"She can't forget his money problems," Dove commented. "I'm not helping.

Whenever she starts to gush I mention his debts. And she's no fool. She knows she has no fortune, just some land. So why does he court her? She's forgotten all about the boy from Matebo House who made up to her in Rajmuat. It used to be I couldn't get her to shut up about him. But Bronau pours on the honey, and Sarai goes all gooey-eyed."

Aly saw it then, as clearly as if she'd read Bronau's plans in one of his hidden letters. "Dove, Prince Hazarin is next in line for the throne, isn't he? Then who's after him-Princess Imajane?"

Dove shook her head. "Female. She can't inherit under luarin law. Hazarin doesn't have children-and the way he lives, n.o.body expects it. His only heir is Prince Dunevon, and he's just three. He's the only child of Oron's third queen.

She's dead. I suppose Oron would put Dunevon under the guardianship of Hazarin or Imajane and her husband. Or just Imajane and Rubinyan if Hazarin was king."

Aly smoothed the reins over her hand. That matched reports on the kingship of the Isles she had read at home. "And if something happened to Hazarin and Dunevon?"

"No, they're healthy enough," Dove said automatically. Then her golden cheeks paled. "Papa. Papa's next in line."

"Sarai would be a crown princess," Aly pointed out, her voice soft. "So would you, and Petranne. Elsren would be a prince." Aly hesitated, then continued, hoping she did not make a mistake with this girl. "Rubinyan married into the royal family," Aly reminded Dove. "Maybe Bronau wants to do the same."

Dove chewed her lower lip. "This is too deep for me. We need to tell the d.u.c.h.ess. Though if she likes Bronau . . ."

So Dove, at least, now thought of her stepmother as an ally. Aly was relieved to hear it. "She likes him, but she knows he is not as careful as she would like,"

she told Dove. "Her Grace would listen."

"Why did he come?" Dove whispered, glaring at Bronau. "We're in trouble enough with the Crown. We don't need more of the king's attention."

"I don't believe the prince thought about that," Aly replied. "Only about what he wants."

Supper that night was over in the main hall. The conspirators, Nawat, and Aly had just finished their night's meeting. Aly was about to leave to report to the Balitangs when Ulasim grabbed her arm.

"Just what did you think you were doing, in Pohon today?" he asked quietly. "You gave Junai the slip. You left your companions to walk through a notoriously hostile village alone, for what reason? To learn they have nothing? That under the luarin they are nothing, when once they gave birth to queens?"

Aly glanced at the hand on her arm, then looked at Ulasim and raised an eyebrow.

He met her gaze, his grip still firm.

"Surely Junai told you I can take care of myself," Aly said very gently.

"Not against a group," Ulasim told Aly. "Why? The G.o.d cannot watch you always.

No G.o.d can. And you are too wise to take foolish chances, Aly of the crooked eye."

"Don't call me that," Aly replied. "It hurts my feelings. And Pohon isn't so badly off, not with five arms caches that I could see on a casual walk. There is also that herd of very fine horses recently moved outside the wall. I am a.s.suming that was so we couldn't notice how well mounted the Pohon raka are. I didn't get into any of the barns, but blaze balm has a distinctive smell."

Ulasim's eyes went wide. His hold on Aly tightened.

Aly sighed and grabbed his little finger, forcing it back against its normal curve. "Now, be nice. You might startle me into breaking your finger," she pointed out as beads of sweat formed on Ulasim's forehead. "Think how unfriendly that would be. It's not like you don't trust me, after all. Iam the G.o.d's chosen."

Ulasim let her go. She released his finger. "I'm Tortallan, remember?" she asked. "As long as the Balitangs and I live out the summer, I don't care what the raka are up to. I'd move the blaze balm, though. Bronau's served in combat.

If he smells it the Pohon folk will be in trouble with the Crown.I was looking for a mage."

Ulasim ma.s.saged the finger she had bent, eyeing her with respect. When she said "mage," his eyebrows shot up. "Junai said you'd been at her about that. We told you, there isn't one."

"And I took it as a nice, polite lie between allies," Aly said reasonably. "But our guest's presence makes me uneasy. The longer he stays, the more likely he'll draw attention this way, attention n.o.body wants. My task here is quite simple, Ulasim.I'm to keep this family safe. That doesn't mean dealing with a threat when it actually comes; it means preparing for them in advance. For that, I require a true mage, not a healer with a few extra spells, like Rihani. The raka have one. I need her."

Ulasim sighed, and rubbed his forehead. "She doesn't live in Pohon. And you must be patient. Junai is working on her."

Aly leaned against a nearby wall and stuffed her hands into her pockets.

"Junaiis working on her?"

"And others," mumbled Ulasim.

"Why is Junai important enough that this recluse will speak with her?" Aly pressed, knowing there was a secret here, and wanting it.

Ulasim smoothed his hand over his short, neat beard. "Because Ochobu is her grandmother. But I wouldn't count on her help, Aly. I really wouldn't. She said when she disowned me that it would take a miracle for her to even come downwind of me again."

Now Aly knew the secret. "Yourmother ?"

"Who cast me out," Ulasim explained. "My father was dying, and she summoned me home. I didn't feel I could leave the young ladies. Mother never forgave me."

Aly straightened and dusted off her tunic. "Well, we'll just have to think of a miracle, then," she told Ulasim. "Or rather, I will. You think of what to say to her when you see her again."

Ulasim grabbed Aly's arm, gently this time. "Don't ask the G.o.d," he begged. "You don't know what he might do."

Aly smiled grimly. "Don't worry," she rea.s.sured the tall man. "I already know better than to call on G.o.ds casually. But there are miracles, and there aremiracles. I just need to think of one."

Midsummer's Day, June 22, 462H.E.

Trebond, in northern Tortall It was another of those not-quite-dreams that Aly knew Kyprioth had sent. The Kyprioth dreams always felt like everyday life, except that she was a ghost and the dream ended before dawn in the Copper Isles.

This dream had a familiar background: the towers of her mother's former home, Trebond, rising on a bluff just to the west. The ghost Aly stood in a woodland clearing that was filled with creatures one expected to see in dreams. A handful of Stormwings, one of them a gla.s.s-crowned queen, perched in the trees. Beside them stood a basilisk, a seven- foot-tall lizard-like immortal with skin like beads of different shades of gray, lighter on its back, darkening to thunderhead gray on its belly. A gray pony stood beside the basilisk, thoughtfully cropping gra.s.s. On her back perched five tiny monkey-like creatures, pygmy marmosets, nibbling on raisins as they looked around. Wolves, squirrels, golden eagles, horses, ponies, and dogs lined the edges of the clearing, the squirrels and the dogs tucked behind the horses, where they kept an eye on the wolves.

Among the humans Aly recognized her foster uncle Coram, Baron of Trebond, and his wife, Aly's aunt Rispah. With them stood a tall older man with silver-blond hair and tanned skin. A peculiar creature Aly knew as Bonedancer-a kind of bat-bird skeleton-rode on his shoulder, peering this way and that, fascinated with its surroundings. As Aly watched, the skeleton took flight, soaring on bone wings with invisible feathers, to land on the pony with the marmosets. One of them politely handed the skeleton something to eat.

Present also were Onua Chamtong and Sergeant Ogunsanwo of the Queen's Riders, the former Rider commander, Buri, and her new husband, Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak. Aly saw her own mother, and Lord Wyldon of Cavall, one of the commanders of the northern armies. Lord Wyldon stood on the far side of the clearing from Alanna and eyed her much as the squirrels eyed the wolves. Aly's grandmother Eleni was at the center of the clearing, dressed as a priestess of the Great G.o.ddess. Aly's grandfather Myles was there, too.

Near Eleni were Numair and Daine, dressed in their finest clothes. Between them they held a blanket like a hammock, each of them gripping two ends of it. The blanket writhed as if a score of creatures did battle for room inside it. Once a pair of hooves thrust through an opening. A moment later a snake's tail fell out of one end.

Aly's father rode into the clearing on a lathered horse and slid from the saddle. He rushed over to kiss Daine's cheek and clap Numair on the shoulder, then looked at his wife. Aly's mother eyed her husband strangely, her violet eyes cold. She jerked her chin up in some kind of challenge. George frowned, then went to her. He leaned down and whispered something in her ear; Aly saw her mother's mouth shape the words "Not now." George straightened, puzzled. Aly, too, was puzzled. Why was her mother angry with Da?

"I'm sure they'll be here any moment," Daine told Eleni. "Ma said the Great G.o.ds ag-" She and Numair buckled, the weight in the blanket hammock suddenly large and rounded. A moment later they could raise the hammock again. Daine smiled apologetically at Aly's grandmother, who eyed the surging blanket as if it were dangerous. "Baby river horse," Daine explained with a blush.

"I can't begin to imagine nursing her-him-it," Eleni said, fumbling.

"It's a challenge," replied Daine, determinedly cheerful as she and Numair struggled to keep the squawking contents of the blanket steady.

The air behind Eleni shimmered silver. Two people stepped through. One was a man, over six feet in height, clad only in a loincloth. His skin was green-streaked brown; from his curly brown hair sprouted a rack of antlers that would have made an elk proud. His companion was gowned all in green, with a mist-fine green veil over her hair and face.

These were Daine's parents, Aly realized in wonder. These guests were divine ones: the hunt G.o.d Weiryn, whose territory included the mountains of Galla and Scanra, where Daine had grown up, and his wife, Sarra, Daine's mother, known as the Green Lady. After she had joined Daine's father in the Divine Realms, Sarra had become a minor G.o.ddess of healing. She appeared to those who lived in and around the village where, in her mortal days, she had raised Daine and served as a midwife. Since the two were restricted to the Divine Realms after their involvement in the Immortals' War, Aly could only guess that they had gotten special permission to cross over on Midsummer's Day for the naming of their grandchild.

The G.o.ds nodded to Eleni, who curtsied deeply to them. The other humans in the clearing bowed or curtsied as well. Daine and Numair could do nothing but nod.

Their child's latest shape change had sent quills shooting through the fabric of its blanket.

"Now, this will not do." The Green Lady raised her veil, revealing a pretty face crowned by blond hair. Aly could see how, as a mortal, Sarra had won the love of a G.o.d. Sweetness shone from her face and eyes and turned her voice into music.

"Really, dear, you must be firm with children."

Daine's mouth curled down wryly. "It's hard to reason with a six-week-old, Ma."

"We did try," added Numair, his gaze sharp as he looked at his mother-in-law.

"Every way that we could."

Sarra walked over and reached into the hammock blanket, pulling out a wolf puppy. It turned instantly into a young giraffe, then a gosling. Whatever shape it took, Sarra held it firmly. "Now see here, youngster," she informed her grandchild, "you ought to be ashamed, wearing your parents out all the time. And this kind of thing isn't good for you. You'll exhaust yourself before you're ten. Enough. Choose a shape and a s.e.x and stick to it, right now." She listened for a moment, then shook her head. "Five years at least. Learn the limits of one body. Then, if you're good, you may try others. Nowchoose. "

A moment later she held a human baby girl in her hands. The child looked up at her with wide, solemn eyes. Sarra gave her to Daine. "She'll be good now," the G.o.ddess told her daughter. "And in the future, don't shape-shift while you're pregnant. It gives them the wrong idea."

The naming proceeded from there.

Sergeant Ogunsanwo, Onua, and Aly's mother and father served as G.o.dsparents for the new child. Afterward the guests came with gifts and good wishes for the baby. Numair and Daine stood as if a boulder had been lifted from their shoulders, beaming like the happy parents they were. Aly couldn't imagine what it had been like for them, with a newborn that changed shape so often. Aly had cared for human and animal babies and had been exhausted by them even when they didn't shape-shift.

Throughout the ceremony and the party, Aly watched her parents. Alanna was stiff near her husband, though obviously happy for her friend Daine. When George touched her elbow and they wandered off under the trees, Aly followed them, worried. What had vexed her motherthis time?

"La.s.s, what is it?" George asked once they were out of earshot of the others at the naming celebration. "You seem angry."

"Angry?" Alanna glared up at her husband. "How would you feel if you found out one of our children had disappeared and I was keeping it from you?"

George's shoulders slumped. "You heard."

"I should have heard it fromyou, George! Not the king! She's my only daughter, you knew she was missing-"

George rested his hands on her shoulders. "You were in combat. I want you to concentrate on staying alive. I thought for sure I'd have found her by now. I thought-"

"But you've asked?" Alanna's anger evaporated. She gripped her husband's tunic.

"Sent out your whisperers, asked for a girl of her look?"

"I dare not." Aly's father's voice was soft. "I dare not, my darling. If our enemies knew she was out there-we cannot risk it. The king's been scrying for her, but it's as if she's clean vanished."

Alanna rested her forehead against George's chest. "I've been scrying, every night, every morning, any moment I can. But if she were dead, surely His Majesty or I would have seen it." She looked up. "Have you asked Alan? Twins often know if the other's in trouble. He-"

George laid a gentle finger over her lips. "I did. He only knows she's not hurt or frightened. Alanna, what of the G.o.ddess? She's your patron."

Alanna shook her head. "I've prayed, without a whisper of a reply. Nothing.

Perhaps she's busy elsewhere, I know I'm not her only supplicant-"

Aly flinched. A few tears rolled down her mother's cheeks. George gathered Alanna into his arms. Alanna dried her face on his tunic, then turned her head so that she could speak and he would hear. "I want to hunt for her myself." She cut off her husband as he drew breath to speak. "I know. I said Iwant to, I didn't say that I could. I'm noticeable. And there's still a war to fight.

Maggur's like a rabid wolf, at his most dangerous when he's cornered. But then I think of our Aly-"

Aly's vivid dream faded. She woke. A castle dog sat beside her, surrounded by the shimmering glow that marked a G.o.d's presence.

You were about to try to get word to them, so they won't worry,the dog-Kyprioth said into her head.Save your efforts. Any paper you send out of Tanair will vanish. Any courier will forget the message. Our wager is between you and me alone.

"My mother isworried," Aly whispered, not wanting to rouse the sleeping servants. "She shouldn't be thinking about me, only about the war. She could get killed if she's distracted."

The dog licked its chops.We had a bet, Alianne of Pirate's Swoop. I won't risk interference from your parents or their patron G.o.ds.

a.s.sa.s.sins approach a problem differently from soldiers, you see. They can't lay siege, they can't offer an honorable fight. In their trade numbers are dangerous. An a.s.sa.s.sin's advantage lies in folk missing him when he's about. He hits hard and fast, then goes. Once you've tried to kill the first time, the target has the wind up. Failure the first time means it'll be that much harder to get close a second time.

-Told to Aly when she was eleven, in a conversation with her father

10.

a.s.sa.s.sINS.

Through the rest of June Aly's goat herding was often interrupted by visitors: Dove, occasionally Sarai after her morning ride, various raka. Junai never appeared, not even to eat lunch with them, though Aly always knew where her bodyguard was. One day even the d.u.c.h.ess came. She brought Petranne and Elsren for a picnic on the hillside, sharing their lunch with Visda and Aly as well as her own children, and talking about her own country upbringing.

The raka who stopped by always had questions about Sarai and Dove. What were they like? Were they haughty? Did they know the ways of the raka, or had their hearts been taken by the luarin? Aly tried to build their sympathy and liking for the girls. At the very least, if the family were attacked some night, the raka might be convinced to hide Sarai and Dove.

Aly's supper routine was the one she had fallen into after Bronau's arrival. One night she would pour the wine at the head table. On the next she searched Bronau's correspondence and that of his servants. Both routines were followed by meetings with the raka conspirators and Nawat to exchange information. Once all that was done, Aly collapsed happily onto her pallet, usually falling asleep in the middle of plans to ferret out the elusive mage.

On her nights at the head table, Aly noted that the prince got more and more restless, though he did his best to hide it from Sarai. The two of them still rode every day, with the d.u.c.h.ess or the duke as chaperons. The rides got longer.

It seemed the prince needed more and more exercise to keep from exploding. Even a game of chess with Mequen tried his patience.

A week after their trip to Pohon, Aly sat with Visda and Ekit over the last sc.r.a.ps of lunch. She was about to practice her combat skills some more when the calls of crows filled the air. Aly listened and translated their sounds: a peaceful caravan of some kind, probably merchants, was coming down the road from Dimari.

Turning the goats over to Visda, Aly went to get a look from the rocks above the road. She had almost reached the summit of one boulder, where she could watch without being seen, when someone clasped her ankle and yanked her down into a crack between stones. Aly twisted hard to free herself as she slid down, then jammed herself against her would-be captor's side and arm, pressing one of her daggers to his throat as she kept him from reaching one of his. The young raka who had grabbed her stared down at her with emotionless eyes. Aly looked him over. This was her first encounter with one of the raka who watched over the plateau.

She patted the man's cheek. "You would belong to the patrol, yes? Lovely to make your acquaintance. I feel so looked-after."

Cloth slithered on stone as Junai slid down to their location. "It's her," Junai explained to the raka, her voice very dry. "Don't let the silly mannerisms fool you." She looked at Aly. "Were you on your way somewhere?"

"Nice meeting you," Aly told the raka warrior, then climbed back up to the higher rock, Junai at her back. Just below the summit Aly flattened herself on the stone and belly-crawled the rest of the way, keeping her head low until she just crested the top.

It was a merchant caravan. Aly recognized most of the carts and people, who had come to Tanair twice this summer. There were faces she did not know: three full-blood male luarin, a part-raka man, and a beautiful luarin woman. The woman was a charmer, Aly thought, sent as a temptation for men. The four unfamiliar men were hard-looking fellows with their share of knife scars. Aly watched as their eyes flicked restlessly over their surroundings. They seemed more wary than alert. Though they wore only belt-knives openly, she could also see the print of hilts against their shirts and breeches. Their bulging belt purses and saddlebags were guaranteed to hold even more tools for b.l.o.o.d.y work, unless she had lost her grip on her education entirely. These were not the tougher breed of merchant who followed Lombyn's jungle and mountain roads. These were killers.

Aly did her mental trick that allowed her to see distant objects in detail. Now the unfamiliar traders were as clear to her vision as if they stood right before her. One, a luarin dressed in a buckskin tunic and breeches, drove the lead wagon with Gurhart, the chief merchant, beside him. Something about the way he held himself told Aly he was the a.s.sa.s.sins' leader. He looked to be five feet eight inches tall, with short brown hair. He was olive-skinned, dark for a luarin, with green eyes and a round scar on his left cheekbone. The remaining three male strangers, two full luarin, one a half-blood, rode as guards, their crossbows set easily on their thighs. Their tunics and breeches were unremarkable shades of brown. Two had brown hair; the part-raka had black hair.