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Brock took a firm hold of Eryk’s arm "We’ll check on them"

After Brock and Randolf started up the road with the reluctant Eryk between them, Jared turned to Thayne "It’s your turn on one of the saddle horses, isn’t it?"

Thayne glanced at the wagon and sed hard "If it’s all right with you, I’ll keep Blaed co even the saddle horses were too close to Thera’s teh away froe conversation He took a moment to add a littleThey did a fairly good job of waterproofing the fabric and keeping thespell helped, too But even with spells and shields, it was impossible not to feel the damp after a while, and if anyone knew a shield-spell that would have kept the rain off their heads, no one hadit would settle his churning stomach Sweet Darkness, don’t let her be hurt badly Pointless to hope that her ar her made him ache It shouldn’t have Hadn’t he crossed that line when he’d killed the last Queen who had owned him?

It shouldn’t have made him ache But it did

When the rain started yesterday afternoon, the Lady was the one who had told them to use whatever Craft was necessary to stay as dry as possible She was the one who had put the Craft shields on Toht not have the power to hold the shields Even Garth She was the one who had put soon’s wheels and the horses’ hooves so they wouldn’t sink in the mud

And she was the one who had come up with the rotation

The rotation was fair More than fair Hell’s fire, there were thirteen of the the Gray Lady, and four of them were children She could have let the children ride on the outer seat or inside and let the adults stu She could have let the other feon with her--and slave or not, no Blood ued about it But she’d worked out this rotation that included everyone so that they all alternated betalking and riding, and everyone had a chance to get out of the rain and eat and rest within the confines of the wagon

Telling himself that he just wanted to check on Toain, Jared walked to the back of the wagon

Tohed and raked his wet hair away fro around in the trees and bushes on either side of the road in order to find the boy Well, the Lady’s controlling ring would be able to locate Toelding friendly pats, Jared stood on the bottoon’s door

Thera opened the door, shifting her body slightly to block his view of the inside But he heard Tomas sternly tell soood while it was still in the cup

Thera looked at Jared and shrugged

Relieved to see hued in reply, as if to say, "He’s male What can you expect?"

"How is she?" Jared asked quietly

"She wrenched her knee," Thera replied just as quietly Then she added thoughtfully, as if she were trying to work out a puzzle that still had toosupplies in that private box of hers--I saw theested that she open it so that I could see if there was anything that ht help her, she refused to let Polli or oing on and heard usdiscussing things He just stoood scolder"

"I know," Jared said dryly "So you got the healing supplies"

"I got the supplies," Thera replied

But Jared was no longer listening to her His thoughts were on the sht with her With the spell-lock on it, he’d assuold and silver s she wouldn’t want slaves to have access to

Except he’d realized the first tith spell-lock Which wouldn’t haveif there wasn’t one slave ore a Red Jewel and who could have easily broken that lock, if that sa as being different fro Thera suspected about the chest that she wasn’t going to mention

Why hadn’t the Gray Lady used a Gray lock on that chest?

"Anything else?" Thera said

Did she sound a little defensive?

"Can we get ht is left and start looking for a place to cah" Thera paused "Are you co in now? It’s your rest period"

"In a few minutes" When Thera started to close the door, Jared put his hand against it and asked the question he really wanted to ask "Is her knee the only place she’s hurt?"