Derian knelt in front of her.
"Remember me?" he asked with a grin.
"You're a carrot!" she laughed, and he swept her up into his arms.
Citrine's outraged shriek was dismissed by those nearby as part of the fun. Derian tried to look as if he was dancing with her, whirling her in the air as he hustled her toward the edge of the crowd. His deception might not have worked, but at the very moment Derian took hold of the girl the orchestra suddenly surged into what wasùeven to his unsophisticated earsùa recessional.
Attention shifted back toward the Processional Gate.
I bet the Healed One was watching, Derian thought, and provided the best diversion he could. And I'll bet anything that most of the crowd just figured that Citrine was my little girl and had gotten out of hand. Her costume isn't all that much different than a dozen I've seen today.
"No!" Citrine squealed indignantly. "I've got to go back!"
She spoke Pellish, so no one understood her words, but her tone did awaken some interest. Worried that Citrine would remember to use New Kelvinese next time, Derian tried to silence her without being too obvious. Citrine took advantage of this to bite him hard on one hand.
Derian's yelp of pain was covered by the music, but there was no way he could recover the temporary loosening of his grip. In that instant, Citrine wriggled free and in no time at all she had joined the last trailing dancers as they swept back behind the walls of Thendulla Lypella.
Derian decided that it was time he, too, retreated lest when the rehearsal performance was over some of his neighbors in the crowd decided to ask a few uncomfortable questions. He wished he were dressed a little less obviously as he found Wendee and the two of them headed back toward Hasamemorri's house, trying hard not to hurry.
They'd become separated from Doc and Elise in the crush, but Derian was only mildly worried about them. He trusted that the pair would have made their way safely back to the houseùespecially as his straining ears did not catch the roar of a rioting crowd. Therefore he was relieved but not surprised when Eliseùher hair freed from its coif though otherwise she was still clad in her spring onion costumeùopened the front door for them.
What made Derian's jaw drop was who waited for them inside the consulting room.
"Edlin! Peace!" Derian nearly sank to his knees in the rush of sudden relief. "You're all right!"
Derian almost regretted the words even as he spoke them. Edlin Norwood and Grateful Peace might be present, but they certainly were not all right. Both showed ample evidence of hard use. Bruises and lacerations were visible beneath the cosmetics they had been wiping from their faces. Both Edlin's eyes had been blackened. Peace had at least one broken tooth.
As Derian entered, Edlin set aside the rag he'd been using to clean off his own face paint. When he rose to offer Derian a heartfelt embraceùhonoring the tall redhead as he might a kinsmanùDerian could feel how much weight he'd lost.
But what Edlin had suffered was nothing compared with the injury inflicted on Grateful Peace. The Illuminator sat slightly slumped in a chair near the side window, passively permitting Doc to wipe away his face paint and inspect his injuries all at once.
As with Derian, Wendee's initial joy at the return of their companions was muted when she saw what had been done to them.
"I'll make tea," she said, sweeping out.
Elise nodded.
Turning to Derian, she asked, "Citrine?"
He shook his head.
"I had her," he replied ruefully. "Then she bit me."
Holding up the swollen digit as proof, he went on, "I couldn't very well knock Citrine out and that was the only way I could have gotten her away without her screaming herself silly."
"I'm sure you did your best," Elise said, but Derian couldn't help but feel he had to explain.
"If I'd thought I could make people think she was my kid acting up," he said, "I'd have hit her and taken their disapproval, but too many might have seen her out there dancing. What if she'd said the wrong thing? I guess I was afraid there'd be another riot."
Elise put her hand on his arm.
"Derian, we understand, really. You at least got close to her. Doc and I didn't even manage that."
Derian felt marginally better.
"It looks," he said, looking at Edlin and Grateful Peace, "that at least part of the Healed One's plan worked. Or is this just good luck?"
"Some luck," Edlin agreed, "but the Healed One, too. He arranged it all."
He was clearly ready to launch into an explanation, but Derian forestalled him with a raised hand.
"Wait for Wendee to get back with the tea. Where's Firekeeper? She'll want to hear this. I'm surprised she's not in here rejoicing in your return. You've never seen anything like her mood since she left you behind in the tunnels. She nearly got herself killed trying to rescue you single-handedly."
"It sounds," Grateful Peace said, "as if we all have a considerable amount to tell each other. As for us, we owe our escape largely to Citrine."
"It does sound," Derian said slowly, "as if we do have a lot to tell each other."
Along with the tea, Wendee brought Firekeeper and Blind Seer from where they had been drowsing in the yard. Despite the wolf-woman's enforced sleep, she had shadows under her eyes so deep that they looked nearly as bruised as Edlin's. Seeing unguarded shock touch both Edlin and Peace's expressions, Derian realized how ill Firekeeper must appear.
By common consent, the story began when Firekeeper left Edlin and Peace. Edlin did much of the talking for the pair, Peace being subjected to Doc's ministrations. In addition to filling in gaps in their knowledge, as Edlin spoke two things rapidly became apparent. One was that Edlin's respect and admiration for Grateful Peace verged on aweùand that Peace's affection for the younger man was just as sincere. Two, it became clear that Edlin had done a considerable amount of maturing during the time he had spent as Melina's captive.
Odd, Derian thought, if Earl Kestrel owes this improvement in his son to an enemy.
Initially, Derian's group had little to contribute to the tale. Citrine's defection was dealt with lightly, though no effort was made to hide their worry about her or the various attempts they had made to get her back. Later, they had more to tell: the attempt to kidnap Doc, their visits to Ambassador Red-briar, the meeting with Xarxius. When they reached the point where Xarxius had been arrested for treason, Peace looked very grave.
"We were told something of this by one of the Healed One's close confidants. I am deeply saddened," Grateful Peace continued, "that Xarxius's attempt to help us may cost him his life. He is a good and loyal servant to New Kelvinùno more a traitor to his kingdom, Speaker, and Healed One than am I."
"Maybe," Elise offered, "we can help him. Certainly, the Healed One doesn't believe these accusations."
"I certainly hope we can help him," Peace replied, but his tone was without conviction.
"But," Edlin added, "whatever else, Xarxius's arrest was why we got away from Idalia. We never would have managed if Melina had still been around."
With a glance at Peace, Edlin told how they'd made their escape owing to Citrine's fortuitous intervention. She had provided the light by which they made their way into familiar reaches, but had not wished to come away with them.
"Treated us like enemies one moment," Edlin said, "friends the next."
"She is," Peace agreed, "a troubled child. Part of her is in rebellion against her mother. I firmly believe that, but that part is nearly smothered beneath waves of guilty indebtedness and a desire to have her mother's approval."
After making their way to the Cloud Touching Spire by means of various tunnels, Edlin and Peace had petitioned the Healed One for assistance. He had not only agreed but had contrived a way that the gates would be opened for them.
"I think," Edlin added, "that the Healed One wants to make it up to Peace for thinking him a traitor. He knows now what Melina is really likeùand how terrible it would have been if she had gotten her han
ds on working magical artifacts."
An agent of the Healed One had taken them to a place where they could get clean and conceal the worst of their injuries with face paint. He had also provided them with robes identical to those worn by many workers within Thendulla Lypella. Edlin's had included a hood that covered his hair. As with Derian's own group, New Kelvinese eclecticism had worked in favor of their disguises. The large population of the Earth Spires had assured that no one would notice a couple of strangers.
"I wish we could have managed something similar last year," Wendee said, touching her still short front hair.
"But then," Peace reminded her, "you needed to be able to pass for workers on a specific project. This time we could be from any of a number of walks of life."
As the crowd within Thendulla Lypella began to gather to watch the rehearsal of the Harvest Dance, Peace and Edlin's unnamed guide had positioned them near the gate. During the distribution of candy, the two men had simply walked out. There had been a tense moment when a man had knocked Grateful Peace to the ground in his eagerness to get a candy onion. Edlin had been ready to knock him down in turn, but the man had been so ashamed by his own behavior that he had helped them out of the more crowded areas and had even given them his own carefully assembled hoard of sweets.
"I say," Edlin grinned, looking more like himself than he had, "he nearly made it impossible for us to get away. He'd seen us come out of Thendulla Lypella and wanted to escort us safely back to our offices within. Peace made up some nonsense about our having to visit someone at the Sericulturalists' sodality and the man escorted us to their gate instead."
Peace's smile showed his broken front tooth all too plainly.
"We would have been inviting further difficulties if the porter had answered the gate promptly, but I had been correct in my assumption that he would have climbed to the wall to watch the dance from there."
"So the entire public rehearsal," Elise said, wonder erasing the weariness and tension from her features, "was to provide an excuse to open the front gates of Thendulla Lypella and a crowd to cover your sneaking out."
"That's about it," Edlin agreed. "I only wish the Healed One's plan had succeeded in bringing Citrine out, too."
"So do all of us," Wendee agreed.
"And what," Derian said to cover the uncomfortable silence that followed, "do we do next?"
"Prepare dinner," Wendee said, her practicality a welcome interruption. "I could use help in the kitchen and I'm sure that Edlin and Peace could both use some quiet rest."
Elise agreed. "We can't hope to achieve anything more today. I'll come out to the kitchen with you, Wendee. Doc can help Peace and Edlin if they're too sore to get out of those robes without help."
She smiled at Jared when she added, "And maybe Doc can use a nap, too. He's given a lot of himself today."
Derian thought that Doc's answering smile showed no sign of weariness, and knew that one of them, at least, felt well rewarded for the day's efforts.
Chapter XXXVI
THEY DID what?"
Melina looked up from the papers she had just spread out on her desk, papers she had thought she would have a few hours to study before needing to surrender to sleep.
Bright Eagle! She could sleep during the trial tomorrow. It wasn't as if she was needed there. Maybe she'd send Tipi with a message she was ill. Woman's complaints. Something vague. Maybe even intimate it was morning sickness. That would make the ground under them roll.
But here was Citrine standing in front of her desk, still in her dance costume, her ridiculous apple hat pushed to one side, interrupting her mother's work once more. The child had burst in almost before Melina had her books open, babbling so rapidly Melina hadn't grasped a quarter of what she was saying, but now she had fallen inexplicably silent.
"They did what?" Melina repeated sternly. Her gaze dropped to the page in front of her: "Bounded by streams of liquid fire, deep beneath the Earth Spires, we trapped it, forcing it within the living rock and sealing that rock with cold until it became dead."
The pronoun use was difficult, but Melina was certain that the second "it" referred to the rock, not the dragon. What use the rest of the account if the dragon had been killed?
"They tried to kidnap me, Mother. Derian was in the carrot costume, I'm sure. He talked to me."
Melina wrested her gaze from the text.
"You are saying that Derian Carter tried to kidnap you? When?"
"Just this afternoon, Mother. At the end of the rehearsalùthe rehearsal for the Harvest Joy dance."
Melina remembered Toriovico telling her something about this public rehearsal over breakfast, an event to hearten the people of the city, people whose morale had been badly shaken by recent events and rumors.
Rumors, Melina knew well, that arose from herùor if not from her specifically, from residual unhappiness related to the Healed One's marriage to her. Melina didn't mind Toriovico showing himself to his people in an accustomed role, but they had better get used to her. She wasn't going anywhere.
"I would have come to you earlier, Mother," Citrine said, clearly dreading a reproof, "but Tipi said that you couldn't be interrupted while you were in court."
"And she was right," Melina reassured the girl. "Now, tell me everything that happened. Speak slowly and clearly, as benefits a matter of such grave importance."
And Citrine did so. One of the great advantages, Melina thought complacently, of her influence over her daughter was this ability to override anxieties.
When Citrine concluded, describing her biting of Derian Carter's hand with such relish that Melina wondered if the child had spent too much time with that feral woman of the Norwoods, Melina gave an appropriately grave nod.
"You did well, Citrine," she said, and the child all but wriggled like a puppy beneath her mother's praise. "I am pleased by this proof of your love and devotion."
"Thank you, Mother," Citrine replied, her eyes shining.
"Now, go and get out of your costume and get cleaned for dinner. You haven't had your dinner yet, have you?"
"No, Mother."
"Go then and get ready."
Melina looked longingly at her pages; then a chance thought stirred, a seed splitting but not yet fully sprouted. It had to do with Citrine and with bypassing a difficulty… Never mind, it would come to her. In the meantime, the child needed rewarding for her loyalty.
"And when you are ready, Tipi is to come and get me. I," Melina pronounced in the tones of one bestowing a great honor, "will eat the evening meal with you."
Citrine shaped the appropriate ritual of temporary leavetaking and skipped out the door. Melina was turning back to her book when she noticed several folded sheets of paper, heavily sealed, sitting at the top of the rest of her ignored mail. The seals were among those Melina had given Idalia.
Checking that Citrine was truly gone and the door securely closed, Melina reached for the missive. Snapping open the heavy wax, she recognized the seemingly incomprehensible words as one of the codes Idalia used. Almost automatically, Melina deciphered it and read:
Consolor Melina,
With heavy heart I write you to report that the two uninvited guests to whom you so kindly extended your hospitality have taken leave of my care. We were touring as you directed should be done when strange noisesùwhich I firmly believe originated with batsùfrightened the guards. They fled and our guests took advantage of their absence to also flee.
I have searched for the guests and can find no trace. Therefore, I have no reason to think they remain in the vicinity. Moreover, the frightened guards carried their fear back to their fellows. My family and I spent much energy over the following day securing their continued fealty.
I write this one full day and night after our guests' departure. If you wish further report of any of these events you have only to ask.
I remain your…
Melina hardly saw the flowery closing phrases, though once their unctuous flattery would have soothed her
angerùat least somewhat. Her gaze kept returning to certain phrases, understanding their meaning perfectly despite Idalia's carefully evasive phrasing.
"… have taken leave of my care." Escaped.
"… the frightened guards carried their fear back…" That sounded as if there had been a near revolt among the slaves.
"… one full day and night…" Given how long messages from Idalia usually took to reach Melina, that meant that the escape had been not last night, but two nights ago. With any other prisoners, Melina would have thought them gone beyond finding, but with these two…
She yanked the bell and when a clerk came to the door said, "Send for Kiero."
The clerk ducked his head and vanished. Melina had hardly begun rereading the letter for the third time and contemplating how she might slip away unnoticed to meet with Idalia later that night when there came a sharp rap on her door.
"Come!"
Kiero entered, the expression on his heat- and weather-worn features part quizzical, part pleased. He shaped various greeting gestures, then said:
"I understand from the clerk outside that you require me, Consolor Melina?"
"I do," Melina replied. Then, because it never did to skip the little courtesies with those you needed but didn't completely control, "I compliment you on the promptness of your arrival."
"Pure coincidence," Kiero said humbly, "though surely a power such as yourself may warp the very fabric of time to her needs. I was coming here," he added more bluntly, "because I had news for which I thought you would not wish to wait."
"Speak," Melina said calmly, though her thoughts added, And dispense with the flattery.
"I have just checked in with the man I have watching the house of Hasamemorri from the rooms across the street. He had interesting information for meùso interesting that I am docking his pay for not finding a way to get it to me more quickly."
Talk more quickly … Melina thought, and perhaps her gaze held some of the malice she felt, for Kiero did so.
"Late this morning, the remaining four foreign tenants of that house departed in costume to see the rehearsal of the Harvest Joy dance. Costumed as they were, they would not be easily recognizable as foreigners, therefore, my agent did not try to instigate any anger against them in the streets.
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