,» he answered. «If Rivi has convinced the city I am one of those responsible for the fires – including the explosion here – I will have few friends. Besides, Rivi might well station spies in our factions, watching for our return. I do not think she could steal the mind of Factol Skall…»

«Agreed,» I said, remembering my brief encounter with Skall, as he drained the life from the renegade wight.

«But,» Wheezle continued, «I cannot reach the factol without first talking to his aides. Any one of them may have been compromised by Rivi.»

«The same goes for me approaching the Sensates,» I said. «Whom can we trust?»

«You can trust me, your majesty!» Irene answered, going down on one knee. «I am your humble servant.»

«Thank you,» I smiled, patting her wrinkled hand. «Your loyalty is well-pleasing to me.»

She beamed.

«So far as I can see,» Hezekiah said, «we have to find Rivi ourselves. Find her and defeat her.»

«Including Kiripao?» I asked. «Qi and Chi? A hundred renegade wights?»

«Sure,» the boy shrugged. «Them too.»

«But honored Clueless,» Wheezle said, «we don't even know where to find Rivi.»

«That's easy,» he answered. «The Vertical Sea.»

Hezekiah explained his reasoning as we slunk through the Hive toward the Sea. «It has a portal to the Glass Spider, right? And the Spider is Rivi's real base of operations. So even if she isn't at the fish-farm right now, I bet she comes and goes through the gate all the time. We just watch the place until she shows up.»

«Why should she come and go?» I asked. «Couldn't she take over some mansion in town? Just brainwash a wealthy leatherhead and peel everything he owns.»

«That would attract attention,» the boy answered. «Wealthy people have servants and nosy neighbors, not to mention business competitors spying for any advantage. Rivi might brain-nap a few rich vassals, but she won't want anyone to know they're connected with her – she still has to play things very carefully until she consolidates her power. Besides, she needs to secure the Vertical Sea, whether or not she's using the portal right now. It's her backdoor out of the city… and an access point for all her wights, if she ever needs them.»

«What you say makes sense,» Wheezle admitted, «but I cannot understand how Rivi could enter Sigil in the first place. All portals are controlled by The Lady of Pain… who has established an infallible track record for keeping out destabilizing influences. Why didn't The Lady simply close the doors to Rivi? Let our albino friend plague some other city.»

«I've been thinking about that,» I said, «and I have a theory. If Rivi couldn't enter Sigil, she'd try someplace else… where she'd either win or lose. If she won, she'd become that much more of a threat; if she lost, the grinders would fall into someone else's hands, and the mess would continue. In fact, the mess might get worse if the person who got the grinders was a high-powered fiend, something like that. Perhaps The Lady of Pain prefers to have Rivi and the grinders here within reach.»

«Then why doesn't The Lady just kill Rivi now?» Hezekiah asked. «Do you think she's afraid of the grinders, like Rivi said? Or that The Lady doesn't know where the grinders are?»

«It is possible,» Wheezle replied, «but more likely, she does not wish to earn the enmity of other gods. As I have told Britlin, the grinders are so supremely dangerous, the pantheons may unite to destroy any Power who tries to claim them. The Lady would surely try to avoid such a threat.»

«Besides,» I said, «it's not The Lady of Pain's style to take such overt action. She expects her people to keep the city streets clean.»

«Her people,» Hezekiah repeated. «Does that mean she's got a specially chosen team to deal with threats like Rivi?»

«Yes,» I told him, «and at the moment, the team is us. Let's not pike this up, kid – The Lady of Pain is notoriously unforgiving toward sods who let her down.»