"Fine."
"If nothing else, it'll put me closer to the Lord of the Flames ... and my freedom."
"How are you not free now, Jon Koshar?" the Duchess asked.
Instead of answering, he said, "Give me the address of the inn at the Devil's Pot."
Going down the hall, with the address, Jon increased his pace. His mind carried an alien mind that had saved him from death once already. How could he be free? The ... obligation? That couldn't be the word.
Around the corner he heard a voice. "And now would you please explain it to me? It's not every day that I'm called on to declare war. I think I did it rather eloquently. Now tell my why."
(Jon remembered the trick of acoustics which as a child enabled him to stand in this spot and overhear his sister and her girlfriends' conversation just as they came into the house.)
"It's your brother," came the other voice. "He's been kidnaped."
"He's been what?" asked the King. "And why? And by whom?"