Amulet!
“Yeah. About that.” Michael peered at his chest. “That amulet you’re wearing. It’s gold. Why did the guard give it back to you?”
“I honestly have no idea, good Trader. I suppose he felt some guilt for stealing it?” Gregor essayed a smile, trying not to think about how, no, he really did have no idea why the guard gave it back. Or why it was apparently around his neck now. “I have never felt any power from it. Which at least means it can’t be cursed!”
“Sure, sure. But maybe it’s uncanny anyway.” Michael squinted at Gregor’s chest. “It’s got a tree carved on it. What does that mean? Some new god?” He directed the squint at Gregor’s book. “Or some old one?”
Gregor smiled, inside where it didn’t show. “I can tell you that it is of no new god, Trader Michael. But you guessed this already.” That’s even the truth, Gregor thought. I mean, the guard wasn’t dying from a thief-curse, after all. “As for the lost gods, from a better time?” He sighed, and offered a small smile. “I ma… cannot speak to that.” He reached for the clasp of the amulet, ready to take it off. “But I will understand if you find my amulet worrisome. Would you care to keep it? Or should I simply leave it here, suspended from a tree branch?”