“Are you strong enough to walk?” I asked, changing the subject. I didn't want to tell him the bad news about Titus yet. He had been very close to his twin.

“I… almost.” He sighed then shook his head. After another short rest, he managed to stand and wade waist-deep into the pool, where he kicked off his rags, dunked his whole body under the water, and began splashing and scrubbing his body. When he finally emerged five minutes later, he didn't stink nearly as badly. Then he used the Logrus to find clean clothes and put them on, heedless of the occasional passers-by who gave us strange looks and a wide berth.

“What happened to you after Dad, Aber, and I left the Beyond?” I asked him.

He pulled on his pants slowly. “Uthor's men… it was a long time ago.” He gave a shudder. “Titus and I went to stay with our uncle, but they arrested us anyway. That was the last I saw of my brother. In the dungeons under the palace, King Uthor had me tortured for a while, but I didn't know anything about you or the Pattern. Not really. Finally, I couldn't take it. I confessed to everything they asked. I remembered saying I helped cause the storms and plotted with Dad to overthrow the king. That made them happy. I signed a lot of papers, admitting my guilt, and after that they threw me into a cell and forgot about me. I lived off rats and mice, mostly.”

“Horrible!” I murmured. “What about the Logrus? Couldn't you use it to call someone?”

“Spells block it in the dungeons.”

“Oh.” That made sense, since prisoners would certainly try to use it to escape. “And then…?” I prompted.

“Then an old man came for me—”

“Suhuy?” I asked.

“I didn't know his name.” Shrugging on his shirt, he tried to button it with shaking hands. I stepped forward and helped. “He said he was bringing me to you. He pointed his staff at me. The next thing I knew, I was lying face down on the ground at your feet.”

“Interesting,” I said thoughtfully. As much as I appreciated the safe return of my brother, I needed to know more about this mysterious Suhuy and his motives. Why did he want to meet me and make a good impression? How could rescuing Conner possibly be of benefit to him… unless he knew of our coming fight with Uthor and expected Uthor to lose. My thoughts about the powers of the Pattern being greater than those of the Logrus returned. Might I have hit on the truth by accident? I would have to talk to Dad about it. Maybe, between us, we could figure it out.

“Do you know if any other family members are still being held by Uthor?” I asked.

“Mattus, I think.”

“Mattus and Titus were both executed, according to Aber.”

“No! Are you sure?”

“He saw their heads stuck on the palace gates.”

Conner sat alongside the pool and began struggling to pull on his boots. Twice he almost fell backward into the water. In other circumstances it might have been comical. In other circumstances I would have laughed.

He said, “Someone told me King Uthor had arrested Freda—but that can't be true. You said she's here.”

“We rescued her from Thellops. He was using her to spy on us.”

Conner rose. He produced a swordbelt using the Logrus and buckled it on. Then he faced the inn and took a deep breath.

“Ready,” he announced.

“For what?”

“Dinner!” He grinned feebly.

The others were still seated at our round table. When Conner and I walked in, I found the lights had been turned down; more dancers swayed on the floor now, and the band played a fast if discordant tune.

It took everyone a moment to realize I hadn't returned alone. Then another moment to realize the unkempt stranger was actually the long-lost Conner.

“I found him outside, looking for us,” I said. “He escaped from Uthor's dungeon… with a little help from a friend.”

After much back-slapping and hugging and not a little crying from Freda, we dragged over another chair and ordered more food. While Conner tucked into a couple of thick steaks, I pulled Dad to one side and told him about what had really happened.

“Suhuy…” he murmured. “I know him. He was Thellops's apprentice. He would have become Keeper of the Logrus a thousand years or more from now, when Thellops died… he must consider that sudden promotion a favor and be seeking to pay you back for it. He would not want to be indebted to any of us.”

“He was talking about a game…”

“Oh?”

I repeated Suhuy's comments about upsetting the gameboard. Dad chuckled, then shrugged.

“There is a philosophy, based on the earliest writings of our people, which claims all of Chaos is a game for greater beings. Those who follow it call themselves Kindred. Perhaps he is one… a harmless enough faith, as faiths go. The Kindred seek to grow more powerful and, through their increased importance to the game and its outcome, grow closer to those who roll the cosmic dice. If he is one of the Kindred, you have done him a great favor by eliminating Thellops. Elevating Suhuy to a new position of power and rank would be important to him.”

“That must be it,” I murmured. And yet I still had a feeling, vague though it was, that something did not quite make sense.

“Our family is much reduced,” I said. “Conner may well be the last to join us.”

“There is at least one more…” He chuckled, but did not elaborate even when I gave him a questioning look.

I let it go for now. I would pry the truth out of him when I had more time.

As for Conner… he was still gorging himself at the dinner table. If he wasn't careful, he would make himself sick. Still, with Freda and Blaise doting over him like over-protective aunts, I knew he would be fine.

“We can't stay here,” I said suddenly. “If Suhuy can find us, so can King Uthor.”

“Blame the Logrus,” Dad said. “It may be tracking us for them. Every time we use it, we are telling them where we are and what we are doing.”

“Aber told me the Logrus didn't work that way!”

He chuckled. “Have I ever mentioned that Aber is a fool?”

“Too often,” I said.

He snorted. “You cannot rely on gossip for a true understanding of how the Logrus and its powers work. It is tied to the King of Chaos and the Keeper of the Logrus. My researches have proved this conclusively. If the king and Thellops did not know what every single person was using it for—including us—it is only because there are millions of people using the Logrus at any given time. Yes, Chaos and its Shadows are that big. But if either one of them focused his attention on one man or his family… yes, he would know what we were doing, and where.”

“Then you must all stop using the Logrus. It's convenient, I know… but surely the Pattern can be made to work just as well. And Pattern-based Trumps seem immune to the Logrus and its influence.”

“I agree,” Dad said. My surprise must have shown because he quickly continued: “I made a mistake in Juniper. I underestimated our enemies. I had no idea Uthor and Thellops were involved. Of all the people in Chaos, only they had the power to spy on us through the Logrus. I will not see that same mistake repeated. Once we leave here, we are through with the Logrus. Forever. Any who disagree will be cast out for the common good.”

I nodded. “Very well.” I felt exactly the same way. We had to take every precaution against Chaos.

“Where shall we go?” Dad said. “We need a new home—a world we can shape to our own liking. I have a vague impression of a likely Shadow close to the Pattern…”

“I took you there from the Pattern. It's a promising land, well laid out, but it's empty—no people at all. We will have to bring in everything and everyone we need.”

“Then we will do this thing. We will build there at once.” He clasped me on the shoulder. “And this time, Oberon, we will not repeat our mistakes!”