Maggie felt ice down her spine. "Let's hope wenever have to find out - 2' she was beginning, whena flash of movement outside caught her eye.
"Get down!" she said sharply, and ducked out of
?line of sight of the window. Then, very carefully, with her body tense, she edged up to the opensquare again and peered out.
"What is it?" Jeanne hissed. P.J. just cowered on thefloor, breathing quickly.
Maggie whispered, "Sylvia."
Twofigures had appeared, walking through the back courtyard and talkingasthey went. Sylvia and Gavin. Sylvia's gown today was misty leaf green,and her hair rippled in shimmering waves over her shoulders. She looked beautiful and graceful andfragile.
"Are they coming here?" Jeanne breathed.
Maggie shook a hand-held low to the groundtoward her to be quiet. She was afraid of the samething. If the Night People began a systematic search of the huts, they were lost.
But instead, Sylvia turned toward the cages thatheld the exotics. She seemed to be looking at the animals, occasionally turning to make a remarkto Gavin.
"Now, what's she up to?" a voice murmured by Maggie's ear. Jeanne had crept up beside her.
"I don't know. Nothing good," Maggie whispered.
"They must be planning a hunt," Jeanne saidgrimly. "That's bad. I heard they were going to doa big one when Delos came to an agreement withHunter Redfern."
Maggie drew in her breath. Had things gone thatfar already? It meant she didn't have much timeleft.
Outside, she could see Sylvia shaking her head,then moving on to the pens and tethers holding the domestic animals.
"Get back," Maggie whispered, ducking down.But Sylvia never looked at the hut. She made some remark while looking at the calves and smiling.Then she and Gavin turned and strolled backthrough the kitchen garden.
Maggie watched until they were out of sight,
chewing her lip. Then she looked at Jeanne.
"I think we'd better go see Laundress."
The hut Jeanne led her to was a little bigger thanthe others and had what Maggie knew by now was an amazing luxury: two rooms. Cady was in thetiny room-hardly bigger than an alcove-in back.
And she was looking better. Maggie saw it immediately. The clammy, feverish look was gone and so were the blue-black shadows under her eyes. Herbreathing was deep and regular and her lashes lay heavy and still on her smooth cheeks.
"Is she going to be all right?" Maggie asked Laundress eagerly.
The gaunt woman was sponging Cady's cheekswith a cloth. Maggie was Surprised at how tenderthe big red-knuckled hands could be.
"She'll liveaslongasany of us," Laundress said grimly, and Jeanne gave a wry snort. Even Maggie felt her lip twitch. She was beginning to like this woman. In fact, if Jeanne and Laundress were examples, the slaves here had a courage and a blackhumor that she couldn't help but admire.
"I had a daughter," Laundress said. "She wasabout this one's age, but she had that one's coloring." She nodded slightly atP.J.,who clutched atthe baseball cap stashed inside her tunic and smiled.
Maggie hesitated, then asked. "What happenedto her?"
"One of the nobles saw her and liked her," Laundress said. She wrung out the cloth and put itdown, then stood briskly. When she saw Maggiestill looking at her, she added,asif she were talkingabout the weather, "He was a shapeshifter, a wolfnamed Autolykos. He bit her and passed his curse on to her, but then he got tired of her. One nighthe made her run and hunted her down."
Maggie's knees felt weak. She couldn't think ofanything to say that wouldn't be colossally stupid,so she didn't say anything.
P.J. did. "I'm sorry," she said in a husky little voice, and she put her small hand in Laundress'srough one.
Laundress touched the top of the shaggy blondheadasif she were touching an angel.
"Urn, can I talk to her? Cady?" Maggie asked,blinking fast and clearing her throat.
Laundress looked at her sharply. "No. You won'tbe able to wake her up. I had to give her strong medicine to fight off what they'd given her. Youknow how the potion works."
Maggie shook her head. "What potion?"
"They gave her calamus and bloodwort-andother things. It was a truth potion."
"You mean they wanted to get information outof her?"
Laundress only dignified that with a bare nod foran answer.
"But I wonder why?" Maggie looked at Jeanne,who shrugged.
"She's a witch from Outside. Maybe they thoughtshe knew something."
Maggie considered another minute, then gave itup. She would just have to ask Cady when Cadywas awake.
"There was another reason I wanted to see you,"she said to Laundress, who was now briskly cleaning up the room. "Actually, a couple of reasons. Iwanted to ask you about this."
She reached inside her slave tunic and pulled outthe photo of Miles that she'd taken from her jacketlast night.
"Have you seen him?"
Laundress took the picture between a callusedthumb and forefinger and looked at it warily."Wonderfully small painting," she said.
"It's called a photograph. It's not exactlypainted." Maggie was watching the woman's face,afraid to hope.
There was no sign of recognition. "He's related toyou," Laundress said, holding the photo to Maggie.
"He's my brother. From Outside, you know? Andhis girlfriend was Sylvia Weald. He disappeared last week."
"Witch Sylvia!" a cracked, shaky voice said.
Maggie looked up fast. There was an old womanin the doorway, a tiny, wizened creature with thin white hair and a face exactly like one of the driedapple dolls Maggie had seen at fairs.
"This is Old Mender," Jeanne said. "She sews uptorn clothes, you know? And she's the other healing woman."