"Me?"Delos laughed briefly.
"Well-we thought there might betrouble," Sylvia amended. Her own laugh was like wind chimes.
"I'm fine. I used the fire for practice."
"Delos." Sylvia's voice was gently reproving now,in a way that was almost flirtatious. "You knowyou shouldn't do that. You'll only do more damageto your armit's never going to get better if youkeep using it."
"I know." Delos's brusque tone was a sharp con
trast to Sylvia's teasing. "But that's my business.""I only want what's best for you-"
"Let's go. I'm sure the rest of the party is waiting
for us."
He doesn't like her, Maggie thought. All herwhinnying and prancing doesn't fool him. But Iwonder what she is to him?
What she really wanted at that moment was to dash out and confront Sylvia. Grab her and shake her until she coughed up some answers.
But she'd already tried that once-and it had gotten her thrown into slavery. She gritted her teethand edged closer to the entrance crack. It was dangerous and she knew it, but she wanted to seeSylvia.
When she did, it was another shock. Sylvia always wore slinky tops and fashionable jeans, butthe outfit she had on now was completely medieval.More, she looked comfortable in it, as if thesestrange clothes were natural to her-and flattering.
She was wearing a sea-green tunic that had longsleeves and fell to the ground. Over that was another tunic, a shade paler, this one sleeveless andtied with a belt embroidered in green and silver. Her hair was loose in a fine shimmering mass, andshe had a falcon on her wrist.
A real falcon. With a little leather hood on itshead and leather ties with bells on its feet. Maggie stared at it, fascinated despite herself.
That whole fragile act Sylvia puts on, shethought. But you have to be strong to hold up a big bird like that.
"Oh, we don't have to rush back just yet," Sylvia was saying, moving closer to Delos. "Now that I'm here, we could go a little farther. This looks like anice path; we could explore it."
Cady, Maggie thought. If they go to the end ofthe path, they'll see her. Sylvia will see her.
She had just decided to jump out of the cavewhen Delos spoke.
"I'm tired," he said in his flat, cold way. "We'regoing back now."
"Oh, you're tired," Sylvia said, and her smile wasalmost sly. "You see. I told you not to use yourpowers so much.
"Yes,"Delossaid,evenmoreshortly. "Iremember."
Before he could say anything else, Sylvia went on. "I forgot to mention, a funny thing happened.A guy named Gavin dropped in on the huntingparty a little while ago."
Gavin.
Maggie's stomach plummeted.
He got away. And he saw everything.
And he must have moved fast,she thought absently. To hook around and get to a hunting partyon the other side of this ledge-in time for Sylviato come find Delos.
"You probably donI know him," Sylvia was saying. "But I do. He's the slave trader I use to getgirls from Outside. He's normally pretty good, but today he was all upset. He said a group of slavesgot loose on the mountain, and somehow his part ner Bern got killed."
You... witch,Maggie thought. She couldn'tthink of a swear word strong enough.
Sylvia knew. There was no doubt about it. IfGavin was her flunky, and if he'd told her that Bernwas dead, he must have told her the rest. That Bernhad been killed by Prince Delos himself, fried withblue fire, and that there were two slave girls infront of Delos at the time.
She knew all along, Maggie thought, and she wasjust trying to trap Delos. But why isn't she afraidof him? He's the prince, after all. His father's dead; he's in charge. So how come she daresto set upher little traps?
"We were all concerned," Sylvia was going on,tilting her silvery head to one side. "All the nobles,and especially your greatgrandfather. Loose slavescan mean trouble"
"How sweet of you to worry," Delos said. Fromwhat Maggie could see of his face, it was expressionless and his voice was dry and level. "But youshouldn't have. I used the fire for practice-on the other slave trader. Also on two slaves. They interrupted me when I wanted quiet."
Maggie sat in helpless admiration.
He did it. He outsmarted her. Now there's nothing she can say. And there's no way to prove thathe didn't kill us. Gavin ran; he couldn't have seenanything after that.
He saved us. Delos saved Cady and me bothagain.
"I see." Sylvia bowed her head, looking sweet andplacating, if not quite convinced. "Well, of courseyou had every right to do that. So the slaves aredead."
"Yes. And since they were only slaves, why arewe standing heretalking about them? Is there something about them I don't know?"
"No, no. Of course not," Sylvia said quickly. "You're right; we've wasted enough time. Let's go back."
In her mind, Maggie heard Gavin's voice. "It's not like they were ordinary slaves. If we don't deliver that maiden we're dead."
So she's lying again, Maggie thought. What a surprise. But who's the maiden? And why's she so important?
For that matter, she thought, who's this greatgrandfather of Delos's? When Sylvia mentionedhim it sounded almost like a threat. But if he's agreat-grandfather he's got to be ancient. How areSylvia and some old geezer teamed up?
It was an interesting question, but there was no time to think about it now. Sylvia and Delos wereturning away from the cave, Sylvia murmuringabout having to take a look at Delos's arm when they got back. In another moment they'd passed out of Maggie's line of sight and she heard thecrunching noise of feet on slate.
Maggie waited until the last footstep faded, then she held her breath and waited for a count ofthirty. It was all she could stand. She ducked through the entrance crack and stood in the openair.