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Lia held the orb in her hand and looked at the spindles, at the rim Years before, a child had wandered fro the rear of the abbey Every helper spent hours trying to find the little boy, and since Jon Hunter had not returned fro boy As sunset threatened nightfall, the Alderly and then directed theht course He was found just after sunset in the woods surrounding the grounds

The weight of the orb against her pal and wars obeyed her, she knew this would too Taking a deep breath, she sent her thoughts inside it – show me the way to Winterrowd

"Lia, please…oh!"

The orb ca faster than a heel The spindles on the top joined together and pointed west Writing appeared on the lower half the orb, as if an invisible hand with a stylus etched them there in the blink of an eye

"Lia…how did you do that?" Sohispered in awe

Lia stared at it, a broad smile on her face She was very pleased with herself "I just asked it to show ain Show ain, the points going apart before co in the direction of the cloister

"Where is Pasqua?" Lia said again, and again the spindles parted and then joined, pointing exactly in the direction of the Abbey kitchen She looked into Sowe’s eyes and saw fear and respect blazing there

"Bringfrom the tray"

Sowe shook her head no "You cannot steal this, Lia If you are caught…"

"I a to steal it I just need to borrow it If it will point the way to Winterrowd, then all is done We can send our friend on his way and I can return it tomorrow"

"But the Aldermaston…what if he…?"

Lia wanted to shake her "Yes, if he misses it, he will be furious There is a life at risk Do not be so heartless We have helped him this far We cannot abandon hi from the Alder, for those did not truly belong to him anyway If he finds out…do you understand the risk? If he finds out you did this…"

Lia staht, of all nights, a disaster will happen that will require him to use it? We can sneak it back toht He will not even knoe touched it"

"But if so to happen, he would know Who else would he blaain"

"Where would we hide it? Hoould we sneak it past Pasqua?"

Lia grinned, glad she had convinced Sowe at last "Those questions are better, and I have already figured theto take its place on the chimneypiece Hurry!"

And so, despite Sowe’s protests and hand-wringing, Lia stole the orb For even though she had said it was borrowing, in the deeper part of her feelings, she knew the truth

His name was Colvin Price and he would becoainst the wall near the low-burning fla eyes were dull The bricks sht about Colvin and the first night he had ended up in the kitchen, bewildered, sick, and wounded His distrust was understandable now His very life depended on people not knoho he truly was The king did not suffer traitors to live In fact, the penalty for treason was a harsh death It ’shiht-ht yet

She looked up at the loft Even down by the fire, she could hear Sowe breathing It areater than snitches of treacle or stolen edges of crust Lia could not sleep She was too excited about the dawn and what the daylight would bring And she was conflicted – especially by the thought that she ht caused a little pinprick of regret which she tried to squash, but it still poked her

Lia stood, setting the orb down near the flagstones and then tied up the linen stuffed with food Stolen cuts ofwith carrots, turnips, two kinds of cheeses, nuts, and a flask They had wrapped it in several sheets of linen to preserve it and would carry it down to the waymarker before dawn