The riders returned at midday.
There were only two of them. They had ridden hard to the outer post that had supposedly recommended Venn and harder still on the way back.
Their horses were blown. The lead rider, a steady woman named Petra who had once stood night watch with Kane, handed Lila a single folded sheet before she even dismounted.
"No one at the post knows the name," Petra said. "No record of a scribe called Venn. No recommendation was ever written. The seal on the letter we were shown is a clean forgery of their post mark. They are angry. They want to know who used their name."
Lila broke the seal on the sheet. It was a formal statement from the outer post's captain, written in a blunt hand, denying any knowledge of Venn and requesting the keep's explanation. The small question of the recommendation's origin was answered. It had never been real.
The new complication arrived with the second rider's report.
