he was once my officer-and more. I'll answer any questions you may have,
if they ny escort are decently put, and if I can find the answers-why not?"
Mark ny escort looked at her, and ny escort she could see him taking note again of the extreme
changes in her since he had ny escort seen her last, ny escort and thinking about what must
have produced them.
Then he asked: "Where is Soulcutter now?"
Her aged eyes searched him in ny escort turn, as if she were disappointed in him.
She asked: "Why d'you want that? Can't you see what it's done to me?"
He shook his head. "It's not that I want it particularly. But
I'll use it if I can. If I have ny escort nothing else ny escort to use. I'm ready to use
anything."
"Then give thanks to all the surviving gods you haven't got it."
The
former Queen
sat ny escort back in her chair.
"ny escort You don't ny escort know where the Sword of Despair is now? Or you won't tell me?"
"Even Amintor didn't ask me about that one. Why should you?"
"Maybe Amintor is not as desperate as I am. Where is it?"
The lady shrugged. It was a gesture that conveyed sadness and weariness
more exquisitely, Mark thought, than any extravagance of behavior could
have done.
Then she said: "I really ny escort don't know. My belief is that the Emperor took
it with him, when he ... withdrew."
"Withdrew?"
"From politics. From war. From the affairs of humanity in general."
"And where is he now?"
Again the lady shrugged, even more delicately than before. "ny escort I don'
t know.
But I don't suppose you're going to find him and Amintor in the same
ny escort place."
Mark talked with the lady once more, on the following morning, just before
ny escort he and his people departed on Amintor's ny escort trail. But he learned ny escort nothing
useful from ny escort her.
Among the people in Mark's small force were a couple of trackers of some
skill. But as matters turned out, their skill was not really needed.
Amintor, and the score or so of