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be back,” said Annarah. 
    “I’ll head up to the roof and keep watch,” said Laertes. “Both for Morgant and for any trouble.”
    “If Kalgri comes for us,” said Caina, “we might not have much warning.”
    “Aye,” said Laertes, “but if a riot breaks out in the Alqaarin Bazaar, we’ll have much more warning.” 
    “Very true,” said Nasser. “I shall go with you. Two pairs of eyes are better than one.”
    “I shall accompany you as well, lord Prince,” said Annarah, rising. The bronze of the pyrikon bracelet around her wrist glinted in the dull light from the hearth. Of course, it wasn’t really made of bronze. The blaze of white fire Caina saw within the metal proved that. 
    “And I’ll…wait here, I suppose,” said Caina. She could think of nothing else to do. The inactivity gnawed at her, and every instinct she possessed screamed for her to take the Staff and Seal and run for Catekharon as fast as her legs could carry her. But that, she knew, was a fool’s course. With Tanzir’s army marching from the south, the Istarish countryside was in turmoil, and the odds of surviving a journey on foot or even on horseback were slim. For that matter, it would be easy for Callatas and Kalgri to hunt them down. Kalgri could slaughter a small army on her own, to say nothing of the havoc Callatas’s sorcery could unleash. 
    No, their best hope was to take a ship. A ship was at hand, and they just had to wait a few more hours. 
    But she could not shake the feeling that waiting even a few moments was a colossal mistake. 
    “Very well,” said Nasser, getting to his feet and collecting the Staff and the Seal. “Our rooms are upon the top floor, if you wish to rest.” He passed Caina a heavy iron key. “Though I expect you will more likely keep watch.” 
    “Aye,” said Caina, staring at the fake spear in Nasser’s right hand. She saw the blaze of mighty sorcery within the Staff and the Seal, spells potent and complex beyond imagination. If she looked at it for too long, she started to get a headache. The vision of the valikarion was a powerful and complex thing, and Caina suspected she had a long way to go before she truly mastered it. “I’ll keep watch.”
    “I’ll watch with her,” said Kylon, and Caina felt a little better. 
    “Let us hope for a peaceful watch, then,” said Nasser, and departed with Laertes and Annarah, taking the stairs to the Desert Maiden’s roof.
    Caina tossed the key to herself, once, nodded, and then stood up. “I suppose we had better go.”
    Kylon stood, the aura of water sorcery surrounding him shifting a little as he did so. Caina had never thought she would call anything of sorcery beautiful, but the aura was a strange mixture of silver and blue, almost like the light striking a calm sea at sunrise, and sometimes she was fascinated by it. She could not have said why. 
    It was Kylon’s aura. That made all the difference. 
    Their rooms were on the top floor, with a window overlooking the street below and a pair of narrow beds. It looked little different than the room Caina had used a few months ago to flee Cassander when the Umbarian magus had sent his Kindred assassins and the Silent Hunters and the Adamant Guards after her. Caina paced to the window, pushed open the shutters, and looked at the street below as Kylon closed the door behind them. 
    There was no sign of Morgant. 
    “Maybe you were right,” said Caina.
    “About what?” said Kylon, walking to her side. 
    “Morgant,” said Caina. “Maybe it was a mistake to trust him so much.”
    “He didn’t give you much choice,” said Kylon.
    “I suppose not,” said Caina. She had needed Morgant’s help to find Annarah, just as he had needed her help to rescue Annarah from the Inferno. Then he had accompanied them to Pyramid Isle to find the relics, and then fought against the Umbarians once they returned to Istarinmul. Certainly Morgant was abrasive and unpleasant and she often wanted to hit