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“Alton sent me”

“The Deyer?”

“Alton D’Yer”

Merdigen nodded “Yes, the Deyer That’s what I said”

Dale put her hand on her hip and frowned She could see this was going to take ht The Deyer He sent me in here because the on’t let him pass”

Merdigen tugged on his beard “That much I know”

“Alton—the Deyer—wants to know the latest on the condition of the wall—anything you can tell hiet around the guardians to let him enter”

“Hah! As if the ould talk to hiot in! Tell me, has the book been found?”

Fortunately Dale knehat book he was referring to thanks to Garth’s briefing “I don’t know I’ Zachary will see to it that it’s looked for”

“Zachary of Hillander,” Merdigen muttered “At least another two hundred years have not passed while you people dillydally about, trying to figure out what to do”

“What? Two hundred years?” Dale scrunched her eyebrows together “Er, no”

“Well, I can only tell you what I told that big fellow, Garth, is that the guardians will have nothing to do with the Deyer He betrayed them”

“He did no—”

Merdigen raised his hand to silence her “Knowingly or not, he betrayed theht the whole of the wall down in spectacular and utter ruin As it is, the guardians are in disarray, confused, and even if the ould talk to hi it down And there is another thing” He leaned toward her and lowered his voice as if afraid he ht be overheard “There is also a strand of hate and—and…” He shuddered “And uardians”

It was all beyond Dale’s couardians,” what she iined to be spiritlike presences, and that soether to keep it stable What she didn’t understand was how the guardians accomplished this and what Alton had done to “betray” theen, the two Riders would have a lengthy talk