"There are no troopers looking for me, my Lady. No one in my family will notice me missing until I return. They'll think I'm in the kitchen or some such."
"Still, I'd as soon get off this busy stree—"
A trumpet blast ripped through the thin mountain air. Repentance nearly lost her seat as Bramble jumped and bawled out his fright.
Three more blasts rang out.
"The alarm!" Tigen's whisper was full of dread. "They know you're gone."
Despise not the people you meet on the trail--
whether strong or weak or healthy or frail--
always may mercy bind you.
People will come and then people will go,
people will change, and then people will grow,
and when you are lost they'll find you.
~Songs for the Circumspect
Chapter 30
Sober dragged the skittish Bramble into the first alley he saw, stopped, and slugged the wall. "Ow!"
Repentance slid off the yak. "You do have a back-up plan, Sober Marsh, don't you?"
He ignored her, looking at his ice-burned knuckles.
"Tigen," she said, taking Bramble's reins from Sober and handing them to the boy. "You go home. If you see troopers along the way, slow them down if you can. Tell them about how your yak ran away and how glad you are to be found."
Sober looked up, a spark of hope in his eyes. "Maybe the trumpet blast is for Tigen. Maybe they've discovered him missing and not you, Repentance."
Tigen shook his head. "The alarm is just for when slaves escape. All the guardsmen come out and line up all along the wall."
"Insist the troopers escort you safely home," Repentance continued as if she'd not been interrupted. "Tell them they must, for you are far too scared to go alone."
He would be able to play that part all too well, she knew. His small face was white with fear, and tears threatened.
"I have help outside the city," Sober said. "A place to stay, food, traveling clothes. But the entire plan hung on our getting out of the city tonight."
"But I know of a safe place in the city," she said. And she'd memorized how to get there, too. "Go Tigen, and Providence go with you." She reached up and touched his soft cheek one last time. "Don't worry about us, we'll make it."
She turned the yak around and slapped his rump to get him moving.
Follow me," she said to Sober, and she took off running.
Three blocks down and another three blocks to the left. Rounding a corner from an alley onto a busier main street, she came to a sudden stop.
Two troopers on the walkway came right toward them.
Repentance spun around and stared into a shop window, her heart drumming against her ribs in utter panic. Sober stood beside her, his head down.
The troopers approached. "Pardon, my Lady," one said.
"Yes, what is it?" Repentance said without turning around. She leaned forward to look into the window, as if she had never seen anything as interesting as the men's under garments displayed there.
"Is this slave with you?" the trooper asked.
"Of course he's with me, who else would he be with?"
"Did you hear the trumpets? A slave has run away."
She turned to look at Sober. "Not mine. He's still here, as you can see."
"Yes, I do see," the trooper said. "Maybe you'd better get off the street, all the same. The runaway could be dangerous."
"Now that is a worthy trickle of advice, sir, and I'm going to take it." She turned and swept up the street, ignoring Sober, as she'd seen overlord women do with their slaves.
She heard him dutifully shuffling along behind her.
They turned into an alley and took off running again. Two more blocks down, one jog to the right—
"Stop!" Someone hollered from the main street.
Feet pounded on the icy ground behind them.
They were only a half a block away from safety, but Repentance jagged to the left. She couldn't go straight to Lord Carrull's with someone following.
They ducked into one alley, crossed a main road, dove into another alley and quickly hid behind a garbage receptacle.
The bell of a yak cart sounded from behind them, and a man, presumably the driver of the vehicle, cursed. "You were born without all your faculties? What are you thinking running into the road like that?"
Footsteps slapped into the alley, going full speed.
Repentance crouched beside Sober, her heart keeping time with the footsteps of their pursuer and feeling like it would burst out of her chest any moment.
The trooper flew past their hiding place.
They crawled out from behind the garbage and took off. She backtracked, re-crossed the road, slipped into another alley and skidded to a halt in front of Lord Carrull's side door.
She stopped, leaning over, trying to quiet her panting so she could hear if they were pursued.
Nothing.
She lifted the knocker and tapped it several times quietly. Each tap sent a deafening echo through the alley. Repentance looked around half expecting to be captured right there on the doorstep—on the edge of safety.
Finally an old slave woman opened the door a crack.
"Thank Providence," Repentance said. "I need to see Lord Carrull." She pushed through the door without waiting to be invited.
The woman, eyes wide with fear, left them in the hall and disappeared into the great room where Repentance had eaten dinner the last time she'd been in the house.
Seconds later, Lord Carrull burst through the door.
He stopped and stared, and then he smiled. "Repentance Atwater from Hot Springs!" He looked as she remembered. Same pale green eyes. Same tan, suede britches. "Running
