‘Heard

what

?’ Serrah repeated.

‘Ivak Bastorran’s dead.’

‘Gods.’

‘Yes, and that’s not all. He was murdered, right in his own house in Valdarr. While some kind of party was going on, would you believe?’

‘Was it anything to do with us, the Resistance?’ Serrah asked.

‘They’re saying it was. Actually…prepare yourself for a shock, Reeth. The paladins say it was you.’

‘Me?’

‘The old man’s nephew, Devlor, not only swears you did it, he claims he was wounded fighting you off.’

‘That’s insane. What’s supposed to have happened?’

‘The story they’re putting out is that last night a lone assassin killed a guard and battered his way through two locked doors to get to Ivak. Then he, or you as they’d have it, stabbed him in the back a number of times.’

‘A knife in the back doesn’t sound like your style, Reeth,’ Serrah said.

‘No. I would have wanted to see his face while I did it.’

‘

Could

it have been the Resistance?’ Kutch wondered. ‘And maybe they mistook somebody else for Reeth?’

‘It had nothing to do with us,’ Disgleirio stated adamantly. ‘We would have known.’

‘And Devlor Bastorran’s unlikely to mistake someone else for me,’ Reeth said. ‘Not after our last meeting.’

‘Good luck to whoever it was, I say,’ Serrah decided. ‘And what if you are blamed for it, Reeth? You would have done it given the chance, wouldn’t you? Though not in the back like a sneak.’

‘That’s all very well,’ Disgleirio told them, ‘but there’s the repercussions to take into account. The top man in the paladins gets murdered and somebody known for his hatred of them gets the blame. They link you with the Resistance, Reeth, and it gives them just the excuse they need to crack down even harder. Not good news when we’re coming up to the move.’