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Finally he lifted the mantle of the lantern and stuck a knife into the flame Smoke curled up as oil burned off the blade, but before the metal could turn red, he pushed charts out of the way and pressed the parch the hot steel slowly under the sealing wax The top fold lifted

It was a simple document, without preamble or salutation, and it made sweat break out on his forehead

The bearer of this is a Darkfriend wanted in Cairhien forthem, theft fros found in his keeping, to the smallest Our representative will come to carry ahat he has stolen froo to you at reward for taking hied ier taint the Light

Sealed by Our Hand

Galldrian su Riatin Rie

King of Cairhien

Defender of the Dragonwall

In thin red wax below the signature were i Sun seal of Cairhien and the Five Stars of House Riatin

"Defender of the Dragonwall, ht the er"

He exa the docu the parchment, but he could find no flaw in the one, and for the other, he had no idea what Galldrian’s hand looked like If it was not the King hined it, he suspected that whoever had had ood imitation of Galldrian’s scrawl In any case, it made no real difference In Tear, the letter would be instantly da in the hands of an Illianer Or in Mayene, with Tairen influence so strong There was no war now, and men from either port came and went freely, but there was as little love for Illianers in Tear as the other way round Especially with an excuse like this

For athe parch to have, in Tear or Illian or anywhere he could iine -- but finally he tucked it carefully into a secret cubbyhole behind his desk, concealed by a panel only he kne to open

"My possessions, eh?"

He collected old things, ason shipboard What he could not buy, because it was too expensive or too large, he collected by seeing and reone, those wonders scattered around the world that had first pulled him aboard a ship as boy He had added four to his collection in Maradon this last trip, and it had been then that the Darkfriend pursuit began And Trollocs, too, for a tiround right after he sailed from there, and there had been rumors of Myrddraal as well as Trollocs It was that, all of it together, that had first convinced hiuard when that first odd coe to Tear, and a thin tale for a reason