The stable doors banging open jolted Felitïa awake. She scrambled to the corner of the stall and pressed her back against it, hugging her knees to her chest. If anyone took a serious look into the stall, she could easily hide herself, but the less energy she used, the better. She might need it later.

“Good morning!” Rudiger said. “Or pre-morning, I suppose. I’m Rudiger.”

“I’m here to check that the horse is ready if called on,” a man’s voice said.

“There’s the horse, ready to go, as you can see.”

Borisin snorted.

“Ugh, does he always do that?” the man said.

“They all do that,” Rudiger replied. “That’s horses for you.”

“All right. Looks good. There will be another inspection at noon.”

“I know,” Rudiger said.

A short time later, the doors closed, and then Rudiger peered into the stall. “It’s safe.”

Felitïa stood up and brushed straw and dirt off her body, then began pulling bits of straw from her hair. “You have to do this every day?”

“New rules. Inspection at dawn. I’ve slept here the last couple nights to make sure I’m here on time. Also have to have Borisin ready to be summoned on a moment’s notice. Fortunately, none of them can tell when a horse has been properly prepared. Haven’t done a thing with Borisin this morning. We were up too late; I slept in. Uh huh. Yeah, sure, okay. He says I should be ashamed of that. Not the talking with you part, the not having him ready part.”

“I got that, thanks,” Felitïa said.

“I’m gonna go round to the servants’ quarters to pick up some food. Want anything?”

Her stomach rumbled. “Yes please. I haven’t had a proper meal in two days.”

“All right. Be back soon.” She heard him rummaging about for a few moments and then the doors opening and closing behind him.

She pulled what she hoped was the last bit of straw from her hair and opened the stall door. While she waited, she went over to Borisin’s stall. The big roan horse was chewing on some hay.

“So you’re talking to two people now,” she said.

Borisin turned his head away from her.

“But you can’t talk to me, Rudiger says. Some sort of barrier. Maybe you could explain to Rudiger as best you can what that barrier is like. I’d like to know. It might help me break it. You can understand me, right? You can’t talk to me, but you can understand me.”

The horse snorted.

“If you can understand me, tap your foot four times.”

Borisin turned his head back towards her, seemed to stare her in the eyes, but with only one of his. He did not move his feet.

“Okay, either you don’t understand me after all, which I doubt, or you’re trying to tell me that you find the idea of tapping your feet on command degrading. Sorry. I was just trying to establish...”

He tapped his hoof against the gate of his stall four times.

Felitïa smiled. “Thank you.” She reached out to him, but he turned his head away again. “Just tell him about the barrier, okay?”

She went over to the doors, cracked one open, and looked out. It was still dark, but not the pitch darkness of last night. The dim glow of dawn provided some light, and the clouds had parted so the stars provided a tiny bit more. She closed the doors again.

Fra-Atl.

She needed to find Fra-Atl. Of all the people Felitïa had encountered or heard about in the Palace, Fra-Atl seemed the best bet for an ally. She had also read and was familiar with the secret Ninifin texts. She had been excommunicated, but from what Rudiger said, she hadn’t been kicked out of the Palace or exiled, so there was a chance she was still here. If not, she would probably have gone to her villa, so Felitïa would need to find out where that was.

Moving around in the daytime would not be ideal, but she could get Rudiger and Nin-Akna to make the initial enquiries. Once they’d determined where the priest was, she could go herself.

The news she had sent Meleng and Quilla straight to the headquarters of the Ninifin Resistance was unexpected but welcome. That would have reunited them with Jorvan, and they were hopefully now working with the Resistance and whatever the Resistance was planning. It would give Garet something to do, at least. Perhaps they might even make some insights into Zandrue’s location.

Zandrue’s disappearance concerned her. She wasn’t particularly worried about Zandrue—she knew full well Zandrue could take care of herself. It was the manner of it, a lot like when she used to take off in Quorge: sudden, no explanation other than it was for everyone’s safety, no indication of where she was going, and only a vague statement of when she’d be back. Felitïa had hoped the disappearances had stopped, though Zandrue had said they’d be at a reduced frequency, not stopped completely. But at the very least, Felitïa had hoped Zandrue would have the decency not to take off during a delicate time like this. Yet that was another similarity. These disappearances happened regardless of what else was going on, like Zandrue really had no choice and somehow no advance warning of them either. That Rudiger said she’d seemed ill did worry Felitïa. There hadn’t been any indication of illness on her previous departures, although on those occasions, it had been easier for her to get away. What if Zandrue had tried to wait longer this time? What if what Rudiger saw was an example of what happened to her while she was away? Had it always been to cover up some illness?

The big difference this time, though, was that she hadn’t come back, and while Rudiger might be afraid he had offended her, Felitïa was sure that wasn’t the reason. Something else had happened that had delayed her. But what?

When Rudiger returned with the food, she ate her fill of tortilla bread and squash—perhaps a little more than her fill—and suggested he try to find where Fra-Atl was.

“I’ll ask around,” he said, “but it can be surprisingly hard to find people in this place. First though, I really do have to get Borisin ready. The Queen usually gives me some notice, but I suspect Fra-Ichtaca will arrange to give me no notice next time just to show me up.”

“What about Nin-Akna?”

“You know her better than me,” Rudiger said. “Though Izel told her not to come round to the stables until we contacted her. Coming round here could look suspicious.”

Felitïa nodded. “That’s wise.”

Rudiger finished his food and began gathering materials for cleaning the horses. “Borisin says you want to know about the barrier blocking him from communicating with you.”

Felitïa nodded.

“He says it’s like your mind is surrounded by something. Like a big ball of emptiness. He says he tried to get past it once, but couldn’t. Says it was like something grabbed hold of his thoughts and yanked on them. He felt like something tried to rip his mind from his body, but then threw it right back. Really painful, he says.”

Felitïa frowned. Then how had Castroff managed contact with her?

“Better get out of sight,” Rudiger said. “Borisin says Eztli and Itotia are coming.”

Felitïa hurried back into hiding as the two children who assisted Rudiger arrived. They cleaned the other horses and swept the floors. None of them looked into her stall or came in though, so she didn’t need to expend any magical energy to hide from them.

When Rudiger was done cleaning and preparing Borisin, he headed out again, though the children remained. They giggled and laughed between themselves as they continued their chores.

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A little while later, the stable doors slammed open and the two children gasped.

“Where is the stable master?” a woman’s voice said.

“Out arranging a supply run,” the boy said. “We’re low on feed. He should be back soon.”

“It doesn’t matter,” the woman said. “We don’t actually need him here. Check all the stalls. You two, stay out of our way.”

Felitïa made a quick check of how many mental presences there were and cast the spell to hide herself from them. A moment later, a warrior opened the stall door, walked in, looked around, and walked back out. Felitïa could hear others moving about in the stables, and two others passed her stall.

“All clear,” someone said.

“All right, let’s go,” the first woman said. “She can’t have gotten far.”

There was some rustling about and then the sound of the stable doors closing. Felitïa peered out. Only the two children remained. She withdrew back into the stall and released the spell.

A few minutes later, Rudiger arrived back. “There were warriors here, Rudiger,” the young girl said. “They were looking for someone.”

“Yeah, there are warriors all over the place,” Rudiger replied. He was pitching his voice a little louder than normal. “A noble was murdered. One of the Queen’s cousins. They’re saying that person who arrived with the Youth Guard did it, the one called Will-Breaker.”

“The one who killed the jailer?” the boy asked.

“Same one,” Rudiger said. “The warriors didn’t make too much of a mess, did they?”

“No,” the girl said. “They just looked around and left.”

“That’s good. Everything looks good. Why don’t you two take your afternoon break a little early? Come back in a couple hours.”

The children eagerly agreed. Once they were gone, Rudiger came to Felitïa’s stall. “You heard?”

“I heard. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m starting to think coming here openly was a mistake. I was hoping I could convince the Queen and Council to honour the deal Nin-Chicahua made with me even though she wasn’t actually queen. Instead, they’re using me as a scapegoat to launch their own political coup.”

“The Resistance should be ready to act soon,” Rudiger said. “With Nin-Akna’s help, hopefully they’ll be able to put a stop to this before it goes too far.”

“Hopefully,” Felitïa said, though she wasn’t feeling hopeful at the moment. The Ninifin secret writings said she was the harbinger of a time of destruction, one that might be starting right now. “Were you able to find out anything about Fra-Atl?”

Rudiger shook his head. “Everyone’s talking about you right now. Nobody’s heard anything about Fra-Atl.”

“We need to find her, Rudiger. She could be next on their kill list.”

“Fra-Tepeu and Izel think their targets will be people in line for the throne. Fra-Ichtaca wants her daughter to be next in line.”

“Yes, but in order for it to not be obvious that only people in line for the throne are being targeted, they’ll target other people too. Especially ones who are politically opposed to them.”

“Good point,” Rudiger said. “Izel will probably come by soon. She might have more information. Let’s wait for her and then decide what to do.”

Felitïa sighed. Wandering around a highly-populated, on-alert palace would probably not go well, so she agreed to Rudiger’s suggestion. She sat down along the wall of the stall and waited. After a short while, she dozed off.

She awoke to the sound of Ses-Izel’s voice. “Your friend’s arrival has really shaken things up, and Fra-Ichtaca has started moving faster than I expected.”

Felitïa jumped to her feet and hurried out of the stall.

“Here’s the murderer now,” Ses-Izel said.

“I assume you realise I didn’t do it,” Felitïa said.

“Of course,” Ses-Izel said. “But it doesn’t make a difference. You’re gaining a public reputation as a murderer whether you killed anyone or not. See, Rudiger, this is another reason why you and your friends should have stayed out of things that have nothing to do with you. Unintentional it may be, but you provide useful scapegoats. Fra-Ichtaca can rely on people’s existing prejudices to literally get away with murder. People are all too willing to believe an outsider did it.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to understand,” Rudiger said.

“I’m sorry,” Felitïa said. “The mistake’s mine here. I shouldn’t have arrived openly like I did.”

“You’re right,” Ses-Izel said. “You shouldn’t have.”

“Does it really matter right now?” Rudiger said. “It’s done. We have to deal with it, so let’s deal with it.”

Ses-Izel took a deep breath and nodded. “You’re right. I came here to tell you that I’ve received a message back from Fra-Tepeu. They’re coming today. I’ll let Nin-Akna know to be ready.”

“I need to find Fra-Atl,” Felitïa told her.

“That’s the other thing I came to tell you about,” Ses-Izel said. “They just arrested Fra-Atl.”

“What?” Rudiger said.

“On charges of conspiring with the Will-Breaker.”

“I’ll get her free,” Felitïa said. “Where is she?”

Ses-Izel shrugged. “As a noblewoman and former priest, she’s probably being held under room arrest here in the Palace. Nobles don’t have to endure the public jails. Before you ask, I don’t know exactly where her room is. I could give you the general area, but are you sure you want to go in there? I know you’re good at making yourself unseen, but they’ll pin this on you whether they see you or not.”

“They’ll pin this on me whether I’m there or not,” Felitïa said. “They’re already doing that. I’ll get her out.”

Ses-Izel nodded. “Nin-Akna will know where to go. Youth Guard have to learn the layout of the Palace by heart as part of their training. I’ll send her to you as soon as she’s made arrangements for her warriors to be ready.”

“Thank you,” Felitïa said.

Ses-Izel turned to Rudiger and touched his arm. “I don’t know if either of us will survive this day, but in case we don’t, I just want to say, it’s been fun.”

“Same here,” Rudiger said, bent down, and kissed her.

“Remember everything I’ve taught you,” Ses-Izel said. “You’re going to need it.” Then she left.

“Back to waiting, I guess,” Felitïa said. It felt like today had been nothing but waiting—long, interminable waiting. She’d spent most of the last several months at sea doing nothing with only brief interruptions on Scovese and the mainland. Yet today seemed twice as long as all that put together.

Rudiger began hauling bails of hay off the large haystack and moving them aside.

“What are you doing?” Felitïa asked.

“Getting my things. It was the best hiding spot I could think of. I just made sure the hay was replaced before reaching the bottom.” He began removing the bottom row to reveal his sword and armour lying there.

“Clever,” Felitïa said.

Rudiger moved his sword and armour aside and then began replacing the hay again. Once that was done, he donned the armour and strapped the sword to his back.

“You’re going to stand out if you start walking around like that,” Felitïa said.

“We’re going in the main building. I’m not supposed to be there, so I’ll stand out regardless.”

After what seemed an eternity, Nin-Akna arrived. She was alone, but carrying three spears and a shield. She passed a spear to Rudiger. “Ses-Izel wanted you to have this. She said you’d go for your sword if I didn’t push it on you.”

Rudiger took the spear with a sheepish look.

Nin-Akna held out a second spear to Felitïa. “I told her you probably wouldn’t want a weapon, but she insisted I offer.”

“It was thoughtful of her, but I’m not trained, and it will just get in the way.”

“That’s what I thought.” Nin-Akna placed both remaining spears to the side and reached for a pouch. “But I did bring you this.” She opened the pouch and let out a pair of protesting rats.

“Lon! Nesh!” Felitïa took the rats and held them up to her face. Rats had much smaller mental presences than humans. It was easy to ignore or not even notice they were there. But she’d grown used to Lon’s and Nesh’s on the trip back from Scovese. She’d begun to notice their absence over the last couple days. After giving Lon a few comforting strokes and a kiss, then the same for Nesh, she placed them both in her hood.

Rudiger had a bemused smirk on his face. “They were gifts from someone very special,” she told him. “Where are Fra-Chan and Ses-Iktan?” she asked Nin-Akna, who had retrieved one of the spears.

“With Ses-Izel,” she said.

“What about the other warriors?” Felitïa asked.

“They’ll be ready. I hope. Over the last couple days, they’ve all been reassigned to different divisions. Fra-Ichtaca is trying to separate them from us, but we’ve got a prearranged signal with them in case something like this happened. We can rely on them.”

“Good. Then we’ll leave the rest up to Ses-Izel. Do you know where Fra-Atl is?”

Nin-Akna nodded. “As long as you can keep us unseen, I can get us exactly where we need to go. Whenever you’re ready.”

“One moment.” Felitïa took a deep breath, unfolded the Room, and took stock of the mental presences in the area. For the moment, she could only detect Rudiger, Nin-Akna, Borisin, the other horses, Lon and Nesh, and a few other rats. She kept the Room active, though, as she knew that would change very soon.

“Yeah, I’ll be back to let you out of there soon, buddy,” Rudiger said. “Once this day’s done, I don’t think I’ll be allowed to run the stables any longer.”

“Okay,” Felitïa said. “Move casually, no sudden movements. Don’t do anything to draw attention to yourselves. Let me open any doors. Just point to them when we need to go through. Ready?”

They nodded and Felitïa cast the spell.