would say when she found me gone, but then I thought of how these would likely be the last good days of Falling Time, with all the snows and sleets to come, and my mind made itself up.
“Let’s put a wager on it,” I said. “Winner gets a handful of apricots from the Underhold. Loser got to steal it.”
Haijon give out a laugh. “I’ll take that bet,” he said, “for I won’t be the one paying.”
“Might be hard for you to get in that window now in any case, Rampart Breakfast,” I said. I held up my hands to take the measure of his shoulders – then I brung them down and measured his stomach too, making it out to be wider.
“Oh, now you made this be personal,” Haijon says with a laugh. “Come on, Koli, let’s see what you got. Three goes two goes one. Run!”
I run, but I didn’t run well. You can only do that when you can stop thinking about anything except running, and I was poorly placed to do that right then. I losed the race by ten clear strides. But Haijon let me off from stealing the fruit, for this wasn’t a good time for me to be seen sneaking into the Underhold, or out of it. Catrin was not like to listen to reason in any such trespass. I was for doing it in any case, not wanting to slip sideways out of a bet, but when I walked around to the back of Rampart Hold I seen some of the upstairs windows open and my courage was bowed down a little. If someone was inside there looking out, they was bound to see me.
“We can go best out of three,” Haijon said, and we parted on that understanding.
I walked back along the line of the fence, which took me past Ursala’s tent. I didn’t see her there, but the drudge was set beside the tent with its four legs folded under it. I was not used to seeing it any place other than the gather-ground, so I slowed down to look.
A hand lifted up the tent-flap. The nails was painted bright red, so I knowed it was Ursala’s hand. Her voice sounded out of the deep dark, for so it looked to me. “Come along in, Koli Woodsmith. I’d like a word.”
17
I just stood there for a moment, wondering if I could walk on and make pretend I didn’t hear. It shames me now to remember it, but I thought of Ursala as somewhat to be feared. Nobody knowed where she lived, or how she come to know so much about so many strange things. There was stories about vengeances she took on them who tried to rob her or cheat her, and the vengeances was truly terrible. I had been mostly bent to disbelieve them, but that was before I seen her charm a drone out of the sky. Now I didn’t know what to believe.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Ursala said, as if I’d been speaking all this aloud. She sounded angry, or at least rate not minded to be patient. “I won’t hurt you, boy. Come inside, and be quick about it. If one of your Ramparts sees us, they’ll think we’re plotting treason.”
I didn’t know what kind of thing treason might be, but I seen the drift of what she was saying – that Catrin was displeasured with the both of us and would not greatly favour the thought of us doing each other kindnesses. I still misgived a little, in my thoughts, but I bent my head and stepped inside the tent.
Once I was in there, I looked around in wonder. It wasn’t dark at all, but had seemed so because there was a double skin on the tent-flap. I was in a space that was brighter than the outside. It was like the tent’s walls was shining, almost, and I had to squint my eyes where I had thought I’d be hard pressed to see anything at all.
I put out my hand before I even thought about it. The tips of my fingers tingled, and somehow they didn’t quite touch the cloth, but was stopped a little way before.
Ursala seen the dazzled look on my face. “The same tech as your cutter,” she said. “It can be a wall as well as a knife. I can dial down the brightness if it bothers you.”
I mumbled something not very much to the purpose, and turned my