347
The blacksmith pockets your bribe and bids you follow him to a smaller room at the rear of his workshop. In the quiet privacy of this adjoining room he tells you all he knows about Prince Karvas of Siyen.
‘The Prince don’t live here in Mydnight,’ he says. ‘He did once, when he first came to Sheasu … that be ten years ago now. Then this woman arrived and they got wed. He took her up-country. They live up there on the north coast somewhere. They rarely visits Mydnight these days. Fact is, I haven’t seen them for more than a year.’
You thank the blacksmith for the information and leave his workshop. On returning to the quayside you resolve to explore the tangle of alleyways that make up the city’s eastern quarter in the hope of finding someone else who is willing to tell or sell what they know about the Prince. Unfortunately your efforts garner no further information. As the sun begins to settle on the horizon, you finally abandon your search and hurry back through the darkening passageways towards the market square.
Wizard Acraban and Lord Zinair are already waiting aboard the Starstrider by the time you reach the square. The magician orders the boarding cage to be lowered and you are winched up to the skyship. Both are anxious to hear your news of Prince Karvas’ whereabouts for their own enquiries have yielded little useful information. You inform them of what you have learned—that the Prince has a wife and they are living somewhere on the island’s northern coastline. Lord Zinair has discovered that Amarelda is the name of Karvas’ wife, and Acraban has learned that they last visited Mydnight exactly a year ago.
‘You have done well, Grand Master,’ says Lord Zinair. ‘The citizens of this city are a secretive breed, yet you may have prised enough from them to help us find our reclusive Siyenese Prince.’ Turning to Acraban, he says: ‘I propose we travel north at first light and commence a search of the northern shoreline. It will be easier to espy his retreat from the air than to attempt a search by land.’
Acraban nods in agreement and passes word to his young crewmen to prepare the Starstrider for a voyage north at first light.
