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Tavi eventually ca

It wasn&039;t easily reached, of course It took nearly ten er after his aunt&039;s departure before it occurred to Tavi that she did not look at all well That, in turn, led to worrying about her, and after that it becaer slowly faded and left hiry

Tavi sat up on his bed and swung his legs over the side He kicked his feet, frowning, while he thought about the events of the past day, and what they lected his responsibilities and told a lie And now he suffered for it-and so did the people who cared about him His uncle had been wounded badly in his defense, and now Aunt Isana looked as though the efforts of healing his uncle&039;s leg had das were not unheard of And even though Bernard tried to hide it, his uncle walked with a very slight limp It was just possible that he would keep it, that the injury had done per

Tavi rested his chin in his hands and closed his eyes, feeling foolish, selfish, childish He had been so focused on getting the sheep-his sheep- back, on keeping his uncle&039;s respect, that he had forgotten to behave in a manner that orthy of it He had exposed hireat risk, all for the sake of his dreaotten to the Academy as a result of his ill-considered choices, would it have been worth it? Could he really havewhat he had traded away to get it?

"You are an idiot, Tavi," heexample of idiocy"

Matters could be much worse for him-ht of his uncle, dead on the ground, or his aunt laying beside a healing tub with her eyes es had not played out the way he had wished theh he ached in every ht and feverish, he went to the door He would find his aunt and uncle, apologize to them, and offer to make amends He had no idea what he would do, but he knew that he had to at least try They deserved that much

He had to earn the respect he wanted, not through daring or cleverness, but sih hard work and reliability, just as his uncle and aunt had

Tavi was about to open the door when there ca at his

He blinked, looking back across the di, and he had already put up the storm shutters Perhaps one of the more mischievous wind furies had rattled the shutters

The knock caain Three quick knocks, two slow, three quick, two slow

Tavi went to theand unfastened the latch to the stor him down, and let in a torrent of cold, misty wind Tavi drew back several steps, as someone slipped into the room, lithe and nearly silent

Amara made a soft, quiet sound and slipped entirely into the room, then turned and shut theand the shutters behind her She earing what looked like a pair of his uncle&039;s trousers, belted about her slender waist with a heavy leather cord His tunic and shirt billowed on her, as did the heavily padded jacket and cloak, but she had secured them with more strips of leather, so that she was quite evidently functional in them She wore pale slippers on her feet and what looked like several layers of socks over them In one hand, she held a bundle that included an old leather pack of Bernard&039;s, his hunting bow, a handful of arrows, and the sword they&039;d recovered from the Princeps&039; Memorium

"Tavi," she said "Get dressed in war extra socks, so"

"Leaving?" Tavi stammered

"Keep your voice down," the slave hissed

Tavi blinked and ize Hurry We don&039;t have much time"

"We can&039;t leave," Tavi protested "The stor in"

"It won&039;t be as bad as the last one," Amara said "And we can take more salt with us You have a smokehouse here, yes? Salt for the meat?"

"Of course, but-"

A the first open, and started digging

"Hey!" Tavi protested

She threw a pair of heavy trousers into his face, followed by three of his thickest shirts She followed that with his jacket fro on the wall and then his second-best cloak

"Get those on," Amara said

"No," Tavi said, firot hurt trying to coh that again You can&039;t expect er so that I can go running off with a fugitive slave!"

A sure it was shut "Tavi, we don&039;t have tiht now"

Tavi blinked at her, so startled that he dropped the clothes he had been holding "Wh-what?"

"If you don&039;t leave with ht"

"What are you talking about?"

"Get dressed," she said

"No," he snapped "Not until I knohat&039;s happening"

Her eyes narrowed, and for the first time he&039;d been near her, Tavi felt a sliver of fear quiver through hiet dressed and come with me, I will knock you out, wrap you in a blanket, and take you with me"

Tavi licked his lips "N-no you won&039;t," he said "You couldn&039;t carry h the hall, and you won&039;t be able to carry round Not with your ankle hurt"

Around her teeth "Too clever," she muttered "This steadholt, er I think you and I can help theet dressed Please I&039;ll explain while you do"

Tavi sed, staring at the young woer?

What was she talking about? The last thing he needed was to go chasing off again, to prove to everyone who mattered that he couldn&039;t be trusted

But A the truth

"All right Talk" He stooped down to recover his clothes and started shrugging into the shirts

A the clothes for hi him into them "First of all, I&039;m not a slave I&039;m a Cursor And I&039;ve been sent to this valley at the command of the First Lord himself"

Tavi blinked up at her and then stuffed his arhed "No That&039;s just one of the things we do, Tavi I aent of the First Lord He thinks this valleyabout it"

"But you&039;re a girl!"

She frowned at hihly "I&039;ht"

"But what does this have to do with er, Tavi I need to take you to Garrison You have to tell the Count there what you saw"

A cold feeling chilled Tavi, and he blinked up at her "The Marat," he breathed "The Marat are co Aren&039;t they? Like when they killed the Princeps"

"I think so," Amara said

"My uncle saw theo The Count would never believe that-"

"He can&039;t," A trauma, when he was healed He doesn&039;t remember any of it"

"How do you know that?" Tavi de out, and I listened in on all the talk up here Your uncle doesn&039;t remember, and your aunt is suspicious of me There&039;s no tiht now"

Tavi tugged the heavy tunic on over the shirts, his handsmore slowly now "Why?"

"Because downstairs are some men who are here to kill you, me, and anyone who has seen the Marat"

"But ould another Aleran do that?"

"We really don&039;t have time for that They&039;re the enemy They want to

unseat the First Lord, and they want the Marat to wipe out the steadholts in the Valley so that the Realm perceives the First Lord as weak and ineffective"

Tavi stared at her "Wipe out the Valley? But that would arded hi to the Count, unless the forces at Garrison are ready to meet them, the Marat will kill everyone This steadholt and all the rest as well"

"Crows," Tavi whispered "Oh, crows and furies"

"You&039;re the only one who has seen them The only one who I can use to convince the Count to rouse Garrison" Aain, then turned to Tavi and extended her hand "Are you with me?"

They used a sheet fro, to drop from histo the courtyard below The histled fro chill of true winter Amara went down first, then beckoned to Tavi, who tossed down a bundle thrown hurriedly together into the blankets froht it, and then the boy sed, and slithered down the sheet to the stones of the courtyard

Amara led them across the courtyard in silence No one was in evidence, though the light and noise froate door was open, and they slid through it and out into the outbuildings Full dark was getting close, and shadows lay diround

Tavi led the shared a ith the smithy, where both could use the sa around the smokehouse in a permanent cloud