gain greater treasure than one coin! Well, miracles had happened before, Hanse
mused, gazing pensively at the strange message. Had she opened the shell, she’d
likely have discarded the note.
Or nervously pressed it back into the shell to scuttle to Moonflower with it.
Maybe someone does know that Hanse received a message that shows a beckoning
hand from the Rankan seal, and a pile of coin. I hope she’s the quiet sort!
If I knew who she is, I’d scare her into silence. But then maybe she didn’t open
it at all…
The point is, I hate to walk into the palace, day or night. How would that look?
Me!
Besides, someone inside probably spies for someone out here, and the word would
be passed. Hanse just walked right up and in, and he was passed, too! Better
watch him; maybe he’s a spy for that golden-haired Rankan boy in the palace!
And so Hanse had thought on that, and begun to grin, and then to plan, and out
he went to reconnoitre and plan, and now he had broken in, all unseen and
unknown, to await his summoner in the latter’s own privy apartment!
And now, sitting there waiting, Hanse reflected and contemplated the more, and
his face clouded. The prickling in his arms started slowly, and grew.
Unwittingly the tool of that pretty Lirain who had so cleverly seduced or
‘seduced’ him (with no trouble at all!), he had gained this apartment before,
also by night and secretly. That time he had stolen the very symbol of Rankan
power, that wand called the Savankh. Eventually all that had turned out, and
governor and thief reached an understanding. By way of reward, Hanse was granted