She gave in with a sigh; she was not up to the heat and the jostling crowds, even if most of the fairgoers would be at the trials-concert this afternoon. But Talaysen looked determined, and she had the sinking feeling that even if she protested that she couldn't walk, he'd conjure a dog cart or something to carry her.
She got clumsily to her feet and followed him out of the tent and down to the Faire. The sun beat down on her head like a hammer on an anvil, making her eyes water and her ears ring. She was paying so much attention to where she was putting her feet that she had no idea where he was leading her.
No idea until he stopped and she looked up, to find herself pinned between the Guild tent and the wall of the Kingsford Cathedral Cloister.
She froze in terror as he unlocked the door in the wall there; she would have bolted if he hadn't reached for her good hand and drawn her inside before she could do anything.
Her heart pounded with panic, and she looked around at the potted greenery, expecting it to sprout guards at any moment. This was it: the Church had found her out, and they were going-
'We're not going to do anything to you, child,' said a scarlet-robed woman who stepped out from behind a trellis laden with rosevines. She had a cap of pale blond hair cut like any Priest's, candid gray eyes, and a pointed face that reminded her sharply of someone-
Then Talaysen turned around, and the familial resemblance was obvious. She relaxed a little. Not much, but a little.
'Rune, this is my cousin, Ardis. Ardis, this is the young lady who was too talented for her own good.' Talaysen smiled, and Rune relaxed a little more.
Ardis tilted her head to one side, and her pale lips stretched in an amused smile. 'So I see. Well, come here, Rune. I don't bite-or rather, I don't bite people who don't deserve to be bitten.'
Rune ventured nearer, and Ardis waved at her to take a seat on a bench. The Priest-for so she must be, although Rune had never seen a scarlet-robed Priest before-seated herself on the same bench, as Talaysen stood beside them both. She glanced at him anxiously, and he gave her a wink of encouragement.
'I might as well be brief,' Ardis said, after a moment of studying Rune's face. 'I suppose you've heard rumors of Priests who also practice magic on behalf of the Church?'
She nodded, reluctantly, unsure what this had to do with her.
'The rumors are true, child,' Ardis said, watching her face closely. 'I'm one of them.'
Rune's initial reaction was alarm-but simple logic calmed her before she did anything stupid. She trusted Talaysen; he trusted his cousin. There must be a reason for this revelation.
She waited for Ardis to reveal it.
'I have healing-spells,' the Priest continued calmly, 'and my cousin asked me to exercise one of them on your behalf. I agreed. But I cannot place the spell upon you without your consent. It wouldn't be ethical.'
She smiled at Talaysen as she said that, a smile with just a hint of a sting in it. He chuckled and shook his head, but said nothing.
'Will it hurt?' Rune asked, the only thing she could think of to ask.
'A little,' Ardis admitted. 'But after a moment or two you'll begin feeling much better.'
'Fine-I mean, please, I'd like you to do it, then,' Rune stammered, a little confused by the Priest's clear, direct gaze. She sensed it would be difficult, if not impossible, to hide anything from this woman. 'It can't hurt much worse than my head does right now.'
The Priest's eyes widened for a moment, and she glanced up at Talaysen. 'Belladonna?' she asked sharply. He nodded. 'Then it's just as well you brought her here today. It's not good to take that for more than three days running.'
'I didn't take any today,' Rune said, plaintively. 'I woke up with a horrid headache and sick, and it felt as if the medicine had something to do with the way I felt.'
The Priest nodded. 'Wise child. Wiser than some who are your elders. Now, hold still for a moment, think of a cloudless sky, and try not to move.'
Obediently, Rune did as she was told, closing her eyes to concentrate better.
She felt the Priest lay her hand gently on the broken arm. Then there was a sudden, sharp pain, exactly like the moment when Erdric straightened the break. She bit back a cry-then slumped with relief, for the pain in both her head and her arm were gone!
No-not gone after all, but dulled to distant ghosts of what they had been. And best of all, she was no longer nauseous. She sighed in gratitude and opened her eyes, smiling into Ardis' intent face.
'You fixed it!' she said. 'It hardly hurts at all, it's wonderful! How can I ever thank you?'
Ardis smiled lazily, and flexed her fingers. 'My cousin has thanked me adequately already, child. Think of it as the Church's way of repairing the damage the Bardic Guild did.'
'But-' Rune protested. Ardis waved her to silence.
'It was no trouble, dear,' the Priest said, rising. 'The bone-healing spells are something I rarely get to use; I'm grateful for the practice. You can take the splint off in about four weeks; that should give things sufficient time to mend.'
She gave Talaysen a significant look of some kind; one that Rune couldn't read. He flushed just a little, though, as she bade him a decorous enough farewell and he turned to lead Rune out the tiny gate.
He seemed a little ill-at-ease, though she couldn't imagine why. To fill the silence between them, she asked the first thing that came into her head.
'Do all Priest-mages wear red robes?' she said. 'I'd never seen that color before on a Priest.'
He turned to her gratefully, and smiled. 'No, actually, there's no one color for the mages. You can find them among any of the Church Brotherhoods. Red is the Justiciar's color-there do seem to be more mages among the Justiciars than any other Brotherhood, but that is probably coincidence.'
He continued on about the various Brotherhoods in the Church, but she wasn't really listening. She had just realized as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye, what an extraordinarily handsome man he was. She hadn't thought of that until she'd seen his cousin, and noticed how striking she was.
How odd that she hadn't noticed it before.
. . . .possibly because he was acting as if he was my father. . . .
Well, never mind. There was time enough to sort out how things were going to be between them. Maybe he was just acting oddly because of all the people around him; as the founder of the Free Bards he must feel as if there were eyes on him all the time-and rightly, given Sparrow's chattering questions the other day.
But once the Faire was over and the Free Bards dispersed, there would be no one watching them to see what they did. Then, maybe, he would relax.
And once he did, well-
Her lips curved in a smile that was totally unconscious. And Talaysen chattered on, oblivious to her thoughts.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Rune caught a hint of movement in the crowd out of the corner of her eye. She kept singing, but she thought she recognized the bright red skirt and bodice, and the low-cut blouse the color of autumn leaves. . . .
A second glance told her she was right. It was Gwyna, all right, and dressed to be as troublesome as she could to male urges and Church sensibilities. Tiny as she was, she had to elbow her way to the front of the crowd so Rune could see her, and by the look in her eyes, she knew she was causing mischief.
Her abundant black hair was held out of her eyes by a scarf of scarlet tied as a head-band over her forehead; beneath it, huge brown eyes glinted with laughter. There was no law against showing-and none against looking-and she always dressed to catch the maximum number of masculine attentions. She garnered a goodly share of appreciative glances as she sauntered among the fair-goers, from men both high and lowly born. She preened beneath the admiration like the bright bird she so strongly resembled.
Rune and Talaysen were singing 'Fiddler Girl,' though without the fiddle; Rune's arm was only just out of its sling, and she wasn't doing anything terribly difficult with it yet. Instead, she was singing her own part, and Talaysen was singing the Ghost, and making it fair blood-chilling, too. Even Gwyna shivered visibly, listening to them, and she'd heard it so many times she probably could reproduce every note of it herself in both their styles.
They finished to a deafening round of applause, and copper and silver showered into the hat set in front of them. As Gwyna wormed her way to the center of the crowd, Rune caught sight of another of the brotherhood just
