and Marnik entered, "foul even for the criminal beasts
who conceived and perpetrated it!" She pointed an accusing finger.
"This murder of the beautiful Lady Dallona of Hadron!"

Verkan Vall stopped short, considering the possibility of something
having been discovered lately of which he was ignorant. Olirzon must
have guessed his thought; he grinned reassuringly.

"Think nothing of it, Lord Virzal," he said, waving his knife at the
visiplate. "Just political propaganda; strictly for the sparrows. Nice
propagandist, though."

"And now," the woman with the magnificent natural resources lowered
her voice reverently, "we bring you the last image of the Lady
Dallona, and of Dirzed, her faithful Assassin, taken just before they
vanished, never to be seen again."

The plate darkened, and there were strains of slow, dirgelike music;
then it lighted again, presenting a view of a broad hallway, thronged
with men and women in bright varicolored costumes. In the foreground,
wearing a tight skirt of deep blue and a short red jacket, was Hadron
Dalla, just as she had looked in the solidographs taken in Dhergabar
after her alteration by the First Level cosmeticians to conform to the
appearance of the Malayoid Akor-Neb people. She was holding the arm of
a man who wore the black tunic and red badge of an Assassin, a
handsome specimen of the Akor-Neb race. Trust little Dalla for that,
Verkan Vall thought. The figures were moving with exaggerated
slowness, as though a very fleeting picture were being stretched out
as far as possible. Having already memorized his former wife's changed
appearance, Verkan Vall concentrated on the man beside her until the
picture faded.

"All right, Olirzon; what did you get?" he asked.

"Well, first of all, at Assassins' Hall," Olirzon said, rolling up his
left sleeve, holding his bare forearm to the light, and shaving a few
fine hairs from it to test the edge of his knife. "Of course, they
never tell one Assassin anything about the client of another Assassin;
that's standard practice. But I was in the Lodge Secretary's office,
where nobody but Assassins are ever admitted. They have a big panel in
there, with the names of all the Lodge members on it in light-letters;
that's standard in all Lodges. If an Assassin is unattached and free
to accept a client, his name's in white light. If he has a client, the
light's changed to blue, and the name of the client goes up under his.
If his whereabouts are unk