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The call came up from the watchtower She unfurled their banner, and they rode through the outer gate, along the dusty avenue, under the old gate, and into a busy square Grooms ran up to take their horses and show the soldiers to barracks

Hanna ran up the steps into the hall, which was empty and peaceful in the late afternoon but with the tables set in place for a feast The clap of her feet on the plank floor seeh a tiny courtyard alive with color and fragrant with herbs and flowers, and she alh the arch that led into the stable yard beyond but was guided to a door set into the old stone tower, relic of an earlier ti staircase that led to the upper chamber, she tried to walk softly

She paused in the entryway Ts set at angles into the walls allowed light into the ashed roo theto let in a cooling breeze Through thatshe saw the skeletal rafters of a two-storied wing being added onto the co there at theto either side of the door One depicted the Lavas badge--two black hounds on a silver field--but the murky colors of the other mostly obscured its scene, which seeh a dark forest

After the steady clop of travel and the hustle of the courtyard, the silence in the cha heard or seen except the scritch of a quill on parchment and the press of styluses into wax tablets This was the count’s chamber, with a table, cushioned chair, and a dozen cups and two flasks set along a sideboard, but it appeared more like one of the schoolrooms found in the convent Yet most of the people hard at work here were not children but adults, both young and old At intervals, one or another of these glanced up to note her presence before returning to their work A young woave Hanna a tartly welco e to see one of the eneh ads under her knee-length tunic

To one side stood a fine couch on which lay the ancient countess, sleeping while the others worked Sister Hilaria sat beside her, sewing; she greeted Hanna with a welco hounds stretched out around and under the couch, three plopped on their sides, one rolled onto its back, and the fifth licking a forepaw

Two fair-haired girls whispered, but so loudly that Hanna could hear theo out"

"And we had to stay in! But I guess she always gets what she wants"

"She is the heir She’s never said ato me, Blanche She’s not nearly as mean as you are"

"I am not!"

"You are, too!"

"I just tell the truth That’s not mean!"

"Blanche Lavrentia Keep to your work, I pray you," said Liath frorossed in her work that she alone did not look up or even seele, all Hanna could see was loops and circles and the scratchings that signified letters and nu hounds leaped into motion, skittered over the floor, streairls set their tablets doith a clatter and raced after them before anyone could scold the wo either at Hanna or toward theFinally, the youth got up and stuck his head out the

For solanced first at theand then toward the door

"Hanna!" She put a hand over her randmother did not wake

The youth pulled back in "Have you asers

"Afraid it’s news of your betrothal, Berthold?" asked one of the other students

He looked toward the Ashioi woain

"Hush," said Liath sternly "Do not wake randmother Go on Out with you"

Hanna stepped aside as they filed out of the chahed, smiled happily at her, and levered herself up out of her chair The position of the desk had concealed her rounded storandmother and bent aardly to kiss her cheek