I stared at Anomen's limp body. There was only one thought running through my head.

"Shit! Shitshitshit!" Snick peered over the bar, crossbow dangling from a pudgy hand. "A Knight, dead in my bar! Aw, man, the Cowlies are gonna have my liquor license for this!"

It was lucky for us that no one else in the Crooked Crane seemed to have noticed the body sprawled on the floor. The last thing I needed was for some well-meaning guard to poke his nose in and raise a fuss. I could see it now--endless questions and piles of red tape, and worst of all, no whiskey. Plus I'd lose the chance to catch Sis off-balance. No, I couldn't let that happen. I had to get Anomen under cover, fast.

I grabbed Anomen's feet and dragged him around behind the shelter of the bar. The armor weighed a ton, but with a bit of scrambling, I managed to flip him over so that he lay on his back. Snick was too busy moaning over his run of bad luck to help.

"What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

I tuned Snick out and concentrated on getting Anomen's armor off. I could try to raise the guy. Yeah, that was the ticket. If I ran, I could get a priest in here lickety split. There were quite a few who owed me a favor or two.

"I suppose I could turn this dump into a café, like the wife always wanted."

As soon as I wrestled his breastplate off, I saw it. Anomen's chest was moving.

"It couldn't be that hard. A few ferns, a little wood paneling, some dancing girls..."

"Shut up, Snick! I'm trying to concentrate." I threw the breastplate down and fumbled for Anomen's wrist. His pulse fluttered under my fingers, weak, but there.

"What'cha got, Mister A?"

"The man's not dead."

Snick's stubbled cheeks puffed out, and he sagged against the counter. "Praise Tymora. I thought my wine had killed him. I didn't give him the good stuff, you know."

"You never give anyone the good stuff." I bent over and took a whiff of Anomen's breath. "Pah! He reeks of wine."

"He should. He drank eight bottles of red."

"Eight?" I had figured Anomen was in need of liquid comfort, but I'd underestimated his pain. Good thing Snick's wine was watered, or I'd lose my favorite dive. "What were you planning to do, rifle his pockets when he passed out?"

"Er... maybe?"

No big surprise there. I rolled my eyes. "Forget it. Get me some wake-up juice."

Snick slid me another glass of whiskey.

"Not for me! For him!"

Getting the idea, Snick scrounged under the bar for his dishtub. The water was filthy, chock-full of slime and eggshells, but I figured this was no time to be picky. At my nod, Snick sloshed the tub's contents over Anomen's prone form.

Anomen groaned. His eyes cracked open, sunken and crusted like pissholes in a snowbank. "What... what happened to me?"

"You passed out," I told him, picking a piece of rotten sausage from his beard. He didn't seem to understand, so I dumbed it down. "You got drunk."

"Drunk?" he rasped. "Impossible. One trained in the knightly arts cannot get drunk. I..." He tried and failed to sit up. "Oh, my head..."

"Lie still. Maybe next time you'll think twice before cracking open a bottle or seven." I leaned closer, trying to breathe through my mouth. "Now, tell me, Anomen, what else did my sister do?"

Anomen blinked a few times, alarmingly green under the beard. He opened his mouth. I half-thought he would puke, but he ended up spilling his guts in a more useful fashion.

"She asked me to write the notes," he said. I could barely hear his voice above the crowd. "She said she wanted to trap Farrahd, to find out just how far he would go."

"Guess he went pretty far, huh?" I asked, hoping to coax some more good stuff out of him before he passed out again.

"When she explained what she had done and why, I was horrified. I told her that what she had done, what we had done, was wrong. I tried to set her on the right path, but she only laughed and ordered me to write another note before she told the Order my part in this ignoble scheme."

He let his breath out in a half-sob, half-groan.

"She used me. By all the gods, I loved her so, and she used me." His voice held all the bewildered pain of a mistreated animal. "How could she do such a thing? Why... Miri..."

My heart lifted as I pieced together his broken mutterings and added them to the things I'd already figured out. I felt like I'd opened a dirty old belt pouch to find it filled with a thousand sparkling gems, each more valuable than the last. For the first time since this whole crazy mess began, everything made sense.

"Are you okay, Mister A? You've got this weird expression on your face. It looks almost like a smile."

I'd forgotten Snick was there. "Never mind that. Have your boys put him in the back, and be sure to leave him something to puke in. I'll let Trade know where to collect him."

Snick grinned, revealing a mouthful of broken yellow teeth. "Sure thing, Mister A."

I stood up and wiped my hands on my pants. "And leave his pockets alone. His drinks are on me."

"Spoilsport," Snick muttered, but he scrambled to follow my orders.

Leaving Anomen in Snick's capable hands, I went to share my newfound knowledge with Trade. Twenty minutes later, I headed out to see Sis. We had a lot to talk about.