The piece was time—a timepiece. The face was round and nocked at regular intervals around the edge, and the center turned with the sun and moon, its single arrow pointing straight up at noon, straight down at midnight, disconcerting how it knew. Sparkling like a noonday sun, a diamond twinkled in the middle. Twice a day at noon and midnight it flashed like fire, just the once. The metal casing was stainless steel, the color of blade metal manufactured in the great smithies of Swordshire, and Drupa had once been told by an itinerant swordsmith that the timepiece had certainly been forged from a sword. And on the back although smooth, a concave spot invited a fingertip. When pressed, the backing did open, showing inside a myriad of gears and springs, and to one side a rolled-up scroll. Witho
