“Master . . .” She fought to remember his name. Dakrias had said he was the finest glassman in Sacoridia. He’d come all the way from the eastern province of Bairdly to work on their dome. “Goodgrave!” she remembered in triumph. “Master Goodgrave. How fares your work?”

“Very fine, Captain, very fine. It is an honor to restore a masterwork such as this. We finished up the first panel this day—wanted to make sure we did so for your ceremony this evening. I think you will appreciate the difference between it and the as yet untouched panels when you light them up, I surely do. The beauty of it will properly honor your fallen comrade. Wish I could have finished the whole dome, but it’s exacting work and . . .” He faltered and looked troubled.

“And?” Laren prompted.

Master Goodgrave glanced this way and that, and then in a hushed voice said, “This place, it is haunted. Did you know?”

Both Dakrias and Laren nodded. Yes, they knew.

“My helpers, they keep running off, saying they are being pinched or their tools moved by unseen hands. I keep having to hire and train new ones, and it takes time. But my son-in-law, young Josston there, and I keep at it. We are not letting the, hmm, spirits chase us off.”

Laren glanced at the skinny young man he pointed out as his son-in-law. He was busy shifting a ladder.

“Don’t you worry,” Master Goodgrave said, “we will finish our work. No matter what little jokes those restless shades play on us.” He gazed up at the dome and glowered.

“Thank you,” Laren replied.

Just as the glassworkers left, Riders filed in and started to form a circle within the ring of Weapons. The circle had grown much larger since the first one they’d held. The influx of new Riders gladdened Laren, but she was also taken aback by how many of them never had the chance to meet Karigan. Among them, of course, were some of Karigan’s old friends: Mara, Tegan, Garth, and Ty. Laren’s own friend and former Chief Rider, Elgin, joined them and cast her a reassuring smile. They’d have told the new Riders of Karigan’s exploits. Missing from the group, most notably, were Alton and Dale, but they were needed at the wall. Lynx scouted the north woods helping to sniff out Second Empire, and Beryl, well, even Laren wasn’t sure where the king had sent Beryl.

Like a star aglow in the gloom, one other entered the records room flanked by an additional Weapon. Queen Estora arrived resplendent in dark blues, her crown shining atop her head. She came directly to Laren.

“Captain,” Estora said.

“Your Majesty.” Laren and Dakrias bowed. “Thank you for coming. It will—it will ease the hearts of your Riders to have you here.” They were after all, not just Zachary’s Riders, not anymore.

“It is a difficult reason to be here,” Estora replied.

Laren fleetingly thought of Estora’s complicated position, of coming between two who had loved one another.

Estora added, almost like an answer to Laren’s thoughts, “Karigan was my friend. I would be no other place at this hour. My husband, however, will not attend.”

“So he chose not to come,” Laren murmured in disappointment before she could stop herself.

“It was not a matter of choosing,” Estora replied. “He received unexpected visitors—Eletians.”

“Eletians? Should I go—?”

“Your duty, I think, lies here at this time, Captain, with your Riders. They are looking to you to lead them, to give them solace. I am sure my husband and his other advisors will be able to manage the Eletians until you are done here.”

His new advisors, Laren thought with concern. But Estora was right. Zachary could handle it and no matter the Rider lost, the business of the realm must go on.

Laren excused herself to take her place in the circle, sad but proud to see the Riders and Weapons, not to mention Queen Estora, all assembled here to remember Karigan. Her mind strayed to the news of the Eletians’ presence in the castle—what could they want?—but when she cleared her throat, and all the Riders turned their solemn attention to her, she forgot about the Eletians.

She began by welcoming those who had come and by enumerating Karigan’s deeds. She made sure they heard about her quieter accomplishments—the expert keeping of Rider accounts and the many successful messages she had delivered—in addition to the more notable and dangerous missions she had undertaken. Laren told of how Karigan became a Green Rider in the first place by completing the errand of a fallen Rider, F’ryan Coblebay, and subsequently helping to protect the king’s throne from his brother’s coup attempt. Karigan had carried the spirit of Mornhavon the Black into the future, securing time for Sacoridia to prepare for his eventual return. She had done so with the aid of the First Rider—the First Rider!—whose brooch she had worn.

Laren did not stint in the telling of how Karigan had helped rescue Sacoridia’s then future queen from kidnappers, a deed for which the king awarded her knighthood, the first Sacoridian to be so dubbed in two hundred years. Laren spoke of how Karigan had gone bravely into Blackveil Forest and aided the Eletian “Sleepers” who had been left behind in Argenthyne during the Long War. Once again she had defied the will of Mornhavon the Black and wounded him. Lynx had been unable to tell Laren more than that, for what had become of Karigan was a mystery even to him, and he had been there.

It was all the stuff of legends, and by Laren reiterating Karigan’s record here, the Riders would carry those stories on to the next generation of Riders, and out into the greater world, and in that way Karigan’s memory would live on.