Part 18 (1/2)

”No, I would not,” Phoebe said after a moment. ”Not if it caused me to lock all that I am behind a barrier through which no one else can see.”

”What do you mean?” Kestrel asked.

”You know full well,” Phoebe said. ”For the length of this headlong flight, I have been chattering away, telling you everything about myself that came to mind. Perhaps

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it took my thoughts from what would happen if we are caught, but I have said much nonetheless.”

”I did not wish it otherwise,” Kestrel said. ”If you suspect that I was bored but just being polite, put your mind at ease. I enjoy your company.”

”And so about the wizard you can now recite volumes,” Phoebe continued. ”About the woodcutter, what can be said other than that he indeed did at one time chop some trees?”

Kestrel slumped over the reins, wis.h.i.+ng the entry hut all the closer. Mixed with everything else, he felt an onrush of discomfort. It was not enough that he refrain from further deception. Phoebe wanted more. She was asking no less than that he reveal things that long ago he had vowed never to share again.

”I can be only one of many possibilities,” he said while continuing to look straight ahead. ”Why me and not some other? One more suited to your station.”

Phoebe tightened her grip on Kestrel's arm and pulled herself closer to him. ”It gets to be lonely in the cabin of a wizard,” she said. ”Lonelier than you might otherwise believe. And at first, I admit my thoughts were for a brief interlude. You appeared far better than most that I had seen in the past year.

”But there was something else,” she said. ”Something I saw behind the eyes of one who professed to be a simple woodcutter.”

”Do not probe too deeply,” Kestrel said. ”You might not like what you will find.”

”No, my first impression has been confirmed.” Phoebe reached up and turned Kestrel's face to hers. ”I saw the excitement when you explained to me how we would cross the border. I witnessed the swordsman rus.h.i.+ng to defend when he was outnumbered two to one. There is perhaps more to Kestrel the woodcutter than he dares admit even to himself.”

”Does not the ritual prescribe that the male pursues and the female demurs?” Astron poked his head out from under the wagon's canopy. ”Or does the fact that the woman is the one that wears the logo of a wizard alter

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that? It is no wonder there is so much anguish and confusion in the matter. The variations are too many for one to keep track of them all.”

Phoebe pulled back her arms, like a child caught in the fruit larder. She frowned at Astron as she dropped her hands to her lap. Kestrel felt a wave of relief and then a twinge of annoyance. He could work out his feelings without any help from the demon.

He darted a glance at Phoebe. No, perhaps it was best that Astron had come forward. What he would have said if he were forced to answer at this moment he did not know. A silence descended on the three. For the rest of the distance to the entry hut no one spoke.

When they arrived, Kestrel glanced over his shoulder and then back to Astron. The demon shook his head, indicating that he detected nothing. Kestrel vaulted from the wagon and into the hut. Soon all three stood facing an ancient page, bald-pated with splotchy skin, sitting behind a high desk. His folded hands rested on a huge appointment book bound in gilded leather.

Kestrel returned the page's stare and glanced quickly about the small room, trying to seize on the story that would get them immediately to the archimage.

”Elezar,” Astron said before anyone else could speak. ”I have a message from Prince Elezar for the archimage that should be heard at once.”

The page looked at Astron through half-closed eyes. He leafed through the pages to the very front of the book and scanned a list of names. ”Elezar,” the page repeated, ”Elezar.” Suddenly he stopped and his eyes opened wide. ”Ah, exactly what is the-the nature of this prince?”

”He is a demon,” Astron said. ”A mighty ruler of over a hundred djinns.”

The att.i.tude of the page immediately s.h.i.+fted from bored indifference to obsequious concern. He climbed from his high stool and motioned the trio to follow.

”It is the foremost of the archimage's instructions,” he said. ”Certain visitors are to receive priority over the others who come asking no more than a boon. But above

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