Chapter 4: What the Gate Saw

Jude carried the wounded raider into Cairn Hall at sunrise, slung over his shoulder.

Nobody had told him he could come back, and nobody stopped him at the gate.

The two gatekeepers took one look at the blood down his back and stepped aside.

He walked the length of the courtyard with the man's boots banging against his hip.

Behind him came Marina with the infirmary bag, and behind her came the first of the morning crowd.

The Council was already seated in the long hall.

Tobin sat in the war leader's chair at the head of the table, with the ring on his own right hand now.

Jude had not known it could be moved so fast.

He dropped the raider on the stone floor in front of the table.

The man groaned and curled onto his side.

"What is this?" Fisk said, half rising.

"You have no standing in this hall."

"This man came to my cottage last night with seven others," Jude said.

"He wears Black Banner cloth on his arm."

"Two of them are dead in my yard."

"He says Corwin Quillon is alive."

A rustle went through the Council.

"I'm sure he does," Tobin said.

"A man who wants to live will say anything."

"He had this in his collar."

Jude put the brass pin on the table.

It rolled in a slow circle and stopped against Fisk's cane.

Fisk picked it up and turned it over.

His face changed.

"The initials are Tobin's," Jude said.

"The road map in his pocket has my door circled."

"Who gave it to him?"

Tobin laughed softly.

"Jude, you lost your seat yesterday, and you've decided to take mine by theft."

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