Janus tried to hide his surprise when he heard the name Basso. He kept himself from gasping, but he was lucky no one was paying attention to him because he knew his eyes went wide. For now, he was spared the wrath of Ovid’s ghost for breaking the oath made over the Amores, and no one knew he had anything to do with Basso.

“Boys,” Clarissa said calmly. “I know you’re hurt, but I need you to go get Mr. Yew from his office and tell him to come here. Then go directly to your own beds and sleep. The punishments I mentioned before are still incumbent if I find out you did otherwise. I’ll make sure to send someone with your meals. Now, go!”

Felix gave up when confronted with the stairs of Yew’s tower, so Janus had to deliver the message himself. He was still in pain all over, but his sanguine humor started to rise as he climbed and it got better.

Yew took the news of this Jonathan fellow’s death with perfect equanimity as if Janus was talking about the weather. Which made it all the more shocking when he calmly opened the shutters of the window, climbed onto the ledge, and jumped.

Janus ran to the window in a panic and saw Yew gently floating down in a cloud of sparkling dust toward the area near the library with the entrance closest to the library.

“Wooow…”Janus said out loud. It was an impressive trick, but he thought people who used strange abilities like that were supposed to be more secretive about it.

“That only applies to weaklings,” said the Voice in his head. “That one is very strong. The strong do as they please.”

“You again,” Janus grumbled inwardly. “That was you saying those awful things to that lady, wasn’t it?”

“Last time you said that ‘I’ was just an aspect of yourself” the Voice answered. “Are you changing your mind now? Maybe to avoid facing the unsavory aspects of your own heart?”

Janus considered this. It did not seem to fit. He had barely been paying any attention to Clarissa’s story about her life before the Song-Catchers when he said it.

“I don’t have time for you right now,” Janus said out loud. “Go away!”

The Voice did as requested and Janus heard no more sharp retorts surface as he went down the stairs. For now, he needed to find out more about the situation with this Basso. The pain of his injuries seemed to melt away again and he sprinted back to the infirmary. The door was shut and probably locked, but there was a decent gap at the bottom and he laid down and pressed his ear against it.

“I’m already arranging a counter—” Yew said before the dark-haired man who had been trying to find a blood potion interrupted him.

“Why not give it to them before!” he shouted. “Did you send them there to die, man?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Yew answered. “You don’t take orders from me and you never have. I made a suggestion and they took it. Clearly, we didn't have all the information.”

Instead of a response, Janus heard sudden footsteps. The dark-haired man swung the door inward and his hand was around Janus’s neck.

“Spy!” he cried, pulling Janus into the room and pinning him against the wall with one hand. The other pointed a spear at his neck.

Clarissa screamed. Janus tried to push the man’s hand away, but it was no use. The Voice was probably not too keen on helping him when he had just told it to go away. But before he could regret his mistake, the man’s fingers involuntarily peeled away and Janus fell to the ground gasping and coughing.

"Iulus, this is unworthy of you,” said the large red-haired man, now lingering in the back. “Becalm yourself. Do you not see this is but a child?”

Iulus didn’t answer or even move. Yew’s sparkling dust was clinging to him, holding him in place like a statue.

“Mr. Janus, might I ask what you were listening at the door for?” Yew asked. The dust disappeared and the one called Iulus backed away from him.

“N-nothing, just curious,” Janus answered. He couldn't come up with anything that didn’t involve Basso on such short notice.

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Yew chuckled. “I should make everyone swear on Ovid from now on. But there is no one in this room I don’t trust implicitly, excepting yourself. So you can tell it straight.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Janus noticed the ghost of a blush on Clarissa’s cheek. He thanked the spirits and the faeries and any other forces of benevolent fortune present that the Voice was not present to comment on this.

“He said Basso killed someone,” Janus answered, pointing to Gil who was sleeping in one of the cots. “That’s all.” He was slowly backing toward the door, though that was pointless with Yew’s dust about.

“Commander Graecos,” Yew said the the large red-haired man. “I greatly appreciate your solicitude in this matter, but perhaps it would simplify matters for you to depart.

Graecos nodded solemnly and made for the door, which he had to duck under when he reached. “Jonathan was a good man. The axles of the Chariot of War shall spin to avenge him.”

They’re all poets here, Janus thought. Even the muscle.

“Claire, I’m sure Gilbert needs your attention,” said Yew. “Myself, Master Iulus, and Master Janus are going to have a chat over here in the corner. Don’t mind us.”

Three chairs Janus hadn’t noticed before creaked across the stone into a corner a few feet away and he and Iulus took their chairs without argument. Once Yew had taken control of the pace of a scene, it was hard to go against him.

“Iulus of the Sword of Justice, this boy is Janus the…Interloper, we’ll call him. Not a spy or an enemy, just an outsider who is now inside. Master Janus has many strange talents we do not fully understand yet, the most notable being that he fought Bruno controlling Liste to a draw with his bare hands. I believe Master Janus will prove a useful ally and you should consider him under my protection from here on out. Do you understand?”

Iulus nodded. His rage was gone and his face was unreadable.

“You are both anxious over Master Basso. I am anxious about him myself. Until yesterday, I was sure the man was dead. When a team we send into the field never returns, we assume a TPC—totus pars caesus. Everyone dead. The assumption is nearly always correct.

Not so this time around. We know Basso lives and is close. Yet both of you must leave him be, for now. No more listening at doors for word of him or stalking off to his territory. I cannot order either of you to do anything, yet if want answers out of him, you will wait until the Guild is ready to move.”

To Janus, getting out of the room without having his throat slit would be a good outcome, so he agreed readily.

Iulus had other ideas. “The boy has Basso’s ring,” he said. “I want it.”

Janus’s stomach tightened painfully. Yew must have told this fellow about Basso’s ring the night before. He made it sound like the whole thing was just an inconsequential hassle he intended to ignore, but it had apparently helped send Gilbert and Jonathan on the errand that got one of them killed.

Janus wanted to say, “It’s my ring, you can’t have it!” but that was obviously wrong. He wasn’t even sure why he was so attached to the thing, but he couldn’t deny he was. It felt like his only connection to an old friend he had forgotten.

“I…do I have to?” Janus asked Yew in his most pathetic tone. “I came all this way with it…”

Yew shrugged. “You don’t have to do anything, but Master Iulus isn't a Song-Catcher and I can't tell him what to do. The Sword of Justice is the part of the Guild that investigates and hunts down rogue Bards. If he thinks that ring is relevant to his investigation, well…if it were me in your seat, I would hand it over.”

Iulus glared at Janus with his dark eyes throughout the explanation. Yew probably did not need to say so much as just that vicious expression convinced Janus to fish the ring out of his bag almost immediately. Iulus snatched the ring off his palm the second it was offered and, just as Yew had done, licked the signet stone.

“It’s him alright. Basso of the Shade of Death.”

----------------------------------------

“They’re certainly building this guy up,” said Felix from the bunk below after Janus finished explaining where he had been. Yew had released Janus from his oath, saying everyone in the Barracks would know about Basso and Jonathan by dinner. There was no point trying to cover it up after Iulus had made a scene of hauling the half-dead Gilbert through a dozen halls and corridors.

“I wonder what it tasted like?” Janus mumbled. He had never considered licking the ring in the years it had been in his possession, but he was not above licking strange things in general.

“Blood,” Felix answered. He had surprisingly good hearing, but maybe all Bards did.

“What? Blood? Why?” Janus dipped his head underneath the bed to see if he was being serious.

“I could smell that ring when you brought it out before. I couldn't figure it out at the time, but it smelled like blood. And it was only your ring, not Martin’s.”

Janus didn't know how to respond. The ring had never smelled like anything to him.

“I have a good nose,” Felix said, pointing to said appendage with a look of mild satisfaction. “I could smell a wet dog when they gave it a bath in the next town over. I know what I'm talking about.”

“Blood…” Janus muttered, pulling his head back up. How had he never noticed it? This Basso must be some sort of monster, so why did he have his ring in the first place?

“Do you know anything about this fellow Basso?” Janus asked the Voice inwardly.

No response. Maybe it was still sulking.

Janus remembered seeing an unused wax tablet on one of the tables and clambered down the bunk ladder to retrieve it. When he got back, he realized there was no stylus and just used his finger to clumsily write, “Do you know Basso?” in wax.

The bed had a big linen pillow stuffed with straw and after closing the tablet he put it under the pillow. Janus wasn't sure why he thought this would work, but somehow he thought it would.

When he woke up later that evening, the tablet was in his hand. He opened it uncertainly. There in a hand that was not his own was a single line.

BEWARE THE SONG OF LIVING-DEATH