Little Bear erupted in a series of ear-piercing yaps. Scrambling, he raced out the front door.
"It's someone he knows," Briar announced. "See? His tail wags him."
"No, Little Bear, do not jump on me," a familiar, crisp voice commanded. "No! I said, no! That's a good - now don't start again."
A lean white man with long, silver and black hair that hung loose around his shoulders entered the house, pointing down at Little Bear. The pup half-walked, half-wriggled behind him, whimpering happily. He knew there was no way that Niklaren Goldeye would let him jump up and wash his face, but Little Bear still hoped for a chance to show affection.
"Good morning, Lark," the man said. "Good morning, you four."
Tris ran to him and tugged on one of his spotless white linen sleeves. "Niko, did you find out how the towers were destroyed?"
"Tris, do not wrinkle my shirt," Niko ordered. "Let go." His tone was stern, but his black eyes, set deep underneath thick dark brows, were kind. "As it happens, I am here on just that errand. Lark, I'm sorry, but I need her to come with me, right away."
"She has chores," Briar pointed out. "Same as all of us."
"Washing dishes," added Daja.
Niko shook his head. "It really must be now, and I require Tris. We have to look into the destruction of the watch-towers. We may even be gone for midday."
Tris held very still, fingers crossed, praying to go.
"I'll wash and dry," Sandry offered, "if she'll do the same for me another time."
Lark put her slim brown hands on her hips. "Is that good enough for you two?" she asked Daja and Briar.
Daja shrugged. "Sounds fine."
The boy scuffed a foot on the ground and scowled. "I don't know," he replied sullenly. "It don't seem right."
Tris glared at him.
He looked up and grinned broadly. "I gotta stop teasing you," he remarked. "It's too easy. There's no sport in it."
Tris stuck her tongue out at him, then ran upstairs for her shoes.
"I'd finish the chores soon," Niko told Daja. "Frostpine has a special task of his own. I saw him at the main dining hall - once he's settled a few things, he'll be up here."
Daja got up quickly, and began to stack the bowls.
An hour and too many stairs later, Tris and Niko stood before what had been the Bit Island watchtower. The walls, which had once soared forty feet in the air, were now two and three feet tall, and pierced with gaps. Only the edges of the ground-level flooring were left; the boards were gone, leaving the cellar open to the elements. All of the inner stones were soot-streaked, their surfaces chipped and cracked. Tris noted splashes of crimson where Niko had said the Duke's men had found bodies earlier. An odd smell lingered in the air: a sharp, smoky odour, charred wood, a hint of burned flesh. Touching a blackened chunk of rock, she got soot on her fingers. Sniffing them, she blinked - the smell was in the soot.
Niko crouched at the cellar's edge, staring into it as he smoothed his bushy moustache. In spite of their hot climb, he looked cool and elegant. He made a sharp contrast to his red-faced, sweating pupil, clad in an ill-fitting green muslin dress.
Tris fumbled to re-pin her curls up and out of her way. "It looks like the tower shattered, doesn't it? But how? A mage?" she asked.
Niko looked up at her. For a moment, she wasn't certain he'd heard the question. Then his dark eyes softened. He caught a hairpin that leaped from her hand. "I should have made you wear a hat."
"It would be in the ocean by now. What did this?"
He sighed. "No one should be able to work destructive magic here. The magic protections were in the foundation. This - whatever it was - destroyed even those spells. See how the stones spray outwards from here? The force pushed them away from itself."
Tris crouched beside him, interested. "Where were the protection spells?"
"You can't see them?" he asked. "They're all around - what's left of them."
She wiped her face on her sleeve. "You see magic, not me."
He stared at her, shocked. "But it's easy - I haven't taught you how?"
Hot and itchy as she was, she had to smile. "Well, last week we were picking up after that earthquake. Two weeks before the quake you were running everywhere, trying to find the source of all the disaster omens the seers were getting. Before that, we studied tides and stars." She flapped her skirts to give herself a little cool air. "No - I don't believe we ever worked on seeing magic."
"Really, I had meant to be organized in your studies," he muttered. "Unfortunately, events have swept us along... And for now, I still don't have time for that particular lesson." He thought for a moment, then stuck out a hand. "Give me your spectacles."
Tris shrank back. "I need them."
"It's just for a moment."
Slowly she took them off, and passed them over. Now she couldn't even see what he drew on the inner surface of the lenses with his finger.
At last a breeze swept by, ruffling her hair. Three curls promptly jumped out of the pins holding them, and voices came to her ears:
"My boy, I had begun to think that something had gone amiss." The voice was a man's, crisp, almost metallic.
"Forgive me, my lord. This is the first moment I've been sure of my privacy. I'm in place." Another male voice, and one that was somehow familiar. Not very familiar, like Frostpine's or Niko's, but it was a voice she'd heard before. Youthful, sure of itself...