Felix Godwinson is grabbing my shoulder and staring into my eyes. "Out." Behind him, Miss Gepid looks on me with disapproval for being so out of bounds.

"No, wait!" I exclaim. "I'm doing nothing wrong. I was a friend of Desmond's, years ago. I just need to look around here... I'm sure I can find it..."

"And what exactly would you be searching for?" Felix asks sternly.

"You... you will see when I find it," I reply desperately, looking everywhere, stepping around the corpse, trying to keep away from Felix' clutches. It's hard to explain what I am looking for, if I myself don't know!

"That's enough, Dr. Scylding, if this is your name," Felix snaps. "You haven't been able to give a valid reason for your presence here. Now leave, or I'll be forced to throw you out!"

"Felix, maybe we ought to prevent him from leaving," Miss Gepid says. "Are you so sure he has nothing to do with the hideous murder of your brother?"

Felix' gaze is grim. "No human being did this," he whispers. "Which doesn't mean we have to stand the presence of this... this... vagrant, whose only reason for being here is that he is an acquaintance of Edmund's! Quite some reference! Now follow me, Dr. Scylding, or I..."

Something catches my eye. Something that has escaped the destruction, maybe because it was on a separate shelf with some books. The shelf has been almost torn out, but the books protected the small parcel. It bears a label written in Desmond's hand which I recognize from medical school, and it clearly says "Aelfwine Scylding".

"This is for me!" I exclaim, even though the existence of the parcel has astonished even me. "This is my name! You see? Desmond knew I'd be coming here!"

Felix looks at it, clearly bemused. "It may be, but your place is out of here. Unless you can help us. Do you know something about my brother's murder?"

Why can't I lie? Why can't I act, at least one little bit? "I... actually... well, when I got here, he was already..."

"I thought so," says Felix curtly, grabbing my arm. "Now, out!"

They push me up the stairs and barely give me time to gather my few possessions. And then I'm out of Drakesheath Hall, once again in the bitter cold, once again alone with no place to go. But now I have Desmond's package...

While I'm musing at it, reading the label once again, with my carpet bag in my other hand, someone else grabs my wrist. I turn and find myself staring into the dark unfathomable eyes of Edmund Folcwalding...

[Finally! This storyline continues at Wyvern Tower.]