I gave my sons each a knife, then read to them the history of kinslaying from the Snow Kings. I expected them both to be bandaged and bloody at the feast that night, scowling at each other from across the King's Table. Instead, they sat side by side, perfectly calm and at peace with each other. I saw my lesson was not lost on them. How long would it be, I began to wonder, before those knives found their way into me?

The old hinges whined as the door to the jail opened. Halfur shut his book and followed Ror into the cell block. The goblin was being kept at the end of the long tunnel in a private cell set aside for diplomatic internment. The walls were lined with bright crystal sconces, and the interior was equipped with a table for eating, an enclosed privy and a straw filled bed. When they arrived he was feasting on a plate of steamed roots.

Ror looked as if he were about to throttle the pale green man as he supped. “You know this one?” Halfur asked. Ror turned to him slowly. “It so happens I do,” he said. The irritation in his voice was plain. They both flashed a look at the guards and they promptly left, shutting the door behind them.

“Where have you been?” his brother asked, stepping quickly toward Noxi and standing over him like a cross mother does misbehaving children.

“Found another centaur brood,” Noxi said. “This one had gnolls along with ‘em, if you catch my meaning. There’s a great big pack massing in the Coldwood. They're following this big, mean Alpha called the Black Ohm…”

“I don’t care about the gnolls," Ror thrust a finger toward the east. “I care about the two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers your brother sent to kill us.”

His brother? Halfur looked closely at the goblin. There was still something familiar about him, but he couldn't tell what. Was this Noxi character also brother to the Goblin King? As far as Halfur knew, Ridzak was the Goblin King’s only living blood.

“I’m still waiting to hear from Nines,” Noxi said. “And don’t bother asking me to speed him up, there’s no rushing the Ixix. Grandel does his job the way it’s best done, and he don’t listen to nobody who tells him to do it different, not even me.”

“So why this disguise? Yellow body paint, a glass lense over your blind eye, and this fake tuft of hair? You look ridiculous.”

“Oy! I’m impressionatin’ a handsome man, I’ll have ye know! Anyhaps, I had to see you, but it’s gettin’ tense out there. Noxi sent word that some of me brother's grunts was blasting on the mountain, and he had a hunch your lot would likely be comin’ for him. I couldn't let me best snooper get caught, so I saw an opportunity and we switched the aroo.”

“Ridzak?” Halfur asked incredulously.

Ridzak stood and flourished. “Greetings, oh easily befuddled one.”

“How did you know?” Halfur asked his brother.

Ror gave him a surprised look, as if he’d expected him to have known as well. “His clink,” Ror said.

Halfur folded his arms and looked at Ridzak’s ears, which the goblin playfully shook. I’d best get familiar with his jewelry. He took special note of each piece, especially a chain of amethysts of quality that only Thrond’s jewellers were capable of.

“Well, aren't you a clever little monkey?” Ror said. “Where was your brother blasting? We have skilled men searching but they’ve found nothing.”

“It’s a big mountain, mate. Keep looking.”

“Do you know?” Halfur asked. Ridzak and Ror both gave him an irritated look.

“He’d have said if he did,” Ror told him.

“I keep hearin’ that he’s the smart one,” Ridzak said to Ror.

“He has his moments,” his brother said.

"If I'm not needed here…"

"Of course you are," Ror said, "think about it. Gund's focused on conscripting new troops and fortifying the eastern gate. Lobuhl's taken up the investigation into the soldier's sickness. Mum's trying to learn what happened to Cara. I have Koll's inquest to oversee and dad has every one of these things to worry about. I'm glad Ridzak is in this cell instead of… whoever Noxi is."

Halfur nodded, then looked to Ridzak. "Why did you need to see Ror?"

Ridzak pointed at Halfur and winked. "The human boss ain't on the level. He's got some friends that Noxi's head over heals for," Ridzak raised his hands over his head, "'They're the best snoopers anywhere, 'cept for me brother 'n me!'. So he kept sayin'."

"Every monarch has spies," said Ror.

"These friends ain't his kin, mate."

"So he hired them."

"No one hires the kind of talent Noxi says they are. And I trust his testimation on this. Him and his brother know snoopin' like Grandel and me know murderin'. Naw, to get these kind of tell-tales and finder-outers you gotta find sumt’n they believe in. I oughtta know. How you think I got the Spijun boys on me team?"

"What if they aren't serving Salimod at all?" Halfur asked.

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Ridzak steepled his fingers together and looked at Halfur through the empty space between them. The glass piece over his clouded eye glowed red in the crystal light. "What you gettin' at?"

"Suppose Salimod is serving them. He may see himself as their ally, but he'd be easy for skilled agents to control."

Ridzak jumped off his stool and clapped his hands. “Oh boy! Me likes it when me mates is smarter than me. Ha! If only. I’d thought of that, and so I pulled Noxi’s brother from his job and had him help Noxi out at the Tall Hill. They found some secret halls in the walls and learned that Primates of Drow has a hand in all this. That’s where some of Salamander’s snoopers are from. They want to steal sumtn’ of yours, sumtn’ up top I’m guessin’.”

“What could they possibly want to steal from the summit?” Halfur asked, his mind racing through all the possibilities.

“What if,” Ror was pacing about the room, “what if they don’t want to steal anything? What if they want to learn something?”

Ridzak steepled his hands again and viewed Ror through his finger pyramid. “Like what? The latest trends in Starmancer beard braiding?”

Ror smiled and pointed at Ridzak. “I like it when my mates are smart too.”

Halfur narrowed his eyes and focused his thoughts. The Starmancers? Of course. ”Magni. They’re curious about the red candle, but the last contact our realms have had was violent, so they sent an agent to spy out what we’ve learned, and perhaps get a look through one of the scopes.”

“Or they wanted the Starmancer’s charts,” Ridzak was pointing at both of them and jumping like a baboon. “They might be stealin’ still, don’t count it out! Noxi said they had a snooper inside the dragon too, some little mummer boy. Has anyone slapped an eye on him?”

“I’ve seen him,” Ror said. “He’s nimble and small, and shaves his head. He could have snuck around anywhere.”

Ridzak hopped onto the table and put the last of his supper into his mouth. "They're hard to see without their white hair," he said as he chewed.

Halfur had a dark thought, but he decided best not to bring up the matter of the soldier’s plague in front of an outsider, even Ridzak. "So what help can you offer us in preventing the battle with your brother?"

Ridzak clapped his hands. "None."

Halfur rubbed his temples. He was about to speak when Ridzak came up to him and put an arm over his shoulders. "Me brother's attackin', and there's no stoppin' it. You're just going to have to hike up your skirts and slug it out. But, me 'n mine are gonna him at home, so whatever his game is here, it won't last long."

"And what do we owe you for the help?" Halfur could not for one instant believe that the Grim Whimsey would do anything for the sake of friendship, even if he and Ror had saved Ridzak's life.

Ridzak's smile sent a shiver down Halfur's spine. "Mannarim."

Halfur laughed. "Ror, I'll let you deal with this."

"How much?" his brother asked. Halfur's jaw dropped, and Ridzak promptly closed it for him before running over to Ror.

"As much as you can manage," said the goblin.

Ror gave Ridzak a sidelong glance. "Which color?" he asked.

"Aha! It's all in asking the right questions, mate. Black."

Halfur was puzzled by Ror's reaction. He put his hand on Ridzak's collar bone, his palm open and fingers close to the goblins neck. When he spoke his voice sounded like the growl of a snowlion.

"Why?"

Ridzak seemed to shrink, and gulped a lump down his throat. "Well, I'm sorry if I upset you, mate. Didn't think you much valued the stuff. I'm gonna need it though, even just a little piece will do, but me price is me price."

Ror dropped his hand to his side. "We have no use for it. I'll get you some. More than a little piece. But why do you want it? I need to know."

"For an experiment. It's kind of personal."

"I need to know what it can do, Ridzak. It's personal for me as well. Someone I care for is in danger, and I need to know if black mannarim played a part."

Ridzak's eyes lit up. He gently removed Ror's hand from his shoulder. "Is it the princess? Sallywag's daughter? Noxi told me she had a big ole' piece of it, but took it inside the mountain with her. I combed all over the Titan's Arm for another piece but found none loose, and there's no chippin any more bits off. That stuff is harder than anything."

"We have a supply of loose material," Ror said. "But tell me, what does it do?"

Ridzak went to the table and perched himself atop it. "There's a place I went to, in another lifetime. I need to get back if I'm to sort things out. The black mannarim might just be the key."

"Do you know what's happening to Cara?" Ror's voice was more tender and desperate than Halfur had ever heard it.

"I might, if her black stone played a part. I'll need to speak with her once she's woken. 'Til then there's nought I can say. Noxi has some potions that'll help her while she’s conked."

"I saw them. She's stable for now."

"You said you're going to cut your brother's attack short?" Halfur asked.

"I'm going to give him a list of real good reasons to bring his troops back ahead of schedule," Ridzak's voice had taken on an especially menacing tone.

"And what exactly is his schedule?" Halfur asked.

Ridzak shook his head. "Would you argue with me if I told you he clearly has one?"

Halfur unfolded his arms and rested his hands on his hips. I want him to speak plainly, and I'm trying to understand his unplain speech in plain terms. It was Ror who made things clear to Halfur.

"We're fools if we think this many soldiers are sent only for us, especially now that our standing army is cut in thirds. Attacking Thrond is the beginning of the game. When we first learned of the goblin force, our men were well. Ridzak, you don't know this, unless Noxi heard.. "

"They're vomiting themselves to death. Some human heard from some dwarf, and so on down the line. You can't keep somethin' that big quiet."

"I don't suppose one of Noxi's tinctures might help with that?" Halfur said. He felt uneasy at the alignment of events. That so many outsiders were within the realm while a massive army moved to attack was a sign of betrayal in his mind. Ridzak's information about Salimod's associates was not noteworthy to him, it only confirmed what he had already seen. It was Ridzak's statement about drawing the goblin army away after the attack that echoed in his thoughts.

“One of them just might, if they’re sick with something they’re made to cure. But how can I know that now, eh? Alright firebeard, you want something solid from the Whimsey? Something in the heresandnows? You find me a clue as to what’s made your warrior’s go belly-out, and I’ll tell you what’s what.”