the palace one such afternoon later than usual. Most of the boys hurried to their rooms to wash up. Alanna was wiping down her pony when she heard a thud. Ralon stood outside Chubby’s stall. His saddle and bridle lay on the ground.
“Curry my horse and hang these up,” he ordered. “I’m going in.”
Alanna stared at him. “You’re joking.”
Ralon shoved her into Chubby. “I said do it.”
Before she could recover her breath, he was gone. She stared after him, clenching and unclenching her fists. She wanted to kill him!
“Are ye goin’t’ do it?”
Alanna looked up, startled. George’s man, the hostler Stefan, swung down from the hayloft above. He was a short, blond youth with pale eyes and reddish skin. Animals loved him, and he was more comfortable with horses than with people, but he seemed to like Alanna and her friends well enough.
It took her a moment to make her voice work. “What?”
“Are ye goin’t’ clean up after yon?” Stefan spat, hitting Chubby’s manger squarely.
Alanna looked at the saddle and drew a breath. Now that she had to take a stand, she was just as scared as she was angry. “No. I can’t. I won’t.”
Stefan shrugged. “I’ll have t’ tell his Grace, y’know,” he reminded her. “It’s orders. Th’ lads must look after they own beasts. His Grace must know if they don’t.”
Alanna hesitated. Ralon would murder her. But—if she knuckled under, Ralon would do this all the time.
“Tell,” she said gruffly, going back to work on Chubby. “It’s not my problem.”
“Think on it,” Stefan advised, worry on his round face. “That Ralon won’t like bein’ in trouble wiv his Grace.”
Alanna looked up from her pony, her eyes flat violet. “That’s Ralon’s lookout, isn’t it?” she asked softly. She finished combing Chubby and left.
Stefan shook his head. Th’ lad’s got guts, he thought. Not much sense, but guts.
By bedtime that night the word was out: Ralon had to spend his nights for a month working in the stables. Jonathan’s friends had trouble hiding their glee.
“Serves him right,” Francis remarked. They were sitting in Gary’s room before lights-out. “He just left his tack on the ground. His horse was covered with sweat. That’s no way to treat a good horse.”
“I wonder how he thought he could get away with it?” Alex murmured.
“He probably tried to make some little guy do it,” Raoul said with contempt. “Isn’t that his usual?”
Alanna had been permitted to join them. Now she turned red and looked down at the lacings on her shoes.
Gary saw the blush. “Alan—you were the last one in this afternoon. Do you know about this?”
Alanna didn’t approve of lying, but in a pinch a lie was sometimes better than the truth. “No.”
Raoul grinned. “I’d like to see him mess with our Alan. I’d pound him to a pulp.” Alanna had become a favorite with Raoul, and he didn’t care who knew it.
Alanna made a face. “I do my own fighting, thanks.”
“Raoul just wants an excuse,” Jonathan explained. “He likes hitting Ralon.”
“Ralon didn’t make anyone else put his tack away?” Alex wanted to know. “You didn’t see anything strange?”
Alanna didn’t look up. “No” It wasn’t strange, she excused her lie mentally. Ralon does things like that all the time.
The servants arrived, sending the boys off to bed. Jonathan returned to his room, frowning thoughtfully. Trouble was brewing between Ralon and the boy Alan, but there didn’t seem to be anything he could do to stop it.
His punishment didn’t keep him from the afternoon rides, so Ralon was with the boys at the swimming hole the next day. The weather was hot and damp. Most of the boys stripped down to their loincloths and leaped into the pool. Alanna sat under a shady tree, looking wistfully at her friends. She would have loved to join them.
Ralon planted himself in front of her. “Too good for us, Master Alan? Afraid to get in the same water with us?”
Alanna looked up. The others were suddenly quiet.
“Leave me alone,” she snapped.
“‘Leave me alone,’” he mocked, swinging his hips. “Too good to swim with us, Alan the Snot?”
“I don’t feel like swimming.” The others were watching her, wondering if she was a coward. He’ll kill me, she thought. I’m just a girl, and he’ll kill me.
Ralon grabbed her arm. “Into the water, page,” he gritted. “We’ll have some fun.”
Alanna rammed herself into Ralon’s stomach. The older boy yelped as he tumbled into the pool, hitting the water with a painful smack.
“Why, Ralon,” cried Raoul. “Let me help you