I sighed.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘I was looking forward to a day of rest. I guess I’d better go tend the injured.’

‘They’ll heal, Pol. It was a friendly fight. Nobody even thought about drawing a dagger.’

‘Broken bones need to be set, father.’

‘You can’t fix everything, Pol.’

‘Who came up with that rule? What are your plans?’

‘I think I’ll go back to the Vale. Chamdar’s in Tolnedra right now, but I’m sure he’s got Grolims and Dagashi snooping around in Sendaria. I don’t want to attract attention to this place, and I am fairly recognizable.’

‘Wise decision. Give my best to the twins.’

‘I’ll do that.’

I spent the rest of the morning tending to the assorted cuts, bruises, abrasions, and broken bones, and then I went on down to visit the newly-weds. They were polite, of course, but I got the distinct impression that they had plans for the rest of the day so I trudged on home and went back to bed.

In the days that followed Alara rearranged the events of the wedding day in her own mind so that it became a day of absolute triumph for her. Oh, well, it didn’t hurt anything, and if it made her happy –

The location of Geran’s cottage down at the south end of town was slightly inconvenient, but that might have had something to do with his selection of the site. His mother was a bit possessive about him and more than just a bit domineering. We all loved her, of course, but she had a tendency to be just a bit erratic. I probably should have paid closer attention to that.

There was a world out there beyond the last house in Annath, however, and it kept moving along, whether we noticed it or not.

It was at about the same time as the wedding that Taur Urgas came up with his insane scheme to assassinate emperor Zakath of Mallorea. The scheme involved Zakath’s beloved, and she was among the casualties when everything fell apart. After that, Zakath became obsessed with the idea of exterminating the Murgo race – a commendable goal, I suppose, but it did sort of get in the way when more important things were going on. Taur Urgas was every bit as crazy as Drosta had said he was, and Zakath wasn’t much better. Cho-Ram of Algaria later cured the insanity of Taur Urgas, and Cyradis, the Seeress of Kell, cured Zakath’s. They used entirely different methods, however.

I don’t think I’d fully realized just how much my isolation in Annath had kept me out of touch with current affairs until father stopped by in the spring of 5349 and told me of the dissension among the Angaraks. There’s a kind of charm about rustic life, but the entire world could end, and it’d take several years for the news to reach a place like Annath.

Then, in the autumn of that same year, tragedy struck my little family. It was an ordinary autumn day with a chill in the air and with the leaves of birch and aspen a riot of bright colors. As usual, Darral and Geran went to work in the stone quarry. Then, just before lunch, the south face of the quarry quite suddenly broke away and fell to the floor of the pit, crushing my nephew, Darral.

Accidents happen all the time, and a stone quarry’s not the safest place in the world to work, but as it turned out, the death of Darral was no accident. It was the first hint we had that Chamdar – or Asharak the Murgo, whichever you prefer – had found us at last.

My grief at Darral’s death almost incapacitated me. Father made it to Annath in time for the funeral, but I almost completely ignored him. I was in no mood for platitudes. I stayed in my room for two weeks, and when I finally came out, father was gone. Alara moved woodenly about her kitchen, but I didn’t really pay much attention. I started taking my meals in my room, since I didn’t want to talk to anybody, much less those who shared my grief.

When I finally did come out, I discovered that Alara had gone strange on me. I was confident that I could take care of it, but that was a mistake. No physician should ever treat the illnesses of her own family, since objectivity is essential in the practice of medicine, and who can be objective about her own family? I delayed, and by the time I got around to my diagnosis, it was too late. Of course, it may have been too late right at the outset, since Alara’s madness had an outside source.

‘Whatever is the matter, Pol?’ she asked me one afternoon a week or so after I’d come out of my seclusion. She’d found me with tears in my eyes and her tone was concerned. ‘Did you hurt yourself ?’ She sounded only mildly interested and a little vague.

I looked at her sharply. Her face was placid, and that should have alerted me right then and there.

‘Come along now, dear,’ she said in a comforting sort of way. ‘Pull yourself together. It’s time for us to start fixing supper. Darral will be coming home from work soon, and he’ll be hungry.’

That jerked me back to reality almost immediately. I’d seen this delusion in others after a death in the family. Sometimes the human mind does strange things to protect itself. If something’s just too horrible to contemplate, the mind will refuse to contemplate it. In Alara’s mind, Darral was still alive, and he’d be coming home for supper before long.

There are two ways to deal with this not uncommon condition. My own emotional turmoil caused me to choose the wrong one. ‘Have you forgotten, Alara?’ I said mildly. ‘Darral had to go on a business trip. He wants to see if he can find more bidders for our yearly production of stone block.’

‘Why didn’t he tell me?’ She sounded a little hurt.

I reverted to subterfuge at that point. I smacked my forehead with my palm. ‘It’s my fault, Alara,’ I lied. ‘He came home this morning – while you were visiting with Ildera. He told me that there were some builders in Erat he wanted to talk with and that he’d be gone for a few weeks. There were some wagoners who were going in that direction, and one of them had offered him a ride. He had to leave immediately. One of our neighbor ladies fell ill, and I was so busy with her that I forgot to tell you that Darral was away on business. I’m very sorry, Alara.’

‘Oh, that’s all right, Pol,’ she forgave me. Then her face brightened. ‘Here’s a thought. Now that Darral won’t be underfoot for a while, we’ll be able to concentrate on our autumn house-cleaning. We’ll have everything all bright and shiny when he comes home.’

I knew right then that I’d made a mistake, but it was too late now to correct it. The ‘business trip’ would only reinforce Alara’s delusion and make it that much harder to cure in the long run. ‘Why don’t you fix us a light supper, dear?’ I suggested. ‘I have to go tell Ildera something.’