Trapped

for ceremonial lives.)

If I were Sebastian, I'd sell the broadsword first. But where? Not to another student: too much risk someone would blab to a teacher. Selling the sword to a store in Simka would also raise problems. People there knew the boy; if he tried to hock a high-class sword, word would get back to his family. Sebastian was smart enough to avoid such trouble. So where had he…

I smacked my head with my palm. 'What?' Myoko asked.

'Those fishermen tonight,' I said. 'That Divian with the broadsword — he had no idea how to use it. As if he'd never had one in his hands before. And it was a fancy-looking weapon: more ornamental than practical.'

'You think he got the sword from Sebastian?'

'Maybe.'

I closed my eyes to think. The sword was easily worth enough to purchase passage for two on any fishing boat in the Dover fleet. The boat captain involved would demand payment in advance — well in advance — so Sebastian must have gone down to Dover immediately after classes ended in the afternoon. He'd just have time to go to the docks, hand over the sword to pay his fare, then return to the school for supper. Meanwhile… as soon as the boat captain got the sword as payment, he'd send away any crew members who wouldn't be needed for the trip. That would be about five o'clock: plenty of time for the fishermen we'd met to make their way to Simka and get rip-roaring drunk before they showed up at The Pot of Gold.

And why had the Divian been carrying the sword? My guess was that the captain wanted the little blob-eared swamp-rat to sell the blade in Simka — hock the weapon and turn it into cash. Either the Divian hadn't found a buyer, or he wanted to swagger around for a while with the sword in his hand before he had to part with it.

Yes. It all made sense… and the timing held together.

'Let's find Pelinor,' I told Myoko. 'He saw the weapon close up… and our noble knight knows about swords.'

'Quite right,' Pelinor said. 'The sword was unquestionably from the Shore metalworks. Distinctive etching on the pommel: their top-of-the-line model.' He sucked his mustache. 'But every sword in Simka comes from Shore's. They're the only weaponsmiths from here to Feliss City.'

We'd found him with Annah in the academy's vast stables. Following the chancellor's instructions, our armsmaster and musicmaster were searching for Sebastian… and naturally, Pelinor had wanted to check out the horses: 'Just to see if one's missing.'

Pelinor was a maniac about horses. He didn't own one himself — he told everyone he was 'between mounts' — but when he wasn't drinking at The Pot of Gold or shouting at less-than-eager students not to let their foils droop, he was in the school stables badgering the grooms.

We had a lot of grooms. Every paying student at the school kept at least one horse, and most had more: a hunter, a traveler, a 'steed' who looked pretty on official occasions, a war-charger, a pack-animal or two, and perhaps several others of varying colors, to make sure one always had a mount that matched one's clothing. At times, we had more than five hundred animals under the stable roofs, many of them high-strung, and all in need of pampering — heaven forbid if a single stallion showed the least little mange. Therefore we employed an army of stable-staff, all of whom gritted their teeth when they saw Pelinor coming.

Pelinor asked questions. Pelinor gave advice. Pelinor wondered if that roan in Stall 42 was favoring his right foreleg, and if they should add minced chestnuts to the fodder of that pregnant palomino. He was correct often enough that the stablemaster didn't lock the old boy out… and Pelinor was happy to shovel stalls or do other gruntwork, so workers didn't chase him away. Nevertheless, the hands paid for the help he gave; they paid by putting up with the old duffer's enthusiasm.

There were no grooms in sight at the moment: just hundreds of stalls filled with quiet horses. The nearest animals stared at us with equine curiosity — they seldom saw people in the middle of the night, especially people they didn't recognize. One beautiful chestnut gazed at me with particular soulfulness, no doubt hoping I was the sort of person who carried carrots in his pocket. Alas, I wasn't; I was the sort of person who had to investigate a murder.

'So,' I said to Pelinor, 'could the sword have been Sebastian's?'

'Perhaps. He owned one like that. But so do a dozen other people in town.'

'Unlikely for a Divian slave to be one of them.'

'Yesss,' Pelinor said with another mustache suck, 'it does seem strange. A broadsword decorated that much would be quite pricey… and impractical in a street fight. Better to buy a rapier or saber. Then again, the Divian may not have bought the blade himself. He might have stolen it. Or won it playing Beggar-My-Bum.'

'I still think the sword was Sebastian's.' I glanced at Myoko. 'We'd better tell the chancellor.'

'We'll come with you,' Annah said softly. 'We've discovered something too.'

'What?'

She didn't answer. It was Pelinor who said, 'Two of Rosalind's horses are missing. Her favorite mare and a nice quiet gelding. And Rosalind's saddle is gone from the tack room. Also the saddle Sebastian used in his riding classes.'

Myoko made a face. 'How can two kids walk off with a pair of horses in the middle of the night? Don't the stablehands keep watch?'

'The horses weren't taken in the middle of the night,' Pelinor answered. 'The head groom says Sebastian and Rosalind went riding this afternoon — the same time as every other student.' That made sense to me; they probably went down to Dover to pay the captain for their boat trip. 'With riders coming and going,' Pelinor continued, 'none of the grooms noticed that the two children never brought their horses back. On evening rounds, the hands saw the animals were missing; but someone had put notes on the empty stalls saying HORSES ON LOAN. The staff didn't know what that meant, but there was no reason to raise an alarm.'

'So Rosalind and Sebastian might have disappeared this afternoon?' Myoko asked.

'No,' I said, 'they were both at dinner. In the afternoon, they must have taken the horses and tethered them somewhere. Sebastian's a local boy; he'd know hiding places where the horses would be safe. Then he and Rosalind walked back to put those notes on the stalls. That way, they wouldn't have to smuggle out their mounts later on.'

'These kids planned ahead,' Myoko muttered.

'So it seems,' Pelinor said, 'but there's one part that bothers me.' He was looking toward the chestnut who'd been eyeing me earlier; he might well have been speaking to the horse rather than us humans. 'If these students prepared so meticulously, why was Rosalind in bed?' He turned to me. 'That's how you found her, correct? So why did the girl go to sleep instead of getting ready to elope?'

We thought about that in silence. Myoko finally said, 'Rosalind was poisoned with curds-and-whey. Eventually, she'd start to feel sick… so maybe she decided to lie down. Hoping a rest would make her feel better.'

'That doesn't quite fit,' Annah said. 'When we found her, Rosalind wasn't wearing clothes. Would she undress completely just to lie down? Especially when she planned to go out later?'

Myoko shrugged. 'Maybe she wasn't thinking clearly. If the disease was making her delirious…' She stopped. 'No, if the disease was making her delirious, Rosalind would just flop straight onto the bed. Too much trouble getting undressed. Unless she was burning up with fever and thought she could cool off…' Myoko shook her head. 'That's not too convincing, is it?'

We nodded. Something about Rosalind's nudity didn't add up — one more out-of-place detail to confuse the picture.

'Let's go back to Opal,' I said; and because the others didn't have any better suggestions, they followed me out of the stables.

7: HORSE HEROES

Half an hour later, we were back with the horses: watching disheveled grooms saddle six mounts so we could head off to Dover-on-Sea.

Five of the horses were for those of us who'd been present in The Pot of Gold: Myoko, Pelinor, Impervia, the Caryatid, and me. Chancellor Opal had decided if we were destined to go on a quest, that's what we should do — hie ourselves down to the docks and quest for Sebastian.

Hence, the five mounts. Plus one for Annah. Who hadn't been ordered to accompany us and hadn't said she wanted to go, but was following close enough on our heels that the stablehands assumed she belonged to our party. I couldn't tell if she'd truly intended to accompany us or was just letting herself be swept along — Annah had retreated to her usual shy passivity, silently lurking in the background while everyone else chattered. From time to time I tried to catch her eye… but she had far too much experience withdrawing from the world for me to dent her self-isolation.

It didn't help that the rest of our group were being their noisy selves, arguing over which horses they should take. Of the six of us, I was the only one who actually possessed a mount of my own: a sturdy white gelding named Ibn Al-Hahm. Despite his name, Ibn was not an Arabian — he was an Appaloosa I'd bought when I arrived on this continent. However, his characteristic Appaloosa splotches were small and restricted to his hindquarters; when I was seated on him, he looked much like a purebred white stallion I used to ride on our family estate.

Everyone else in our party had to make do with animals owned by the school itself. Pelinor couldn't bear to buy a mount for himself unless it was absolutely perfect… and if there is such a thing as a perfect horse, it can't be purchased on a teacher's salary. Impervia, of course, had taken a vow of poverty; I wasn't clear on the specifics, but it certainly ruled out expensive possessions like horses. As for Myoko, she claimed she was too small to ride anything bigger than a pony; when asked why she didn't buy a pony, she gave an Impervia-style sniff and said ponies were beneath an adult woman's dignity.

Perhaps she just didn't like riding — that was certainly the Caryatid's excuse. The Caryatid, despite her roly-poly figure, displayed an obsession for walking: to her, horses were fine for pulling plows, but if you wanted to get somewhere, it was vastly more enjoyable to use your own two legs. The rest of us were hard-pressed to persuade her we shouldn't head for Dover on foot… but eventually, under the weight of 'Time is of the essence,' the Caryatid grudgingly agreed to ride.

At least we all could ride; our chancellor 'strongly encouraged' every teacher to learn the basics. This policy was eminently practical — student groups went on numerous field trips throughout the year, whether to Feliss City (where Governor Niome would attempt to charm the brats with talk about 'trade opportunities in our fair province') or around the countryside to see notable sights like Niagara Falls, the concrete ruins of Trawna, or just the color of the autumn leaves. These outings had to be supervised… and Opal didn't want any teacher avoiding the job with, 'Oh, I can't ride.'

Therefore, we all knew which end of a horse was the front, how to cinch a saddle, and when to let one's mount rest. We also rode regularly on the school's private horses to keep our thigh muscles in shape. (I don't know if any out-of-shape rider has actually died of stiffness the day after a long trip, but many have wished they could.) Even the Caryatid went for a canter several times a week; apparently, stints on horseback weren't immoral in themselves, you just weren't supposed to