He popped up without warning. Jute would be prowling through a hall, and around a corner would come Severan, trying to appear nonchalant and just as surprised to see Jute as the boy was to see him (though after a while, Jute was no longer surprised to see him). He turned up in the evening without fail, as well as in the morning for breakfast. “It’s rather odd,” said the boy, “that you turn up everywhere. I thought you were hard at work with the others, digging things up.” Severan looked somewhat embarrassed. “Well, things have been slow. We struck a bad spot in the lower level. There’s a ward proving a vexing puzzle. It’s taken days to understand the first thing about it and we’re still far from unraveling the cursed thing. The others are down there now, arguing over how to beat it. I decided to take a breather. Besides, I know you could do with some company.” “Rubbish,” said Jute. “You’ve been prowling about just to keep an eye on me.” “If you weren’t such a nitwit,”
