they mean, if ever he can. I, however, I came on the scene while chaos still
prevailed. Nobody kept me from talking to folk, before the lord himself saw me
and told me to begone. Thus I know about as much as anyone, little though that
be.’
‘And -?’ she prompted.
‘And it doesn’t seem to have been a worldly sort of capture, for a worldly end
like ransom. See you, the mansion’s well guarded, and neither Molin nor his wife
have ever gone from it without escort. His mission here is less than popular,
you recall. Those troopers are from Ranke and not subornable. The house stands
in a garden, inside a high wall whose top is patrolled. Three leopards run loose
in the grounds after dark.
‘Molin had business with his kinsman the Prince, and spent the night at the
palace. His wife, the Lady Rosanda, stayed home, retired, later came out and
complained she could not sleep. She therefore had Danlis wakened. Danlis is no
chambermaid; there are plenty of those. She’s amanuensis, adviser, confidante,
collector of information, ofttimes guide or interpreter – oh, she earns her pay,
does my Danlis. Despite she and I having a dawntide engagement, which is why I
arrived then, she must now out of bed at Rosanda’s whim, to hold milady’s hand
or take dictation of milady’s letters or read to milady from a soothing book
but I’m a spendthrift of words. Suffice to say that they two sought an upper
chamber which is furnished as both solarium and office. A single staircase leads
thither, and it is the single room at the top. There is a balcony, yes; and, the