`Aaah!' he said. 'They may know their way around bacon and sausage at that inn. But their coffee doesn't hold a candle to yours, Halt.'

Halt grunted, his mouth too full to answer. He finished off the plate of food that he had taken and sat back, patting his stomach. Then he couldn't resist leaning forward and taking one more piece of crisply fried bacon.

`So, did you hear anything at the inn?' he asked as he finished off the titbit.

Will nodded. 'The main talking point was an attack on a place called Duffy's Ford – a small settlement by a river some ten kilometres from here.'

`Yes. We heard about that too,' Halt said. 'Did you hear any mention of a village called Mountshannon?'

Will drained his cup and tossed the dregs into the fire before answering.

`Yes. Quite a few people were talking about it. Sounds as if our friends have set up headquarters there.'

`We heard they were claiming to be able to protect Mountshannon from the sort of thing that happened at the ford,' Horace put in. Although he hadn't heard too clearly the night before, he and Halt had discussed the matter when they reached camp.

`I heard much the same thing. Opinion seemed divided as to whether there was any value to the claim,' Will said. Halt looked at him shrewdly.

`What did most people think? Did you get any idea?'

Will shrugged. 'I'd say it was two to one against. Most people I spoke to, or heard discussing the matter, seemed to think Mountshannon could look after itself. It's a big village, apparently. They talked about it quite a lot after I'd finished singing.'

Halt chuckled briefly. 'That's the handy thing about your being able to pose as a minstrel,' he said. 'People seem to think you're one of them. They'll talk far more openly about matters in front of you. Anything else?'

Will considered. He wasn't quite sure how Halt would react to the next piece of intelligence he had learned. Then he decided there was no way to sugar coat the message.

`General opinion is that King Ferris is a broken reed. There's precious little respect for him. Nobody seemed to think that he was capable of sorting out the mess that Clonmel's in. The ones who think the Outsiders might have the answer were particularly strident about it. And if anything was going to sway the others to their point.of view, it was the fact that Ferris is- weak and ineffectual. They all agreed on that.' He paused, then added, 'Sorry, Halt. But that's the way people see it.'

Halt shrugged. 'I can't say I'm surprised. For years Ferris has cared so much about just being King that he's neglected to act like one. He was like that from the beginning.' There was a note of bitterness in his voice and Will regretted having to pass on the negative information about his brother.

Horace checked the spread-out napkin to make sure there were no leftovers remaining. Then he shifted to a more comfortable position.

`Halt,' he said now, in a serious voice, 'I think it might be time you told us more about you and your brother.'

There was no trace of his former light-hearted tone when he had grumbled about breakfast. This was a serious matter. But there was also no trace of apology in his words. He was prying into Halt's past, he knew, but it was time he and Will learned all the facts about King Ferris, and his relationship with his brother. Will and Horace were in a potentially dangerous situation in Clonmel and Horace had learned that it was important to understand as much as possible about a situation like this.

Reflecting on that, he realised that it was his long association with the two Rangers that had taught him that lesson. He saw that Halt was watching him now, with those calm, serious eyes of his. And he saw that Halt agreed with him.

`Yes. You're right,' the Ranger said. 'You should know all the facts behind the current situation. For a start, there's one pertinent fact you should be aware of. Ferris and I aren't just brothers. We're twins.That's why the Outsiders' leader at Selsey thought I looked familiar. He'd spent some time in Clonmel and he'd seen Ferris several times.'

`Twins?'Will sat up at that news. In all the years he had spent with Halt, he had never had the slightest inkling that his mentor had any siblings, let alone a twin brother.

`Identical twins,' Halt said. 'We were born seven minutes apart.'

`And you were the youngest?' Horace said. He shook his head. `It's funny, isn't it? But for that seven minutes, you'd be the King of Clonmel now and Ferris would be…'

He paused, not sure how to continue. He had been about to say, 'Ferris would be a Ranger', but then he realised, from what they had heard about the vacillating, ineffectual King, he would never have become a Ranger. Halt regarded him, seeing the sudden question in the young warrior's mind.

`Exactly,' he said quietly. 'What would Ferris have become? But you're not exactly right there, Horace. I was actually the one who was born first. Ferris is my younger brother.'

Horace frowned as the implications of what Halt had said sunk in. But it was Will who asked the obvious question.

`Then what happened? Surely as the elder brother, you should have become King? Or isn't that the way it works here in Hibernia?'

`Yes. That's the way it works here, just like everywhere else. But I had a problem. My brother resented those seven minutes bitterly. He felt he had been cheated out of his birthright. Cheated by me,' he added.

Horace shook his head in disbelief. 'That's crazy. It wasn't your fault you were born first.'

Halt smiled sadly at Horace. So honest. So straightforward. So free of deceit and jealousy. If there were more men like Horace, and fewer like my brother, the world would be a better place, he thought. It saddened him but he recognised the fact that it was accurate.

`He made himself blame me,' he told them. 'That way, it was easier for him when he tried to kill me.'

`He tried to kill you?' Will's voice rose in disbelief. 'His own brother? His twin brother?'

`His older brother,' Halt added. He looked deep into the smoking embers of the fire as he recalled those long-agodays. 'You know, I don't really enjoy talking about this,' he began and both Will and Horace reacted immediately. `Then don't!' Will said.

`It's none of our business anyway,' Horace agreed. 'Let it go, Halt.'

But Halt looked up at them both now, letting his gaze move from one to the other. Both of these two I would trust with my life, he thought. But my own brother? He let out a short, bitter laugh at the thought, then continued.

`No. I think you need to know this. And I certainly need to face it. I've been running away from it for too long.' He saw their reluctance to hear more and reassured them.

`You need to know this, really. It could be important to you. So let me get it out of the way as quickly and painlessly as possible. Ferris believed the throne was rightly his. Why he believed that I have no idea. But he did. Maybe it was because he was the more popular with our parents. And that may have been because they felt he needed their attention more than I did. After all, I was going to be King and they possibly felt that he needed something in compensation for that fact. Plus he was open and friendly and cheerful and I was… well, I was me, I suppose.

`When we were sixteen, he tried to poison me. But fortunately, he got the amounts wrong and only succeeded in making me violently ill.' He grinned wryly. 'I still can't face the sight of a plate of shrimp.'

`But didn't your parents… do something?' Will protested.

Halt shook his head. 'They didn't know. I didn't know. I only found out later. I just thought the food had been spoiled and I was lucky to survive.

`The next time was six months later. I was walking in the castle yard when a pile of roof tiles hit the ground half a metre behind me. They smashed and cut my legs pretty badly. But they didn't land on me, which was the intent. I saw Ferris on the battlements above me. He ducked back out of the way but not quite quickly enough.