Ardelan frowned. "More trouble! That's one of the outpost guards. I wish I could have just the right amount of raiding, and no more."
"He might have told you what it was about."
"He will, at the sunset council. But Kwangtan has to dip his long nose into everything first, or he makes trouble."
They got the news in a hurry.
Standing in the entrance of the shrine, Kwangtan cursed his chief and the doctor as well. "Get that fellow out of here! He's come to steal the Fire of Skanderbek. And you're a fool for allowing him around here!"
Ardelan endured the cursing until he had a chance to ask, "Have you had another vision, Holy One?"
"The man who just rode up told me what I had already learned from the fire gods. This Verrill has promised the ruby to one of his women."
"Who said that?" Verrill demanded.
"One of your own people who fly down from heaven. One called Dawson. At the trading-post. Dawson talked about you to our men, and to our neighbors."
"You stick to your own business," Ardelan interposed, quietly. "He will stick to his. He is an outlaw from his own people. Naturally, his enemies try to harm him."