Page 10 (2/2)

"Oh, you’re tired," Sylvia said, and her smile wasalmost sly "You see I told you not to use yourpowers so much

"Yes,"Delossaid,evenmoreshortly "Ire else, Sylvia went on "I forgot to uy nao"

Gavin

Maggie’s stoot away And he saw everything

And he ht absently To hook around and get to a hunting partyon the other side of this ledge-in time for Sylviato come find Delos

"You probably donI know hi "But I do He’s the slave trader I use to getgirls froood, but today he was all upset He said a group of slavesgot loose on the ot killed"

You witch,Maggie thought She couldn’tthink of a sord strong enough

Sylvia knew There was no doubt about it IfGavin was her flunky, and if he’d told her that Bernwas dead, he must have told her the rest That Bernhad been killed by Prince Delos hiirls infront of Delos at the tiht, and she wasjust trying to trap Delos But why isn’t she afraidof him? He’s the prince, after all His father’s dead; he’s in charge So how come she daresto set upher little traps?

"We were all concerned," Sylvia was going on,tilting her silvery head to one side "All the nobles,and especially your greatgrandfather Loose slavescan mean trouble"

"Hoeet of you to worry," Delos said Froie could see of his face, it was expressionless and his voice was dry and level "But youshouldn’t have I used the fire for practice-on the other slave trader Also on two slaves They interrupted ie sat in helpless admiration

He did it He outs she can say And there’s no way to prove thathe didn’t kill us Gavin ran; he couldn’t have seenanything after that

He saved us Delos saved Cady and ain

"I see" Sylvia bowed her head, looking sweet andplacating, if not quite convinced "Well, of courseyou had every right to do that So the slaves aredead"

"Yes And since they were only slaves, why arewe standing heretalking about the about them I don’t know?"

"No, no Of course not," Sylvia said quickly "You’re right; we’ve wasted enough tiie heard Gavin’s voice "It’s not like they were ordinary slaves If we don’t deliver that ain, Maggie thought What a surprise But who’s the maiden? And why’s she so iht, who’s this greatgrandfather of Delos’s? When Sylvia mentionedhirandfather he’s got to be ancient How areSylvia and so question, but there was no ti away fro to take a look at Delos’s arot back In another ht and she heard thecrunching noise of feet on slate

Maggie waited until the last footstep faded, then she held her breath and waited for a count ofthirty It was all she could stand She ducked through the entrance crack and stood in the openair

It was fully dark now She was very nearly blindBut shecould sense the vast emptiness of the valley in front of her, and the solidity of the mountain at her back

And she should have felt relieved, to be outsideand not caught-but instead she felt strangely stifled It took her a moment to realize why

There was no sound at all No footsteps, novoices, and no aniht be too cold at night for nats and flies, but there should have been so intothe trees to rest, batsheadingout Deer feedingBucks charging around-it was autuie had the unnervingfeeling that she was alone in a strange lifelessworld swathed in cotton, cut off froreal

Don’t stick around and think about it, she toldherself sternly Find Cady Now!

Gritting her teeth, she thrust the water bag intoher jacket and started back By keeping close to theahead with her foot before each step, she could find her way in the dark

When she reached the ledge, her sto down in pitch darkness-there’s going to be no way to see the footholds Oh, well, I’ll feel for theht down

"Cady," she whispered She was afraid to talk tooloudly; the hunting party ly well on a mountain slope

"Cady? Are you okay?"

Her heart thu below Not a voice, just a stirring,like cloth on rock, and then a sigh

Relief flooded through Maggie in a wave that wasalmost painful Cady hadn’t died or been abducted because Maggie had left her "Stay there," she whispered as loudly as she dared "I’ht water"

It wasn’t ashard going downas she’d expected Maybe because she was still high on adrenaline,running in survival mode Her feet seemed to findthe toeholds of their own accord and in a few ers found warh "Cady, areyou okay? I can’t see you"

And then the darkness seeie realized that she couldsee the shape shewas touching, dilanced up and went still

The moon was out In a sky that was otherwisecovered with clouds, there was a sh it like asupernatural white face, nearly full

"Maggie" The voice was a soft breath, alie’s heart "Thanks for letting ie looked down Silver light touched thecurves of Cady’s cheek and lips The blind girllooked like soyptian princess, herdark hair loose in crimped waves around her shoulders, her wide, heavy-lashed eyes reflecting themoon Her face wasas sereneasever

"I’ie said She helped Cady sit up and put thewater bag to her lips

She doesn’t look as feverish, she thought asCadywas drinking Maybe she can walk But where?Where can we go?

They would never make it to the pass And even if they did, what then? They’d be high on a ht

"We need to get you to a doctor," she said

Cady stopped drinking and gave the bag back "Idon’t think there’s anything like that here Therewoman down there in thecastle - but She stopped and shook her head "It’s not worth it"

"What do youbetter, aren’t you?" Maggieadded, pleased It was the first tiottenout more than a feords She sounded very weak,but rational, and surprisingly knowledgeable

"It’s not worth it because it’s too much of a risk I’ie Go down and get to shelter yourself"

"Not this again!" Maggie waved a hand She really couldn’t deal with this arguoing to get freezing cold So I’ wo to the castle Wherever the castle is"

"It’s the place all the Night People are," Arcadiasaid, unexpectedly grim "The slaves, too Everybody who lives here is inside the castle gates; it’sreally like a little town And it’s exactly the placeyou shouldn’t go"

Maggie blinked "How come you know so much?Are you an escaped slave like Jeanne?"

"No I heard about it a year or so ago fro here for a reason-it was just bad luck that I got caught bythe slave traders on ie wanted to ask hervoice inside her said that this wasn’t theti very cold They couldn’t be caught on the ht

"That road the cart was on-does it go all theway to the castle? Do you know?"

Cady hesitated She turned her face toward the valley, and Maggie had the strange sense that shewas looking out

"I think so," she said, at last "It would o in the valley"

"Then we’ve got to find it again" Maggie knewthat wouldn’t be easy They’d run a long way froeneral direction "Look, even if we don’t get to the castle, weshould find the road so we knohere we are And if we have to spend the night on the mountain,it’s much better to be in the forest It’ll be warie didn’t give her a chance to go on "Canyou stand up? I’ll help-put your ar Cady out of the nest of boulders She and Maggie both had to crawl iecould see how tired it ie said "You’re doing great"And she thought, with narrowed eyes and set teeth,If it comes to that, I’ll carryher

Too ie had never felt quite this stubborn before

But it wasn’t easy Once into the woods, the canopy of branches cut off the ie,stu over roots, slipping on club ely, Cady seemed to have a better sense ofdirection than she did, and in the beginning shekept , "This way, I think" But after awhile she stopped talking, and soie’squestions

At last, she stopped dead and swayed on her feet

It was no good The taller girl shivered once, thenwent liie could do to breakher fall

And then she was sitting alone in a s, with the spicy aroirl in her lap Maggie held still and listened to the silence

Which was broken suddenly by the crunch offootsteps

Footsteps coht be a deer But there was so hesitant and stealthy about it Crunch, pause; crunchpause The back of Maggie’s neck prickled

She held her breath and reached out, feeling fora rock or a stick-so stirred in the salal bushes beto trees Maggie strained her eyes, every muscle tense

"Who’s there?"