e fourth was far older than the others, indeed, the oldest
book Nirea had ever seen.

Ewyo lay drunk in a deep chair in his library; he would sleep now till
nearly the middle of the night, when he'd wake up and howl for another
bottle. Jann she had not seen for hours. The servants, being ruckers,
did not count. Her escape from the mansion was going to be simple.

In the stables, Lady Nirea ordered her second best horse, another roan
stallion, saddled and laden with the portmanteau on a special rack
attached to the rear of the cantle. The usual trappings, the fancy reins
and broidered saddlecloths, she had the stableman leave off; she didn't
want to call attention to the fact that she was Ewyo's daughter.

When the roan was ready, she mounted, and turning to the stableman, a
young rucker with shifty eyes and a shy, retiring chin, she asked
steadily, "Are you a rebel?"

"Me? No, Lady! Do I look crazy?"

"You look sneaky, but smart enough." She leaned over the saddlebow
toward him. "Tell me the truth. Don't be afraid, you fool. I am the
Lady of the Mink." It was a title she uttered proudly now. Nirea of
Dolfya had been forced to think this day, and it had changed her
greatly.

The stableman backed off a little, his pasty face writhing with tics.
"My Orb, Lady, I don't know what you're thinking of! You, Ewyo's girl,
calling yourself such a name--"

Her roan was trained to the work she now put him to; a number of times
she'd used him for it in the streets of Dolfya, just for sport, out of
boredom. Now she pricked his ribs with the point of her sharp-toed
shoes, just behind the foreleg joints, and said, "At 'em, boy!" The tall
beast reared up and danced forward, hoofs thrashing the air. The
stableman shrieked, took a step back, and threw up his arms as one
iron-shod hoof smashed into his face. Then the roan was doing a kind of
quick little hop on his body, and red blood ran out over the
packed-earth floor.

"If you were a rebel, you were too craven about it to be much good to
your people," Nirea said, looking at the body. "If you weren't, then
your mouth is shut concerning me." She wheeled the roan and trotted out
of the stable.

By the gate in the wall a tall figure waited, white in the early moon's
light.

"Jann!" said Nirea, with surprise and fear. Her older sister had always
bullied her; Nirea was unable to wholly conquer the dread of this
amber-eyed, sharp-eared woman. Jann stood with one hand on the gate, h