'Is she expert on more than dragons?' he asked teasingly.

'I wouldn't know,' Leftrin snapped back at him. Then, embarrassed, he tried to soften it with, 'Welcome aboard, Carson. Maybe tonight we'll find some time to catch up on old news. For now, please, all three of you find yourselves some space in the deckhouse and stow that stuff where it won't be underfoot. Swarge! Did the rest of our cargo come on board yet? Because at the rate those dragons were travelling, we'd best be after them.'

'They won't keep up that pace for long,' Carson predicted. 'By afternoon—'

The hunter stopped speaking abruptly, staring past Leftrin. The captain turned to find Sedric awkwardly climbing over the rail of the barge. He gripped his supply case to his chest with one arm while he struggled. 'What do we have here?' Carson asked quietly. A slow smile spread across his face.

'Oh, him.' Leftrin fought for neutrality in his voice. He spoke to Carson alone, saying, 'He goes where Alise does. Supposed to look after her.'

'That must be inconvenient,' Carson muttered quietly.

'Just shut up,' Leftrin replied with feeling.

Davvie had darted over to the ladder and attempted to help Sedric by taking his case for him. The man scowled at the lad and held tight to it as he clambered awkwardly over the railing. As he straightened up, he brushed at his clothing, and then came directly to the captain, demanding, 'Where's Alise?'

'She's gone to her quarters. We launch soon. You'd better round up your gear if you want it to go ashore with you.' Leftrin kept his voice flat.

The Bingtown man stopped and stared at him. He didn't quite grind his teeth but he clenched them for a moment. T won't be going ashore,' he grated. He turned away from Leftrin and said meaningfully over his shoulder, T wouldn't leave Alise alone on this barge.'

With you, Leftrin mentally added to his words, and fought to keep from grinning. That slimy little bugger wanted to say he wouldn't leave Alise alone with me, but he didn't quite have the spine. Aloud, he said, 'She'd scarcely be alone, you know. She'd come to no harm with us.'

Sedric glanced back at him. 'She's my responsibility,' he said flatly. Then he opened the door of his small cabin and vanished inside it, shutting it nearly as firmly as Alise had done. Leftrin tried to push aside his disappointment.

'Doesn't bark too loud for a watchdog,' Carson observed slyly. When Leftrin scowled at him, he only grinned wider and added, 'I don't think he has his heart in what he's guarding. Appears to me he might have other things on his mind.'

'Get your gear off my deck. I don't have time for you now. I got a boat to get back in the water.'

'Indeed you do,' Carson agreed. 'Indeed you do.'

It was stuffy in the cabin and dim. Alise sat on the floor and stared up at the rough ceiling. Lighting a candle was too much trouble, and climbing into her hammock too much of a challenge. The little room that had earlier felt cosy and boldly quaint earlier now seemed like a child's treehouse. And she felt like a child, hiding from discipline that must sooner or later descend on her.

Why had she defied Sedric? Where did those bursts of audacious bravery come from, and why did she keep yielding to them when she knew she could not back up her threats? She'd go without him. Oh, of course she would! Off, up the river, on a ship full of sailors and other rough folk, headed no one knew where. And when she came back, what then? Then Leftrin would discover that Hest would not cover the debts she had run up while defying her chaperone, and even if she'd gained any knowledge, she'd be disgraced in Bingtown and Trehaug. She would no longer have any home to go to. She thought of what Hest would probably do to her study and her papers when he discovered she'd run away. He'd destroy them. She knew how spiteful he could be. He'd sell the valuable old scrolls, probably in Chalced. And he'd burn her translations. No, she suddenly thought bitterly. He'd auction them along with the scrolls. No matter how angry Hest might be, he never passed up the opportunity to make a profit.

She clenched her teeth in frustration and tears stung her eyes. She wondered if he would find out then how valuable her studies and notes were. Or would some collector just acquire her treasures and hide them away in his library, unaware of what he had? Worse, would someone else claim her work as his own? Use what she had painstakingly learned of Elderlings and dragons for his own profit?

The thought was unbearable. She couldn't let her work come to such an end. She couldn't ruin her life in such a headstrong, childish way. She had to go home. That was all there was to it.

The thought choked her and for a time she gave way to wild weeping. She cried as she had not cried in years, letting the deep sobs rise and choke her as they passed through her. The world rocked with her anguish. When finally the fury passed, she felt as if she'd been the victim of a terrible physical mishap, a hard fall or a beating. Sweat had plastered the hair to her head and her nose was running. Her head spun with dizziness. In the darkness she rose, her body aching. She groped around until she found one of her shirts in the wardrobe, pulled it out and wiped her face on it, not caring how she soiled it. What did it matter any more? What did anything matter? She wiped her face again on a dry spot and then sullenly threw the shirt to the floor. She heaved a great sigh. The tears were gone, used up with as little result as they ever had. It was time to surrender.

There was a timid knock at her door. Her hands flew to her face. Reflexively she patted her cheeks and smoothed her hair. She must not be seen like this. She cleared her throat and attempted to sound sleepy. 'Who's there?'

'It's Sedric. Alise, may I have a word with you?'

'No. Not now.' The refusal was out of her mouth before she thought about it. Her deep sadness blazed up and was suddenly heedless fury again. Another wave of vertigo swept over her. She put out a hand and steadied herself on the desk she would never use. For a time, a frozen silence held outside the door. Then Sedric's voice came again, stiffly correct.

'Alise, I'm afraid I must insist. I'm opening the door now.'

'Don't!' she warned him, but he did, pulling it open to admit a slice of afternoon light into the small room. Instinctively she moved beyond its reach and half turned her face away from it. 'What do you want?' she demanded, and in the next breath, 'I'm packing my clothing back in my wardrobe,' she lied. 'I'll be ready to leave soon.'

He was merciless. He pulled the door open wide. She stooped to pick up the blouse from the floor, contriving to turn her back to him. As she did so, she lost her balance and nearly fell. In two steps he was inside the room, catching her arm and holding her up. She clung to him gratefully, both hands on his arm as she looked over his shoulder. 'I'm dizzy,' she admitted breathlessly.

'It's just the movement of the barge on the river,' he said. In the same moment, she realized that the barge was in motion again. Behind him, she saw the stately parade of immense tree trunks as the ship moved upriver. Her vertigo was suddenly the gentle shifting of the floor under her feet. It passed.

'We're underway,' she said in wonder. She found herself clutching his arm and staring over his shoulder at the passing riverbank. She could not quite believe it. She had defied him, and she had won. The barge was carrying her upriver.

'Yes. We are.' His response was curt.

'I'm sorry,' she said, and then wondered at her words. She wasn't sorry, not at all, and yet she could not keep herself from apologizing. When had it become so ingrained in her to apologize whenever she wanted something for herself?

'That makes two of us,' Sedric responded. He took a deep breath and she was suddenly aware of how close she was standing to him. It was almost an embrace. She could smell him, the spicy scent he wore, the soap he used. She was surprised that she recognized those scents. They brought Hest sharply to mind, and she stepped back. She suddenly wondered if the two men used the same perfumed oils. She frowned, thinking about that.