doing-whatever it is. And this time I think you heard it too.'
'Ardis told me every mage has his own way of sensing magic,' Talaysen said thoughtfully. 'Some see it as a web of light, some as color-patterns, some feel it, some taste or smell it. Maybe a mage who was also a musician would hear it as music-'
He faltered, and she added what she thought he was going to say. 'But you heard it too. Didn't you? You heard what I was trying to follow.'
'I heard something,' he replied, carefully. 'Whether it was the same thing you heard or not, I don't know.'
'Well, whatever is going on-when I really need something to happen, I think about it, hard, and listen inside for a melody at the same time. When I find it, I try to match it, but since it's a variation on what I've playing, it takes a little bit of time to do that, to figure out what the pattern is going to be. And it seems like I have to play things in repeats of three to get it to work. It's the moment that I match with that variation that I seem to be able to influence people.'
'But what about with the elves?' he asked. 'You weren't doing any variations then-'
'I don't know, I'm only guessing,' she replied, looking to the west through the trees, and wondering how long they had before the sun set. 'But what I was playing was all Gypsy music or music already associated with the elves, like the 'Faerie Reel.' Maybe they're more susceptible to music, or maybe the music itself was already the right tune to be magic. Next Midsummer Faire we are going to have to talk to your cousin about all this-I don't like doing things and not knowing how or why they work. Or what they might do if they don't work the way I think they will.'
She was looking at him now, peering through the blue twilight, and not at the road, so she missed spotting the trouble ahead. Her first inkling of a problem was when Talaysen's head snapped up, and he cursed under his breath.
'We'll do that. If we're not languishing in a dungeon,' Talaysen groaned. 'If this isn't the worst run of luck I've ever had-if I hadn't already been expecting the worst-'
She turned her head-and echoed his groan of disgust. Just ahead of them was a roadblock. Manned by armed soldiers with a banner flapping above them in Sire Harlan's black-and-white stripes.
'Well, there's no point in trying to avoid them; they'll only chase us,' Talaysen sighed, as the soldiers stirred, proving that they'd been sighted too. 'God help us. Here we go again.'
'This time, let's see if we can't get them to let us prove we're minstrels right off,' Rune said, thinking quickly. 'I'll try and work magic on them again. And since you heard what I was trying to follow, you join me on this one. Maybe with both of us working on them, we can do better than just get them to let us go.'
'All right,' Talaysen replied quietly, for they were just close enough to the barricade that a sharp-eared man might hear what they were saying. 'Follow my lead.'
He raised his arm and waved, smiling. 'Ho there!' he called. 'We are certainly glad to see you!'
Looks of astonishment on every face told Rune that he'd certainly managed to confuse them.
'You-sir, are you the captain?' he continued, pointing at one of the men who seemed to be in charge. At the other's wary nod, Talaysen's smile broadened. 'Thank goodness! We have a lot to tell you about. . . .'
'Ten pennies and quite a little stock of provisions, and an escort to the border,' Talaysen said in satisfaction, patting the pouch at his belt. 'Not bad, for what started out a disaster. Maybe our luck is turning.'
'Maybe we're turning it ourselves,' Rune countered, but lazily. She was not going to argue about results, however they came about.
A good night's sleep in the Sire's camp had helped matters. They'd done so well that they'd become honored guests by the time they were through playing, instead of captives. And while Sire Harlan was not interested in taking on a musician until his little feud with his neighbor had been settled, he did know about the banning of non- Guild minstrels from the previous three Faires. When they had played for him personally, he spent quite some time talking with them afterwards, over a cup of wine. He had assured them that a similar attempt at Kardown had been blocked.
'Did you hear the rest of the story about the Faires?' Talaysen asked. 'I asked Captain Nours about it, and got an earful.'
She shook her head. 'No, I wasn't close enough to listen, and that terribly earnest cousin of the Sire was pouring his life-story into my ear.'
'That's what you get for being sympathetic,' he chuckled, and kicked at a rock to keep from stepping on it. 'It wasn't just the Bardic Guild. All the Guilds got together and barred non-Guild participants. Sire Harlan's captain is also a wood-carver, and he's heard that if they try the same again next year, the non-Guild crafts-people have threatened to hold their own Faires-outside the gates, and just off the road. Which means no Church tax or city tax on sellers, as well as an open Faire.'
She widened her eyes. 'Can they do that?' she asked.
'I don't know why not,' he replied. 'One of the farmers has agreed to let them use his fallow fields for free for the first year. That may be how the Kingsford Faire started; I seem to recall something like that-the Church putting a ban on entertainment or levying an extra use-tax. I can tell you that most common folk would rather go to an open Faire, given a choice. Anyway, he asked me to spread that bit of news as well, so that the small crafters are ready, come next year.'
She nodded, stowing the information away in her memory. That was another thing the Free Bards did that she hadn't known; they passed news wherever they went. Often it was news that those in power would prefer others didn't know. Ordinary minstrels might or might not impart news as the whim and the generosity of their audience moved them; Bardic Guild musicians never did.
So in a way we are spies, she reflected. Only not in a way that sheep-brained captain would ever recognize.
'Aren't we going to meet Gwyna at Kardown?' she asked, suddenly, squinting into the sunlight, and taking off her hat to fan herself with it.
'That was the plan,' he replied. 'Why?'
'Oh, nothing-' she replied vaguely. She hadn't thought about the coming encounter, until the association of 'news' brought it to mind.
She and Talaysen were news, so far as the Free Bards were concerned. When they had parted from the Free Bards, she and Talaysen had been Master and Apprentice. Now their relationship was something altogether different. Gwyna planned a course of travel that put her in and out of contact with a good half of the Free Bards over the year, not to mention all the gypsy Clans. She would be the one telling everyone she met of Master Wren's change of status, and if she didn't approve . . .
Rune realized then that she wanted not only Gwyna to approve, but all the rest of the Free Bards, including people she didn't even know yet. And not just for her own sake. If there was divisiveness in the Free Bards, trouble with Talaysen's leadership, the things she and Talaysen had talked about would never come to pass. The group might even fall apart.
We will never make a difference if that happens, she thought worriedly, and then realized with a start that for the first time in her life she was thinking of herself as a part of a group. Worrying about 'we,' where 'we' meant people she'd never met as well as those she knew and liked.
It was a curious feeling, having been a loner most of her life, to suddenly find herself a part of something.
If Gwyna didn't approve of what had happened between her and Talaysen-
Then she mentally took herself by the scruff of the neck and shook herself. Of course she'll approve, she scolded. She was practically throwing us into bed together before we all broke up. I'm running from shadows that aren't even there. The fact that we're married shouldn't make any kind of a difference to her. She told me herself that Talaysen spent too much time alone.
She noticed that Talaysen was watching her with a concerned frown, and smiled at him. 'It's all right, no disasters. Just thinking things through,' she said cheerfully. 'Tell me something, do you think we were working magic last night, or not?'
He hesitated a moment, taking the time to wipe some of the dust from his face with his scarf. 'I never thought of myself as a mage, or anything like one,' he said, finally. 'Even though everything I've ever really wanted I've gotten. Now that I think about it, that is rather odd; I don't know of anyone who always gets what he wants or
