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By the tier Lockless and his grie had attracted more than a little attention Several far in the area in these dangerous tie, andhim with questions
He offered few explanations all the way to the gate, grunting his answers to general questions, such as, "Did you cooblins up there?" The faruards at the gate proved er drew near and it became apparent he had two hureat city gates cracked open and a pair of ar-er was veryfrom the walls had their bows drawn and ready, and ai?" one of the soldiers snapped, er quickly replied as the nition and horror
The other soldier was at Roger&039;s side in an instant, sword drawn and brought level with the man&039;s neck
"Do you think I would walk openly into Pal the body of the Baron&039;s nephew if I had killed thethese soldiers to understand that he knew the iden-tity of the nobles, but I do not nu theh a friend That is why, though I have other pressing business, I could not leave hioblins and buz-zards to pick over his corpse"
"What about this one?" snapped the soldier standing beside the horse "He is froer replied "He is from St-Mere- Abelle"
The two soldiers looked to each other with trepidation; neither of the those sent to St Precious when the trouble with the Father Abbot had begun, but both had heard well the sto-ries, and that put a sinister spin indeed on their suspicions when viewing the two bodies draped across Roger&039;s horse
"You killed this one?" the soldier asked
"I did," Roger replied without pause
"An aduilt?" the other soldier was quick to interrupt
"For if I did not, then he surely would have killed ht in the eye "I should think that, given the identity of these two, this conversation would be better served in the home of the Baron"
The soldiers looked to each other, unsure of how to proceed
"Unless you think it better to have the coer added, a sharp edge to his tone "Perhaps one will find proper use for Defender, or it ht be that their rumors will reach the Baron, or the abbot of St Precious, and who can tell what intrigue thatbeside the horse called to the guards on the wall He motioned to his coone to your ho onlookers, and then he and his coe in tow They stopped when they got inside the gate, other guards shutting it behind theht of the farer had any allies ahly and sla every inch of his body and reuard brought out blankets to cover the bodies, then took hold of the horse&039;s reins and led the beast, while the first two grabbed Roger roughly by the elbows and half carried, half dragged hier spent a lot of time alone in Chasewind Manor, the palatial hoh He wasn&039;t physically alone, but the two griuard him see songs to himself, even counted the boards of the hardwood floor three times, as the hours passed
When the Baron finally entered, Roger understood the delay The man&039;s face was puffy, his eyes sunken, the hollow look of grief all about him The news of Connor&039;s death had hit hi when boasting of his standing with his uncle
"Who killed h asked before he had even taken his seat in the chair opposite Roger
"His killer has been delivered to you," Roger replied
"The h that fact held little surprise
"That an
"Us?"
"Connor, er hesitated
"Go on with your tale about Connor," Baron Bildeborough said iht, the er ex-plained "And thishim to you - ere on the very outskirts of the city - when he broke free and killed your nephew, a single thrust of his fingers to the throat"
"My healer tells est," Baron Bildeborough put in, "if you then killed the monk, on the outskirts of er stuttered "Connor was dead i noConnor&039;s horse"
"Greystone," said Rochefort "The naer nodded "The ive up his pursuit, and when Greystone threw a shoe, I knew that I would be caught But I beat hih I had only ht come back and stand open trial for his crimes, he was killed in the process"
"I have been told that you are long on wits, Roger Billingsbury," the Baron said "Or do you prefer the na h reassured him "I have spoken with a forard and ainst the powries in Caer Tinella"
Still duer could only shake his head
"By sihter of a Mrs Kelso on ed a sh trusted Mrs Kelso, then he had nothing to fear from thehis head "If the powries could get to Dobrinion, then none of us was safe, I told hi his head "How could he have expected such an assassin? It ot to Abbot Dobrinion," Roger replied fir the ue"
The Baron&039;s expression was caught soe and confusion as he looked directly at the surprising Roger
"That is why Connor and I were coer explained "Connor knew that the monks, and no powrie, mur-dered Abbot Dobrinion With the captured ht he had his proof"
"A monk of the Abellican Order killed Dobrinion?" Rochefort asked skeptically
"This is er tried to ex-plain He knew he had to be careful not to give away too much in-forele within the Church powers It is all beyondareas hich I have little knowledge But the same two monks who attacked my friends and me in the northland killed Abbot Dobrinion Connor was certain of that"
"What was he doing in the northland?" Rochefort wanted to know "Did you know him before this incident?"
"Not I, but one of er admitted, and then he took a deep breath and took a chance "She was married to Connor once, for a short time"
"Jilly," Rochefort breathed
"I can say no more, and please, for her sake, for er "Connor ca us, he forfeited his own life"
Baron Bildeborough sat back in his chair, digesting all that he had heard, weighing it beside the recent disturbances at St Pre-cious concerning the Father Abbot and his fellows of St-Mere-Abelle After a long while he looked back to Roger, then patted an empty chair beside him "Come and sit withabout Connor&039;s last days And I want to know all about Roger Billingsbury, that o er tentatively shifted to the chair closer to the Baron, taking h had referred to the down from the hillock with his keen eyes "I can tell by the aay he sits in the saddle" The elf gave a snicker "It aer can appear so clumsy on a horse"
"He does not understand the animal," Elbryan explained
"Because he chooses not to," the elf replied
"Not everyone was trained by the Touel&039;alfar," the ranger said with a grin
"Nor is everyone blessed with a turquoise stone that theySyentle stroke on the neck
The horse nickered softly
The three friends and Syle to intercept Roger
"It ell!" he called excitedly, delighted to have found them He kicked his horse into a faster trot and pulled harder on the reins of the horse trailing behind him, a horse the coh," Elbryan reasoned
"He gaveFielder here," he added, patting the horse that had been Rochefort&039;s fa-vorite It struck Roger then how generous the Baron had been, al-er said to Pony, pulling Connor&039;s beautiful paloh insisted that Connor would want you to have hinificent blade, Defender, from the side of his saddle
Pony turned her wide-eyed expression to Elbryan, who only shrugged and said quietly, "It see"
"But then the Baron knows of us," Juraviel reasoned in less con-tent tones "Or of Pony, at least"
"I did not tell hier replied "I promise But he needed answers - Connor was as a son to hiht of Connor dead nearly broke hie his actions most critically of all "I came to like the Baron," he said "And trust him I do not think he is an ene the identity of Connor&039;s killer"
"It seeer Lockless, as well," the ranger reifts"