This time her voice was angry. “Bear, you’d have had your bride-price twice over from what you’ve been paid if you hadn’t gambled it all away! I can straighten out the matter of the duke’s reward. Justinian would not lie to me, Bear. You must let me set it straight!”
He made a gesture of rejection and they moved back into the house. After a time, they saw Precious Wind walking back across the open ground toward one of the abbey gates, shoulders slumped in dejection. Bear was not with her.
“Stay here,” hissed Xulai. “Don’t move.”
She was down the ladder in a flash and out across the ground toward the house. As she approached a young tree, she heard footsteps and Bear came out of the house once more, this time striding across the paddock toward the wall. To Abasio, watching from the loft, Xulai disappeared. She simply vanished. There was a young tree growing against the wall of the house next to the spot where she had been standing, but she herself was gone. Shaking his head in bemusement, Abasio moved to the window over the paddock to get a better view, cursing silently at the filth on the window, which prevented his seeing clearly.
At the wall, Bear stopped and whistled, three notes, repeated three times. After a moment, the whistle was returned and someone’s head appeared at the top of the wall. There was conversation, which Abasio could barely hear, as the window was not only dirty but tightly closed. The conversation between Bear and the visitor was brief. The head disappeared. Bear turned and went alongside the house and back toward the abbey.
When Abasio reached the loft door, he saw Xulai standing against the wall of the house beside the small tree, tears streaming down her face.
He slid down the ladder and went to her, whispering, “You disappeared!”
“I thought he couldn’t help but see me!”
“He didn’t. He went right by you!”
“It felt weird. I wanted to vanish; I felt something happening to me; my skin tingled, like I was retreating into the background. What did you see?”
“Shadows, like a little tree against the stone. You’re crying! Why?”
“He’s selling me, Abasio. Bear is selling me!”
“Shh. Tell me what he and Precious Wind were talking about.”
“Some time ago my father gave Prince Orez a small fortune to be sent here, to this abbey, to be held for Precious Wind and for Bear. The prior signed a receipt for it and the messengers brought the receipt back to my father. Before we left Wold, my father gave it to Precious Wind. She has it.” She buried her face in her hands, pressing them together as if to hold her head in place.
“All Bear knew was what Precious Wind told him, that he would be rewarded for his long and faithful service. He probably expected to get it before he left Woldsgard. Certainly he expected to get it here. So, he asked someone if there was something here for him, and the person he asked went to the prior and received word that there was not. He is very angry.”
Abasio pulled her to him, hugging her closely. “Knowing Bear, Precious Wind probably intended to get the payment from the abbey but not pass it on to Bear until we were on a ship headed for Tingawa. Any earlier than that, he would lose it all.”
“I know. That’s what I told Precious Wind.”
Abasio murmured, “Bear’s weakness for wagering is almost legendary! I knew that about him within hours of the time we met at Woldsgard. One of the stablemen told me he won two gold pieces from Bear betting on which flea crawling up his arm would bite him first.”
“I know all the reasons, Abasio! But we should have told him something! Reassured him! I thought Precious Wind would have done that, though maybe she didn’t want to get into a fight over it now. Bear is very angry and it would cause a great trouble if he went after the prior, because we know the prior has lied to us.”
Abasio nodded slowly. “Yes. That may be part of her thinking. There’s no doubt another part. Any man who can be bought once can be bought again—by anyone else who pays more. Precious Wind may suspect he’s involved in some scheme. She sounded shocked and wary to me. Who was the man at the wall?”
She shivered. “The man at the wall was Jenger, the duchess’s man. He was with her when they stopped us on the road. Bear told Jenger he’d get me into this house quickly, so they could come over the wall and take me. He said to wait until he left on his scouting trip south, then they could get me out of here with no trouble.”
“You’re sure he was the Duchess of Altamont’s man?”
She nodded, wiping her face with the backs of her hands. “Oh, yes. Both times I saw his face clearly. I heard his voice.”
Abasio took his arms from around her and stood away, thinking. “There’s something going on here that doesn’t make sense. When did this man, Jenger, have time to make any agreement with Bear? When did he have time to get here? We only arrived yesterday. Bear was with the other men the entire trip from Benjobz Inn to here, and he hasn’t left the abbey today. I can see the gates from where I’m staying, near the stables, and he didn’t go out on a horse.”
She shook her head hopelessly. “Could it all have been decided before we left Woldsgard? If I hadn’t made the horse biscuits, we’d have been there on Altamont ground when the duchess came the next morning. Maybe Bear meant us to be there.”
Abasio walked back and forth, mumbling to himself, finally stopping to say, “No, no. I don’t think so. I saw him then, during the
