9

Brian took you to a ranch owned by his boss, a sprawling estate called Ypotryll. You'd never been in a house with a name before. You and Brian spent three nights at Ypotryll, walking the magnificent halls, exploring the wild and overgrown garden—how could it grow so lush, here in the desert?—and drinking red-black wine from silver cups Brian had made himself. You saw no one else.

On the third night, you realized that you loved Ypotryll, and wanted to die there. But Brian said you both had work. His boss (he called the man "Ypotryll" too, as if the ranch and its owner were the same) had many enemies, including two other wealthy landowners. Ypotryll was the weakest of the three, and his enemies hunted him. He needed watchers, he explained, to keep him safe. The rewards of service? A drink from the silver cup once a month, and with it: power and immortality. Then Brian showed you marvels. He could conjure visions out of nothing, move without being seen, and work other miracles. And he promised that you too would learn these arts…eventually. When the enemies following him and Ypotryll got a little closer, he would share that power with you. Until then, he charmed and hustled his way across the Southwest, sometimes selling his jewelry, sometimes transporting parts of Ypotryll—an urn, a chair. Other times he gathered people who would not be missed and brought them places. You never saw what was pursuing Ypotryll, unless it was the sun itself. Everything from the estate had to be kept safe from the sun. But that wasn't your only job. You had another task.