When Commander Margulis came storming into the soldiers' barracks, everyone scattered to stay out of his reach.
"Who was in my office?" he thundered. "No one goes in there while I'm away!"
The soldiers glanced nervously at each other. Which of them had stirred up the Commander's wrath?
"It's gone. The strand of hair I cut from Jin Uzuki's head: it's gone. Which of you is responsible?"
One soldier raised a trembling hand. "Sir?" He pointed to a place on Margulis's robe.
Margulis looked down. Halfway down his body he saw a thin coil of black.
He let them live.
