led quietly. "Come here, man."

He was at her stirrup. "What are you doing, Lady?" His voice was
anxious:

"I'm joining the rebels, big man. Where can I find the Mink?"

"I don't know. Lady, are you mad? The rebels are saying that the gods
are overthrown and there will be gentry blood running all over Dolfya by
noon tomorrow. They're out of their heads."

"No, Rack, they're honest men fighting a hideous corruption." She told
him rapidly what she'd seen in her father's room. "I don't know exactly
what it means, 'but it's bad--degrading, horrible! I don't want to be a
gentrywoman any longer. I--I'm the Mink's girl. Listen," she said,
leaning over to him, "he took me two days ago, and Revel is my man, hell
or orbs notwithstanding. Now where is he?"

"I've heard he's alive," said Rack slowly. "I thought he would be; he's
too tough to kill. Where he is, no one knows."

"Do the rebels trust you?"

"No." His face turned up to hers, honest and bewildered. "I'm of two
minds.... I serve the gods, as any sane man must, but I have seen
things...."

"So have I. Rack, come with me. We must find the Mink."

He bit his lip. Then he took hold of her stirrup. She thought he was
going to pull her off, and edged her toes forward toward the signal
points of her roan; but he merely said, "I'll hang on to this and run.
Go ahead, Lady."

She tapped the horse to a canter, feeling better than she had in hours.
Rack was a servant (say rather an ally) worth four other men.

"Head for the mines," grunted Rack. Her own idea. Surely it must be
worth something. Soon they were coming into the coal valley. God-guards
shone with an eerie and now-abominable golden light at the various
entrances. "Which is Revel's?" she asked.

"Up there. He wouldn't be there, but if I can get past the guard, and
there's no reason I should be stopped, there are men on our level, the
fourth down, who might know about him. There's no other place to check.
I don't know the meeting places. I have never been a rebel." He seemed
to brood darkly for a minute, then added, "Before!"

* * * * *

They hobbled the horse in a nook of upended rocks, and she hid the
portmanteau under some brush. They walked to the mine, she now
remembering the location by certain landmarks, and Rack said, "There's
no god showing. That's strange."

"I'll go with you as far as I can. If we do meet a god, I can explain
myself mentally; after all, I'm of the