Morgan suppressed the urge to cuff him briskly on the back of the head. "I can't believe we're having this conversation." She frowned. "Am I dreaming?"
Paien shrugged. "I'm awake, but maybe you aren't."
"It was the boat. "
"Avoid them in the future."
"I fully intend to."
He smiled and winked. "Adhémar is a fine lad. Miach is a finer. You could do worse. "
"I don't intend todoat all."
"It was merely a thought."
"Aye, and a poor one." She shook her head. "Why I talk to you, I don't know." She rose. "Watch over my horse."
He nodded. He didn't ask her why she wasn't taking the beast, which pleased her somehow. Perhaps he hadn't completely given her up for lost. Besides, she was a better tracker on foot.
She turned and walked back to the place where she had last seen the brothers. Adhémar was still arguing with Miach. Miach simply and quite suddenly turned and walked away while his brother was still at it. Adhémar bellowed after him for a moment or two, then gave up. Morgan stood in the shadow of a tree as Adhémar stomped past her, completely oblivious.
Adhémar continued to crash through the undergrowth as he headed away from her. Morgan waited until he was gone before she set out to track Miach. He was walking quickly, then he hesitated. Morgan stopped as well. He started up again, then stopped a time or two more. Morgan had no trouble anticipating his halts, but she gathered after a time that he suspected someone was following him. She waited until he'd started up again and gone quite a distance before she took up his trail.
He was a very fast runner and keeping up with him was surprisingly difficult. There were times she half expected he would begin to fly.
An appalling thought, to be sure.
She had to push herself to keep up with him. She was quite grateful that she'd had that time at Angesand to recover her strength else she would have been hard-pressed indeed to have matched his pace.
She ran through the night, stopping to eat and drink only when Miach stopped. Fortunately he seemed to have the good sense to never be too far from a trickle of a stream.
It was barely dawn when the forest suddenly ended. Miach slowed his pace, but he didn't stop. Morgan couldn't help herself. She skidded to a halt at the edge of the forest and gaped at the sight before her.
Well, it was Chagailt, obviously. And without meaning to slight anything on Melksham, she could freely say that she'd never seen anything so large or so fine in all her life. The battlements soared into the sky, the long wings of apartments were flung out grandly from the main part of the palace, and everything was surrounded by glorious gardens. It was gloriously elegant and she could hardly believe she intended to enter it with her mud-encrusted boots.
Miach, however, seemed to feel no such hesitation. Morgan wrenched her attention away from the palace and back to him to find that he was far ahead of her.
She had to sprint to keep Miach in her sights. As an afterthought and almost before she knew what she was doing, she whispered the spell of un-noticing over herself.
That was appalling enough to almost make her stop.
Almost.
That she continued on as easily as it she'd indulged in magery her whole life said much about the state of her wits and the shocking lack of self-discipline she had currently at her command.
More running was obviously called for.
She heard Miach whisper something as well. Obviously the other spell he knew, which she suspected was the same one she'd just used. He wasn't doing it very well, though, because she could still see him plain as day.
And daylight was coming. She hugged the wall of the enormous palace and slunk along behind Miach, trying not to breathe loudly. He never looked behind him, so she assumed she was sate and unnoticed.
Then walked up to the front door and knocked.
Morgan watched, openmouthed, as the door opened. A servant looked out, then started to close the door. Miach threw a small stone over the poor man's head into the palace and when the guard turned to see what the noise was about, Miach slipped inside the door. Morgan leaped forward to do the same thing. The only trouble was, she was not quite quick enough and the guard shut her cloak in the door. She would have merely opened the door and liberated it, but the man leaned back against the door, apparently waiting for something else untoward to happen.
Miach was disappearing down the hallway.
Morgan felt she had no choice. It was either rip her cloak or leave it behind.
