Brutus snorted at that. "Somehow, I do not think so. There are wheels that turn far greater than you could imagine, Harland. How can I be caught when I do not even truly exist? I am simply part of the wind, as far as these people are concerned. When the time comes again, as you know it will, you will come and find me, and I will set you the price of ten gold coins."
"Not five?" Harland said.
"Five was to get a taste," Brutus said. "But once you are hooked, you will not be able to go back. Your Commander, and his men, they're in love with the strength that the axe brings, in confronting their enemy head on. But you, Harland, I think you will learn to love other things, as you have already. An axe, swung at the head of a King, needs to be large enough to shatter his armies and the walls of his castles – it needs all that strength. But a poisoned dagger? It need only be as big as a needle. The only trick is getting it to land home."
