Bronwyn gently took the brooch from the child and fastened it to the shoulder of her new gown. 'That was kind of her. I like Laerai, too. She's a good friend.'
'She has magic,' Cara said matter-of-factly. 'Lots of it.'
That surprised Bronwyn. 'You can tell?'
Cara drew herself up. 'Of course. Can't you?'
Well, this was an interesting twist, Bronwyn mused. She was no expert on the subject of magic, but she knew that the ability to recognize magical talent in another almost certainly meant that Cara was gifted. 'Would you like to learn magic?'
She nodded avidly. 'Today?' she said, hope ringing in her voice.
Bronwyn chuckled. 'It takes a bit longer than that, but you could get a start. How about this,' she said, twisting around so that she could sit on the floor and pull Cara into her lap. 'Tomorrow morning, I will take you to the wizard's tower where Lady Laeral lives. She will play with you and take care of you and show you some magic. Would you like that?'
Cara considered. 'Will you be coming, too?'
'Yes, but I can't stay,' she said ruefully. 'I have to go away for a while.'
'Why?'
'We're not going to find your father if we don't look, right?'
The girl brightened. 'I'll come with you.'
'You can't. I'll be riding for several days. It will be dull and tiring, and it may be dangerous. You've had quite enough of that sort of thing to last you a long while. You'll be safe with Laeral.'
The girl folded her arms. Her lip thrust out and her face turned, as portent as a thundercloud. 'I'm tired of being kept safe and quiet and out of the way! I'm tired of staying in one place! I want to go with you. I want to see the places you and Ebenezer told me about.'
Bronwyn sighed and stroked the girl's nut-brown hair. 'Believe me, I know how you feel. if I stay too long in one place, I start feeling itchy, like ants are crawling all over me.'
Cara giggled, then shivered. 'I can feel them, too,' she confided.
Bronwyn smiled faintly, both touched and grieved that this foundling of hers was such a kindred spirit. But perhaps, because of all they shared, she could make Cara understand.
'You know that the ship you were on was a slave ship, right?'
'Yes, but I was not to be a slave. The men said I was a sort of princess, and that I was being taken to a palace.' Cara frowned. 'They didn't listen to me, though, when I told them to take me back. You'd think a princess could decide where she wanted to go, wouldn't you?'
'I suspect that princesses have fewer choices than the common, everyday sort of girl,' Bronwyn told her. 'But sometimes things go wrong. I was on a ship like that, once, when I was much smaller than you. Pirates came and stole me, much as Ebenezer and I stole you and the dwarves, but they didn't set us free. I was sold to be a slave. The first person who bought me was very… unkind. I got away but was captured and sold again. This time, a gem merchant bought me. I had clever hands, and I could draw and use tiny tools very well by the time I was your age. I worked very hard, There was no time for play, no children to play with, and never quite enough to eat. All that I had of my own was a sleeping mat in a corner of the kitchen.'
'They were mean,' Cara decreed.
'They did not set out to be,' she said, 'but they didn't give me much thought one way or another. That was almost worse.'
The child considered this, and nodded. 'I'm glad you stole me back.'
Bronwyn hugged her. 'I am, too. I would do anything to keep you from that life.-even leave you in Blackstaff Tower for a few days, if that is what I must do.'
'All right,' the child conceded. Her face turned stern, and she shook her finger. 'But if you stay too long, Ebenezer and I will come looking for you and steal you back!'
Later that morning, Bronwyn rode down to the South Ward to say good-bye to Ebenezer. The courtyard surrounding Brian Swordmaster's forge was alive with glowing fires, the ringing of hammer against anvil, and the voices of contentious dwarves.
As she tied her horse to the gate, Ebenezer caught sight of her. He immediately dropped his hammer and bounded over to her. 'Where's the lass?' he asked. 'You found her da yet?'
She told him what she had learned so far and of the attempt by Ebenezer's paladin friend to snatch her. His face clouded with concern as he listened.
'Smells funny to me,' he said. 'Paladins are supposed to be a rare breed, aren't they? They've been popping up far too frequent for my liking.'
'The paladins are the lesser of my two problems,' she assured him.
'Seems to me we don't know that just yet. You can't prove by me that paladins are all that different from any other breed of human. As I always say, think the worst, just in case,' he offered. 'And I don't like you walking into their den with nothing more than a how-d'you-do as shield and armor.'
'I don't have time to argue, Ebenezer. I'll see you when I get back.'
'And lots of times in between,' he said. 'I'm going with you.'
'I'll be riding.'
His eyes lit up. 'You know I can ride. You still got that pony?'
'No,' she said regretfully. 'I left him at the public stable, with instructions that he be sold.'
'Well now, that's too bad. I liked that horse better'n most men I've met. Got more sense. But I've got a few coins now, and the clan owes me. Might could buy my own pony.'
'You don't want to be spending your earnings,' she cautioned.
'Oh, don't I? One way or another, I'd-a go with you, if it means riding piggyback on a winged elf. You stood with me; I'm prepared to do the same.'
At that moment a female dwarf hollered his name. He cast a look over his shoulder then leaned in to whisper, 'And they've put me to work at a forge. Nothing wrong with that, but my feet start to itching if I keep 'em in one place too long. You'd be doing me a kindness,' he wheedled.
Bronwyn capitulated with a grin. 'Well, let's be off. We're going to need to get you a horse.'
Algorind took his leave of Sir Gareth and returned to Curious Past, the scene of his previous failure. He puzzled over what he was to do when he found Bronwyn and the child. In this city, a man was not left alone to tend his duty. As he rode along, he noted many small watch patrols, busily tending the affairs of the city and minding the business of better men.
To compound this matter was the difficulty in tracking anyone through a city. He had learned to follow the sign of man, horse, or monster through the hills and moors, but a woman's passage through Waterdeep? A child's? How was such a thing measured?
He was still pondering this when he saw a small, furtive figure dash down a dark passage between two tall buildings. He caught a glimpse of a long, brown braid flashing around the corner.
Algorind swung down from his horse and quickly tied the reins around a lamp post. He no longer felt secure that his mount would be there when he returned, but he could not afford to worry about that now. He hurried down the narrow way in pursuit.
The woman ducked down two more alleys and then disappeared into the back door of a large frame building. Algorind could hear the clatter of looms as he approached, and above the noise, the sound of frantic footsteps dashing down wooden steps.
He followed her into the building and down the stairs. The smell of moisture, dirt, and root vegetables grew stronger, and a bit of light came in from a small, iron-grated portal placed high on the cellar wall.
When Algorind reached the dirt floor, he pulled his sword and squinted into the gloom. His eyes could not yet discern anyone else in the cellar, but he was certain he had heard her come this way.
A sharp, short, grating sound broke the stillness, and a torch flared high. Algorind found himself facing four men, all armed with swords and wearing enormous, evil-looking grins. The biggest smile was on the man he had followed- a scrawny runt of a man with a face much pocked by some forgotten sickness, and a long, braided tail of brown horsehair in his hands. This he brandished mockingly at Algorind, fluttering his eyelashes in a parody of
