“I can do that,” she said.
“So can I. Besides, you’re the customer, so you should get your money’s worth.”
She smirked at him. “I’m not a fool, you know. Ten silver won’t even cover the feed for the horses, will it?”
“Well, what you have to understand is Mouse and Millie are very spoiled. They only eat the best grain.” He winked. She could not help smiling back.
Thrace finished the pot and the other bowls and they walked back to camp.
“How much farther is it?” she asked, replacing the pot and bowls in the sack.
“I’m not sure. I’ve never been to Dahlgren, but we made good time today, so maybe only another four days.”
“I hope my father is all right. Mr. Haddon said he would try to convince him to wait until I returned before hunting the beast. I hope he did. As I said, my father is a very stubborn man and I can’t imagine anyone changing his mind.”
“Well, if anyone can, I suspect that Mr. Haddon could,” Royce remarked, prodding the coals of the fire with a long stick. “How did you meet him?”
Thrace found the bed Hadrian had laid out for her near the fire and sat down on her blanket. “It was right after my family’s funeral. It was very beautiful. The whole village turned out. Maria and Jessie Caswell hung wreaths of wild salifan on the markers. Mae Drundel and Rose and Verna McDern sang the ‘Fields of Lilies,’ and Deacon Tomas said a few prayers. Lena and Russell Bothwick held a reception at their house. Lena and my mother were very close.”
“I don’t remember you mentioning your mother; was she—”
“My mother died two years ago.”
“I’m sorry. Sickness?”
Thrace shook her head.
No one spoke for a while, then Hadrian said, “You were telling us how you met Mr. Haddon—”
“Oh yeah, well, I don’t know how many funerals you’ve been to, but it starts to feel … smothering. All the weeping and old stories. I snuck out. I was just wandering, really. I ended up at the village well and there he was … a stranger. We don’t get many of those, but that wasn’t all. He had on this robe that shimmered and kinda seemed to change colors from time to time, but the big thing was he had no hands. The poor man was trying to get himself a drink of water, struggling with the bucket and rope.
“I asked his name and then, oh, I don’t know, I did something stupid like starting to cry and he asked me what was wrong. The thing was, at that moment, I wasn’t crying because my brother and his wife just died. I was crying because I was terrified my father would be next. I don’t know why I told him. Maybe because he was a stranger. It was easy to talk to him. It all just spilled out. I felt stupid afterward, but he was very patient. That’s when he told me about the weapon in the tower and about you two.”
“How did he know where we were?”
Thrace shrugged. “Don’t you live there?”
“No … we were visiting an old friend. Did he talk oddly? Did he use thee and thou a lot?”
“No, but he spoke a bit more educated than most. He said his name was Mr. Esra Haddon. Is he a friend of yours?”
“We only met him briefly,” Hadrian explained. “Like you, we helped him with a little problem he was having.”
“The question is, why is he keeping tabs on us?” Royce asked. “And how, since I don’t recall dropping our names and he couldn’t have known we would be going to Colnora.”
“All he told me is that you were needed to open the tower and if I left right away, I could find you there. Then he arranged for me to ride with the peddler. He’s been very helpful.”
“Rather amazing, isn’t it, for a man who can’t even get himself a cup of water,” Royce muttered.
CHAPTER 3
THE AMBASSADOR
Arista stood at the tower window, looking down at the world below. She could see the roofs of shops and houses. They appeared as squares and triangles of gray, brown, and red pierced by chimneys left dormant on the warm spring day. The rain had washed through, leaving the world below fresh and vibrant. She watched the people walking along the streets, gathering in squares, moving in and out of doorways. Occasionally a shout reached her ears, soft and faint. Most of the noise came from directly below in the courtyard, where a train of seven coaches had just arrived and servants were loading trunks.