"Oh, no one really watches anyway," Illyth said. "When you go to the theater, it's all about talking to anyone seated nearby and speculating about who's been seated with whom and why."

"I thought you were a fan of the theater!"

"I am, but most people aren't." The curtain rose, and a couple of actors in ridiculous costumes marched out onto the stage and began a comic scene of some kind. Scattered Game-goers watched and laughed, applauding the clever lines, but most turned to their neighbors and continued their conversations as if nothing else was taking place.

Jack and Illyth cast about for some additional clues but failed to find anything definitive. In the meantime, the play-a short skit of only twenty minutes or so-came to an end, and the actors departed the stage. The Master Crafter Randall Morran took their place and raised his arms for attention.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Another contestant dares the Riddle of the Seven Faceless Lords!"

Illyth groaned. "Oh, no!"

Jack shook his head. "Wait and see," he said. "It might be nothing more than a series of guesses. We aren't finished yet."

This time, Lord Hawk and Lady Hare took the stage. Hawk, a rather short and unassuming fellow whose grand title seemed at odds with his appearance, cleared his throat and pulled out a small journal.

"Our solution: the Red Lord is Buriz of Pentar; the Orange Lord is Fatim of Septun; the Yellow Lord is Dubhil of Trile; the Green Lord is Carad of Quarra; the Blue Lord is Erizum of Unen; the Purple Lord is Geciras of Dues; and the Black Lord is Alcantar of Hexan." He finished with a confident smirk, evidently pleased with himself.

"Alas, my lord Hawk, your solution is erroneous in three respects," Morran said. He turned to face up to the box where the Blue Lord sat. "My lord king? Your judgment in this matter?"

The Blue Lord extended one arm and turned his thumb down.

Randall Morran laughed and turned to Lord Hawk and Lady Hare. "Off with your heads, then! You may unmask and remain for the rest of the evening's festivities, or you may leave now and protect your anonymity."

Hawk shrugged. "I'll stay," he said. "I want to see if anyone gets it right." He doffed his mask to a polite applause and helped Lady Hare down from the stage.

"You see? We are not done," Jack said. "Optimism is a virtue, my lady-Illyth?"

Illyth ignored him, rifling through her journal and hurriedly making notes. "Lady Carp said that Alcantar was the Green Lord," she muttered to herself, "but we know that he's the Black Lord. So that means that Carad, Geciras, and Erizum are in some combination the Green, Blue, and Purple Lords, since we have confirmed the identities of four others. Lord Hawk said that the Orange Lord ruled Septun, but we know that he rules Quarra. That means that Green, Purple, and Black must rule Hexan, Septun, and Dues…"

"Are you onto something?"

"Quiet! Lady Carp made four errors… we know that Alcantar is the Black Lord, which is one of her errors- but we also know that Alcantar can't be the Green Lord as she said, so there is a second error! And we know the Blue Lord rules Unen, where Lady Carp said Dues. There are three mistakes. And thus when she said the Green Lord rules Unen, she made her fourth mistake." Illyth looked up from her journal. "Jack, I know all four errors in Lady Carp's solution."

Jack leaned over to study her journal. "Then you should mark in everything except those four errors in her solution as tried and confirmed, and add it to the list of variables we have already confirmed. Now how does it look?"

"That confirms every lord except the Green Lord-who must be Carad since no other is left!" Illyth's voice rose in excitement. "And every kingdom except the Green Lord's, which must be Dues! Jack, I solved it!"

"Quick, summon a Game attendant! No sense waiting now!"

Jack helped her up and ushered her to the corridor outside the box. Together, they hurried down to the theatre floor, winding down the steep stairway at the side of the building. They rounded the last flight in a breathless rush and ran right into Tiger and Mantis. The two were speaking with a couple of theatre ushers just inside the curtains separating the lower corridor from the theatre floor.

Jack and Illyth halted in surprise, as did the other couple. They stood a long moment on the carpeted staircase, staring at each other in fox, crane, tiger, and mantis masks, frozen for two, then three heartbeats. Applause rippled from the theater beyond, then laughter and catcalls, the play must have resumed, Jack thought. Lord Tiger-Toseiyn Dulkrauth-took one menacing step toward them, drawing a long knife from his belt.

"You two, go," he said to the ushers. The men nodded and ducked outside. "I've been waiting for this," he hissed through his mask. "Mantis, watch Fox! He is a mage!"

"We have urgent business elsewhere, sir," Jack said, backing up a couple of steps. "If you'll forgive us?" He quickly worked the spell of shadow-jumping-

– only to be blocked at once by Mantis, who raised her hand and countered his spell with a snarl. "You won't vanish into thin air this time!" the lady snapped. Then she followed by conjuring a ball of roiling black acid and hurling it at Jack's head. The rogue ducked and hauled down Illyth, slipping on the stairs as the murderous spell hurled over his head and scorched a foot-wide hole in the wall behind him. Tiger lunged forward and missed his stomach by inches, burying the wide-bladed knife in the step below Jack with a wooden thunk!

Illyth screamed, "Jack, watch out!"

The rogue rolled away from a second thrust and found a perfect opportunity to plant one boot in the center of Dulkrauth's chest, shoving him back hard. The merchant captain flailed his arms for balance and staggered back three steps into Mantis, almost knocking her down too. Jack took that as his cue to scramble to his feet and leap up the staircase back toward their box. He caught Illyth by the hand as he went.

Behind them, Mantis dodged away from Tiger and turned to track Jack and Illyth up the stair. She snarled something else and hurled a lance of dark energy at the two of them, destroying the wooden banister in a shower of splinters and gouging a great dark furrow in the wall beyond.

"Come back here!" she shrieked.

"Not likely," muttered Jack.

He burst back into their former box and hauled Illyth close. Tiger and Mantis pounded up the stairs, only a few steps behind them.

"Jack, we're trapped!" said Illyth. "They have us cornered!"

"Not yet," Jack said.

Without even stopping to think about it, he caught hold of Illyth and vaulted over the balcony edge, working the spell of jumping even as he did so. Below them Game-players screamed or gasped at their sudden appearance, but instead of plummeting into the stage twenty feet below, Jack alighted easily and set down Illyth. All around them the players in the current skit gaped in astonishment, utterly unprepared for a member of the audience to leap into the middle of the play.

"Do continue," he told the actors, and then half-dragged and half-carried Illyth back down into the orchestra pit.

In the balcony box, Tiger and Mantis stood fuming for a long moment, evidently considering whether or not they dared to continue their assault in the full view of everyone present, but discretion won out. Masks contorted in sheer fury, the two conspirators ducked back out of sight before any attention fell on the vacant box. Jack imagined that Mantis hissed some dire promise of doom at him before vanishing, but he couldn't be certain; the lady retreated even as the theater burst into an uproar of noise.

"You're spoiling the show!"

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Are you mad?"

"Down in front!"

Jack and Illyth looked around at the musicians and the actors, still waiting for them to clear the area. The Master Crafter hurried up, wringing his hands. "My lord, my lady, are you well? Why did you make such a prodigious leap? Are you hurt?"