She hesitated a second. Then she cast aside her cloak, tore loose the bow thatheld the cross-lacing of her jerkin at her throat, and unthreaded it so that thegarment fell wide to reveal the cicatrices, brown on brown, which would neverfade, and the great foul keloid like a turd where her right breast might havebeen.

'Why try to hide anything from a wizard?' she said bitterly. 'He commanded themen who did this to me, and far far worse to many others. I thought they werebandits! I came to Sanctuary hoping that here if anywhere I might get wind ofthem - how could bandits gain access to Ranke or the conquered cities? But Inever dreamed they would present themselves in the guise of imperial guards!'

'They ...?' Enas Yorl probed.

'Ah ... No. I confess: it's only one that I can swear to.'

'How old were you?'

'I was nine. And six grown men took pleasure of me, before they beat me withwire whips and left me for dead.'

'I see.' He retrieved the scroll and with its end tapped the table absently.'Can you now divine what is in this message? Bear in mind that it forced mehither.'

'Forced? But I'd have thought -'

'I found myself here by choice? Oh, the contrary!' A bitter laugh rang out,acid-shrill. 'I said we're both victims. Long ago when I was young I wasextremely foolish. I tried to seduce away the bride of someone more powerfulthan me. When he found out, I was able to defend myself, but ... Do youunderstand what a spell is?'

She shook her head.

'It's ... activity. As much activity as a rock is passivity, which is consciousof being a rock but of nothing else. A worm is a little more aware; a dog orhorse, much more; a human being, vastly more - but not infinitely more. Inwildfire, storms, stars, can be found processes which with no consciousness ofwhat they are act upon the outside world. A spell is such a process, created byan act of will, having neither aim nor purpose save what its creator lends. Andto me my rival bequeathed ... But no matter. I begin' to sound as though I pitymyself, and I know my fate is just. Shall we despise justice? This scroll can bean instrument of it. Written on it are two sentences.

'Of death.'

While he spoke, there had been further changes under his concealing garb. Hisvoice was now mellow and rich, and his hands, although very slender, possessedthe ordinary number of joints. However, the redness still glowed.

'If one sentence is upon Commander Nizharu,' Jarveena said firmly, 'may it beexecuted soon.'

'That could be arranged.' A sardonic inflection coloured the words. 'At aprice.'

'The scroll doesn't refer to him? I imagined -'

'You imagined it spelt his doom, and that was why he was so anxious about itsloss? In a way that's correct. In a way ... And I can make certain that thatshall be the outcome. At a price.'

'What - price?' Her voice quavered against her will.

He rose slowly from his chair, shaking his cloak out to its fullest; it sweptthe floor with a faint rustling sound.

'Need you ask, of one who so plainly is obsessed by lust for women? That was thereason for my downfall. I explained.'

Ice seemed to form around her heart. Her mouth was desert on the instant.

'Oh, why be so timid?' purred Enas, Yorl, taking her hand in his. 'You'veendured many worse bedfellows. I promise.'

It was true enough that the only means she had found to cross , the wearyleagues between Forgotten Holt and Sanctuary had been | to yield her body: tomerchants, mercenaries, grooms, guards-' men ...

'Tell me first,' she said with a final flare of spirit, 'whose deaths are citedin the document.'

'Fair,' said the wizard. 'Know, then, that one is an unnamed man, who is to befalsely convicted of the murder of another. And that other is the new governor,the prince.' Thereupon the light faded, and he embraced her unresisting.

5

She woke late, at least half an hour past dawn. She was in her own bed; thedormitory was otherwise empty. All her limbs were pervaded by a deliciouslanguor. Enas Yorl had kept his promise. If he had been equally skilled when hewas younger, small wonder his rival's bride had preferred him to her husband!

Reluctantly opening her eyes, she saw something on the rough pillow. Puzzled,she looked again, reached out, touched: green, iridescent, powdery -

Scales!

With a cry she leapt from the bed, just as Melilot marched in, red-faced withfury.

'So there you- are, you little slut! Where were you all night? I watched until Icould stay awake no longer! By now I was sure you'd been taken by the guard andthrown in jail! What did Nizharu say?'

Naked, bewildered, for a long moment Jarveena was at a loss. Then her eye fellon something infinitely reassuring. On the wooden peg over her bed hung hercloak, jerkin and breeches, and also her precious writing-case, just as thoughshe herself had replaced them on retiring.

Seizing the case, she opened the compartment where she hid such things, andtriumphantly produced the gold she had accepted from the commander - but not thesilver he had allotted to herself.

'He paid this for a false rendering of the scroll,' she said. 'But you're not tomake one.'

'What?' Snatching the coins, Melilot made to bite them, but checked.

'How would you like to be scribe by appointment to the governor's household?'

'Are you crazed?' The fat man's eyes bulbed.

'Not in the least.' Heedless of his presence, Jarveena reached under the bed forher chamberpot and put it to its appropriate use. Meantime she explained theplot she had hatched.

'But this means you're claiming to have read the scroll,' Melilot said slowly ashe tried to digest her proposals. 'It's enchanted! How could you?'

'Not I, but Enas Yorl.'

Melilot's mouth worked and all his colour drained away. 'But his palace isguarded by basilisks!' he exclaimed at last. 'You'd have been struck to stone!'

'It doesn't quite work like that,' Jarveena said, pulling on her breeches,giving silent thanks that she could do so briskly. That dreadful paralysis wouldhaunt her dreams for years. 'To settle the argument, though, why don't you bringthe scroll? I mean, why don't we go and take another look at it?'

They were in his sanctum a couple of minutes later.

'It's perfectly clear,' Melilot said slowly when he had perused the documenttwice. 'It's very stilted - formal Rankene - and I don't know anybody here or inthe conquered cities who would use it for a letter. But it says exactly what yousaid it would.'

A tremor of awe made his rolls of fat wobble.

'You're satisfied it's the same scroll? There's been no substitution?' Jarveenapressed.

'Yes! It's been all night in a locked chest! Only magic can account for what'shappened to it!'

'Then,' she said with satisfaction, 'let's get on with the job.'

Each noon, in the grounds of the Governor's Palace before the Halls of Justice,the guard was inspected and rotated. This ceremony was open to the public - toeverybody, in principle, but in practice only to those who could afford to bribethe gate guards. Hence most of the spectators were of the upper class, hangerson of the nobility, or making an appearance at the law courts. Not a few bore ageneral resemblance, in figure or clothing and in their retinue, to Melilot, whowas in any case a frequent visitor when transcripts of evidence were in demand.

Therefore his presence and Jarveena's were unremarkable. Moreover word had gotabout that today was the last day when the crack imperial guards would performthe ceremonial drill before fifteen of them were ordered back to Ranke. Therewas a much larger throng than usual awaiting the appearance of the governor, oneof whose customary chores this was whenever he was in residence.