In Ruger's eyes, the Silver Hand Viscount, who was always talking about exchanges, had simply swindled them out of their Big Fish. He was clearly a powerful Wizard, yet he still came to fool youngsters like them. They would have heard that so-called news whether they had the fish or not. Nor would it reach only them, or only that one Trade Island. The news would surely circulate across many Trade Islands, perhaps in slightly different versions.
Ruger could not be certain, but he still connected it to Fortunate Barry Danton. The news mentioned One-Ring Wizards, and both he and Mona were One-Ring Wizards. It also mentioned that Fortunate Barry Danton was being tracked-or hunted-and Ruger suspected he had escaped by hiding in the jar to evade his pursuers.
Fortunate Barry had found an island that only he knew how to reach, and obtained an oddity there.
That was roughly what the so-called news amounted to. Truth and falsehood were mixed together, and some part of it might have come from an extremely one-sided perspective.
Ruger chose not to venture into the mist-shrouded jungle. Instead, he sat beside a boulder at its edge.
"There are two possibilities now," Mona said with a bright smile. "First, that broken jar couldn't affect Lord Zorn and Lady Jillian. Second, it wasn't that the jar couldn't affect them, but that Three-Ring Wizards can't enter this place-but there's no need to worry. Don't underestimate the Demon Hunter Wizards, and especially not the Holy Tribunal. All the difficult, even rare and incomprehensible things we encounter may already have been resolved countless times by the Holy Tribunal-"
As she spoke, Mona stood, planted her hands on her hips, and looked into the distance, surveying the island. Of course, even from this spot, mist still obscured most of