How could Freath be dead? "Come!" he yelled at the sounds of footsteps outside his chambers. He marched into the private salon area as the door was opened and Stracker entered.
"I've only just heard," he admitted. "It seems your wife got to you with the news first."
"Have the other escorts sent to the chapel," Loethar ordered, his expression like a thunderstorm.
A man - the lead escort - was shown into the chamber.
"Is is true?" Loethar demanded, ignoring his obeisance. "Is Master Freath dead?"
The man nodded miserably.
Loethar pointed at him, furious. "Tell me what occurred and keep it to the point."
The man swallowed, showing how fearful he felt. "Highness, we accompanied Master Freath, as instructed, into the town of Francham in the north. He was staying at an inn called The Lookout."
"What do we know about the inn?" Loethar interrupted, looking at his general.
Stracker shrugged. "Nothing special about it. Most popular inn in the town. The population is transient so plenty of strangers are coming and going through the inn's doors."
Loethar's expression darkened further. "Go on," he said to the warrior.
"Er, my lord, we took the horses for stabling while Masters Freath and Felt went directly to the inn. To my knowledge there was nothing out of the ordinary. They ate a meal at the inn and - "
"Wait! What do you mean to your knowledge? Were you not there to see with your own eyes what was going on?"
"Er, well, you see, my lord, Master Freath told us that he had no plans to do anything more than eat a hearty meal, share a flask of wine with Master Felt and take an early night."
Loethar blinked. He knew what was coming, felt a familiar rage rising. "And the trio of soldiers I sent to escort my aide into what we believed might be hostile territory were where this night? The local brothel?"
"He insisted, my lord," the soldier replied.
"Insisted what?" Loethar demanded. He impaled the younger man with a stormy gaze. "What did he insist upon?"
To his credit, the man spoke evenly, confidently. "That we should eat where we wanted and, er, take the night for ourselves."
"And you did just that, didn't you?"
The soldier looked down. Stracker's expression now matched his half-brother's. "You unreliable swine!"
Loethar held a hand up to prevent the tirade. "Do we know what happened?"
"We arrived at The Lookout well before closing time, my lord. I saw Master Freath but not Master Kirin. I'm sorry to say I assumed that the Vested had already retired. It seems he had left the inn but we do not know why. We never saw him again."
"And Freath?"
"He was sitting at the back of the inn, talking with someone, just another guest. I never saw the man's face - he had his back to me - but he was not memorable by his clothing or build."
Loethar sighed. How obvious, he thought.
The Red continued. "Freath saw us and nodded." He shrugged. "That was enough. We knew where he was and that all was well."
"When did you lose track of him?" Loethar pressed.
"That's just it, we don't know. We were all watching this big man trying his luck at a game they play in the north called Arrows. Everyone was betting, the atmosphere was very lively. It was - "
"A diversion," Loethar cut in, his voice weary.
The man frowned.
"Deliberately done, I'd say. I'm sure the next time you looked for Freath he'd disappeared."
The Red nodded. "Exactly so, my lord. We never saw him leave and to be honest I thought he'd escaped the noise and revelling to retire."
"Finish this tale!" Loethar said, a wave of his hand accompanying his snap.
"Yes, my lord. The next morning we couldn't raise either Master Freath or Felt. We spent several hours questioning people and following every lead but to no avail. Then some travelers raised the alarm about a body found on the pass. It was not too deep into the mountains - almost at the gates, in fact. It was Freath, my lord. He had been run through with a sword."
"He was dumped there, presumably?"
"We believe as much. He had no reason to be in the pass, had no way of getting there and there was no blood to suggest he'd been killed where the body lay," the Red replied.
Loethar felt something die inside him. He already missed Freath. "Before you are executed, make sure General Stracker has all the information you can possibly remember about the man Freath was talking to and the big fellow you