"So, what, we wait until it does make him ill or drive him crazy before we do anything about it?" Bert pulled a face, finishing off his ice cream and wiping a smudge of it off the hair on his upper lip. "Great. Because gods know I didn't get my fill of watching magic destroy people just yet." Glancing around briefly, he lowered his voice a little. "Speaking of magics that destroy people, Nariko, is there any chance at all that bedamned thing's still where you put it? Or will they have found it?"

Roland glared at him, but Bert barely flinched. "Look, Ro', someone had to ask. I'm no keener to see it in Marten's hands than you."