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~Compiled by Alex~ When Andy returns from his clandestine meeting with Sterling, a fellow guildmember, he is surprised to find Faran gone, and wonders out loud where the horse has got to as he and Ninnocha step into the Rum Runner hotel. Sterling, meanwhile, makes his way quickly across town to a small church where he joins a priest in the confessional. After the appropriate role-playing, the priest tells Sterling that the coast is clear, and asks for his message. "Wild boys never lose it," is the message that Sterling delivers. After receiving similarly encrypted instructions, he leaves the church and returns to the welcoming darkness. In the secret grove near the Abbey, Rowena is quickly warming to the stranger from another world who calls himself Nick. He tells her many strange stories of the world in which he belongs, about buildings that touch the sky, electric harpsichords, and something called a "shag-session" which his friends consider to be their job in life. They have just finished discussing the problems in Nick's marriage when they're disturbed by the sounds of something coming through the woods toward them. Rowena's relief is overwhelming when she sees that the creature pushing its way into the clearing is in fact a horse - and not just any horse, but Faran the Great, her father's legendary warhorse. Faran kneels before her, and she fights tears as she throws her arms around his neck. After she has regained her composure and introduced Faran to the slightly nervous Nick, the three of them wait a while longer for Brother John. However, as darkness falls, they realise that the chance of the friar coming to meet them now is slim, and they resolve to make their way back to the Hidden Village. For the sake of speed, Faran agrees to carry Nick as well as his mistress, although he is far from happy about it. Nick, who has never been much of a horseman and is particularly wary of the mighty Faran, sits uneasily behind Rowena, and eventually slides his arms around her waist and closes his eyes. Their journey through the Haunted Forest is uneventful. In the Seventh Stranger Inn, Minuet has been amusing herself by whispering into John's ear whilst remaining invisible, and the unfortunate monk is having a hard time explaining to Maeve why he was apparently talking to his shoulder. The faerie refuses to show herself in spite of John's pleas, but she is surprised when Maeve seems to figure things out for herself. At that point, however, Barbarella approaches, begging Maeve's help in healing the unconscious boy who just arrived, and Maeve excuses herself, speaking directly to Minuet even though she can't see her. As soon as she has gone, Minuet shows herself, and begins trying to convince John to leave the inn. John, however, is unwilling to leave either Maeve or the two boys who came in with the warriors, and instead he asks Minuet to carry a message to Rowena for him. She protests at the idea of having to leave her newfound friend so soon and calls Sebastian to her in order to introduce him to John. Eventually, however, she agrees to carry John's message, and invites Sebastian to accompany her. Charging John with the task of looking after Nicholas the forest child while she's gone, she and Sebastian set off into the forest. Maeve is horrified to feel how depleted Nicholas' energy levels are when she lays her hands on him. She orders that he be carried upstairs to a bed at once, and her orders are carried out by Samuel the elf, who has said little up till now. Bantam follows as closely as he can, feeling very protective of Nicholas and unwilling to trust any of these people, but finding that for the moment, he has no choice. He sits on the bed beside Nicholas as soon as Sam lays the boy down, and does not leave his side for an instant. The entire group gathers round as Maeve sets about her work. His conscience still troubling him deeply, Warren asks what he can do to help, so she gives him the task of grinding herbs for some medicinal tea. Then she turns to bathing Nicholas as best she can with the warm water and towels supplied by Xanax. Nicholas, who is conscious but exhausted, finds himself thinking of his mother while he watches her, and soon the emotions become too much for him and he begins to cry. Maeve and Bantam both attempt to comfort him, while Warren's conscience burns even more hotly. Sam feels exhaustion wash over him and quietly removes himself from the group for an early night. Eventually Brother John comes into the room and Maeve, whose nerves are becoming frayed by the overcrowding, gently requests that he clear the room. Warren agrees to leave, but first he plucks up the courage to ask Maeve if she will join him for breakfast and a walk around town the next day, and, startled, Maeve agrees. As they leave the room, John asks Warren to join him for a drink downstairs, determined to learn something about the mysterious man and to judge whether he can be trusted enough for Maeve to be safe with him. Warren, however, tells John little more than the fact that he is a mercenary and hasn't been in Ashby for many years, and when the monk prods him for information regarding the two boys, he gets up from the table abruptly and puts and end to the conversation. He takes himself off to bed, leaving a bewildered John alone at the table with two untouched mugs of ale. Alone in the room with Nicholas and Bantam, Maeve lays her hands on the young forest child and, after a few reassuring words to the overprotective Bantam, performs a simple magical healing ritual for him. Nicholas then falls into a regenerative sleep, and Maeve makes her move to leave. She asks Bantam if he will be staying with Nicholas, and is impressed by the boy's bravery and maturity as he offers himself as Nicholas' guardian. She bids him goodnight, and heads downstairs to see Barbarella about a room for the night. Nikolai and Vanya are led swiftly through the castle and their arrival is announced to the Countess and the Lady Madeline in the blue room. The introductions and welcomes are all observed silently by Simon the telepath, who cautiously avoids probing the mind of the warlock, but finds himself morbidly intrigued by the young slave girl and her innocence. The two older women also find Vanya intriguing, and for reasons known only to herself, Maddie instantly takes the girl under her wing and insists on having some new and more fashionable clothes made for her. Before anyone has the chance to object, she sweeps the slave girl out of the room and through the castle to the seamstress's quarters, where they spend some time selecting new garments and sorting through bolts of fabric to have more dresses made. They then return to Vanya's room so that she can change into a new dress which Maddie has selected for her, before dinner. Audra, meanwhile, dismisses both women from her thoughts and turns her attention to showing off her new toy to Nikolai. She explains that Simon has certain "talents" which will come in useful in their search for Rowena, but Nikolai's own talents allow him to discover Simon's gift for himself. He amuses himself by planting images in Simon's mind of his and Vanya's activities in the carriage earlier that day, but he is startled to find that the cocky young upstart - far from being embarrassed or disturbed - simply reflects the images back to the warlock with his own features substituted for Nikolai's. Suppressing the jealousy he won't allow himself to feel at the sight of his Vanya with another man, Nikolai finds himself oddly impressed with the telepath's courage as well as his skill. Prudently, Simon decides that it would be wise to remove himself from the warlock's company at this point, so with Audra's permission and Percival Petal as his escort, he retires to bed. Charley the wandering minstrel is where he often is, doing what he often does. He has allowed Elspeth, the seamstress's niece, to dress him up in one of her outrageous costumes again, but on this occasion he is less happy about it than usual. She has dressed him to look like an oriental geisha, and the elaborate hairdo alone is causing him some distress. "My head is full of chopsticks, I don't like it," he tells her sulkily. Eventually she agrees to let him dress in his own clothes again, but as he does so, she notices that he's wearing a shirt she's never seen before. She asks for an explanation, and he launches into one of the stories he so commonly tells her. This one is the story of how he joined a coven of witches in their worship on the night of the new moon, and of how they danced round a fire, waving torches for the new moon, and afterward they made him a gift of this shirt, which he has worn ever since - in spite of the unseasonably chilly weather. Suddenly, inspiration possesses him and he begins to write the story in his special journal. Looking over his shoulder, Elspeth watches him write about how he spent the cold day in a lovely satin light-weight shirt, but before he finishes, she comments on his messy handwriting and he slams the book shut in irritation. Then he explains to her how every time he writes something in this book, the words disappear as soon as he closes it. He assumes that his poetry is magically transported to another time and place, where some great, renowned bard doubtlessly puts the words to his own use. Together they ponder whether anything from that other world ever returns to *their* world, in exchange for his poetry - and if so, what is it likely to be? As yet, neither of them knows about the sudden appearance in the forest of the mysterious, other-worldly man calling himself "Nick Rhodes"... At the Rum Runner Inn, the Flame has found herself a room for the night and is mulling over the possibilities of the coming days here in Ashby. Her mind probes once more into Warren's, expecting to find his defences weak while he's asleep. But instead, she finds his dreams filled with the image of a beautiful young woman whose goodness sickens and enrages her. As an act of desperation before she is pushed out of Warren's dreams, the Flame captures the sound of the woman's name and remembers it. She then glares into the darkness and vows vengeance on the woman Warren knows as "Maeve". In another part of the Inn, Andy watches Ninnocha head upstairs to bed. He is contemplating following her when Sterling enters the room, and the pair share a brief conversation filled with hints and coded messages. From Sterling's description of the drinks he desires, Andy deciphers the news that Audra is up to something again, and that her "regular playmate" is here to help her. It might be best to lay low for a while, he decides, and with a parting comment to Sterling, he follows Ninnocha up the stairs. Fear grips him when he finds the half-elf snooping around the door to a room which is not their own. He guesses correctly that she has *sensed* something on the other side of the door, but unlike the warrior priestess herself, he has no desire to find out what it is. He hastily interrupts her as she reaches for the handle, and quickly talks her into retiring to their own room. They each climb into their own bed, but neither of them falls asleep for a long time, and both of them have taken the precaution of nursing a weapon overnight. In the Hidden Village, a gypsy woman called Gemile keeps watch for Rowena as she finishes the last of her laundry. Her thoughts return, as they often do, to the little girl who was given up to the Lord Nikolai Rhodan many years ago, as an offering for safe passage for the troupe to which she belonged. Gemile had been unable to do anything to save little Chastity, but she has never completely given up hope that the girl somehow remained safe within Rhodan's household, and that someday, when Rowena is restored to her rightful place, the two of them might finally be reunited. Her reverie is interrupted by the sound of hoofbeats, and her delight at seeing Rowena and Faran return quickly turns to horror when she sees who is with them. It is Nikolai Rhodan himself - of that she is certain - and she becomes hysterical at the notion that he has bewitched Rowena into betraying them all. It takes some time, and some equine magic intervention, to convince her otherwise, but eventually she agrees to Rowena's request that she go to the Inn ahead of them and warn its patrons about Nick's appearance. Leaving Faran in the capable hands of Bob the stable boy, Nick and Rowena make their own way to the Inn, where their reception - thanks to Gem's speech earlier on - is one of uneasy curiosity, rather than outright panic and hatred. Minuet and Sebastian pick up Rowena's trail where she crossed the South Road and follow it to the Hidden Village without incident. Once there, Sebastian's curiosity about the new place is easily overtaken by his exhaustion, and with an apologetic word to his companion, he finds himself a comfortable tree branch in which to spend the night. When he is settled and sleeping soundly, Minuet goes in search of Rowena, and finds her in the Inn sharing a meal with a strange man who looks remarkably like Nikolai Rhodan. Wishing to get the woman's attention without showing herself to the stranger, the still-invisible Minuet knocks the food from Nick's spoon as he takes his next mouthful, sending a piece of meat sailing across the table into Rowena's mug of wine. Nick protests loudly that he is not responsible and after a moment, Rowena figures out what's going on. With some friendly taunting, she tricks Minuet into showing herself, much to the surprise of Nick, who has obviously never seen a faerie before. Eventually, Minuet grows tired of teasing the unfortunate stranger, and delivers John's message to Rowena. She declines the half-elf's offer of a magical dandelion-silk and rose-petal bed for the night, and without further fuss, she heads back out into the night to return to Sebastian. Tucking herself carefully into the crook of the sleeping cat's neck, she falls into a blissful sleep. Rowena and Nick also decide to retire for the night, and they return to Rowena's cottage, where she sets him up on the makeshift bed which is usually reserved for Brother John. In spite of the events of the day, they both sleep soundly. In the castle's blue room, Audra and Nikolai are talking quietly as dinner is being served. Their topic of conversation turns from Vanya to Simon, and the pair agrees that while the telepath could prove extremely useful to them, there is always a danger that he will be swayed to the other side. Perhaps, Nikolai suggests, it would be prudent to find someone or something dear to him which could be held to ransome should it become necessary. When dinner is served, Audra sends the steward to find Maddie and Vanya, and tells him to summon the minstrel while he's at it. Taking the first task upon himself, Stewart sends a maid to find Charley the minstrel. The maid is both startled and amused when she finds Charley standing outside Elspeth's door, wearing her nightgown and pleading for her to let him back in. It's unclear why she locked him out, or even why he was wearing the nightgown in the first place, but the maid tells him that the Lady Audra requires his presence immediately and he is panic-stricken at the thought of coming before her dressed as he is. "Elspeth!" he begs as he hammers desperately at the door. "I look phoney in your nightwear, let me in!" But Elspeth is unmoved, and Charley has no choice but to approach the Countess as he is. Audra, of course, demands an explanation, but with practiced smoothness, he manages to deflect the question and to amuse the Countess with his honeyed words. In obedience to her instructions, he places himself in the shadows of the room and begins to sing quietly. Maddie and Vanya return to the room in time to share the meal, but only Maddie shows a fleeting interest in the strangely attired minstrel. After they have eaten, the party breaks up and Maddie and Vanya both retire to their own beds. Audra and Nikolai, however, both retire to Audra's chambers. Witnessing the lovemaking of two powerful and selfish sorcerers is a rare treat to any voyeur... Sitting alone at a table in the Seventh Stranger, two untouched mugs of ale still before him, Brother John notices Maeve come downstairs, looking as though she is looking for someone. He hastens to her side and offers his services, and upon hearing that she is merely after someone to show her to her room, he summons the barmaid Xanax to help. Before Xanax reaches them, however, he can't help but asking Maeve to promise him that she will take care where Warren is concerned, and that she will make sure they remain in well populated areas during their tour of the town tomorrow. Maeve agrees, just as Xanax reaches them. The barmaid informs them that there is only one room free and suggests, much to John's horror and Maeve's embarrassment, that they share it. Maeve hastily searches for her purse as she offers to find another inn to stay at, but she is suddenly distracted by the voice of the Flame echoing through her mind. "I shall destroy you soon, Maeve," the voice promises. Maeve's disorientation, combined with her hunger and weariness, leads inexorably to a loss of consciousness, and she collapses into John's arms. John carries her upstairs to the room where Xanax leads him, and stays by her bedside until she regains consciousness. Then, after making sure she has everything she needs, he returns to the tavern where Barbarella, god bless her, has left the two mugs of ale for him to polish off. Warren's dreams of Maeve are broken when he wakes with a start, feeling an evil yet familiar presence in his mind. It takes him a moment, but he finally remembers the Flame, and he knows that if she is in Ashby with her sights set on him, then neither he nor the people with him are safe. He gets up and walks across the hall to Nicholas and Bantam's room. Only the elder of the two boys is awake and Warren enters the room in order to talk to him. He starts by telling Bantam that he, too, was abused as a child, and that he suspects the same thing happened to Bantam. Tears fill his eyes as he professes to feel the protectiveness of a father or an older brother toward the two boys. Then he tells Bantam about the Flame and about the evil bloodline from which he comes, and finally startles both himself and the boy by kneeling before him and pledging his life to protect him and Nicholas. "You and Nicholas have powers that you don't yet understand," he tells Bantam. "You are meant to do great things." But even Warren himself doesn't understand what this means, or where the words are coming from. On his way back downstairs, John has overheard part of this exchange between Warren and Bantam, and it gives him much to think about as he sits back in his chair and drains both mugs of ale. He is alone in the tavern at this late hour - except for one stranger, thin and white-haired although he is only in his early twenties. Lysander is suffering from a regular bout of insomnia and is sitting alone by the fireplace, staring into the dying embers, and resigning himself to yet another night of boredom and sleeplessness. But John is too tired to approach him tonight and, pausing only to brush the breadcrumbs off the table, he wearily climbs the stairs to the sleeping quarters. He is somewhat surprised to find Warren asleep on the floor in the corridor with the obvious intention of guarding the door to Nicholas and Bantam's room, so, still unsure of the man's motives where the boys are concerned, he resolves to do the same. He tiptoes into Maeve's room to retrieve his blanket and then returns to the corridor to make himself as comfortable as possible for the night. Oddly enough, the last thought to cross his mind as he drifts off to sleep, is, "I wonder where Mallory's got to...?" <<
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