“Royce nodded. “Invest in crossbows. Next time stay hidden and just put a couple bolts into each of your target’s chests. All this talking is just stupid.”“Royce!” Hadrian admonished.“What? You’re always saying I should be nicer to people. I’m trying to be helpful.”

“There you are!” he shouted at them. “Father has half the castle turnedout looking for you.”“Us?” Hadrian asked.“Yes.” Fanen nodded. “He wants to see the two thieves in his chambersright away.”“You didn’t steal the silver or anything, did you, Royce?” Hadrianasked.“I would bet it has more to do with your flirting with Lenare this afternoonand threatening Mauvin just to show off,” Royce retorted.“That was your fault,” Hadrian said, jabbing his finger at him.”

“If this keeps up, we’re going to own Melengar,” Hadrian mentioned.“What’s this we stuff?” Royce asked. “You’re retired, remember?”“Oh? So you’ll be leading the Nationalist advance, will you?”“Sixty-forty?” Royce proposed.”

“I need your help.”Royce looked up as if his head weighed a hundred pounds, his eyes red, his face ashen. He waited.“One last job,” Hadrian told him, then added, “I promise.”“Is it dangerous?”“Very.”“Is there a good chance I’ll get killed?”“Odds are definitely in favor of that.”Royce nodded, looked down at the scarf in his lap, and replied, “Okay.”

“Any chance he’s turned a new leaf and taken up sailing for real?”“About as likely as me doing it.”Hadrian eyed Royce for a heartbeat. “I put him at the top of the list.”

“What’s going on?” Royce asked as throngs of people suddenly moved toward him from the field and the castle interior.“I mentioned that you saw the thing and now they want to know what it looks like,” Hadrian explained. “What did you think? They were coming to lynch you?”He shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a glass-half-empty kinda guy.”“Half empty?” Hadrian chuckled. “Was there ever any drink in that glass?”