Page 125 (1/1)

When Karigan excused herself before she finished supper, the professor asked, "Are you not feeling well, my dear?"

"I’m fine, Uncle, just a little tired"

She returned to her rooown early When left on her own, Karigan took out thewith the note fro and hard at the words and handwriting, confirain that this was, in fact, real and not a hoax It had to be She had to believe Even if it was a trap of soo

She gazed at the mirror shard, but it produced no vision for her

When the bell struck ten hour, she swung her legs out of bed and crept to the door She had to be especially careful--this was an earlier hour than when she usually slipped out to o to the old mill, and there was always the chance someone in the household ake, notably the professor himself However, as she low in the crack beneath a bedrooed

Once she let herself out the back door, she knew the stable would be the next challenge, for Luke and the stable boys had rooht I’m sorry, Luke, I couldn’t sleep and wanted to see Raven Or, I’ht for a rideRight Very convincing

When she entered the stable with the light of a very diuide her, Raven whickered sleepily at her

"Shhh," she admonished him

She let herself into the tackrooarb awaited her She changed quickly, stuffing her braid into the cap She froze when she thought she heard a door groan open, expecting Luke to come at any moment and demand what she was about She strained to listen, but heard nothingnoises of the building itself Still, she crept out of the tackroo around carefully When she saw no one, she went to Raven to groorooht layer of dust off his coat He was fully awake now and nuzzled her for treats

"Not now, silly," she whispered, and she set the saddle on his back

Karigan prayed her luck held It was one thing if she was caught by Luke, but as she led Raven out of the stable, she kneould be quite another if she were spotted by an Inspector She’d brought the boneith her but did not think it would be un or mechanical

She led Raven down the drive and h spirits The silver of his tack jingled, and to Karigan it sounded like an alarht

"Settle down," she murmured

Raven whickered

She leaned down on his neck and whispered to his twitching ear, "Tonight you are a Green Rider horse, and we are on an ian thought, and she squeezed hi like the energetic young stallion he was, his neck handsohed, made another short prayer, and they were out on the street She looked carefully this way and that A clalow of streetla into sparks and e would be helpful If only she had her brooch and her special ability worked She could disappear and none would note her passage

She held Raven in, peering down streets at every intersection There were a few others out--street sweepers, cabs ru by at a trot, amorphous shapes in the one to the Scangly Mounds that one day When she looked over her shoulder toward the Old City, the light of Silk’s worksite at the summit boiled and wavered in the thick air It would be her beacon and help her keep her bearings as she sought the foundation of the small mount--where the Old City, her Sacor City, had been--and searched for the Heroes Portal

As she continued on her cautious way, Raven’s hooves clopping all too loudly on the street, she wondered if, instead of stealth, they should actuallyas if she had business to attend to The cabs certainly did, as well as other carriages she saw out and about She paused, thinking it over, and in the silence heard theits way down the street on its spindly, s, accoan backed Raven into an alley and peered around its entrance A sickly glow hovered around theon the orb of its body The Inspector swung a club at his side The mechanical made a sharp bleep and turned down a side street

Relief settled over Karigan, but Raven h the city and try to leave it behind as fast as possible, coe Cloudy had broughtand inaction was over They set out at a ground-eating trot

In the center of town there was a little more traffic, and she felt less conspicuous She slowed Raven to a jog to acco another Inspector and his lance her way, more interested in thedisplays Once away fro Canal Street, past silentthe surface of the canal’s black water Soon they clattered across the bridge that spanned the canal, then the second that crossed the river, and she urged Raven to a canter through the poor neighborhoods on the other side