Maman smiled, but Aisa sensed bitterness behind it. “You’re meant to fight, my girl. Just be careful. You go to a dangerous place.”
Aisa sensed Maman hedging, but could make no sense of these dodgy answers. For a rogue moment she wished that Maman could go with them. But no, that would be disastrous. A woman with Maman’s sight would command a heavy price in Mortmesne; the Mace had said so more than once.
“Andalie!”
Elston’s voice roared outside, making them both jump. Aisa grabbed her knife and they hurried out into the hallway, where Elston beckoned.
“It’s your little one. She’s having a fit.”
Maman broke into a run. Following into the audience chamber, Aisa found Maman bent over Glee, who was in one of her trances. Aisa had seen this phenomenon so many times that she found it routine, and was almost amused by the reactions of the men around her, who had drawn back from Glee, their faces mirroring a nearly identical superstitious dread.
“Poppet?” Maman asked. “Will you come back to us?”
But Glee shook her head vigorously. Her wide eyes roved the room for a moment before fixing on the Mace, staring at him so long and raptly that even he looked unnerved.
“You seek a prize,” Glee murmured, her tone musing, as though she were working out a problem in her head. “But you will not find it in Demesne.”
One of the new guards, whose name Aisa did not know, crossed himself.
“Look to Gin Reach,” Glee told the Mace.
“Poppet!” Maman put her hands on Glee’s shoulders. “Poppet, can you hear me?”
“Gin Reach,” Glee repeated. “But we cannot know—”
“Glee, wake up!”
“Get her out of here, Lie,” the Mace growled. “Before she spooks us all.”
Maman gathered Glee up in her arms and carried her down the hall. Aisa thought of following them, but did not. She had already said good-bye to Maman.
I’m ready to leave, she thought, marveling. Really ready now.
The Mace turned to Arliss. “Are you sure our intelligence is sound?”
“It’s sound!” Arliss replied, exasperated. “You handpicked the girl!”
“What if they’ve moved the Queen in secret?”
“They haven’t. Not unless it happened in the last two days.”
“Find out.”
Arliss got up and headed for his office.
“Go through Levieux rather than Galen!” the Mace called after him. “We’ll get quicker answers!”
Arliss waved him off. Aisa wondered what the Mace would do. Glee’s visions sometimes ended up empty, meaning nothing, but Aisa had never known one of her predictions to actually be wrong. She had never heard of Gin Reach.
“El? What do you think?”
Elston shrugged. “The little one sees, for certain, but I’ll take concrete information over vague any day. I say we head on to Demesne, like we planned.”
The Mace nodded. “I agree. We can’t miss our window.”
He turned to the rest of the room, and Aisa found that disturbing phrase—a killer of children—echoing inside her head. She had asked Maman about it, and Maman had said she didn’t know, but Aisa had seen a different truth in her eyes. Aisa had asked Coryn where the Mace came from, and Coryn had said he didn’t know. There was a secret here, and Aisa was determined to ferret it out.
“All of you who remain here,” the Mace announced, “Devin is in charge of Guard business! All other matters belong to Arliss or Andalie!”
At this, Aisa’s mouth dropped open. The Mace, leaving Maman in charge? Several of the guards clearly didn’t like it either, but their mutters died under the Mace’s gaze. Looking around the room, Aisa suddenly noticed Pen, standing several feet behind the Mace. His eyes were circled dark, but he looked sober. He was armed and dressed for travel, his sword at his hip.
“Have this place ready for our return,” the Mace told the guards. “We’re bringing the Queen home. Don’t let her find you napping.”
But despite the confidence of his tone, the Mace still looked troubled. Ten minutes later, when Aisa went to fetch her saddlebags, he was still bent over the dining table, staring at a map.
It was thrilling to be out in the city after dark. The Mace had chosen the quietest hour of the night, after the drunks went to bed but before the early laborers were out, and the streets were nearly empty.
But all was not quiet. As they approached the outskirts of the Gut, Aisa became aware of a growing din, men shouting to each other and the occasional clash of swords.
“What is that?” Ewen asked. He was riding beside Aisa, near the back of the troop.
“I don’t know.”