"Guards, Master. Probably hunting for us."
Edward shook his head, dismissing the possibility. "They’re not guards. No mail and no uniforms."
Nightfall kept his arm in place, blocking Edward’s path. "That’s a trick, Master. I’m certain. I saw most of the duke’s men. Those are guards.”
Prince Edward stepped back into place, giving his squire the benefit of the doubt. "Off duty?"
"Possible," Nightfall admitted. “But just as dangerous."
Edward returned his attention to the door, though the men had already entered. "Why do you think guards would be going there now?"
Nightfall kept his gaze on the tavern door. "Good place to hunt for us, don’t you think?"
Edward shrugged. "Not necessarily."
"And to get information of any type."
Edward stiffened visibly. "Do you think Kelryn’s in trouble?"
Nightfall pretended to consider, knowing immediately that he could only answer in the negative. "Master, they don’t know she’s with us. Even if someone tells them, she has nothing to do with your visit to Willafrida. They have no reason to hurt her." Nightfall seized the opportunity. "If we go to her now, Master, we may get her in trouble. If she doesn’t know what happened or where we’ve gone, there’s no excuse for Varsah to bother with her at all."
Edward opened his mouth to protest, but no words emerged. He must have seen some common sense to Nightfall’s explanation, yet it did not sit well with his honor and need. "She’s still in danger from the sorcerer. We can’t just leave her."
"Of course not, Master." Nightfall answered the second concern first. "We’ll come back for her. We can even send word from the joust. Money, too, if you think it necessary. After Varsah has given up on Kelryn having any information about us." He addressed Edward’s other point. "And the Iceman doesn’t want her. He’s after me."
Edward dropped to his haunches, obviously still uncomfortable with the idea of leaving Kelryn. He crouched in a thoughtful hush for several moments. Then, obviously having made a decision, he pulled a stylus and a curl of parchment from his pocket. He started scribbling.
Glancing about to ascertain that no one was nearby, Nightfall sat beside the prince. "What are you doing?" he whispered.
"Making a note." Edward continued writing. “We can sneak it to Kelryn somehow. At least then she knows we didn’t strand her, and she can catch up to us later."
Nightfall liked the idea of a note, though he would have it say something quite different. "Master, one problem."
“‘Hmmm?” Edward continued writing.
"Kelryn can’t read."
Edward’s stylus stopped moving. He looked up. "She can’t?"
"No, Master.” Nightfall simply told the truth.
Shocked, Edward asked the obvious, though foolish, question. "Why not?"
"Most commoners can’t, Master."
"Oh." This was apparently not a matter he had considered before.
"If she takes it to just anyone to read for her…” Nightfall trailed off, the complications of such a thing obvious.
Edward looked stricken.
Nightfall presented his plan then, certain Edward would be receptive to many ideas he would not have considered moments earlier. "Kelryn and I had a picture language." Again, he spoke honestly. They had invented ways to communicate with drawings or gestures. "I could write the note, and we could pay someone to deliver it to her. If anyone else looked at it, they couldn’t read it."
Prince Edward handed over stylus and parchment eagerly.
Nightfall broke off the part Edward had scrawled. It made little sense for him to use code if the note also contained written details.
"Tell her we had to leave in a hurry and we tried to get her, but we couldn’t." The prince dictated excitedly. "Tell her we’re coming back for her. Oh, tell her where we’re going so she can follow us. And sign it from me." He pointed at the parchment. "With love.”
Nightfall met Edward’s gaze directly, brows raised. Times like this reminded him his master was still an adolescent.
Edward controlled his childish exuberance, his voice returning to its usual commanding timbre. "Did you get all that, Sudian?"
"Yes, Master, I heard it all." Nightfall ignored the prince’s guidance, writing precisely what he pleased. He returned the stylus to Edward. "Now, I need to find a messenger." The obvious choice came to him at once. He glanced toward the tack house. "The stable boy should do. He could get our packs, too, without suspicion, I’ll be right back."
Prince Edward craned to see the writing over Nightfall’s shoulder. He frowned at the two illustratives. "That says everything?”
"Not everything, Master," Nightfall admitted. "I can’t write as much in code as free hand, but this has all the important points she needs to know." Like that we don’t want her around us any longer.
“I’ll come with you." Edward rose.
"It would be unwise, Master." Nightfall gestured the prince back down. "The guards will be watching for the two of us together. They won’t notice me so much if I’m alone."
Edward nodded, though obviously not wholly comfortable with the situation. "Sudian, be careful."
The warning seemed ludicrous; it was far more likely they would spot Edward. "I will." Nightfall slithered into the shadows. The oath-bond quivered awake, intensifying the farther he went from the concealed prince. Nightfall ignored it. He would not go far nor remain away long. Within a few paces, he came upon the tack house and pressed his back against it. He glanced toward their hiding place near the paddock. His trained eyes carved Edward’s outline from the surrounding darkness with an ease that discomforted him. He would have to work fast.
Nightfall remained in place, studying the area in the moonlight briefly. Seeing no suspicious figures or movement, he opened the tack house door. First, he hauled down the gear for their horses, leaving it outside for later collection. Then, he approached the stable boy sleeping on piled straw in the corner. The youngster lay on his side, curled beneath a threadbare blanket, his breathing deep and slow.
Nightfall placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder and shook gently. Drowsy, brown eyes flickered open, and the stable boy sat. Pieces of straw clung to his brown hair. He studied Nightfall for several moments. Obviously recognizing him and recalling the generous tip on their arrival, he smiled and leapt to attention. "What can I do for you, sir? Should I get your horses ready?"
"No. Thank you. We can handle that." Nightfall offered a silver.
The stable boy rose quickly, gaze locked on the coin.
"I’d like you to go to the men’s inn room, get my master’s pack and mine, and quietly pass them through the window." Nightfall described their gear.
The stable boy nodded. Though it must have seemed an odd request, he did not question it.
"Then, I want you to find a woman named Kelryn. She might he in the women’s overnight room." Nightfall pressed the silver into the boy’s hand. "She’s in her early twenties. Has hair as short as mine, and it’s white like an old person’s."
The stable boy stared at the payment. "Is she the one I saw with you earlier today?"
"Yes. Good. Give her this message. Just hand it over, and don’t tell her anything. Then meet us by the packs. No matter what Kelryn actually says, tell my master that she claimed she’d wait here till we return.”
"All right.” He placed the silver into his pocket.
"I’ll give you another if you do that all correctly and quickly.”
The stable boy grinned.
Nightfall did not bother to swear the boy to silence. So long as Nightfall mentioned nothing about their destination, the boy could say whatever he liked to protect his own innocence, even the truth. There was nothing inherently illegal about assisting patrons, especially a foreign prince; and the boy would have had no way to know he helped fugitives.
The stable boy trotted off to play his role, and Nightfall gathered the horses’ gear.