She walked on, toward her palace.

“Shota,” he whispered hoarsely, “I’m sorry.”

She did not stop or turn, but continued on.

Chapter 32

When she came around the corner, she almost bumped into his legs, he was walking so quietly. She looked up the long silver robes to his face, far up in the air.

“Giller! You scared me!”

His hands were each stuck in the other sleeve. “Sorry, Rachel, I didn’t mean to frighten you.” He looked both ways down the hall and then lowered himself to the floor. “What are you about?”

“Errands,” she told him, letting out a deep breath. “Princess Violet says I’m to go yell at the cooks for her, and then I’m to go to the washwomen and tell them that she found a gravy stain on one of her dresses, and that she would never get gravy on one of her dresses, and that they must have done it, and if she ever finds they do that again, she’ll have their heads chopped off. I don’t want to say that to them, they’re nice.” She touched the pretty silver braiding on the sleeve of Giller’s robes. “But she said that if I don’t say it, I’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

Giller nodded. “Well, just do as she says, I’m sure the washwomen will know they aren’t really your words.”

Rachel looked in his big dark eyes. “Everyone knows she gets her own gravy on her own dresses.”

Giller laughed a quiet laugh. “You’re right, I’ve seen her do it myself. But it brings no fortune to pull the tail of a sleeping badger.” She didn’t understand, and made a face. “That means you will get in trouble if you point it out to her, so it’s best to keep still.”

Rachel nodded—she knew that that was true. Giller looked up and down the hall again, but there was no one else there.

He leaned closer and whispered, “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to talk to you, to check. Did you find your trouble doll?”

She nodded with a smile. “Thank you so much, Giller. She’s wonderful. I’ve been put out twice more since you gave her to me. She told me how I mustn’t talk to you unless you say it’s safe, so I just waited, like she said. We talked and talked, and she made me feel so much better.”

“I’m glad, child.” He smiled.

“I named her Sara. A doll’s got to have a name, you know.”

“Is that so?” He lifted an eyebrow. “I never knew that. Well, Sara is a fine name for her then.”

Rachel grinned—she was happy that Giller liked her doll’s name. She put one arm around his neck and her face by his ear. “Sara’s been telling me her troubles too,” she whispered. “I promised her I would help you. I never knew you wanted to run away too. When can we leave, Giller? I’m getting so afraid of Princess Violet.”

His big hand patted her back when she hugged him. “Soon, child. But there are things we must prepare first, so we aren’t found out. We wouldn’t want anyone to follow us, to find us and bring us back, now, would we?”

Rachel shook her head against his shoulder—then she heard footsteps. Giller stood up, looking down the hall.

“Rachel, it would be very bad if we were seen talking. Someone might… find out about the doll. About Sara.”

“I better go,” she said in a hurry.

“No time. Stand against the wall, show me how brave, and quiet you can be.”

She did what he told her and he stood in front of her, hiding her behind his robes. Rachel heard the clinking of armor. Just some guards, she thought. Then she heard the little barks. The Queen’s dog! It must be the Queen and her guards! They would be in a fine mess if the Queen found her hiding behind the wizard’s robes. She might find out about the doll! She scrunched up tighter in the dark folds. The robes moved a little when Giller bowed.

“Your Majesty,” Giller said as he stood back up.

“Giller!” she said in her mean voice. “What are you doing lurking about up here?”

“Lurking, Your Majesty? It was my understanding I was in your employ to see to it there was no lurking going on. I was merely checking the magic seal on the jewel room to make sure it hadn’t been tampered with.” Rachel heard the little dog sniffing around the bottom of Giller’s robes. “If it is your wish, Your Majesty, I will leave matters to the fates, and not investigate where I feel a worry.” The little dog came around the side of the robes, close to her—she could hear the sniff, sniff, sniff. Rachel wished he would leave, before she got found out. “We will all just go to bed at night with a simple prayer to the good spirits that when Father Rahl arrives, all will be well. And if anything is amiss, well, we can simply tell him we didn’t want to have any lurking about, so we didn’t check. Perhaps he will be understanding.”

The little dog started to growl. Rachel was getting tears in her eyes.

“Don’t get your feathers ruffled, Giller, I was simply asking.” Rachel could see the little black nose sticking under the robes. “Precious, what have you found there? What is it, my little Precious?”

The dog growled and gave out a little bark. Giller backed up a little, pushing her tighter to the wall. Rachel tried to think about Sara, wishing she were with her right now.

“What is it, Precious? What do you smell?”

“I’m afraid, Your Majesty, I have also been lurking about in the stables, I’m quite sure that is what your dog smells.” Giller’s hand went into his robes right by her head.

“The stables?” Her mean voice wasn’t quite gone. “What could there possibly be for you to investigate in the stables?” Rachel could hear her voice getting louder—the Queen was bending over, to get her dog. “What are you doing there, Precious?”

Rachel sucked the hem of her dress, to keep from making a noise as she shook. Giller’s hand came out of his robe. She saw a pinch of something between his thumb and finger. The dog pushed his head under the robe and started harking. Giller opened his fingers, and sparkling dust dropped down on the dog’s head. The dog started sneezing. Then Rachel saw the Queen’s hand come and pull him away.

“There, there, my little Precious. It’s all right now. Poor little thing.” Rachel could hear her kissing the dog’s nose the way she liked to do all the time—then she sneezed, too. “As you were saying, Giller? What business does a wizard have in the stables?”

“As I was saying, Your Majesty”—Giller’s voice could get kind of mean, too, but Rachel thought it was funny when it was the Queen he was sounding mean to—“if you were an assassin, and you wanted to come into a Queen’s castle and put a big fat arrow through her, do you think you would rather walk right in the main gate, bold as day? Or would you rather ride with your long bow in a wagon, hiding, maybe under some hay, or behind some sacks? Then come out in the dark of the stables.”

“Well… I… but, are there, do you think… have you found something…”

“But, since you don’t want me lurking about in the stables either, well, I’ll just scratch that off my list too! But if you don’t mind, from now on, when we are in public view I will be standing well clear of you. I don’t want to be in the way if some of your subjects choose to show their love for their Queen from afar.”

“Wizard Giller”—her voice got real nice, like when she talked to the dog—“please forgive me. I have been on edge lately, what with Father Rahl coming soon. I just want everything to go well—then we will all have what we want. I know you only have my best interest at heart. Please, do carry on, and forget the momentary foolishness of a lady.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty.” He bowed again.

The Queen started hurrying away, down the hall, sneezing—then Rachel heard her thumping footsteps and the clinking armor stop.

“By the way, wizard Giller,” she called back, “did I tell you? A messenger came. He said Father Rahl will be here sooner than expected. Much sooner. Tomorrow in fact. He will be expecting the box, of course, to seal the alliance. Please see to it.”