Lord Larad merely nodded. “But I don’t see why…why Thella”—he looked even more distressed, as if the use of her name amounted to an actual accusation—“would savagely attack a harmless wagon train.”

Asgenar shrugged. “When goods were missing it was bad enough, but to kill innocent people…”

“I agree. A heinous crime. Inexcusable. Contemptible.”

“You know we’ve thought that only one group was responsible for the systematic looting all along our eastern range.”

“All Thella’s work?” Larad was incredulous and obviously hoped to hear a negative reply.

“Certainly the largest part of it. She’s the obvious leader of her own band.”

“And—” Larad paused, then leaned forward and shuffled the damning sheets into a neat pile. “Who drew these? Someone buying leniency?”

“We’re assuming it was a harper infiltrator. Robinton did say that he’d help all he could.”

“Oh, yes, I recall that. So, how can I assist you?”

“She’s found somewhere to use as a base camp,” Asgenar said, gesturing to detailed Hold maps on Larad’s wall. “She also uses others as waycamps, burying travel supplies and grain for her runners.”

“The grain that was stolen from Kadross Hold?”

Asgenar nodded. He felt considerable sympathy for Larad, who was still fighting against the evidence that his own Blood was responsible for the scavenging. “I’m hoping that you might know of a cave, somewhere in the mountains of Telgar, which Thella might be using.”

Larad passed a hand across his face, but when he dropped the shield, his expression was obdurate, and Asgenar knew that he had made his difficult decision.

“When Thella left here, spring of the Turn before the Present Pass, she took with her copies of the Hold maps.”

“Well, that explains a lot,” Asgenar said admiringly. “She’d know every nook and cranny in your Hold to hide in. And don’t be too upset. I’m certain she managed to get copies from me, Bitra, Keroon, and Igen. Nothing if not thorough, your sister.”

“As of this moment, Asgenar—and K’van, you bear witness—she is no longer of my Bloodkin. I shall have the harper disown her.”

Asgenar nodded acknowledgment of that rejection; K’van raised his right hand, accepting the witness.

Larad strode purposefully to the map and studied it fingerlength by fingerlength. Suddenly he stabbed his forefinger on one spot. “Here is where she is likely to be. Our father, Tarathel, gave her her own way in most things, mounted her well, and took her with him on his trips around the holds. She mentioned once in my hearing that she had a place she could hold against all comers. She often disappeared on her own for days at a time. She was seen several times by the herdsmen in that vicinity. I hadn’t remembered it till now. She’d be entirely too familiar with the resources. She was bloody clever, you know! “ There was a hint of respect in the level voice. “She didn’t rob Telgar holds often enough to make me suspicious. Or, to be quite candid,” he amended with a grim smile, “to be suspicious enough to take it further. I did think she was dead. We found a set of runnerbeast shoes in a ravine. Our farrier said he’d hot-shod those to one of Thella’s mares. I assumed she’d been caught by Threadfall at the same time.”

“Lord Larad, might it be a good idea to send one of your fire-lizards to see if anyone’s in that hold?” K’van asked. “I’m always taught not to assume anything.” He chuckled. “Ass—you—me!”

Asgenar suddenly found that his ear was extremely itchy and ducked his head, while Larad gave K’van a long thoughtful look.

“Now, that is an extremely constructive suggestion, K’van,” the Telgar Holder said. “You’ll make wingleader when you’re grown. My thanks.”

“Our thanks,” Asgenar said. “She’d have a watch out for sweepriders but not for our clever little friends. If you can tell them just where to look?”

Larad called for his fire-lizard queen and Dulsay’s bronze, cracking the door to let them in. “I think I know a landmark to give them to find the place. I’ve not been in that vicinity often, but the map indicates a wide plateau. They’d have to be using the hearths, and in this chill weather, smoke, wood, or blackstone would be obvious.”

K’van approved of the fire-lizards’ prompt appearance and the intelligence obvious in their attention to Larad’s instructions.

They chirruped happily, and Larad let them out his office window, a narrow slit, which the two fire-lizards navigated by flying up it sideways.

“This is marked as a holding. Are the inhabitants in her band, too?” Asgenar asked.

“No one’s held there for a hundred or more Turns. It was one of the places which a plague of those times wiped out. No one else was willing to take it over.”

“Is the entire complex marked? Would there be Hold Records showing the extent of it? I’d prefer to know exactly how to catch the whole gang.”

“I would, too.” Larad walked his finger along the dates on the tomes of Records on his shelves before he took one down and placed it on the table. “These diagrams are exceedingly old, but we have them for almost every mine and cave system,” he told them with a touch of pride in his voice.

Asgenar, examining the pages spread open for him, thought that Larad had every right to be proud. “By the First Egg, that’s remarkable!” At first he had eyes only for the remarkable clarity of the drawing. “What sort of ink did they use? How old is this?”

“That I can’t guess. Nor the substance used.” Asgenar ran respectful fingers along the edge of the opaque sheet.

Larad grinned wryly. “Thicker than your sheets, Asgenar, but no give to it. You can’t erase or reuse it, either.” He sounded as if he found that a disadvantage.

K’van had turned from the drawing to its legend. “Look, even the height of each section of tunnel is recorded.” He gave a soft whistle. “Now that’s mapping!”

“They knew how in those days,” Larad said, beginning to shake off the shock of his sister’s intransigence. “Telgar was the third Hold established.”

“Yes, yes, some of those subsidiary shafts, even the narrow, low ones, would make ideal bolt holes,” Asgenar said, eagerly addressing the real issue. He strode back to the map, examining the area around the suspect cave. “Yes, and access to it along a number of tracks. Larad, you don’t need to feel obliged…”

Larad drew himself up straight. “I do and I am. We’ll need copies of that quadrant of the area and of that old cave map. Who else have you asked to join us in this sortie?”

Asgenar grimaced, scratching his right ear. “I would rather we kept it between us, Larad. K’van volunteered, since he’s already involved. The fewer who know, the better I’d feel. And I mean, just in this room for the time being. Now that I have your understanding and cooperation—” Asgenar conveyed his sympathy and respect by giving his brother-in-law’s shoulder a brief, firm squeeze. “—it’s a matter of organization and strategy, making sure none of them escape us. We both have trained men; I’ve roving troops of foresters in that general area right now. F’lar and Lessa—because of the girl—have offered Benden’s assistance. So a quick in-and-out would see us in position at all these exits,” he explained, tapping the relevant points, “and for a frontal assault. If we keep the whole affair between us, it could be managed quickly and with the least fuss.”

“Lord Larad, that mountainhold you sent the fire-lizards to is definitely occupied,” K’van surprised them by saying.

Larad looked at the window, then turned to K’van for an explanation.

“Heth listened,” the dragonrider said.

Asgenar grinned uninhibitedly. “Lad, you’re a marvel!”

“Dragons make useful go-betweens,” K’van said in a droll voice. Asgenar stared at him for one second before he broke out in a peal of laughter. Even Larad, who was not quite as quick to see a pun, chuckled at last.