Dearest Zann,

Ambe’s dim chambers underneath the temple were covered with twisted roots, but not as damp as they should have been. On a shelf near where I was lying, a small statue of a frog wearing a jaunty cap breathed out warm dry air, while the rum bottle it was holding slowly filled with water.

I said to Candur, “Why would we have to do what Lord Clear says? He can give us all the orders he wants. We’ll just ignore him.”

He shook his head. “The oath we swore as Rosolla Guards is magically binding. If he commands us we may be compelled to obey.”

I thought about it. “What have you and Ambe already tried?”

He counted them off on his fingers. “Deafness; doesn’t work for written orders. Plus we really do need to be able to hear things. Not understanding the language; couldn’t do without that either. Changing the name of the Guard to something else. We thought about just leaving. Nobody liked that one. Magical shields. Charms. Things like that.”

That covered the obvious things. I pulled the slabs of moss off my body and sat up. I rubbed my face and head. “Does the oath force us to obey you, while you obey Lord Clear, or does it force all of us to obey Lord Clear?”

“The second one.”

I nodded slowly. I had imagined Candur giving up his spot as Captain of the Guard to me, because I had never taken the oath. But if they all had to obey Clear anyway, it wouldn’t make any difference. “All right,” I said. “I’ll give it some thought. But I have to find Wande and her daughter. They need to know that I’m well and I need to know that they are. Where’s Srix?”

“Probably in the main guardroom. Go and change your clothes,” he said, nodding at the nightshirt I was wearing, “you’ll see him there. The uniform you were wearing in that pit was unsalvageable, and your sword had somehow been transformed into some kind of baton.”

“Ay. That happens to me a lot.” I stood up and felt… not strong, but strong enough. “Do you want to go to sleep in this bed? Nobody will look for you here, and it might be a good idea if you were hard to find.”

Candur yawned. “I’ve heard worse ideas. Good luck finding your woman.”

Love,

Ybel