The perfect opportunity-all Jacerryl had needed to do was act quickly.

Tycho squeezed his eyes shut. The white gravel that Brin had shaken out of the tin tube. He'd seen that, too. It filled the pots of evergreen branches in Mard Dantakain's entrance hall, the pots he'd stood beside while Jacerryl gave him the beljurils. He cracked his eyes open again. Desmada was staring at him. "Get out of here," he spat at her. "We're finished."

"Lunatic. Good luck with Brin-you're going to need it." Desmada slammed her sword back into its sheath and grinned viciously. "Think maybe I'll start up a pool. How long will Tycho last after Brin gets hold of him?"

She turned and swaggered away. Li turned red and reached out to grab her shoulder, but Tycho stopped him. "She'll tell people that you're in trouble!" the Shou protested.

"Gossip is probably already flying," Tycho spat. "The magic will fog her mind, though. In a few minutes, Desmada will only barely remember talking to us." He curled his hands into fists and smacked them into his forehead. "Bind me! It was Jacerryl!"

Li looked at him, puzzled. Tycho shook his head. "I'll explain on the way. Come on-we're going back to hightown." He stomped off along the street, forcing Li to scramble to catch up to him.

It was like the goddess of fortune had stepped down from on high and kissed him.

Lander stepped out of his hiding place at the top of the street and watched the pair vanish into the gloom. Unbelievable! After a long while tracking Desmada down, he had been just about to hail her when a call from the other end of the street had drawn her attention. Tycho's voice, but it was the sight of the tall man with him that had made Lander's jaw drop. He had ducked into a doorway and watched as Tycho and Li Chien-alive after all-spoke with Desmada. The bard and the Shou were working together!

He couldn't be sure what they had said-he was too far away to catch anything other than the occasional word when voices rose-but Tycho was after Brin's beljurils, that much was clear. What Kuang Li Chien was doing with him… He cursed under his breath. The alley off Gold Lane where he had left the Shou lay between the Wench's Ease and the building on Bakers Way where Tycho lived with his doddering old teacher! Tycho must have found Li Chien last night and rescued him.

What now? Lander bit his lip. They were going somewhere-should he follow them? His hand dropped to the handle of the stolen saber, but he hesitated. Two of them, one of him, and Li Chien fought like a demon. The Shou had managed to get some of his clothes back-Tycho must have guided him to Giras. He had a weapon, too. Lander let go of the saber. It would be safer to catch up with Des-mada and ask her what had happened. Safer, but probably unnecessary. He could talk to her any time.

Li Chien was the one he wanted. Searching Spandeli-yon for him without any clues to his whereabouts had been like gambling at a crooked table. But knowing he was with Tycho… that changed the game. Lander knew Tycho. He knew the places the bard frequented and where he slept at night. Lander cracked his knuckles and turned back toward the Eel. Brin was finally going to get some good news today.

There was a knocking on the other side of the door. "Natala?" called Jacerryl sweetly. "Folco tells me you've come to see me." The latch jiggled and rose and the door opened a narrow crack. Light speared the darkness. Jacerryl's head followed, turning from side to side as he looked around. "No lights? What are you up to, my saucy little minx?" He stepped inside and closed the door behind himself. "A little game of wolf and rabbit? Or is it blind man's bluff?" Footsteps and the rustle of clothing being shed. "Give me a hint, darling-hot or cold?"

"Oh, very cold." Tycho unclenched his fist and let the light of a glowing coin shine out. Jacerryl, doublet off and caught in the act of pulling open his shirt, froze. His mouth dropped open. He stumbled back. Li stepped out from where he had hidden behind the door and gave him a firm push forward. Tycho, perched on the foot of the man's bedstead, smiled down at him. "Olore, Jacerryl. Expecting someone else?"

"You!" Jacerryl stood straight, trying to act firm and dignified as he hastily began to rebutton his shirt. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

He shot a glance toward the door. Tycho gestured and Li moved to stand between him and it. "You're not the only one I know in this house, Jacerryl. One of your servants-and I'm not saying which one, so don't ask-owed me a favor." He tossed the glowing coin to Li and shifted his strilling around on its strap, positioning the instrument against his arm. "We need to have a little chat about Brin's beljurils."

"Why? They were just fine when I gave them to you, weren't they?"

The response was a little too fast, a little practiced. "Did I say there was something wrong with them?" Tycho set his bow against the strings of the strilling and began to play a soft, droning melody. "What would make you think that there was?"

"N-nothing," Jacerryl stammered. He swallowed and seemed to summon up a bit of courage. "Neither of you are particularly welcome around here," he said. "All I have to do is yell, and Mard will be in here with a squad of guards instantly."

Tycho kept playing. "Mard isn't home right now. And there is exactly one guard in the house."

"The servants will come! You might have conned one of them into letting you in-"

"-and getting you up here," Tycho reminded him.

"-and tricking me," Jacerryl agreed between gritted teeth, "but one treacherous servant won't be able to help you when you're found assaulting me in my own chambers. You've already been arrested in this house once today!"

"Stop posturing, Jacerryl." Tycho gathered his concentration, focusing on the music. "Tell me what you did with the beljurils!"

It was the same spell he had worked on Desmada, backed up this time with the music of the strilling as well as the song of his voice. He focused his will as the magic washed through him, bending the enchantment toward Jacerryl.

The other man just tensed, his face screwed up. "I won't tell you anything!"

The carefully woven magic faltered, frayed, and fell apart. Tycho struck a discordant note on his strilling in surprise. Jacerryl cracked open one eye then the other. "Ha! Was that the best you could do? I passed the beljurils on to you and that's all! Now get-"

With a muted growl, Li reached out, spun him around, and hit him hard with a backhanded blow. Jacerryl swayed once and slipped to the ground.

Tycho stared at him then glowered at Li. "I know we had a plan worked out this time!" he said in Shou. Li shrugged.

"He resisted your magic. Were you just going to keep playing until he gave up?" He grunted. "Besides, he was annoying me."

Tycho sighed. "I guess I should be glad you didn't kill him, then. You've got a temper on you, you know." Li snorted.

"I have a temper? "

"J am the essence of calm!" Tycho slid his strilling around to his back, hopped down off the bed, and nodded to a high, well-stuffed chair. "Help me get him up in that."

Jacerryl moaned and stirred as they heaved him up off the floor and deposited him in the chair. His eyes opened and focused on them. Abruptly he stiffened, sucking in a lungful of air. His mouth opened wide, but Li's hand shot out fast and wrapped around his neck, pinning him to the back of the chair. Jacerryl's shout emerged as a strained gurgle. Li glanced at Tycho. "Maybe we need to try a more physical form of persuasion?" he suggested in Shou.

Tycho threw up his hands. "Fine. I give up." He leaned forward and met Jacerryl's gaze. "Jacerryl," he said bluntly in Common, "my friend here thinks we should just twist off your head right now."