King Pradwick ate noisily for a moment then turned to Leeta. “Where are your sisters?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea.”
He tore a hunk of bread off the large loaf and dunked it into the gravy on his plate. “Go and find them.”
Leeta leapt to her feet and almost tumbled her chair over in her hurry to do her father’s wish. Horland could never remember Leeta being so subservient, especially when it came to obeying her father. She used to have a mind of her own and Horland would have expected her to say something like,that’s what servants are for.
Horland frowned at her fast retreating back. “Is something amiss?”
“No.” The king bit off some bread and spoke around chewing. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I was just thinking about Leeta.”
“She’s going through a stage. I’m sure she’ll be back to her normal disobedient self soon enough.”
Horland laughed. “You know your daughter well.”
“I do. Now eat.”
They ate in silence for several minutes until Horland could not keep quiet any longer. “Are Sir Garlain and Lady Patricia about?”
The king’s eyes darkened in what Horland could only conceive as sadness. He stood up and slung his napkin on the table. “I have an appointment. Please, have more food and wine. I will speak with you this evening.”
Horland frowned. What could King Pradwick have remembered that was so urgent that he had to leave at that moment? Horland had had enough to eat, so he left the table in search of Leeta. He found Princess Tilly wheeling her chair down the hall. She was a dark-haired thirteen-year-old who had the misfortune to fall from her first horse when she was but a child. The physicians saved her but could not save her legs. The king’s clever friends, Mark and Dianne, invented the chair on wheels especially for her.
“Princess Tilly, greetings. I see you have new wheels.”
Tilly beamed. “Hello, Sir Horland. Mark brought these from the blacksmith just this morning. Are they not the best?”
“They are. Where is Mark now, and is Dianne with him?”
“She was, but they are gone to I know not where.” She threw her arms over her head in a wave. “One minute they’re here and the next they are gone.” Leaning forward, she lowered her voice to a near whisper so that Horland had tobend low to hear her. “Father will not speak of it, but I am certain they are witches from deep within the Forest of Uther. I think they have secluded themselves in the old castle ruins there.”
Horland straightened and laughed. “If they were witches surely Princess Morla would know.”
She tsked and shook her young head at him as if he were a naughty child. “Morla is not a seer. She only knows things because she learns about them from books no one else wants to read.”
“I expect you are right on that point.” He bowed. “Have a good day, Princess.”
She wheeled her chair away. “And you, Sir Knight.”
Horland let out a breath. Tilly was right, though—Mark and Dianne were always coming and going. Horland doubted even the king knew when they were to arrive or leave, although he never once, as far as Horland remembered, showed surprise at their appearance or disappearance.
Thinking Leeta would be in the planning room instead of looking for her sisters, he hurried up the stairs to speak with her. Voices floated from the half-opened door and for some reason Horland stopped, keeping out of sight. He smashed his lips together. It wasn’t like him to eavesdrop, but the small hairs that had sprung up on the back of his neck at Leeta and the king’s voices told him to stay silent.
“Have you spoken to Morla?” the king asked.
“Not since she last came for supplies.”
“Is she well?”
“The work has finished on the ruins and she tells me the Forest of Uther is quiet. She has not come upon any wastrels.”
“Good, good. However, now is not a good time for Horland to return. Perhaps I should send Horland back into the kingdom on some errand or other.”
“I think that may be our only option at this time, Father. He will have many questions and the answers are not ours to give.”
“Yes, yes. You read his reports and come up with the errands and get Carson to give him his orders.”
