"You're right. It's a spell. Meant to disorient. If you spoke it while wearing the ring everyone nearby would become confused. They would forget what they were trying to do."

"That's scary."

"And useful if you spend much time around people who want to hurt you."

"I don't recognize any of the other writing."

"It's all in alphabets older than Old Brothen. The second line is Philean, a language common in the Holy Lands in antiquity. Ancestral to languages spoken there today. I know scholars who can translate it. I don't think anyone speaks it properly anymore."

"Would that be a spell, too?"

"Undoubtedly. This third line uses Archaic Agean characters but the language isn't Agean. My guess is, the spoken line would be a Dreangerean dialect. Just guessing, though, based on the distribution of consonants."

"Could the ring really be that old?"

A brief-lived Agean empire had ruled the littorals of the eastern Mother Sea when Brothe was still a modest town under the dominion of the Felscian Confederation.

"I do get a sense of great age, Piper."

"What about the last line?"

"I don't know. I've seen characters like those before but I don't remember where. I'll need to do some research. Looking for mention of the ring itself, too. If it's important at all it will have left a trail across time. Likely mile-marked by unpleasantries."

Hecht nodded. That had been his guess, based on stories about magical artifacts he had heard.

The Principate said, "One wonders how such an item falls into the hands of someone like yourself."

"Exactly the way I explained it."

"Oh, I believe that. I'm curious about the mind that made it happen. That singled you out. The way you were singled out for the attention of the soultaken, before? Who? Why? Did he have good intentions? Or is this a booby trap?"

"I have no idea. And I don't intend to dig into it, either. I'm leaving the damned thing with you."

"Piper. You never want to give up something with so much potential value."

"Why not? It's no use to me. It wouldn't be like I was turning out my pockets and tossing my money into the Teragi. All I could do is sell it for the gold."

"Or to a sorcerer for its power."

"Which you can't even tell me what it is. So even for you it's only a chunk of gold with potential."

Delari shrugged. "Life is that way. For me. Trying to winkle potential out of stubborn nuggets."

Hecht did not respond. Delari had to become more forthcoming if he was going to tap the potential in this particular nugget.

Delari seemed more amused than frustrated. "Patience is my great virtue, Piper. All right, I'll study this beast. In my copious spare time. And let you know as soon as I find out anything interesting. Who can guess? It might turn out such a dud that you can just give it back to the Bruglioni."

The old man startled him. And he let it show.

"It's common knowledge, among those who pay attention, that the Bruglioni are looking for a talisman that belonged to Principate Divino. And they suspect that said talisman passed through the hands of onetime employee Piper Hecht."

Delari, as always, was better informed than he ought to be. Which was frightening.

Piper Hecht had secrets he did not want known by even the friendliest member of the Collegium.

The old man smiled like he knew exactly what was going on inside Hecht's head.

Despite repeated assassination attempts, Hecht did not travel with a klatch of bodyguards. He hoped anonymity would protect him. He never dressed his station. That offended some at the Chiaro Palace but left him indistinguishable from other outlanders in the streets.

He headed for Anna Mozilla's place, by way of the hippodrome, where he visited Pinkus Ghort. Ghort had set up a military camp right there in the plaza. Hecht told him, "You look terrible. You need to get some sleep."

"I love you, too. Yeah, mom. I'm gonna get on that real soon. Seriously, we've got a handle on it. I can take some time, now. There ain't much chance we'll find anyone alive anymore. Thanks for sending your guys."

"No problem. I'll get some grief but they won't fire me."

"They worried about the mob? I heard you almost had an incident."

"Yes. One of your boys was right in the middle of it, too."

"Bo? He's doing good work. We get done with this shit here, I'm gonna make some moves on them rabble-rousers."

"You need him desperately?"

"Bo? Why?"

"I want to borrow him. There was another man in that crowd that shouldn't have been there. Shouldn't even be alive. I want to track him down."

"Important?"

"It might be. I want to know for sure."

"He's around somewhere. I'll talk to him after my nap."

"I'll be at Anna's house."

THE NEARER HECHT GOT TO ANNA'S HOUSE THE MORE uncomfortable he became. He could not shake the feeling that he was being watched. He tried to catch a stalker but had no luck. There were too many people in the streets.

"You look like hell," Anna said as she let him in. He gave her an edited version of recent events. She asked, "How can you expect to get along with Principate Doneto, now?"

"He doesn't know I know what he's up to."

"Don't bet your life on that. And what about Pinkus?"

He had been examining that question from every angle he could imagine. "What about him?"

"Where does he stand? He's never pretended to be anything but Doneto's man. What'll he do in a pissing contest?"

"I don't know. I doubt that he does. That's the kind of question you can't answer until you have to. I'm not even sure about me. I think I'm Principate Delari's man. I want to think I am. But the Church pays my wages. Doneto, at least publicly, will go right on being Sublime's biggest supporter."

"Just be careful."

"I will. I promise. You been out much lately?"

"Only to get water. With the children. Why?"

"What're they saying around the fountain?" As everywhere, the neighborhood women took their time getting water, indulging in gossip.

"Today they were more relaxed. And they all knew it. But not why."

"That isn't hard. The bad thing is dead." The children entered the room, Vali carrying the tea service. Pella had a book. He wanted to show off his reading skills. Hecht allowed him to do so, certain he could not have improved much in just a few days. He had not. "Good job with the tea, Vali."

Vali did not stumble. She shot him a look that said he would have to be more clever than that. He smiled and winked. Vali winked right back.

Hecht told Anna, "I'm worried about what Delari is up to."

"Meaning?"

"When we found him he told me he caused the cave-in by exploding a keg of firepowder. Which he blew up in order to kill the monster."

"And? You don't think he could carry a powder keg? Or that one keg wouldn't cause that much damage?"

"It could do the damage. The stuff is amazing. When it's made right, by skilled artificers. No. My problem is what he didn't explain. Which is all that sorcery we saw happen. After the hippodrome fell down."

"Oh. I see."

"If the explosion killed the beast, then why was there a lot of sorcery?"

Hecht glanced at Vali. The girl looked like she was about to explode. She grabbed the tea service and headed for the kitchen, dragging Pella.

Anna chuckled. "You're about to hear an interesting theory."

So. Maybe the way to lure the girl out was to engage her intellect.

Someone knocked on the front door. Hecht asked, "You expecting somebody?"

Anna shook her head. "It'll be for you. Or the kids." Even so, she went to see who was there. Pella returned from the kitchen and leaned on the back of the chair Anna had just quit.

The boy said, "The thing that died in the underworld would've been almost a god. Right?"