"What reward?" Gad asked. "What is he offering?"
Corwin swallowed hard, glancing over his shoulder like the words themselves might travel back to Vesk. "Land. A full estate near Vantrell, plus enough gold to set up three generations. That's not the kind of offer people turn down out here."
"That's a fortune," Bellan said, alarm plain in his voice.
"That's every mercenary in the province with a reason to start looking," Mira said. "Gad, this changes everything. It's not just Vesk's army anymore. It's anyone with a sword and a grudge against poverty."
Gad forced himself to think past the panic rising in his gut. "How did you hear all this."
"The caravan guards talked about it after the soldiers let us go," Corwin said. "One of them used to serve in the Surd ranks himself, years back. He
