have

to tell them something. Statement forthcoming, pending full investigation,

all

that sort of rot. Do try to get that report to me as soon as possible, will

you?

I'll have a records officer standing by so you can dictate it. Should be a

bit

easier, what?"

"Thank you, sir. I'll...ohhh, aaah! Sorry. Slight twinge. Nothing serious.

I'll... unnnh!... get to it directly, sir."

"Right, then. Get some rest. I'll be checking back." He glanced at the others

"Uh... pleasure. Don't overtire him, right? Um. Right." He nodded curtly and

departed.

"If that man was any stiffer, he'd be in the morgue," said Makepeace with a

grimace.

"'Ey, Mick, if you're in a lot o' pain, we can come back, y'know," said

Billy,

leaning on his cane.

"No, I'm not so bad, really. I was only exaggerating a bit to get rid of the

superintendent because I had no idea what to tell him. What in God's name can

I

tell him? He's expecting a complete report!"

"I see your problem," Wyrdrune said. "You obviously can't tell him the whole

story, can you?'

"I don't even know the whole story," Blood said.

"Oh, it's simple enough, really," Wyrdrune said. "The necromancer caught

Modred

off-guard and kidnapped him, taking him prisoner and chaining him up in the

dungeon of Carfax Castle, leaving him there without food or water with the

intention of weakening him so severely that he couldn't be a threat to him

anymore. An ordinary man would have died, but the runestone kept Modred

alive.

Still, there is a limit to what even magic can do. It uses up energy, and if

that energy is not replenished, well, it's obvious what happens. Anyway,"

Wyrdrune continued, "after taking Modred prisoner, the necromancer sent us

those

visions to draw us in, knowing we would think they were from Modred. And, in

fact, that's exactly what we thought, even though I suspected at first that

they

might not be. Either way we had nothing else to go on, and he made it

especially

convincing by giving Jacqueline more information that we had, because we knew

that Jacqueline had a longer relationship with Modred than we'd had, and she

was

in closer physical proximity.

"He meant to lure us to the castle on the night of the party. He arranged for

us

to suspect Carfax—or whoever he really was—thereby providing himself with a

convenient Judas goat. He left us enough clues to lead us there, and in case

we

were spectacularly stupid, he would've dropped some more hints, maybe in