Twenty

MAGNUS WAS WAITING WHEN ALEA CAME BACK to their suite, and he held up a basket. "If you haven't had too much of the outdoors, we might try a picnic."

Alea stared for a moment, then laughed. "As though you and I had not eaten by a campfire more often than not! Growing restless indoors, are you, Gar?"

"It's good to hear that name again," Magnus said with a smile. He stooped to go out the door. "You're as insightful as ever, Alea. In fact, I begin to grow weary of towns, not merely the insides of houses! Let us find some honest trees to shade us."

Alea waited until they were out of the gate and halfway across the meadow before she asked, "Was the chat with parents' old friends so bad as that?" Magnus's face twisted for a moment. "Simply a matter their wanting me to check up on some intelligence recs they've had—because I'm devious enough."

"I wouldn't have put it that way," Alea said slowly, "but I suppose they're right. You certainly have presented yourself as things you aren't."

"Yes, a knight passing himself off as a trooper," Magnus said wryly, "or a madman, or a sage."

"Or a wanderer who took a wounded lass under his care." Alea touched his hand. "And never imposed on her, even when she wished it."

Magnus darted a look of astonishment at her. Alea laughed, perhaps a little too quickly, and took her hand away. "Still, you've usually worked alone, Gar, or with only one companion. Can you truly adapt to becoming a spymaster?"

"That's not so much of a problem. We have a host of spies here on Gramarye, all of whom owe allegiance to my family. They'll report soon enough, I'm sure." Magnus paused under an oak and looked around. "Will this spot do?"

"Perfectly." Alea took the cloth from the basket, shook it open, and laid it on the ground.

Magnus helped her to straighten it, then to lay out the food. "How was your walk?"

"Very refreshing; the woods always are." Alea sat and took out her dagger to slice the bread. "I let my mind wander and let the cares fall away—no promises to keep, no lists of things needing doing. It was a pleasant morning." She frowned, pausing as she turned to slice the meat. "Though somewhere on the way, I overheard someone talking about a young couple in trouble." Her brow furrowed. "Now, who could have been saying that?"

"You relaxed your mind?" Magnus asked.

"Oh, yes! That was the most refreshing part of it—not having to keep on my public face for the people I met, not having to guard my tongue—or my thoughts."

Magnus nodded. "Then your mind was open and receptive. You probably overheard the thoughts of some cottagers nearby as they gossiped—or of a merchant on a nearby road. What troubled this young couple?"

"He'd been caught poaching, and she was on her way to his hanging," Alea said slowly.

"The forest laws!" Magnus said angrily. "Well, I'll have to establish some influence here before I can work for their removal. It's obscene that a peasant should be hanged for shooting a partridge!"

"Not a peasant." Alea's brow creased with the effort to remember details. "He's a squire—and it wasn't a partridge he poached, but a deer. Several deer."

"A squire!" Magnus's eyes widened. "He could have wriggled his way out of shooting a partridge—but not a deer! He's probably completely law-abiding except for that! I've half a mind to do something about that now! Where is this young man?"

'To the south," Alea said slowly, the details swimming up from the hidden part of her mind. "His wife has to go to Castle Loguire to see him hanged."

Something in the word "Loguire" rang an alarm in Magnus's mind. "Alain's brother Diarmid is duke there— by his right as son of the king."

Alea looked up, frowning. "Who did he displace?"

"His uncle," Magnus said, "who was attainted for treason—but he's Tuan's older brother, so Tuan interceded for him with Catharine. This was before they married, but Tuan had just led an army of peasants to help her soldiers defeat a rebellion, so she spared his brother's life, though not his title. Tuan appointed a steward to administer the estates until Diarmid came of age."

"While you were gone, of course."

"Yes." Magnus frowned. "I have missed a lot, haven't I?"

"Oh, you've found a lot, too," Alea said casually.

"Yes." Magnus smiled, gazing at her. "I have indeed."

Alea smiled back at him, then felt her face grow hot and looked back down at the meat she was placing between two thick slices of bread. "Here." She handed it to him. "Add some cheese to that and you'll have a meal. I'll have some cheese, too, if you don't mind."

Magnus was laying the yellow slice on her bread when a voice said, "How now, wizard!"

"I'll let you know when I find out." Magnus looked up with a smile, then saw Alea's dumbfounded stare. "Alea, may I introduce you to the real spy-master here? His name is Robin Goodfellow, but he goes by Puck."

Alea looked away, abashed, then back to Puck with a smile. "Pleased to meet you, Puck. Excuse my stares; you reminded me of someone I knew."

"Several someones, actually." Magnus caught the image of the dwarves of her homeworld that rose in her mind, then sank again.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, lady," Puck said with a smile.

"Spymaster." Alea frowned. "Don't tell me you have word of a rebellion already?"

"I do indeed," Puck said, and turned to Magnus. "Men from all over the land are indeed trooping toward Runnymede, their scythes and flails over their shoulders. It is as it was the year before you were born, wizard."

"Let us hope we can detour them before it comes to battle, then," Magnus said.

"So many in company will not be deterred long by any of my pranks," Puck said grimly.

"No, but there are other ways. See if the Wee Folk can learn who the leaders are, will you, Puck?"

"We shall have you a list ere long," Puck said, "but I think you would be wiser simply to track their movements and prepare for battle "

"I would never argue with the oldest of the Old Things," Magnus said slowly, "but I must try persuasion first."

"You will pit yourself against masters."

"Oh, he's no mean adept himself," Alea said.

Puck turned to her in surprise. "I hope you speak from your own experience, lady!"

Alea stared at him a moment, then dropped her gaze, blushing again. "I'm afraid not—but I've certainly witnessed his efforts. The man could charm a pitful of snakes!"

"Let us hope," Puck said darkly, "that he can charm a field full of angry peasants."

AFTER SUPPER THAT evening and before the usual entertainments began, Magnus was able to take Cordelia aside for a few minutes' talk. After listening to a glowing report on the baby princess's progress, he said, "Let us hope she will remain so bright and sunny even if she has a little brother."

"What, one for Alain, and one for me?" Cordelia smiled, amused. "I hope we shall have more children than two!"

"Yes, I've always thought four was the right number, myself."

"Because there were four of us? Still, I would have liked to have had a sister—as now I do!"

"Quicksilver certainly seems to be completely in sympathy with you," Magnus said, amused.

Cordelia started to speak of Allouette but caught herself in time.

"You have another brother now, too," Magnus reminded her, "though I suspect you rarely see Diarmid."

"Rarely indeed, since he was sent to administer the duchy," Cordelia said. "Still, he is pleasant enough when he is here, once you grow accustomed to his quiet ways."

"Surely you are accustomed already, having grown up with Gregory." Magnus frowned. "Or is Diarmid more quiet than ever these days?"

"If we saw him, we well might find him so," Cordelia said, "for I understand he has to judge his first capital case and is rather upset about it."