"The housekeeper would know where the king has gone and why," Sober said. He looked at Repentance. "What is her name?"
"Provocation."
"That's right." Sober nodded. "Provocation. Sharp-eyed, that one is."
"I did see her for a moment," Lord Carrull said. "She said the king was gone on urgent business and wasn't expected back for two weeks."
"Maybe he has to go down to the healing house." Repentance hugged her arms around herself as she remembered his wracking coughs. He would have to be really sick to miss the Moonlight Festival.
"I've sent a man down to check at the healing house. We'll know by tomorrow evening. I'm afraid, though. We can't rule out the idea that the prince has a hand in the king's absence. He tried to kill him once. Who's to say he hasn't tried again?"
Her heart sped up. "What do we do now? My family can't wait two weeks for us to find out if the king is coming back. Who will stop the prince from taking my family as payment for my disobedience?"
Lord Carrull threw her a worried look. "I'm afraid you're right. I'm less concerned about your family than others, though. I can go to Mistress Merricc's farm right now and make arrangements to move your family to Montphilo."
"Is there no way we can go with you?" Repentance asked.
"It's far too risky. Gate guards are doubled and they are searching every cart and wagon." He rose to leave.
Sober stopped him with a question. "You are concerned about others, besides the Atwaters? What do you mean by that?"
Lord Carrull paused, then took a deep breath and said, "I'm afraid when the prince finds the Atwaters gone, he may turn his wrath on the village. It has happened before. More than once."
Sober blanched.
Repentance felt like she'd been kicked by a yak. She lost her breath. The whole village? The Mossybanks? The Gumtrees? Sober's parents?
Lord Carrull shook his head. "Pray Providence for mercy." He turned back at the door. "It's late. I may not make it back before the city gates close at sunset. If not, I'll be here by lunch tomorrow. You two stay up on this floor, keep the window shades drawn, and obey Compassion."
After Lord Carrull left, Repentance couldn't concentrate on her book at all. She spent the afternoon worrying. By dinnertime her stomach was feeling a little sick. Looking for a diversion, she opened the window shade a crack and peered down on the lighted street below. The sun had only just set and little people, six stories down, were still milling around looking into shop windows.
"Here's another one," Sober said. He'd been reading her bits from Lord Banniss's biography all day.
"Sober, how can you read? Aren't you worried about the village?"
He looked over the top of his book. "I've given it to Providence. Yes, I'm concerned. But what can I do about it now? The best thing I can do in this very minute is read, I think. Worrying about my mother and my father serves no good purpose." He paused, thinking. "Besides, I'm convinced Providence will give us a way out. I don't think he'll let the prince destroy the village."
She wished she could so easily set things aside. But then Sober wouldn't bear the guilt if the villagers were slaughtered. If they suffered the blood would be on her hands, not his.
"Do you want to hear this? It's worth thinking about."
She nodded.
"Lord Banniss's brother—this is incredible—was the one who led the troopers to him. In an interview after his brother was hanged, he said, 'Harding (that's Lord Banniss) thought it was better to die fighting evil than to live. Who was I to argue? When the authorities came threatening me and demanding I tell them where my brother was hiding, I realized there was no sense in my dying to protect him. Harding and I could both get what we wanted. He wanted to die, and I wanted to live.'"
"That's evil."
"But listen to this. A week after Harding was hanged, the brother, his name was Hamchet Banniss, was killed. His throat slit, and gutter tongue written on his chest in blood."
"What does gutter tongue mean?"
"It's a man who hears back alley secrets and repeats them for the highest bidder."
Repentance shivered and crossed the room to sit next to Sober. "Do you believe all that business about the life spark still glowing on the other side of death? Do you think Hamchet had to face his brother?"
"Worse than that. He had to face Providence. Two brothers die in one week. One dies because of his work saving strangers, one is killed for betraying his brother. Which man would you want to be?"
"Neither! I'd like to live, thanks all the same."
He patted her leg. "You will live for a good long, time, Repentance. But we all do die sometime. That's out of our control. We can control some things though. I hope, after I'm gone, that my loved ones—" he paused and waggled his eyebrows at her, "I hope my loved ones will have the comfort of knowing I died like Harding and not Hamchet. Can you imagine? Hamchet only got to live for one extra week and look at what it cost him! He had to present himself to Providence wearing the coward's cloak."
Compassion came with dinner, and Repentance, worried and antsy and not feeling like reading, asked if she might have a new char-stick, as she'd used hers up. She decided to put Hot Springs out of her mind. Sober seemed to know Providence pretty well. Maybe he was right and she didn't need to worry. So, after dinner she fetched her parchment pad from her room and settled down at the desk in the corner. Two hours later she had
