Granny Elise sat them down at one of the long tables and
brought them plates of food and glasses of harsh ale. From
overhead came the sounds of thumping and yelling as the chil-
dren played. “It is hard to supervise so many when there is only
the two of us,” she apologized, serving Coil a second helping
of meat stew. “But the women we hire to help out never seem
to stay very long.”
“Were you able to get a message to Steff?” Morgan asked
quietly.
Granny Elise nodded, her smile suddenly sad. “I wish I could
see more of that child, Morgan. I worry so about him.”
They finished their meal and sat quietly in the evening shad-
ows as Granny Elise and Auntie Jilt finished with the children
and saw them all off to bed. A pair of candles burned on the
table where the three sat, but the remainder of the room was left
dark. The voices upstairs faded away one by one, and the silence
deepened.
Auntie Jilt came back into the kitchen after a time and sat
with them. She didn’t speak, her sharp face lowered as she con-
centrated on her needlepoint, her head bobbing slightly. Out-
side, somewhere, a bell rang three times and went still. Auntie
Jilt looked up briefly. “Federation curfew,” she muttered. “No
one is allowed out after it sounds.”
The room went silent again. Granny Elise appeared and
worked quietly at the sink. One of the children upstairs began
to cry and she went out again. The Ohmsfords and Morgan Leah
looked at each other and the room and waited.
Then, suddenly, there was a soft tapping at the kitchen door.
Three taps. Auntie Jilt looked up, her fingers stilled, and waited.
The seconds slipped away. Then the tapping came again, three
times, a pause, three times again.
Auntie Jilt rose quickly, walked to the door, unlatched it
and peeked out. Then she opened the door wide for an instant
and a shadowy figure slipped into the room. Auntie Jilt pushed
the door closed again. Granny Elise appeared at the same
instant from the hall, motioned Morgan and the Ohmsford
brothers to their feet and led them over to where the stranger
stood.
“This is Teel,” said Granny Elise. “She will take you to
Steff.”
It was hard to tell much of anything about Teel. She was a
Dwarf, but smaller than most, rather slight, clothed in dark,
nondescript forest clothing including a short cloak and hood.
Her features were hidden by a strange leather mask that wrapped
the whole of her face, save for her right jaw and her mouth. A
glimmer of dusky blond hair was visible within the covering of
the hood.
Granny Elise reached up and hugged Morgan. “Be careful,
youngster,” she cautioned. She smiled, patted Par and Coil
gently on the shoulder, and hastened to the door. She peeked
through the curtains for a moment, then nodded. Teel went out
through the door without a word. The Ohmsfords and Morgan
Leah went with her.
Outside, they slipped silently along the side of the old house
and through a back fence onto a narrow pathway. They fol-
lowed the pathway to an empty road, then turned right. The
mix of cottages and shacks that lined the roadway were dark,
their silhouettes ragged and broken against the sky. Teel
moved them down the road quickly and into a patch of fir.
She stopped then and dropped into a crouch, motioning them
down with her. Moments later, a Federation patrol of five
appeared. They joked and talked among themselves as they
passed, unconcerned with any who might hear them. Then
their voices faded and they were gone. Teel stood up, and
they were off again.
They stayed on the road for another hundred yards, then turned
into the forest. They were on the very edge of the village now,
almost due north, and the sounds of insects began to break
through the stillness. They slipped along silently through the
trees, Teel pausing now and then to listen before continuing on.
The smell of wildflowers filled the air, sweet and strong against
the reek of garbage.
Then Teel stopped at a line of thick brush, pushed the branches