“I’m ready. How much longer is he gonna take?” shegrowled.

“He is paying us extra to make stops for his rites,” M’Baddahreminded her quietly.

The priest lowered the bundle, checked its wrappings, and handed it to the novice to restore to the box on the packhorse’s back. The youthbrought all three mounts back with him.

“There. An hour or less, and we deliver the clients safely,and all is well. I sell Feather for you, or we trade him-”

“Blessed right we do,” she replied shortly. “In case youforget, M’Baddah, the brute has thrown me the last two mornings in arow.”

The foreigner smiled. His eyes glinted. “Then, I shall killand cook him for you, as payment for his crimes. And, how does my Eddis like her roast horse-hot through only, or dark and dry?”

Eddis turned to stare at him, her jaw slack. He raised an eyebrow and waited.

Her lips twisted. She finally laughed, and the tension went from her body and her eyes. “All right, M’Baddah, you win! They’re ready. Let’sget these two safely inside the Keep.”

He patted her shoulder and moved onto the road to signal the guard in.

“Anything, M’Whan?” he asked as the rider drew close.

“No, Father.”

He also wore red and black painted armor and carried a shortbow at the ready. M’Baddah’s son, M’Whan, was a paler, younger copy of hisfather, at least physically. He had only joined them two journeys before, and to Eddis he still seemed shy or unsure whether he belonged with them. For a while, she hadn’t been sure of that either, but it was a small enough favor to grantM’Baddah. The older man had traveled with her from the first and had provenhimself invaluable. M’Whan was still quiet, but he was an accurate archer, askilled swordsman, a good hunter, and nearly as keen-eyed a tracker as his father.