Auguries of Dawn

Seventh-day was the day governed by Ehle, the Patron of Destiny, and Madi awoke to it that morning with all the suddenness of someone who’d just been hit with a bucketful of cold water.

  She shot upward into a sitting position, her eyes still wide with the shock of her abrupt awakening. “Oliveah!” she called urgently, looking to the other side of the room.

  Oliveah was burrowed in her blankets, with only a spill of her hair visible upon her pillow. She mumbled something but made no obvious signs of movement.

  “Oliveah!” Madi tried again, kicking back her blanket and leaping to her feet. She hurried across the room, silently cursing her friend’s typical stubbornness to rise. Mornings were not Oliveah’s favorite time of day.

  Madi reached down and tore away her blanket. “You need to wake up!” she insisted. “Something is wrong!”

  Oliveah made a growling sort of noise as she rolled over and slit open an eye. “Hmm?” she mumbled.

  Madi crouched down next to the bed to put them on face-level. “Something terrible is going to happen today! It could very well have happened already!”

  Clarity was quickly blinking its way back into her friend’s gaze. “Why? What’s happened?”

  Here Madi paused, uncertain how exactly to explain. The feeling she’d awoken to remained a seething mass of dread roiling about in her stomach. She couldn’t name its cause, but had experienced something similar twice before; once when one of her young cousins had wandered off from the family, only to fall into a nearby pond and drown, and again when her favorite horse had been killed in an accidental barn fire.

  Madi did not consider the feeling a warning exactly, because neither instance before had it come in time for her to understand or thwart the disaster. Instead, it seemed to present itself as a prelude to her own grief, a reasoning that now had her near to panic.

  “Madi?”

  She realized Oliveah had now pushed herself into a sitting position, and was looking at her worriedly. Madi shot up and turned, dashing quickly back across the room to one of her pouches.

  “We may not be able to stop it, but perhaps we can discern what to expect, at least,” she said, her hand closing about the item she sought. She hurried back to Oliveah gripping her deck of fortune cards. “I’ll have to read you.”

  Since Madi as yet had no idea what this horrible feeling was warning of, she did not know if the matter directly involved Oliveah, or would affect only herself. Unfortunately, however, diviners could not perform readings upon themselves—the results tended to be grossly inaccurate as well as deeply confusing—and so she had no choice but to make Oliveah her subject. But with luck, the cards would at least give them clue enough to hint at whatever dire circumstance had or would occur.

  Oliveah still appeared groggy, as well as somewhat confused, but she simply nodded while drawing her legs up to make room for the diviner on the bed. Madi dropped down across from her and thrust the fortune cards into her hands, instructing her to shuffle and then cut with her left hand.

  Oliveah did this wordlessly and then set the stack of cards down between them. Madi snatched the first from the top of the pile, and then proceeded to lay out a basic spread. Eyes narrowed, she hunched forward and scrutinized the revealed symbols.

  Instantly, she saw that this matter, whatever it was, not only involved Oliveah, but that she stood at the heart of it—along with one other, a man who also wore an Arts Birth medallion.

  Reavis?

  She dismissed that idea the moment she had it.

  The royal jester?

  “What are Devlin Alvik’s medallions?” she fired quickly.

  “Arts and Justice,” Oliveah told her.

  Madi nodded. “This regards the two of you, then.”

  Oliveah frowned. “Are we in danger?”

  She was quiet a moment as she slid her eye further down the spread of cards. “I do see Death as the final result, but not yours or his. The influence of Thieves is between the two. Something has been stolen, or rather replaced, and this act will result in . . . several deaths.” She looked up fearfully.

  Oliveah’s own eyes were widening in sudden realization and horror. “The list of pairings we devised last night! It took us much time, but we finally found a way to safely oust both Taleb and Nathon. Who took it?” she demanded furiously.

  Madi shook her head. “I see only Thieves. Perhaps the better question is, who would want it? Certainly whoever this thief is, he must know that the jester, at least, is manipulating the Challenge.”

  “Which means he must also know why.” Oliveah’s expression of horror was deepening by the moment. “I have to warn Devlin!”

  Madi glanced to the window. “The day’s first match is only little more than an hour off. How will you ever get to him in time?”

  Oliveah appeared to be thinking furiously, even as she bolted from the bed and reached for the nearest piece of clothing. “You’re right,” she said, her voice muffled as she tore off her nightshift, dropped it to the floor, and began pulling on a wrinkled dress. “I’ll never be able to reach him before the first match, not without creating a great deal of attention.”

  Madi was also now dressing hurriedly. “What else can we do?”

  Oliveah tugged her dress into place and started on the laces, her harpists’ fingers working with furious speed. “I won’t be able to get near him. But his brother will. We will have to use him as our intermediary.”

  Madi paused in shrugging into her blouse and looked over. “Do you know where he’s staying?”

  “No. But I’d wager that Taleb and Nathon do.”

  Madi nodded and turned her attention back to buttoning her blouse. The reason why Taleb and Nathon would know was because they’d been stalking the mage for the first couple days of the week, before Oliveah had stepped in and spoken with Flynn Fajen. But how they were going to extract this location without giving the reason why they wanted it was a problem. Glancing over, Madi figured Oliveah was already assessing their options.

  They flew from their room and down the stairs the moment they were more or less decent. It had become a habit over the past few days for Nathon and Taleb, as well as the two Reifs, to arrive here at their inn in the mornings, where they would all then take breakfast before heading to the arena. It was therefore not a surprise when Nathon met them at the bottom of staircase, and Madi saw Oliveah tumble into him as she failed to stop quickly enough after her reckless descent down the stairs.

  Nathon steadied her before taking them both in. “Rough night?” he asked curiously, eyeing Oliveah’s wrinkled dress and un-combed hair, which was still wildly tousled from sleep.

  Madi shot a quick glance over into the common room, spying Sabian, Eugan, and Taleb seated there upon the couches. In the midst of a discussion, it didn’t appear as though any of the three had yet taken notice of them. She turned back just in time to see Oliveah grab a hold of Nathon’s shirt with both her fists.

  “Where is the mage staying?” she demanded, bringing her face close to his.

  Watching, Madi saw that Nathon was as stunned by the move as she was. Apparently Oliveah had decided to sacrifice the timely risk of subtlety and deception for the sake of expediency—a decision that shouldn’t have been shocking, given the circumstances. Because this day was to begin the second round of the Challenge, any of the thirty-two men remaining in the competition could be called forth. And generally, this information was received by the town criers little more than an hour or so before the first duel of the day. Clearly, Oliveah was terrified that those called would no longer be those she and the royal jester had devised them to be just the night before.

  “What happened?” Nathon was now demanding while staring back at Oliveah, who still clung to his shirt. “Has he done something further?”

  Oliveah pulled herself in even closer to him, and spoke so that Madi, standing just behind her, could barely hear.

  “Nathon,” she said, “I need you to nam
e his inn, and I need you do it now, with no more questions. He has done nothing wrong, but if I do not find him very, very soon, someone is going to die today. Please, just do as I ask.”

  Nathon clearly did not know what to make of this. “I will take you there,” he finally replied.

  Oliveah finally released him, but gave a violent shake of her head. “No!” she insisted. “Just tell me where I can find him. Please, Nathon. Please trust me.”

  His expression remained indecisive, but he gave her what she wanted.

  “The Dancing Damsel,” he said.

  Oliveah was already moving past him toward the door as she yelled back her response.

  “We’ll meet you at the arena. Do not come after us!”

  Madi charged out the door just behind her. “East,” she directed quickly when Oliveah paused, uncertain of which way to go.

  They hitched up their skirts and ran for the end of the block. “Do you really think they won’t follow?” the diviner called as they rounded onto the next street.

  “No,” Oliveah shouted back. “We’ll have to try to stay ahead of them.”

  Madi didn’t believe this was likely. “I was surprised you did not attempt a deception,” she huffed.

  “With Taleb I would have,” Oliveah panted in return. “But lying to Nathon is next to impossible. If he detects any untruth, he just keeps asking the same questions, a hundred different ways, until you trip yourself up. And we hardly have such time to waste.”

  Madi glanced over as they went on weaving through the thickening crowd. “You’ll need to tell them something so they don’t start poking their noses into this.”

  “I know. I’ll think of something once I have more time.”

  Their words fell away as they continued east, needing all of their breath just to keep up their pace. Madi’s lungs were burning when they finally rounded onto the street housing The Dancing Damsel, and she could do nothing but silently point Oliveah to their destination, too breathless to even speak.

  Sweaty and panting, they closed in on the inn’s front doors just as a brown-skinned man and a golden-haired young woman were stepping through them. The Thieves commander was easy to identify, but as she skidded to a halt before the two, Madi realized the female too was recognizable to her, for she’d seen her the night of the Tulan ball. In fact, it was she Lord Beran had accused of stealing his family’s famed diamond. Madi quickly deduced that this had, in light of the woman’s present company, likely been the truth of the matter.

  “Master Fajen!” Oliveah managed now between gasping breaths, stumbling toward him. “We must see the mage!”

  Madi paused next to her, nearly bent double and furiously trying to blink the perspiration from her eyes. She blearily noted that Fajen and the woman next to him were both taking her and Oliveah in with interest.

  “Lady Oslund,” the Cejan greeted flatly, his look to Oliveah decidedly unfavorable. “I was under the impression that any business we had together had already been concluded.”

  “Please, this matter is most urgent,” Oliveah told him, the desperation clear in her voice.

  Fajen continued to appear unimpressed. “Did the jester send you? For I already made it clear to him that none of my Thieves were to have anything more to do with his schemes.”

  Madi straightened and leveled her breathing as best she could, realizing they were going to need a different approach. It appeared Fajen and the royal jester were not on the best of terms, and that she and Oliveah had just stumbled blindly into the midst of their animosity.

  “Master Fajen,” she started, catching his eye and holding it. “My name is Madilaine Savannon, and I am a diviner. A reading I preformed just this morning has shown me that without your mage’s aid this day, many lives will be lost. Please, let us see him.”

  The Thieves’ commander clearly hadn’t been anticipating such a response, and his blue eyes narrowed back at her slightly.

  “It is true,” the golden-haired woman next to him spoke up then. “I remember her from Tyrell—she is a diviner, as she claims.”

  Fajen gave no reply and looked back to Oliveah. “So this matter in no way involves the jester?”

  Oliveah hesitated. “I cannot, in all honestly, claim that. But the diviner speaks the truth in stating that there are many lives at risk this day.”

  It was plain the Cejan was now irritated. “There always are when he is involved.”

  Madi exchanged a quick glance of desperation with Oliveah. Would Fajen truly not let them pass? She tossed a quick look over her shoulder, relieved when she caught no sight of Nathon and Taleb closing in on them. She looked back just as the golden-haired woman issued forth her own question.

  “Whose lives are at stake, exactly?” she asked, looking at Madi.

  Madi paused, glancing at Oliveah again. “The combatants,” she replied, seeing no choice.

  Both Thieves seemed to find this response interesting.

  “Can you tell us who will win?” the woman next put to Madi.

  Madi hesitated again, aware that even Oliveah had now turned to her, anticipating her answer.

  “I believe,” she started slowly, “that it would be unwise to favor any but the warlord.” She had not, in actuality, foreseen Baiel Maves’ victory, but what she had glimpsed of him had given her every reason to believe what she now was saying. Unless the Patron of War himself took the field against him, she couldn’t conceive of anyone actually besting this young man.

  The female thief looked bored with her response. “So says everyone within the entire city.”

  “Not everyone,” Fajen returned. “I took an incredible wager on Kale the first day of the games.”

  Oliveah’s nerves had apparently reached their limit. “Are you going to help us or not?” she exploded at the two.

  Fajen blinked slowly at her. “His is room two fourteen. Given the early hour, it is likely he is still abed. Do not make me regret this, Lady Oslund.”

  Oliveah didn’t reply, bolting forward and through the doors of the inn without another word. Madi remained where she was, her eyes now narrowed upon the Thieves’ commander.

  “You have an enemy here in Aralexia, Master Fajen,” she told him.

  He exchanged a glance with his companion and then took a step forward. “Can you tell me something of him, diviner?”

  “Only that he will come for you before the week is out. Remain cautious.”

  He nodded slowly. “I appreciate the warning.”

  She gave him her own nod in return and then entered into the inn after Oliveah. The common room was busy, with many taking their breakfasts here before starting for the arena, but there was no sign of her friend; clearly, she’d headed straight away for the stairs and was probably already on the upper floor, closing in on the mage.

  Madi moved to follow, but then paused at the bottom stair, her hand resting lightly upon the bannister. Almost as if speaking of Baiel Maves had brought him forth, she caught sight of him now, seated with two of his fellow warlords as well as a younger boy. They had a table to themselves and appeared to be finishing their breakfast, likely preparing to depart for the forum should Baiel’s name be called this day.

  He’d caught sight of her, and, despite her shawl, clearly had no trouble recognizing her. She looked back at him for a long moment, wondering if his mere presence would again trigger her second sight. She was relieved when it did not, for she just didn’t have the time this day to comprehend the truth of him any further.

  Finally he simply nodded, still watching her from across the room. She smiled in return, then turned away and forced both her feet and her mind from the path of Baiel Maves, ascending the steps as quickly as her still-aching legs would allow.

  She reached the top of the staircase and turned right, following the shouting now coming to her ears. Arriving at room two fourteen, she peered inside and quickly assessed the cause for all the noise. It appeared Oliveah had been ha
ving some trouble rousing the mage, and had therefore dumped an entire pitcher of water over his head. He was presently on his feet, wearing nothing but his smallclothes, and completely drenched. Also, he was continuing to yell, making it clear he hadn’t appreciated his abrupt awakening.

  Madi hurried inside the room and shut the door behind her. Peering closer, she realized Knoxx Alvik was familiar to her—she’d seen him in Tyrell the week of Ardin’s Pride. Oliveah, she further recalled, had actually spoken to him.

  “If this is some demented form of revenge for my spying, I thought we’d already settled the matter!” the mage was raving, shaking droplets from his dripping yellow hair.

  Oliveah had retreated to a safe distance, but stood regarding him with crossed arms. “Be silent and listen to me,” she demanded, looking quickly over to note Madi’s presence. “I need to get a warning to your brother immediately, and you’re the only one who can deliver it without suspicion.”

  He paused in his ranting and looked at her. “You didn’t by chance run into Flynn on your way up here did you?”

  “Outside,” Oliveah told him. “He gave us your room number.”

  Knoxx groaned and sank down onto his sodden bed. “Have you any idea the trouble you’ve gotten me into?”

  Madi looked to him sympathetically, presuming this related to the conflict between Fajen and the jester.

  “We’re sorry,” she told him.

  He glanced over, apparently just noticing her for the first time. “Diviner,” he said, giving her a nod.

  “How much do you know of this matter?” Oliveah was now demanding, drawing his attention back.

  He frowned. “The matter of your two War-born, you mean? Nothing but that they’ve somehow caught my brother’s interest.”

  Madi and Oliveah shared another look. He knows even less than I do, Madi realized. The implications of this were somewhat frightening. While Madi knew Taleb was the man in question, only Devlin Alvik and Oliveah truly knew what Fate held in store for him. And for the mage to have been told so little of the matter, it seemed obvious the jester was doing his best to protect him. Not for the first time, Madi was grateful Oliveah had not yet confided to her this secret.

  “All right,” Oliveah said, taking a few steps toward him. “Suffice it to say, your brother’s interest in them includes a strong desire to keep them both alive. He and I spent a substantial amount of time devising the combat lists for the second round for this express purpose.”

  The mage failed to look surprised at learning his brother was manipulating the Challenge in this fashion. “I’m with you so far,” he said, nodding.

  “Discovered by Madi through a divination just this morning, we’ve learned that an unidentified thief has taken our lists and replaced them with his own,” Oliveah went on. “We—”

  Knoxx cut her off and spun to take in Madi.

  “What more can you say of this thief?” he demanded.

  She noted his alarm. “I know only that this person is male and born to Thieves.”

  He began muttering under his breath, even as he reached for a pair of trousers lying in a heap on the floor and began pulling them on.

  Oliveah was watching him carefully. “You can identify the culprit?”

  “I believe I have a fair idea as to who’s responsible,” he replied shortly, standing and reaching to extract a shirt from a bag sitting on a nearby chair. “And if I’m right, this is much, much worse than you realize.”

  “So . . .” Oliveah gazed at him, her eyes distressed, “you believe this man may know the truth that your brother and I are protecting?”

  Knoxx glanced at her as he buttoned his shirt. “It’s possible, I suppose. The simple fact of you asking me that leads me to believe this is a secret of some magnitude. But this could just as likely be a plot against the prince.”

  Madi felt her eyes widen. With all the worry over this being a move to eliminate Taleb, she hadn’t even considered the possibility that the true target here might be Prince Luken. Looking at Oliveah, she saw her friend hadn’t entertained the idea either.

  “Go!” Oliveah urged, putting her hands to the mage’s back and shoving him toward the door. “And if your brother doesn’t want me stalking after him again, make certain that either you or he gets back to me before this day is through! Our inn is The Green Rose.”

  Knoxx didn’t argue. In fact, he was racing through the corridor and plummeting down the stairs within a matter of blinks. Glad that he aimed to waste no more time, Madi nonetheless found his urgency extremely worrying. Clearly, whoever this unnamed thief was, he was capable of great damage. She was then completely disconcerted to look over and see Oliveah actually trembling in her panic.

  This was not a sight Madi had ever beheld before. In fact, excluding the days long ago when Oliveah would suffer from performance anxiety, the diviner couldn’t remember seeing her in anything close to such a state. Whatever the truth of the secret she now labored under, it was taking a heavy toll.

  “We need to get to the arena,” Oliveah muttered, pushing her hands back through her hair and making an obvious attempt to get herself under control. “We need to know if today’s fighters have yet been announced.”

  Madi led the way from the room, and they hurried down the stairs and through the common room. Many were still enjoying their breakfasts, which meant there was still some time before Seventh-hour, when the first duel was to take place. Baiel and his warlords, Madi saw, had by now departed.

  Oliveah pulled in front of her when they hit the street, running for the arena. Madi did her best to keep pace, her lungs quickly blooming with fire again. Reaching the busy marketplace outside the forum, they had no choice but to slow as the crush of bodies suddenly became overwhelming.

  Madi quickly latched onto the nearest arm, and then asked the man it belonged to if the day’s fighters had yet been announced.

  “The list should be delivered to the criers any moment now,” he told her excitedly.

  She let go of him and turned to Oliveah, who was much taller than she and already scanning the area for any such town criers.

  “There,” she exclaimed, throwing herself into the throng ahead.

  Madi made a wild grab for Oliveah’s arm and kept hold as they shoved their way forward. By the time they reached the hard press of bodies surrounding the crier, a swarm of leaflets were already passing from hand to hand, revealing the information all were waiting for. The crier also appeared to now be shouting the list, but due to the size of the crowd about him, Madi could not make out a word from where she stood.

  She turned back in time to see Oliveah rip a leaflet out of another woman’s hand. This woman appeared not to appreciate the gesture, and let this be known by shoving Oliveah in the chest. Madi then felt her jaw drop as she watched her dearest friend launch a retaliatory fist into the woman’s face.

  Oliveah’s victim stumbled back, her nose dribbling blood. Oliveah herself was paying her no further mind, looking down at the leaflet in her hands. Madi, therefore, was the only one who saw the Justice officer now making his way toward them wearing a scowl. Public fighting in Aralexia was an offense worthy of arrest, and it was clear he had this in mind as he closed in.

  Madi grabbed a hold of Oliveah’s wrist and furiously began pulling her through the crowd.

  “What are you doing?” Oliveah raged at her.

  “Keeping you out of jail,” Madi shouted back, still dragging her through the press with all the strength she could muster.

  It would seem Oliveah looked back and saw the officer, for she said nothing more and added her own efforts to their movement. Since they were now trying to escape the arena rather than enter it, they were pushing against the flow of the crowd and this made the going extremely difficult. The Justice officer, however, seemed to lose sight them, although he continued scanning the faces all about him.

  Madi was forcing her way through, pushing people aside as quickly as
possible, when she suddenly encountered a familiar face. Pulling up short, she stared into the gray eyes of her cousin Mika, whom she’d not seen or heard from since the final day of Ardin’s Pride. She had been relieved to learn he’d escaped the carnage unharmed, and she sent him a quick smile now.

  He showed no reaction to her greeting, his eyes remaining blank and his expression fixed, although there was no doubt at all he saw her.

  Madi then remembered the edict her Uncle Eward had proclaimed to the entire Savannon clan, barring all members from having any contact with her for an entire year. This adequately explained Mika’s cold reception, although not as much as suddenly seeing Eward himself standing behind her cousin. His gaze was positively frigid, and Madi turned away from him instantly, plunging herself back into the surrounding crowd.

  At last they piled out onto the street, which at least provided some breathing room. Madi paused to catch her breath even as she did her best to push the encounter with her uncle and cousin from her mind. More or less successful, she turned back to her friend with amazement. She still couldn’t believe Oliveah had hit that woman.

  “Well?” Madi gasped out. Oliveah was again peering at the leaflet in her hands, which she’d apparently taken pains to protect during their wild tumble through the crowd. She was just opening her mouth to respond when a hand reached down and lifted it smoothly from her grasp.

  “Here she is, and thoughtful enough to provide us with the list,” Taleb said, bringing the paper around to his gaze.

  Madi was half expecting Oliveah to hit him next, but apparently she’d already taken in all she needed to. Her look was the very picture of relief, which Madi presumed meant neither Taleb nor Nathon would be fighting this day.

  Nathon and Eugan were now crowding behind Taleb to get a look at the names on the leaflet. Madi, by this time burning with curiosity, pushed her way into them and looked for herself.

  As evidenced by the expression on Oliveah’s face, she saw neither Taleb’s or Nathon’s name listed there. In fact, she saw no names she even recognized but for the very last. Eugan Reif would be appearing in the final match of the day, facing one Gliddion Xaz.

  “Who is Gliddion Xaz?” she asked.

  “The Balshan,” Taleb said from behind her, a statement followed by a short silence. “He fought after me,” he added.

  Madi searched her memory. She recalled Taleb’s match clearly enough, but was fairly certain she hadn’t stayed to watch the fights that followed. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Eugan looking somewhat pale.

  “So,” Taleb went on, discarding the leaflet carelessly with a flick of his wrist, “did the two of you see to your business?”

  Neither Oliveah nor Madi replied, sharing a quick look of uncertainty.

  Taleb appeared bemused at their silence. “Nathon said you claimed to have some women’s business to attend to before the match?”

  That’s why they didn’t follow after us, Madi realized suddenly. Clearly when Oliveah had asked Nathon to trust her, he’d taken the request seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he’d lied to Taleb about where they’d gone. Glancing over, Madi saw Oliveah had reached the same conclusion, evidenced by the look she was now giving Nathon.

  Taleb appeared not to notice, shrugging. “Sorry for asking,” he said, feigning offense.

  Madi realized they hadn’t at all responded to his inquiry, and she quickly blurted, “It’s nothing you wish to hear of, is all.”

  He accepted this with a nod. Certainly, there was no quicker way to lose a man’s interest than by speaking of “women’s business”.

  “We’d better get back inside before Sabian has to defend our seats with his very life,” Nathon said. “It gets pretty ugly in there coming down to the last few minutes before a duel.”

  Madi waited to see if Oliveah would risk going back into the forum. Apparently, she decided the move would only incite more trouble, a reasoning Madi whole-heartedly agreed with.

  “I’m afraid I’ll have to miss today’s fights,” Oliveah began, her face beginning to redden slightly.

  Nathon regarded her. “It is no secret you don’t enjoy them. Of course we understand if you do not wish to be present.”

  Oliveah was now clearly torn between wanting to take this convenient excuse so she wouldn’t have to explain herself further, and not wanting to offend Eugan for not staying and supporting his match. After a moment, propriety seemed to win out over embarrassment.

  “Actually,” Oliveah began, looking down, “I would of course like to be there for your fight, Eugan, but . . .” she drifted off.

  Madi finished for her.

  “She got into a scuffle with another woman over the leaflet and barely escaped getting arrested. In the interest of avoiding jail, it’s probably for the best that she not attempt to re-enter the arena today,” she explained.

  The three men had varying reactions to this statement.

  Eugan looked appropriately shocked. “You must have been very anxious indeed to get your hands on today’s list. I dare say the two of you should be flattered,” he finished, glancing to Taleb and Nathon.

  A look of surprise was on Taleb’s face, but it turned into one of amusement as he gave Oliveah a quick once-over. “Well, you appear unhurt and it was your hand the leaflet ended up in. Cleary we know who won.”

  Nathon, Madi saw, was wearing a suspicious look, although he said nothing. She had come to realize, over the past several days, just how clever he was, and figured he was now trying to somehow connect this to their strange behavior of earlier.

  Taleb was continuing to tease Oliveah. “Break any bones?” he asked her, grinning.

  “Her nose, I think,” she mumbled.

  Having asked the question facetiously, this answer drew from him a surprised snort of laughter.

  Nathon, however, sighed. “That’s not actually a bone,” he said.

  Oliveah had clearly had enough for one morning.

  “Madi?” she said, pointedly ignoring the men. “Are you staying?”

  Madi quickly shook her head. So far, sticking near to Oliveah, as her great-grandmother Danetria had counseled her to do, had kept her clear of trouble; and as they moved deeper into the week, Madi’s determination not to break from this objective was growing more and more fierce. She had not, for even a moment, forgotten that her life was in danger here in Aralexia, and that the best way to escape this danger lay in keeping near to Oliveah. With the week nearly half over, Madi’s paranoia was climbing.

  They said their farewells and both wished Eugan much luck on his match. Insisting they required no escort, they started back to their inn at a lazy, exhausted pace through the now-deserted streets.

  “I don’t understand the list, Oliveah,” Madi said, dragging her feet along the road. “If there was a plot against Taleb or Prince Luken, would their names not have been the most likely to turn up on the first day?”

  Oliveah was obviously puzzled as well. “I cannot find any explanation for this either. We will have to wait for word from Devlin.”

  This wait turned out to be a long and arduous one. After reaching their inn, The Green Rose, both women proceeded to tend to the washing they’d neglected earlier that morning, and then dressed themselves with significantly more care, before settling down in the common room to await any news.

  At one point, Madi mentioned her encounter with Mika and Eward, claiming it had left a bad taste in her mouth. Oliveah had counseled her to dismiss them, for there were much more important matters to concentrate on this week. Madi had taken this advice gladly, happy to think no further of her cousin and uncle.

  Around half-past Tenth-hour, Nathon and Taleb arrived bearing the heartbreaking news that Eugan had not survived his duel with Gliddion Xaz. They did not offer any details, and Madi and Oliveah, horrified, had not asked for them.

  Madi understood then the omen of grief her feeling that morning had predicted. For all their worry over Taleb,
Nathon, and even Prince Luken, it had been Eugan’s life that was in danger this day. She was guilt-stricken for not having recognized even a glimmer of this truth.

  Seeing that Oliveah labored under the same weight and realizations, they mourned their friend with tears and prayers, and asked after Sabian. Taleb told them he appeared to be handling the matter well, probably because he continued to converse with his cousin despite the fact that Eugan had now passed from the physical realm. Oliveah expressed much concern over how Lord Guerin Reif would react to the news, and seemed to break into a fresh bout of tears each time she thought of her father’s longtime friend.

  At Oliveah’s insistence, Nathon and Taleb finally departed at dusk. Madi was utterly exhausted and longed for the escape only sleep could provide, barely able to keep her swollen eyes open and struggling just to think past the grievous pounding in her head. But she knew Oliveah would not budge from this common room until she’d heard from one of the Alvik brothers, and so, unwilling to leave her alone to discover whatever truth would be brought, Madi steeled herself against her fatigue and stared blearily about the emptying room.

  She could not stop thinking of Eugan. The loss of him, and how she’d utterly failed to foresee his death, had created a terrible wound, despite that she’d only gotten to know him this past half-week. For Oliveah, though, it was a much deeper grief, for she and Eugan had known each other since infancy. Madi dreaded the next morning, knowing he would not be here with Sabian to greet them. How utterly horrible these games were.

  The time had just passed First-hour in the now-deserted common room when Madi distantly heard someone approaching from the entranceway. She turned her head wearily, seeing Oliveah already shifting to look back.

  Knoxx Alvik was moving toward them, cutting through the deep shadows of the room as he drew closer.

  “I was beginning to think I would have to start seeking out your brother again, after all,” Oliveah greeted him tiredly.

  The mage looked wide awake as he dropped onto the couch between them.

  ‘First,” he began, “and since you brought it up, I have been asked to issue you a strict warning against doing any such thing. You can’t risk getting anywhere near to Devlin again. Should you have need to relay any communication, you are to do so only through me.”

  Oliveah nodded impatiently. “What did you learn?” she demanded.

  “Well,” Knoxx went on, “Dev had no idea his list had been filched. Procedure calls for the sets of each round to be made—excuse me, randomly drawn—the night before that particular round is to begin. They are then delivered personally, by Devlin, to the Legion, and then strictly guarded until each day’s list is brought to the criers in the morning. Dev said he did all of this according to protocol, and sensed nothing amiss.”

  Madi frowned. “So he does not know when it was taken. Does he at least know why?”

  Knoxx scratched his head. “He believes it to be one of the reasons we discussed this morning, but the pairings of today’s duels mystified him. He has no idea the aims of the perpetrator, and no way to change the lists now already submitted. This round is going to play out according to the thief’s wishes, and there’s nothing any of us can do about it.”

  Oliveah looked stunned. “Nothing? He can do nothing?”

  The mage shook his head. “Short of setting fire to the Legion’s headquarters—a decidedly tempting idea, but not one that I can, in good conscience, advocate—we are helpless.”

  “What of the thief?” Madi asked, seeing her friend’s mounting distress. “You said you could identify him.”

  Knoxx’s look darkened. “That is a matter my brother and I will be looking into. We’re fairly certain we know exactly the parties responsible, so now it is just a matter of determining what they have discovered—or aim to accomplish.”

  Madi took that in and studied him. Something in his tone struck her in a way she didn’t understand, and it took her a moment to realize what it was.

  “He told you,” she said quietly.

  Knoxx remained still, but then slowly began to nod, first looking to Madi, and then to Oliveah.

  “Yes,” he said. “I know what this concerns, now. And I will do whatever I can to help you.”

  Madi’s eyes only narrowed in worry at this, for it seemed Devlin Alvik was now willing to gamble with his brother’s life along with Oliveah’s and his own.

  Chapter 36