Elvenbane

now he knew why. She had been weaving a glamorie around him, and a physical consummation would complete it. She wanted to be sure that the hook had set before she brought in the fish.

'You,' he'd said slyly.

She had simpered and acted shy; he insisted. The long-awaited rendezvous would take place after dinner, in his rooms.

But that was hours from now...and he had a feeling, from the way she had hurried out, heading for her rooms, she had something she wanted to do.

Like calling someone on the teleson and telling them she had the 'wild girl' everyone has been looking for.

He had every intention of finding out just what she was up to.

One advantage of being a servant, he thought wryly, was that no one ever paid any attention to what you did. The last time he'd been here, Valyn had been given rooms just like these. Shadow had stayed in the suite most of the time, unwilling to take the chance of having his illusory disguise dispelled. And since Shadow hadn't seen the elven manor yet that wasn't riddled with secret passageways, when he got bored with waiting, he'd gone looking for the doors into the ones here.

He'd found them, easily enough. And as usual, the passages had opened onto just about every room in the building. Now, if the ones in the guest rooms all worked alike-He examined the fireplace, and found the same little carved knobs he'd located in the other room. He twisted each of them in turn...

A panel beside the fireplace swung open without a sound. He slipped inside and closed the door after him.

He waited for a moment to allow his eyes to adjust to the darkness. It wasn't totally dark here; there were peepholes that let in light on both sides of the passageway. There was a thick, wet smell of mildew, and dust cushioned the floor like a heavy snowfall. Obviously, they didn't use these very often. He wondered if Triana even knew they existed. He suppressed a sneeze and moved cautiously towards his goal, doing his best to disturb the dust as little as possible, holding his handkerchief to his mouth and nose to give him something to filter the dust.

Triana wasn't the type to want to go to an office every time she needed to talk to someone. Her teleson was probably in her room.

It was a good thing that his goal wasn't too far away...as careful as he had been, he was still kicking up dust. The air was full of it, and not all of it was being filtered out by the handkerchief.

This would be his bedroom...his dressing room...Triana's bathroom...He heard voices once he reached the area of Triana's rooms. Triana's...and one other. It sounded like simple conversation, not the voice of someone giving orders to a subordinate. It could be Triana talking to Valyn, but he didn't think it was. The voice sounded too deep to be Valyn's.

He hurried his steps a little...and in a few moments more he was able to make out words. He recognized Cheynar's voice immediately, and knew that his suspicions were being borne out. Triana did keep her teleson screen in her own rooms...and she was in contact with the elders.

'...enough of dancing around the bushes, my lady,' Cheynar was growling, as Shadow stifled another sneeze and stopped where he was. 'Let's get to the point, shall we? Do you have news of these renegades, or not?'

Shadow froze, hardly daring to breathe. So Triana had been talking to Cheynar about them being here! Shana was right; she had intended to betray them all along.

'Well, my lord,' Triana said slowly, 'there is certainly someone living in my woods...if not your renegades, then certainly some other wild humans. I confess, they are too clever for me or my men, and I would appreciate your help in flushing them out.'

Shadow touched carefully at her thoughts, and heard her thinking,: I'll put together a hunting party, and lose them, then double back and meet Cheynar's people. I probably ought to put Mero to sleep though, and hide him somewhere until they've gone. He'd probably try to rush to the rescue, or something equally heroic and stupid. And he hasn't even begun to outlive his usefulness to me.:

'That's easily done,' Cheynar replied. 'I can be there in two days. Is that soon enough?'

'Perfect, my lord,' Triana told him, her voice bright with satisfaction. And thought: :That's more than enough time to set everything up, including a campsite for Cheynar's men to find, so that it looks as if three of them been living there for some time. I wonder how Dyran is going to react to discovering his son is a renegade?:

'Then I will see you in two days' time, my lady,' Cheynar said.

'You certainly will, my lord,' Triana told him. 'You certainly will.'

Outside, a full moon sailed peacefully and serenely over the treetops. Inside, in the suite shared by Shana and Keman, there was anything but peace.

'I'm not being stupid, and I'm not being overly sensitive,' Shana said patiently, doing her level best not to fly into a temper in the face of Valyn's skepticism. 'And I swear to you, I am absolutely not saying these things because I'm jealous of Triana. You heard Keman! You heard what Mero told him! He is completely unbiased, and he certainly doesn't have any reason to feel threatened just because Triana has a pretty face.'

'I would have said,'seductive nature,'' Keman put in, unhelpfully.

Shana stifled a groan. She had been trying to keep that particular aspect of their erstwhile hostess out of the conversation, knowing what it would do to her credibility.

Valyn reacted predictably. He put on that superior expression she hated so much, and said, in a tone that just oozed sweet reason, 'But you do, Shana; you couldn't help it. It's a perfectly natural reaction. And after all, you're a guest in her house; of course that puts you on an uneasy footing with her. You feel you have to compete with her, and yet you can't. I understand that. But it doesn't make Triana bad.'

Shana wanted to shake his shoulders and scream at him: I'm not some animal, to be set off just because I'm on another female's territory! But she kept her temper in check and repeated what he evidently had not heard. 'Keman isn't a female, and he isn't in the least threatened by her and he...'

She was interrupted...by an odd sound that made her look over Valyn's shoulder, and the completely unexpected sight of a door appearing in the wall next to the fireplace and swinging open. She stopped dead in midsentence, her mouth hanging open as she stared. Valyn turned in his seat just in time to see Shadow emerge from the half-height door, beating dust from his clothing and coughing.

Her first thought was...How did he get back there? And her second was accompanied by a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Did every room in this place have hidden doors in it? Was that the way all elven buildings were made? If so...she would never feel comfortable in a building again! Not when someone could creep up on you unseen and pop out of the blank walls!

Valyn recovered first. 'What were you doing in there?' he demanded, astonished. 'And why did you...'

'I had to find something out,' Shadow said, interrupting him. 'Listen, I am really sorry...we're in trouble, I've been an idiot, and Shana's been right all along.' His expression was a grim one, but he met all of their eyes without flinching. 'Triana's been after me, and I fell right into her trap with a grin on my face and my arms wide open. She put a glamorie on me to make into her own little tame wizard...and she intends to throw the rest of you to Cheynar's people. I overheard her on the teleson this afternoon.' He paused for a breath, and absently rubbed his temple, as if his head hurt. 'I'm sorry. I apologize. Now, we have to get out of here; how are we going to do it?'

'Wait a moment...if you overheard her this after noon, why did you wait until now to tell us?' Valyn asked, accusation in his voice and eyes.

'I couldn't get away until now,' Shadow replied unhappily. 'I didn't want her to know I'd overheard her, so I had to keep on as if nothing had changed. Cheynar won't be here for another two days. I didn't think a couple of hours would matter one way or the other.'

'He's right,' Shana said, surprising even herself, as all eyes turned towards her. 'If he'd come running to one of us this afternoon, and Triana had been expecting him to be with her, she'd have known something was wrong. Valyn, you were out riding, I was in the library, and Keman was...'

'Spying among the slaves,' Keman supplied. 'Looking for information that would prove to Valyn that you were not being unduly sensitive, Shana.' He smiled sheepishly. 'I found any number of things, but it would seem they are