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Meggie stared at the paper There it was again, the story she had last heard when she had brought Orpheus here

Yes The words obeyed Fenoglio once again And she would teach them how to live

CHAPTER 45

WRITTEN AND UNWRITTEN

Roxane found the plants exactly where Fenoglio had described: in the entrance of a brownie burrohere Elfbane set his snares And Meggie, holding Despina’s hand, watched again as the words that she had only just read became reality

The leaves and flowers defied the cold wind, as if the fairies had planted them so that they could drea from the floas the odor of decoiven the plant its naraves to placate the White Wo up two plants, and left two others, for fear of angering the wood-elves Then she hurried back to the cave, where the White Worated the roots, brewed the the method Resa had described to her, and spooned the hot liquid into the Prince’s mouth He was already very weak, yet what they had hardly dared to hope for happened: The brew lessened the effect of the poison, lulled it to sleep, and brought back the strength of life

And the White Women disappeared, as if Death had called them to another place

Those last sentences had been easy to read, but many anxious hours passed before they, too, becale, and the White Women came and went Roxane strewed herbs to keep them away, as she had learned to do froain, barely visible against the gray walls of the cave, and a ti not just at the Prince but at her, too

Don’t we know you? their eyes seemed to ask Didn’t your voice protect the lance for little longer than it takes to draw a breath, yet she i for a place that lay far beyond all words She took a step toward the White Wo heart, to let them wipe away all her fear and pain, but other hands held her back, warie, for heaven’s sake don’t look at theet you out into the fresh air Why, you’re as pale as those creatures themselves!"

And she wouldn’t take no for an answer, but led Meggie outside to where the robbers were consulting together and the children played under the trees, as if they had forgotten as going on in the cave The grass hite with hoarfrost, white as the figures waiting for the Black Prince, but the spell of the White Wohter They were throwing fir cones for theas he chased theer than death, death so er than life Like the ebb and flow of the tide

Resa was standing outside the cave, too, wrapping her ar Man had put a rabbit-skin cloak over her shoulders

"Have you seen Snapper?" she asked Elinor "Or Gecko and his pie?"

Battista joined them He looked exhausted This was the first tione," he said "Snapper, Gecko, and ten others They went after the Bluejay as soon as it was clear that the Prince wasn’t likely to be able to follow him"

"But Snapper hates Mo!" Resa’s voice was so loud that several robbers turned to look at her, and even the children paused their game "Why would he want to help hi hi the others he’s going because the Bluejay plans to betray us and ain with Violante And he said your husband hasn’t told us the whole truth about the White Book"

"What kind of truth?" Resa’s voice was failing her

"Snapper says," Battista replied quietly, "that the Book doesn’t just make its owner immortal, itto most of our men than immortality They’d betray their own mothers for a book like that So why, they ask the the same to Us?"