'i left no trail.'

'not one most could see, true. but as i said, we don't get distracted.'

tehol continued pacing. 'the merchant tolls list letheras's gross at between twelve and fifteen peaks, with maybe another five buried-'

'is that five including your one?'

'mine was written off, remember.'

'after a whole lot of pissing blood. ten thousand curses tied to docks at the bottom of the canal, all with your name on them.'

hejun asked in surprise, 'really, shand? maybe we should get dredging rights-'

'too late,' tehol told her. 'biri's got those.'

'biri's a front man,' shand said. 'you've got those rights, tehol. biri may not know it but he works for you.'

'well, that's a situation i've yet to exploit.'

'why?'

he shrugged. then he halted and stared at shand. 'there's no way you could know that.'

'you're right. i guessed.'

his eyes widened. 'you could make ten peaks, with an instinct like that, shand.'

'you've fooled everyone because you don't make a wrong step, tehol beddict. they don't think you've buried your peak - not any more, not after this long with you living like a rat under the docks. you've truly lost it. where, nobody knows, but somewhere. that's why they wrote off the loss, isn't it?'

'money is sleight of hand,' tehol said, nodding. 'unless you've got diamonds in your hands. then it's not just an idea any more. if you want to know the cheat behind the whole game, it's right there, lasses. even when money's just an idea, it has power. only it's not real power. just the promise of power. but that promise is enough so long as everyone keeps pretending it's real. stop pretending and it all falls apart.'

'unless the diamonds are in your hands,' shand said.

'right. then it's real power.'

'that's what you began to suspect, isn't it? so you went and tested it. and everything came within a stumble of falling apart.'

tehol smiled. 'imagine my dismay.'

'you weren't dismayed,' she said. 'you just realized how deadly an idea could be, in the wrong hands.'

'they're all the wrong hands, shand. including mine.'

'so you walked away.'

'and i'm not going back. do your worst with me. let hull know. take it all down. what's written off can be written back in. the tolls are good at that. in fact, you'll trigger a boom. everyone will sigh with relief, seeing that it was all in the game after all.'

'that's not what we want,' shand said. 'you still don't get it. when we buy the rest of the islands, tehol, we do it the same way you did. ten peaks... disappearing :

'the entire economy will collapse!'

at that the three women all nodded.

'you're fanatics!'

'even worse,' rissarh said, 'we're vengeful.'

'you're all half-bloods, aren't you?' he didn't need their answers to that. it was obvious. not every half-blood had to look like a half-blood. 'faraed, for hejun. you two? tarthenal?'

'tarthenal. letheras destroyed us. now, we're going to destroy letheras.'

'and,' rissarh said, smiling again, 'you're going to show us how.'

'because you hate your own people,' shand said. 'the whole rapacious, cold-blooded lot of them. we want those islands, tehol beddict. we know about the remnants of the tribes you delivered to the ones you bought. we know they're hiding out there, trying to rebuild all that they had lost. but it's not enough. walk this city's streets and the truth of that is plain. you did it for hull. i had no idea he didn't know about it - you surprised me there. you know, i think you should tell him.'

'why?'

'because he needs healing, that's why.'

'i can't do that.'

shand stepped close and settled a hand on tehol's shoulder. the contact left him weak-kneed, so unexpected was the sympathy. 'you're right, you can't. because we both know, it wasn't enough .'

'tell him our way,' hejun said. 'tehol beddict. do it right this time.'

he pulled away and studied them. these three damned women. 'it's the errant's curse, that he walks down paths he's walked before. but that trait of yours, of not getting distracted, it blinds both ways, i'm afraid.'