She closed the manuscript before it could trouble her further, rose, and nodded politely to Master Dominicus. "I will be on my way now," she announced.
He looked no less relieved by that than by her arrival. He muttered indignantly as he gathered up what she'd been reading and continued to complain rather loudly as he put things away. Morgan thanked him politely and left the cellar. Perhaps he needed to be aboveground more often where he could at least see the sun. It might have improved his temperament.
She walked up the steps and paused at the doorway to let her eyes adjust to the brightness. It was obviously well past noon; that she hadn't noticed was proof enough of the distressing nature of what she'd read. She sighed and rubbed her hands over her face, wishing that so doing would wipe away her unease.
"Have you heard nothing about her?"
The whispered voice from just around the corner startled her back to herself. She would have continued on out of the shadowy stairwell, but there was something about the intensity of the whisper that kept her where she was. Besides, she would likely give the man fright enough to render him useless for the day if she popped out into the light. It was only altruism that motivated her.
"The lady Morgan?" said another man.
Morgan paused. When the gossip was about her, how could she not listen?
"Aye." The first voice lowered. "You know, she spent a handful of years on theotherside of Melksham Island."
Morgan pursed her lips. She could just imagine where this was going. There were many sides of Melksham, but none containing anything so infamous as the university.
Except Weger's tower, of course.
"It cannot be," the second voice whispered in astonishment. "At Weger's tower? At Gobhann? "
Morgan nodded her head in time to the first man's wheezing.
"Aye, 'tis so."
"But rumor has it Weger trains assassins there!"
"Mercenaries," the first voice corrected, but he didn't sound any less troubled. "Or so 'tis said. Who knows what really happens behind those impenetrable walls?" He paused. "I've heard that he turns out men who will only take on tasks that are extremely dangerous or impossibly difficult. Ones that no simple soul would dare contemplate, and no seasoned soldier would dare attempt. "
"In truth?" the second said reverently.
"So I've heard." He paused, perhaps to gather the courage to divulge even more appalling details. "He marks them, you know."
"Who?" the second breathed.
"Weger, you fool! He marks those who win their freedom from his tower. "
"How?"
"None so marked will speak of it. But you can tell. The coldness in their eyes speaks for them."
Morgan snorted. These men would do better to attend to their lectures more and listen at doors less. She cleared her throat loudly and stepped out into the passageway. It was an open passageway that surrounded a courtyard full of flowers and a fountain. The passageway contained two wheezing scholars who looked at her quickly and sped away as quickly as if she stood to draw her sword and end their gossiping lives at the slightest provocation.
Morgan shrugged. There was truth to what they'd said about her, though she didn't think her eyes were all that cold.
"Good day to you, my dear."
Morgan pursed her lips as she turned around to find Nicholas behind her. He was leaning against a post, watching her with a smile.
Morgan scowled. "Eavesdropping, my lord? "
"It seems to have occupied your time well enough."
"Ha," she said with a snort. "Idle gossip might be interesting, but it never yields anything of substance."
"Hmmm," was his unsatisfactory response.
Morgan turned to face him.
