Page 4 (1/2)

Selwyn gulped, although she was right It was obvious She was a witch

The old wo who I am, for there's no way you could know that My naain

"What was that for?"

"That was for not asking for water, which you obviously are in desperate need of" She set the glowing light on her head - or, rather, a handspan above her head - and unfastened what he had thought was her huht dipped to follow her as she sat down on the floor, e She searched through the bag and pulled out a wineskin, which she handed to him It held water,The inside of his throat unstuck froreedy and selfish - not to a witch who could balance a ball of light over her head and who had an inclination for hitting "Thank you," he said, offering it back still half foil

"Go ahead and finish," she said "It's plain water I haven't bespelled it"

It hadn't occurred to hiive him water tainted by witchcraft Until she said it He finished the water anyway, for whatever harain, lanced around the corpse-lined cave and both wondered about and flinched froht want from the dead

Elswyth took pity and answered the question withouthim ask it "For one of my spells, I need a lock of hair from a man newly dead I heard that someone had died in Penryth on the other side of the wood, so I cah narrowed eyes "I hope you're not the one they were talking about You won't do at all Did somebody think you were dead?"

"No," Selwyn assured her "Farold is the dead eneral direction Farold had un to sht "I' him - not," he added in the same breath, "that I did kill him But I was accused of it" He didn't knohat tohi that she was a witch, would she prefer to hear that he really was a murderer?

She said, "So your townsfolk accused you of side your victi where - if anywhere - lay hope of rescue, Selwyn nodded

Elswyth said, "Sweat froredient in several spells May I?in payave you? I very ranted" She was already ruh her pack

Selwyn looked at her in horror She didn't care: Murderer or innocent victione awry, itdespite the cold as she took a piece of unbleached wool from her pack and blotted his forehead with it

"Good," Elswyth said She folded the cloth and placed it in a small wooden box "Fine This will do Now shall we discuss what you'll payyou out of here? I assume you do want to leave - unless you are so overcouilt that you believe you deserve to die this way"

"I told you," Selwyn said, "I didn't do it"

She waited, without reaction, for his answer

"Of course I want to get out," Selwyn said "I'll do anything you want if you'll help me"

She smacked him on the side of the head "That," he heard her say once the ringing in his ears began to fade, "is for being too foolish to bargain So be it You owefirewood, fetching ingredients for my spells, whatever I ask For a year"

"No," Selwyn said, suddenly realizing what he reed beforehand You're lucky I'ood mood and didn't say you owe me your entire life" She shook her head "Foolish boy," sheto her feet "Hoas an old wo ht of how foolish he'd been drove her to hit hi how foolish he'd been - he didn't even try to duck

Chapter Five

The witch Elswyth took a knife froe of her cloak up over her nose She sniffed Once was enough to find Farold All Selwyn's flailing about in the dark - walking into walls and risking the ire of the spirits of the dead that he stumbled over or into - had taken him fewer than a dozen steps froinally left hi at Farold's dangling arain She told Selwyn, "You smell terrible He most definitely smells dead"

Which didn't ease Selwyn's fear at all

Seeing his face, Elswyth snapped i"

"I don't ic light that hovered over Elswyth's head was bright enough to leave hardly any shadohich was both fortunate and not "But" He pointed first at the body, shrouded in one blanket, then at the arun to stiffen before the village wos Selwyn had seen, as the torches were being carried away: Farold bundled into the niche in the wall, his ar down, still wrapped, the edge nearly brushing the floor

Did I break his ar how he had walked into Farold's body in the dark Would Farold's spirit be restless because of it?

Would Farold's spirit be angry because of it?

Surely not as angry as it would be at whoever had killed hih ainst soh all his thoughts ritten on his face If she had been standing close enough, she probably would have shter against her nose, she used her knife to cut open the seae women had sewn to close Farold into the blanket She wrinkled her face on seeing the two-day-old corpse, which ling arm and folded it over Farold's chest, as if she, too, believed in decoruled the loose ar to fret about here, except that in another day the body will start leaking, and we'll want to be away by then"

And except, Selwyn thought squeamishly, that she seemed to have more experience than anyone should with dead bodies

She leaned over and cut off a lock of Farold's light brown hair, then wrapped it in another piece of unbleached wool cloth from her pack Finished, she tucked the blanket back under Farold's body as carefully as achild

"I'm finished here," she told Selwyn, "unless you wanted to steal sos or other possessions these people were buried with"

"No," Selwyn assured her hotly But then, for the first tiestions were meant to be taken seriously "No," he repeated ht from its place a handspan above her head so that it once ins now You will start by carrying my pack"

"Elswyth," he called It seees, considering the power she had But he wasn't sure how one addressed a witch Obviously not My lady Your Unholiness? But she had given the name Elswyth, whether or not that was truly her name

She turned back to look at him, with an expression that didn't seem annoyed with his fa to deal harshly with - any nonsense he

He spoke quickly "I'lanced around the burial cavern "Are they here?" But her tone was suspicious

"No," he said hurriedly, before she beca he said "But they knoas put here"

Elswyth obviously didn't see the connection She gestured for hiht follohich was dizzying to watch