"Your manner of dress and your presence in this inn, which is reserved for the organisers and senior sponsors of the Great Burning, tell me that you are a prince amongst the Riders but neither Muttu nor I are aware of your lineage. What is your name and where do you hail from?" the old man asked. Though superficially polite there was an edge to the enquiry and a perspicacity which reminded Klane of the Seers of his old home. He sensed immediately both danger and opportunity but the time had not yet come when he was ready to openly declare himself the Klane of Kalonia. A formal reply was required with enough detail to grant him respect but not so much that this agent of the Enclave would deduce his true and ultimate origins. A little mystery then. The Riders liked mystery sometimes. "I am the consort of the Lady Lucalle", Klane began, "and her people sometimes call me the Dragon Slayer. You may address me by the simpler name I use in company and when travelling. I am also known as Alderon." Alderon was the name Klane had taken amongst his new tribe, an alias that was neither his old true name of Asanka which he had abandoned to the dead past, nor the secret name he nursed and reserved for a future yet to be when the authors of legends would take it and hammer it into the shapes of their own designs. "My country lies over the hills and far away. To reach this place I have breasted the moors of Ulumol and forded the river Telaroll. I have travelled by the shining roads and the singing roads of the Glass Lands which few dare to cross in these times. I have sailed across the Great River Osyndar and traversed the narrow passes of the high canyon lands and now I claim my right to take part in the Burning of Ironhope according to the laws of the ancient Guardians under the rule of the Vow of Earth." "Then you have come far indeed", Thorawn answered thoughtfully, "and you are welcome at our festival, Dragon Slayer." "You will be taking part in the games, I am sure", Muttu added. "I will look forward to challenging you in the races and the tournaments." Klane nodded. There was something threatening about Muttu which he instinctively disliked and in titling himself Dragon Slayer he knew he had given both men much to ponder.