“You did not purposely avoid the School guard?”
I said, truthfully, I had not.
“Michael says he was waylaid by a woman he has seen with you.”
“Waylaid, Gamesmistress? Assaulted?” Michael was one of my favorite guards. I would have hated to have him hurt.
“Not at all, Jinian. Merely stopped and asked a question by a very pretty woman. Did you know about that?”
I said, truthfully, that I did not. I guessed, however, it had been Margaret Foxmitten.
Queen Vorbold turned to the Demon; the Demon shook her head; and I was dimissed. The Demon would have told her that I told the exact truth.
11
“All right,” I said to Murzy. “Where is she?”
“Where is who, chile?” she asked me, all innocence. “Don’t ask me anything tha shouldn’t know.”
She meant that having been questioned once with a Demon present didn’t mean they might not do it again. I humphed about, but I didn’t ask her again. Instead, I said, “Is there anything you can tell me, Murzy, about Daggerhawk Demesne? Anything useful?”
To which she replied, “Not yet, chile, but I’m sure we’ll learn many interesting things in time.”
And I had to be content with that. The only things the Demon could find in my head, assuming she was still looking, was that I had been badly frightened by something that hissed at me. Hissed, and tried to get me to turn around. That would indicate “Basilisk” to anyone who had studied the Index even slightly, and Queen Vorbold would remember what I had said to her earlier about Basilisks. Well. Very soon she called me in again. Demon was there. So was a foreign Pursuivant, a Gamesman, one I’d never seen before. Evidently Daggerhawk Demesne was bringing some pressure to bear.
“Jinian. This is Pursuivant Cholore, sent by Daggerhawk Demesne to assist in the search for Dedrina-Lucir. We know you will want to help us.”
“I will help you, Gamesmistress, if I can, though I do not want to and do not care what has happened to Dedrina-Lucir. She was most un-Gamely with me, and I have no reason to care for her.” This made the Pursuivant blink. Which, in turn, made the Demon turn on him sharply, snarling between her teeth.
“What Game is this, Pursuivant? Your mind betrays ill intent toward this girl Jinian.”
The Pursuivant put up his hands, shaking his head. “Only suspicion, Demon. Truly. Why, I must be suspicious of all here or I could not seek the answers I have been told to seek.”
I kept carefully quiet and as invisible as I have ever been. Queen Vorbold wasn’t accepting any of this, and they got into a three-way wrangle with me outside any of it. The Pursuivant obviously had a great deal more than suspicion, as the School Demon immediately confirmed. Queen Vorbold was having none of that. She came abruptly to herself and snarled at me, “Outside, student! This is evidently not the time to ask you anything.”
The time was the following morning, but the Pursuivant wasn’t present. This time there was only one question. Why would Dedrina-Lucir or any other member of the Daggerhawk Demesne hold enmity toward me sufficient that they might have breached the ban in Xammer? Question.
Answer. I don’t know. But wouldn’t I like to have known!
Truth. I didn’t. The Demon shrugged, gestured, and they sent me away again. About noon they were back. Did I think the flitchhawk that had delivered me to Xammer was in any way connected with hawk as in Daggerhawk Demesne?
This surprised me. I had not really thought of this connection, but when one stopped to consider the matter, it was curious. Curious, I mean, that Daggerhawk should be so near to Chimmerdong Forest. Curious that a particularly giant flitchhawk seemed to frequent that forest. Curious that the Demesne seemed to find some special significance in the killing of a hawk. I mentioned these curiosities to Queen Vorbold and the Demon, and they looked at me in a bad- tempered way. Obviously they wanted answers, and all I was giving them were enigmatic suggestions. They couldn’t be angry with me, however, for I was trying to be helpful, and the Demon knew it.
They sent me away again. Two days later they found a woman’s body out in the fields east of Xammer. The face was mauled and unrecognizable. There were Basilisk bites on her arms and hands. The body was presumed to be that of Dedrina-Lucir. From the School tower, I saw the Pursuivant riding away west. He would have no good news for those at Daggerhawk Demesne. I wondered if Murzy would have any news for me.
I think she did.
But she refused to tell me anything about that.
Actually, she refused at first, but then she and Cat and Margaret got into an argument in the kitchen that I overheard. Murzy was saying something about “trust” and “complete confidence”, and Cat was being firm as any Gamesmistress about “the rules’ and “the covenants”.
I was sitting with a book in my lap when they came back, and Murzy told me, with some consternation and head shaking, that there was certain information vital to me. That I might have it if I were truly a member of a seven. That I was not yet really a member of a seven. That there were certain oaths, certain vows, certain initiatory rites ...
“By Trandilar the Glorious,” I said, peevish enough already over the whole thing, “stop this muggling and mubbling and tell me what you want to tell me!”
“You’ll have to take an oath of celibacy, Jinian,” said Margaret in her usual calm voice. “Murzy’s worried about that.”
“Well, I should think so.” I thought
