"Keep talking," I prompted.
"The Great Owner commanded that the slave be brought to him ... at the Palace of Sapphires by the Shallow Sea."
"Has this Owners' Owner got a name? How'd he hear about him?"
"Lord Ommodurad," Qohey's voice grated out. He was watching Torbu's foot. "There was that about the person of the stranger that led me to inform him."
"When did he go?"
"Yesterday."
"You know this Sapphire Palace, Torbu?"
"Sure," he answered. "But the place is tabu; it's crawlin' with demons and warlocks. The word is, there's a curse on the—"
"Then I'll go in alone," I said. I put the knife away. "But first I've got a call to make at the spaceport at Okk-Hamiloth."
"Sure, Owner Drgon. The port's easy. Some say it's kind of haunted too but that's just a gag; the Greymen hang out there."