Podemos is the guardsman who handed Gorgos the note. Gorgos first looks at the lock of hair, then explodes. He grabs Podemos by the neck of his shirt and shakes him. "Where did you get this!"

Podemos explains that one of the urchins who hangs around the barracks gave it to him; a nobody. Gorgos drops his comrade, gains a measure of self control. "This never happened. It never happened, okay?! It's none of your business!" He goes to his footlocker, removes his heavy equipment: a small shield, a leather cap, and a big, two-handed battle axe. The rest of the guards off duty watch him with open mouths.

Gorgos snarls as he leaves: "Don't speak of this to anybody! It never happened!" He leaves the barracks at a run.

Gorgos heads to the Goat Tower, an inn at the edge of town. Inside, he confronts Tyreus and shoves the note at him. Tyreus professes ignorance until Gorgos commands him to read it. Tyreus's face falls as he reads. "Do nothing until tonight. Speak to no one. Be at the Royal Observatory at midnight."

Tyreus is confused. "Gorgos, what is the meaning of this?"

"They got Kallia. I don't know who. I can't beat them up if I don't know who they are!" While Tyreus struggles for something to say, Gorgos shouts and curses, throws a stool, and pounds the table. Then gets an idea. He starts to snicker, then laugh as he shouts, "They're going to BURN!" He runs out into the day. Tyreus shakes his head.

As Gorgos runs toward the northern part of Klymeus, trumpets sound in a muted call from the palace. The city's bells reply in a mournful peal.

Damos grabs his "bolt-bag" and exits his shop, locking the door behind him. He heads for a bolt-hole, a hiding place nearby where he can watch his shop and decide to either approach or flee.

Gorgos encounters Uncas as he runs through the city. Uncas is accompanied by a large bodyguard as he strolls. "Hey, Uncas!" shouts Gorgos, suddenly jovial. A beefy hand comes out of nowhere and grabs the startled guardsman. "What's this? Uncas, I need to talk to you," says Gorgos, waving his axe for emphasis.

The bodyguard growls, "Put the axe down first."

Gorgos looks down, sees the axe, is confused. "That's okay. I don't need the axe now. Where does Cyrus live?"

"Gorgos, as a favor, I'm going to tell you that I'm going to speak to Lt. Anto about you."

"That's nice. Why?"

"Cyrus says you're really mad at me."

"I am? Oh. Suppose you don't tell Lt. Anto, and I won't be mad at you anymore, and we'll call it even."

Uncas laughs. "I didn't get to where I am today by making deals like that! But I'll tell you where to find Cyrus."

"Okay. See you later, Uncas. Thanks!" Gorgos picks up his axe and heads into the crowd, Uncas shaking his head behind him.

Cyrus leaves in a mean little boarding house in a poor neighborhood. Gorgos approaches, discovers one of Uncas's henchmen watching the door. Lamellas has no orders regarding Gorgos, so Gorgos goes inside and kicks down Cyrus's door. Cyrus, who had been napping, rolls out of bed, keeping it between himself and the big guardsman.

Gorgos roars: "Where is Megamen?"

"I don't know! I was sleeping!"

"Oh. Do you want to do something useful? Go tell Lord Iphios he's been betrayed."

"Betrayed? How?"

"I'm not stupid! There was supposed to be a break-in last night, and there wasn't. We had the cemetary surrounded. They couldn't get in or out without one of us seeing them. Did you see anything?"

"No."

"Somebody warned them. That leaves Damos and Megaman. Did you know you were being watched?"

"No."

"It's not important. Let's go find Damos and Megaman." Gorgos hefts his axe and heads out. Cyrus dresses, and follows.

Damos sees Megaman come to his door. He emerges from his hiding place, circles around, and meets him at the door. Megaman is to the point. "We need to do something about Haburta. Our timetable must be advanced."

"The trumpets and bells: the king is dead, isn't he?"

"Yes, and unless we move to stop Haburta immediately, Theus will become king."

"What's that to me, or Lord Iphios?"

"Eurymon is clearly the better choice. Haburta is interfering with things."

"Very well; but I'm doing this because you asked me to, and because I'm convinced Haburta is behind the crime I'm being asked to investigate."

Damos re-enters his shop, stashes his "bolt bag," and grabs two extremely sharp knives. "It won't do us any harm to look over Haburta's home."

While Damos prepares, Gorgos and Cyrus come trotting up. Gorgos accosts Megamen. "Megamen! Burn them! You can do it at a distance, right?"

"Burn who, Gorgos?"

"Them! The ones who did this!"

"Gorgos, I don't know who they are!"

"You can burn them at a distance, can't you? Burn them!"

"I have to know who they are. I need to see them, Gorgos. I can't burn the whole city."

"Them! The ones that did this!" Gorgos waves the note around.

Damos takes the note, reads it. "Clumsy, but there's no obvious identification. It would take time to track this down."

Gorgos is nearly incoherent with rage and frustration. Megamen hands him a flask. "Drink this. You need it."

"What is this?" asks Gorgos suspiciously.

"It's beer. Drink it."

Gorgos sniffs the flask experimentally. He gags. If it's beer, it's easily the worst he's ever smelled. "Why can't you burn those guys?" As he argues with Megaman, he drains the liquid. Swiftly he calms down. [Tom: Gorgos is trying to think, and he's got something to drink in his hand. For Gorgos, the two go together. Drinking it is almost a reflex.]

Megaman convinces the group of the urgency. They head for Haburta's house.

They are nearly too late. A carriage is pulling out of Haburta's drive. A frightened man peers out of the carriage's rear window, withdraws. The driver snaps the reins. Megaman gestures, and a blast of flame explodes in front of the horses. They spook, and the driver struggles to regain control.

"One moment, gov!" shouts Damos, sprinting at the carriage. He leaps onto the running board, peers inside, notes the two men inside. One is the frightened man he saw looking out the back. "Theus," he thinks. The second is buried in a voluminous black cloak. "Haburta," he guesses. "Swamp gas!" Damos shouts in a thick accent. "The road is closed! You can't go that way, it's too dangerous! Swamp gas--it could explode at any moment! You've got to go back this way!"

The cloaked man hisses an icy command: "Down."

"Right you are, gov!"

Cyrus has run forward and is struggling to cut the horses free, but the wildly plunging beasts give him no chance. He tries twice and misses. Gorgos swings is massive battle axe and begins hacking at one of the wheels of the coach. Megaman jumps on the other running board and peers inside at the occupants. Haburta recognizes him. "Ah, the fire mage!" He crooks his fingers and Megaman drops to the ground as the air around him shivers with a missed spell.

Damos climbs up to the driver's seat. He grabs the nearest man and attempts to throw him off the coach. The driver is unbalanced, but drags Damos off with him. Damos rolls, and ensures the the driver is under him as they hit the pavement. The coachman draws his sword to threaten Cyrus. Gorgos is suddenly stung by a dagger hitting him in the shoulder; two figures are running toward him from behind.

Damos grabs the driver's head and slams it into the cobbles of the street. Wham! The man goes limp. Megaman throws another fireball, this time right inside the coach. It erupts in flames. Cyrus disarms the coachman, and Gorgos whirls upon his assailants: two slim figures in white cloaks, who reveal themselves as Druas. The coach's door opens, and a figure emerges, his cloak in flames. Damos desperately grabs the figure's leg, pulls him to the ground. They struggle as Damos puckishly shouts, "Stop, drop and roll for that fire, sir!" Damos once again slams his opponent's head to the cobbles until he stops moving. Looking at the man's face, he sees he has knocked out Senesh Haburta himself. Chuckling, Damos systematically strips his victim, removing all articles of value, paying careful attention to rings and other items of possible mystic significance. Once he has stripped Haburta, he carefully ties the man's thumbs together behind his back, gags him securely, and wraps him in rope so he cannot escape.

While Damos is engaged, Gorgos duels with the two Druas. Barely holding his own, his axe swishes threateningly, nicking and scratching his foes, while they threaten him in turn with their daggers. Cyrus, after dealing with the coachman, peers under the coach at Damos, busy gagging Haburta. Damos waves the archaeologist on, and Cyrus helps Gorgos with the Druas. Megaman checks inside the ruin of the carriage, notes Theus's corpse burning inside. Gorgos's axe swings, and crushes the head of one of the beings; the other turns to flee. A gesture and a word from Megaman, and the second assassin explodes in flames.

At this moment, two members of the guard appear, shouting and waving their swords. They grab Gorgos, who is shocked. "Release me, I'm the guard!"

"No, we're the guard! Drop your weapon!"

"It's all right, gentlemen," Megaman assures everybody. "Gorgos, drop your weapon. Let's get this straightened out."

While Megamen negotiates with the guards, first Cyrus, then Damos slip away from the scene and head to Haburta's house. The door is thick and locked. Cyrus listens and hears gentle breathing behind it. He easily picks the lock and opens the door a crack. A snarl; a heavy body thuds against the door. Cyrus struggles and slams it shut. "That's a big animal back there."

Damos considers. "Come with me for a walk. I have something that might calm Haburta's pet. On second thought, you head on to my shop first. I'll be along shortly." He waits for Cyrus to leave, and strolls in another direction, watching carefully. Sure enough, Cyrus has a tail. Damos grins, and tails the tail. They make an unnoticed parade to Damos's shop. Cyrus waits at the door for Damos; Damos waits for the tail to get settled, then Damos strides into view, greets Cyrus, and they enter the shop. "Did you know you were being tailed?"

"No. What should we do about it?"

"Nothing, I suppose."

While Cyrus is distracted, Damos drops Haburta's valuables into a safe hiding place, then he scrounges in his supplies for some meat. He liberally rubs some powder into it, then wraps up the seasoned meat. Cyrus is sent on back to Haburta's house while Damos locks up, and watches for the tail. Once more, he follows the tail up the hill.

Gorgos is explaining the situation to the guards. "We were attacked!" The guards are unconvinced.

Megaman cuts the discussion short. "We have excellent reason to believe that man has kidnapped a young girl and has her in his house. We must enter it and search for her immediately!" This convinces the guards. When reinforcements arrive, within moments, they stay with the immobilized sorcerer, while the first two accompany Gorgos and Megaman to Haburta's house.

"Get the door, Gorgos."

Gorgos hefts his axe.

"Um, try the handle first, Gorgos."

"Oh. Okay." The axe swings down, batters the handle into shapelessness. The door gapes open; with a snarl, a leopard leaps out, and is engulfed in flames. It dies. The four men enter the house cautiously. The guards go upstairs to investigate the bedrooms, while Gorgos and Megaman investigate the study, finding a well-appointed library, including many books on the history of Mestea.

By the time Cyrus, and then Damos reach the house, the group has established that Callia is probably not in the above ground part of the house. In the basement, there are four great chests. Everybody has a bad feeling about them. Cyrus carefully opens one. It's full of bones, and worse. There is a great moaning sound emanating from the open chest. A guard goes pale and runs upstairs. At the top of the stairs, in the study, Damos is settled in a comfortable armchair, studying one of the books that had the least dust on it: a history of the astrologers of Mestea. The location of certain tombs has been underlined in the book. He nods judiciously at the guard, and reminds him to guard the disabled Sennesh Haburta with care. The guard trots out the door. Cyrus, in the basement, closes the chest.

As the others in the basement busy themselves far away from the disturbing chests, Cyrus discovers each chest is paired with a small box on the shelf behind it. He finds ancient, and expensive jewelry in the boxes. Carefully and smoothly, he removes the least expensive piece, still very valuable, from each box, and replaces the boxes for others to discover.

Lord Iphios arrives. He is distant and distracted. Megamen shows him the bones. "We have solved the case of the disturbed tombs, sir." Iphios is less than delighted. The group has not been subtle: explosions and assaults upon prominent citizens in broad daylight! Still, the crime has been solved.

Damos boldly asks Lord Iphios for payment for his assistant: "Myself, I serve you out of my respect for your office. But I have asked others to do service for you, and they must be paid." Iphios agrees, to Damos's relief. He would dislike to cheat Kallista of her fee; his own reputation would suffer.

Meanwhile, Lord Iphios wonders aloud if all of the threads have been followed: are there any loose ends? Does the rot go deeper than the theft of the tombs? Damos reassures him that they have stopped a plot to plant a puppet upon the throne of Mestea, but Iphios is suprisingly cool to this problem. Megaman points out the matter of the kidnapping of a child. Gorgos nods assent. Damos wonders if he may need his bolt-bag after all.