tured Padishar at Tyrsis.” Morgan went still. The cobalt eyes
stayed fastened on him. “It had something to do with a prison
break. I overheard a Federation commander talking about it.
They claim to have him.”
Morgan thought about it a moment. “Padishar’s hard to trap.
Maybe a rumor is all it is.”
She nodded. “Maybe. It wasn’t so long ago that they
claimed to have killed him at the Jut. They said the Movement
The Talismans of Shannara 91
was finished.” She paused. “In any case, we’ll leam the truth
at Firerim Reach.”
“We’re going? ” Morgan asked quickly.
“We’re going.” She rose. “Help me pack some food. I’ll get
us some blankets. We’ll slip away before it gets light. It will
be better if we aren’t seen leaving.”
He stood up with her and moved over to the pantry. “What
about the tavern? ” he asked. “Doesn’t someone have to look
after it? ”
“The tavern will stay closed until I return.”
He glanced up from stuffing a loaf of bread into a sack.
“You lied to me, didn’t you? You are the owner.”
She met his gaze and held it. ‘Try not to be so stupid, High-
lander. I didn’t lie to you. I’m the manager, not the owner. The
owner is Padishar Creel.”
They finished putting together supplies and sleeping gear,
strapped everything across their backs, and went out the back
door into the night. The air was warm and filled with the
smells of the city as they hurried down empty streets and alley-
ways, keeping close watch for Federation patrols. The girl was
as silent as a ghost, a knife-lean figure cutting smoothly
through the building shadows. Morgan noticed that she wore
the sword she’d kept hidden beneath the counter, the narrow
blade strapped across her back beneath her other gear. He won-
dered, rather unkindly, if she’d brought her broom. At least her
odd shoes were gone, replaced by more serviceable boots.
They passed from the city into the land beyond and marched
north to the Mermidon where they crossed at a shallows and
turned east. They followed the line of the Dragon’s Teeth, and
by daybreak they were traveling north again across the Rabb.
They walked steadily until sunset, pausing long enough at mid-
day to eat and to wait out the worst of the afternoon heat. The
plains were dusty-and dry and empty of life, and the journey
was uneventful. The girl spoke little, and Morgan was content
to leave things that way.
At sunset they made camp close against the Dragon’s Teeth
beside a tributary of the Rabb, settling themselves in a grove
of ash that climbed into the rocks like soldiers on the march.
They ate their evening meal as the sun disappeared behind the
mountains, its hazy mix of red and gold melting across the
92 The Talismans of Shannara
plains and sky. When they were finished, they sat watching the
dusk deepen and the river’s waters turn silver in the light of
the moon and stars.
“Padishar told me you saved his life,” the girl said after a
time.
She hadn’t spoken a word all through dinner. Morgan looked
over, surprised by the suddeimess of the declaration. She was
watching him, her strange blue eyes depthless.
“I saved my own in the bargain,” he replied, “so it wasn’t
an entirely selfless act.”
She folded her arms. “He said to keep watch for you and to
take good care of you. He said I’d know you when I saw you.”
Her expression never changed. Morgan grinned in spite of
himself. “Well, he makes mistakes like everyone else.” He
waited for a response and, when there was none, said, a bit
huffy, “You may not believe this but I can take pretty good
care of myself.”
She looked away, shifting to a more comfortable position.
Her eyes gleamed in the starlight. “What is it like where you
come from? ”
He hesitated, confused. “What do you mean? ”
‘The Highlands, what are they like? ”
He thought for a moment she was teasing him, then decided
she wasn’t. He took a deep breath and stretched out, remem-
bering. “It is the most beautiful country in the Four Lands,” he ‘