Myronel was just glad to be up and walking around again. Sure, he remained a little tired and sore, but it was better than being too exhausted from forcing himself to walk halfway across Lasfont to get back out of bed. Still wasn't in a state to fight or do any heavy work, but that would come in another two or three days.

  Right now, he was content to sit across from Nela, the two of them silently eating some dried fruit. Myronel hadn't asked what sort of fruit it was, being too hungry to particularly care. It was bitter with a bit of sweetness, good enough to sate his appetite. Although this evening he was definitely going to ask for a full meal.

  Jylania had already eaten hers, surprisingly quickly, and had headed to the back again to watch over the patients. She had seemed particularly worried about Takhat...which truthfully Nela was too, but she'd admitted to him that there was little that could be accomplished while Takhat still slept. She had mentioned she planned to try and wake Takhat around sunset, just to make certain the woman ate and drank, but that was hours away.

  Nela suddenly yawned. "Shit, I'm so tired," she grumbled.

  "You could go lay down for a while," Myronel suggested. She had gotten up several times during the night to check on people. Meanwhile, he had slept through it all.

  "I'm tempted to do that." Nela gave him a pained look. "Although the moment I touch a bed, someone is going to come looking for me."

  "You could just sleep on the floor again," Myronel remarked. Nela had let Jylania take the extra bed in that room last night.

  "No, then they'll wait until right after I fall asleep, then come for me. It'll make it even worse." Nela grinned as she spoke, her humor undiminished by fatigue.

  "Worse for them, maybe," Myronel quipped, smiling back. "Then they'll have to deal with me."

  "Nice try, but I'm still not letting you do anything like that," Nela said, "Don't make me have to drag your arse back to that room."

  "Where would you rather drag it to?" Obviously, he knew the answer, just as much as she did.

  "I could name a few places," Nela answered with a snort, hopping off of her chair. "But not until..." She trailed off, eyes widening slightly as she glanced over at the door.

  Myronel turned in his chair to see Edeline standing in the doorway, a sour look on her face. If this somehow proved Nela right...no, that couldn't be the main reason for Edeline showing up. Likely she was here to see how Takhat fared.

  "You look grim," Nela remarked.

  "You would too if you woke up to find out what I did," Edeline stated, all but throwing herself down in another chair.

  "If this is about letting you sleep past dawn, you really needed that," Nela countered.

  "I did," Edeline said, "What I did not need was to learn that Jisry went and freed some of the knights."

  "Jisry did that?" Nela's jaw dropped open for a second. "Shit...I didn't...shit."

  "You see the problem?" Edeline said, resting her head on her arms. "After that, they went to go grab some food before running away. Except they ran right into the sphinxes."

  "Sphinxes?" Myronel asked. He could understand Nela wanted to give him relief away from the troubles of Lasfont, but there really wasn't any avoiding them. He would have found out about this later today. It wasn't bad news, he hoped. If Ugotlas's fellows had appeared...well, that ought to make things easier.

  "Sphinxes," Edeline repeated, then paused as she realized it was Myronel speaking. "Good to see you are feeling better."

  "A good night's sleep did well for both of us. Now, what's this about sphinxes?"

  "She said a few of them showed up looking for Ugotlas," Nela said.

  "They believed him to have betrayed them," Edeline explained, "I showed them why an accusation of such was a terrible mistake. The remaining ones agreed to a meeting to plan things out."

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  Myronel took note of his sister's choice of words.

  Nela shrugged. "I haven't met them yet, but I figure they weren't expecting the kind of spells you throw around. It's a good thing they weren't about to answer with their own spells."

  "I would've handled it if they had," Edeline said, "As for Jisry...I am not blaming you. I assume he slipped out while you were busy tending to Takhat or someone else."

  "No, he didn't sneak out," Nela replied with a groan, looking down. "I had him kicked out. He was trying to do...something, some spell, to the captain."

  "Let me guess, that was when the town guard and me were busy dealing with the knights." Edeline pounded her hand on the table. "Curse it all! If I had known, I would have...I would've...I don't know. We would have done something."

  "No, one of the guards was here and helped me with it. I could have sent him, or even Senby. I just didn't think about it." Nela shook her head. "What a mess this is."

  "Just too many matters coming up and not enough time or people to confront them all," Myronel said. Takhat had said manpower was limited, a problem that was bound to make itself known eventually. Well, yesterday had apparently been that time.

  He just didn't want this to turn into arguments over which of them was to blame more.

  "Probably shouldn't say this, but that's less fools to deal with." Nela said, then took another bite of fruit. "Not something the captain needs to face when she's back on her feet."

  "I know it will take some time for her to fully recover, but I would rather it be sooner." Edeline reached up to briefly touch her pointed ear, before lowering her hand. "One of the guards already addressed me as Lady Hallowscroft."

  "Would you expect any of the town guard to not bow to a noble?" Nela snorted. "You shouldn't need me to remind you of that."

  "Do you honestly think I want to be reminded?" Edeline retorted. "I am just grateful they are not aware of...of the truth."

  "I'm sorry," Nela said, frowning. "There is one thing I'm wondering though. They didn't seem to want the royal knights to know either. You think the king is afraid they might start marching around to your orders if they did?"

  "Orders I would never give," Edeline promised, narrowing her eyes.

  "I'm not saying you would," Nela quickly added.

  Would King Henri deceive his own men out of that fear? Myronel could not say, having only briefly met the king when he was a boy. There were too many years and too much distance between then and now to pass judgment on the man he had once been pledged to serve. He would never get another chance for such a meeting, and he did not want one.

  "It really does feel like they were right," he said quietly.

  "Excuse me?" Edeline asked.

  "Do you remember what the Episkopiate said?" Myronel leaned forward. "About the leaders of the Aetheric Order believing that the coming of the Spellking marked the end of the kingdom?"

  There was a moment of silence as Edeline and Nela thought. "I cannot argue that it appears that way, between this and whatever insurrection the other royal knights were chasing," Edeline finally said.

  Myronel immediately thought back to the knights' orders. So that's why they were gathering to the west. Not to fight the Spellking, but to put an end to...it still made little sense. It would mean the king was pulling men away from the battlefields of western Hyarch, leaving that part of the kingdom lacking protection. That went beyond foolish, into the realms of insanity.

  "There's part of this that we're missing," he concluded, "What it could be, I don't know."

  "Whatever it is, it makes our journey that much more difficult." Edeline rubbed at her eyes. "Hamond did mention something about seeking clues in northwestern Hyarch. We will need to get together after this is all done to determine the best way to travel there while avoiding Melyn."

  It was a little surprising that Edeline did not want to go to Melyn, but Myronel supposed she'd heard enough from the captive knights to draw that conclusion. He wasn't going to object, and he doubted Hamond would either.

  "So what are you going to do the rest of the day?" Myronel felt it was a fair question.

  "Not a lot," Edeline admitted, "I was considering finding Hamond to see how his work with Sedat is proceeding."

  "Bet you'd rather Sedat be somewhere else so you could just spend the day with him," Nela observed. Myronel would agree, but...Nela really shouldn't be saying things like that.

  "Maybe a little," Edeline admitted, face flushing slightly. "When this is over with, I will have that time."

  "Don't be so sure," Myronel warned, "If he's going to keep teaching Sedat, it's going to take up quite a bit of his time. I know that all too well."

  "You...of all the..." Nela sputtered.

  Myronel just smiled innocently back. If not otherwise busy, he simply used the time when Nela was busy with Jylania to take a few practice sword swings, keeping his skills up. He needed to if he wanted to be ready for the next fight, so he might as well take advantage of their situation. Perhaps Edeline could do something similar.

  "I will keep it in mind," Edeline said, "There may come a day when I have an apprentice of my own. Who can tell?"

  Nela looked like she had a sarcastic response, but before she could speak, Jylania sprinted out from the back of the building. "She's awake!" the girl told them.

  Jumping to her feet, Nela started towards Jylania, immediately all business. "You two wait here. Make sure no one goes into the back until I say."

  As Nela and Jylania disappeared into the converted tavern's back room, Myronel just leaned back in his chair. It was a good thing no one was going to try to force their way in, because he doubted he could do anything to stop them. Not that he expected anyone to show, although someone could come in ill or wounded.

  Until Nela finished checking on Takhat, well...might as well eat some more fruit. "Do you want some?" Myronel offered to Edeline. She hesitated a moment, then reached over and took a couple of pieces for herself.

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