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"Y-yes,the West Way We call it Hele, you know The rock juts up just above where the chapel sits There are ten houses and threeoxen …" He trailed off, licked his lips, and sed

"Can you lead us to it?"

"To Helmbusch, my lady? Oh, yes, certainly, but I had no intention of returning Things aren’t so good there, noith the weather and the livestock wandering off and the refugees bothering us along the road I cauivre!"

"To the guivre?" He had long since undergone the change from a boy’s voice to a man’s, but his voice shot up an octave nevertheless

"The creature’s lair If you’ve seen its trail, you can guide my soldiers to its lair"

"But I don’t know about that," he said desperately "I cauide us to the guivre" She examined him as he shifted his knees on the floor and pulled nervously at his sleeve He kept his head bowed, but his torso, leaning away from her, spoke as clearly as words "When I command," she added, "my soldiers serve"

He did not answer

"There is a young woman who came with him," said Captain Lukas "His betrothed I put her in the kitchens"

Sabella’s s Atto She did not suffer fools or cowards She appeared to be the kind of woman who didn’t like anybody very much "Could she not serve us better in the brothels? We have enough servants in the palace"

Atto flung back his head, shifting forward onto one knee, with the other leg tucked up under as though he nant! She can’t--" Too late he recalled to who, and he broke off

She nodded, satisfied that she had gotten the reaction she wanted "If you serve me well, I will see she retains a protected position in the kitchens"

The threat had jarred Atto He twisted, angry enough to be bold, and pointed at Alain "He knows better He saw the guivre So he claimed"

"Did you?" asked Conrad with a jovial interest that barely masked his sudden intense attention He set his elbows on his knees "Saw it, and lived to tell the tale?"

"I heard it in the forest," said Alain, "although I did not see it I was concealed within the branches of a fallen tree"