"So this is the Deliverer," the cracked voice said, and the woman shuffled closer, peering at Maggie."She looks like an ordinary girl, until youseethe eyes."
Maggie blinked.-Oh-thanks,-she said. Secretlyshe thought that Old Mender herself looked morelike a witch than anyone she'd ever seen in her life. But there was bright intelligence in the old wom-. an's birdlike gaze and her little smile was sweet.
"Witch Sylvia came to the castle a week ago," shetold Maggie, her head on one side. "She didn't have any boy with her, but she was talking about a boy.My grand-nephew Currier heard her. She was telling Prince Delos how she'd chosen a human for aplaything, and she'd tried to bring him to the castlefor Samhain. But the boy did something-turnedon her somehow. And so she had to punish him,and that had delayed her."
Maggie's heart was beating in her ears. "Punishhim," she began, and then she said, "What'sSamhain?"
"Halloween," Jeanne said. "The witches here normally have a big celebration at midnight."
Halloween. All right. Maggie's mind was whirringdesperately, ticking over this new information. Sonow she knew for certain that Sylvia hadgone Ink ing on Halloween with Miles, just as she'd told thesheriffs and rangers. Or maybe they'd been driving, if Jeanne's story about a mysterious pass that onlyNight People could see was true. But anyway they'dbeen coming here, to the Dark Kingdom. Andsomething had delayed them. Miles had done something that made Sylvia terribly angry and changed her mind about taking him to the castle.
And made her...punish him. In some way thatMaggie wasn't supposed to be able to guess.
Maybe she just killed him after all, Maggiethought, with an awful sinking in her stomach. Shecould have shoved him off a cliff easily. Whatevershe did, he never made it here-right?
"So there isn't any human boy in the dungeon oranything?" she asked, looking at Laundress andthen Mender. But she knew the answer before theyshook their heads.
Nobody recognizes him. He can't be here.
Maggie felt her shoulders slump. But althoughshe was discouraged and heartsick, she wasn't defeated. What she felt instead was a hard little burning like a coal in her chest. She wanted more than ever to grab Sylvia and shake the truth out of her.
At the very least, if nothing else, I'm going to findout how he died. Because that's important.
Funny how it didn't seem impossible anymorethat Miles was dead. Maggie had learned a lot since coming to this valley. People got hurt and died andhad other awful things happen to them, and thatwas that. The ones left alive had to find some wayof going on.
But not of forgetting.
"You said you had two reasons for coming to seeme," Laundress prompted. She was standing with her big hands on her hips, her gaunt body erectand looking just slightly impatient. "Have you comeup with a plan, Deliverer?"
"Well-sort of. Not exactly a planso much as well, I guess it's a plan." Maggie floundered, tryingto explain herself. The truth was that she'd come up with the most basic plan of all.
To go see Delos.
That was it. The simplest, most direct solution.She was going to get him alone and talk to him.Use the weird connection between them if she hadto. Pound some sort of understanding into histhick head.
And put her life on the line to back up her words.
Jeanne thought the slaves were going to be killedwhen Hunter Redfern and Delos made their deal. Maggie was a slave now. If the other slaves werekilled, Maggie would be with them.
And you're betting that he'll care,a nasty littlevoice in her brain whispered. But you don't reallyknow that. He keeps threatening to kill you himself.
He specifically warned you not to come to thecastle.
Well, anyway, we're going to find out, Maggie told the little voice. And if I can't convince him, I'llhave to do something more violent.
"I need to get into the castle," she said to Laundress. "Not just into the kitchen, you know, but theother rooms-wherever I might be able to findPrince Delos alone."
"Alone? You won't find him alone anywhere buthis bedchamber."
"Well, then, I have to go there."
Laundress was watching her narrowly. "Is it assassination you've got in mind? Because I knowsomeone who has a piece of wood."
"It... ." Maggie stopped and took a breath. "I really hope it isn't going to come to that. Butmaybe I'd better take the wood, just in case."
And you'd better hope for a miracle, the nastyvoice in her mind said. Because how else are yougoing to overpower him?
Jeanne was rubbing her forehead. When shespoke, Maggie knew she'd been thinking along thesame lines. "Look, dummy, are you sure this is agood idea? I mean, he's-"
"A Night Person," Maggie supplied."And you're='
"Just an ordinary human."
"She's the Deliverer," P.J. said stoutly, and Maggie paused to smile at her.
Then she turned back to Jeanne. "I don't knowif it's a good idea, but it's my only idea. And I knowit's dangerous, but I have to do it." She looked awkwardly at Laundress and Old Mender. "The truthis that it's not just about you people here. If whatJeanne told you about Hunter Redfern is right,then the whole human world is in trouble."
"Oh, the prophecies," Old Mender said, and cackled.
"You know them, too?"
"We slaves hear everything." Old Mender smiled and nodded. "Especially when it concerns our own prince. I remember when he was little-I was theQueen's seamstress then, before she died. Hismother knew the prophecies, and she said, 'In blue fire, the final darkness is banished.In blood, the final price is paid."
Blood, Maggie thought. She knew that blood hadto run before Delos could use the blue fire, butthis sounded as if it were talking about something darker. Whose blood? she wondered.