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Cyrilus has died, and that upsets me. Many of those who accompany me pass away, and Cyrilus was with me for just a day, and now I am saddened. The 50 rangers in our trek to Ruanon to help D’Val mostly died, the three guides in Kalte usually die but I took a way that they do not. Lord-lieutenant Rhygar died. Cyrilus died. Who did not die? Banedon from Book 5, and Loi-Kymar from Book 3 and that’s it.
It is just past dark when I arrive at The Halfway Inn, just as Cyrilus predicted. I enter and see a conjurer performing tricks for the customers. Watch the conjurer or inquire about a room? I watch the conjurer, as an homage to Cyrilus.
The conjurer is about to do a trick. I will quote it:
Having removed a bunch of flowers from the ear of a startled merchant and a clucking hen from the petticoat of the merchant's wife, the flamboyantly dressed conjurer calls for silence from his cheering audience before announcing his next trick. Two children shuffle onto the stage, their bodies and faces completely hidden by long black gowns that are tied at their foreheads. Only their hair, blond and black is visible.
'I'm a boy,' says the one with black hair.
'I'm a girl,' says the one with blond hair, the voice identical to the first.
The conjurer steps forward and says that they are a boy and a girl but at least one of them is lying. He asks which is which and invites the audience to bet on the answer. I choose to bet 23 gold crowns - all I have left. I believe they are both lying and turn to that passage. I am correct and win 23 crowns, yay! I pay 4 crowns for a room, stabling, and a meal.
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