A young man, speaking the Saxon language, and later talking to me in Gothic with a marked Saxon accent... and yet he does not try to protect Yrsa's casks? And who is this man he says is waiting for me upstairs? It has to be important. Could it be... Has my search come full circle?

The young Saxon looks bookish but he knows how to fight. The guard he throws against the wall slumps senseless. Amleth has dispatched two of his and is dealing with the next-to-last one.

"Go!" the Saxon hisses once again. "We can deal with these two!"

Amleth gives him a strange glance, but he does not object to his help. Can I leave him alone? Will he think me a coward? No; not after all we have been through. He has to trust me on this. Like I trust the mysterious Saxon, I do not know why.

"Give them hell!" I cry, and speed down the corridor and up the stairs.

There is nobody familiar in the hall. No, the Saxon said at the top of the stairs. I race up to the rooms upstairs. The last room on the right? I rush down the corridor and yank the door open.

The room is empty.

What is happening here?