The answer had been copious amounts of butter, an unbelievably hot grill, and a beautifully marbled cut of beef that had been raised by human farmers in the valley beyond. It was just as special as Yordin had promised.
In the morning, they thanked Yordin for his support and accommodations and headed back to the minecarts to catch the rail-wheel to Winwold, a box of sample materials as requested by Professor Marin in tow. Alison had thought Willow might have wanted to stay with Gwenla in order to avoid any furthertransit, but the cat’s first encounter with the children put a quick end to that idea.
“Get this thing off me,” she said. One of Yordin’s daughters had tied a frilly pink bonnet around her neck.
It was extremely cute, but Alison knew better than to admit it. Instead, she bent down and untied the laces, freeing Willow.
“Completely undignified,” said Willow. “I spent all night trying to evade those little monsters.”
“Well, you can get plenty of rest on the rail-wheeler,” said Alison.
The journey to Norgate, the mountain town where Winwold was located, was not far as the crow flies, but unfortunately, it seemed that there was a tiny town with a tiny station on the other side of every mountain they went around and every tunnel they passed through. The scenery was beautiful though, all snow-capped peaks and green valleys shifting to amber with the cooling of the weather, but Alison was eager to get to the college. She didn’t know how much time it might take Professor Marin to sort out the issues with the solar device, and the looming threat of the king giving the order to raze the town hung over all of their heads.
The light had begun to fade by the time they pulled into Norgate Station. Norgate was the largest and busiest town they had been through since Landsend, though most of that was the college and its just arriving students, many of them on the very same rail-wheeler. A line of carriages awaited to bring the freshers and their families up to High House, and Alison and her remaining companions would be taking one of those as well.
Although they wouldn’t be alone.
“Alison! Over here!”
Alison nearly didn’t recognize Rinka, her former roommate and dearest friend. The orc was wearing a prim suit in a studious gray, and she’d cut her red hair stylishly short and curled itneatly. She stood with Prince Idris, looking dapper in his school attire, in front of an expensive-looking carriage.
Alison noticed the carriage lacked the royal insignia. Prince Idris didn’t like to make a fuss.
Alison waved to them as Keir touched her shoulder. “I’m going to run to the post office across the street.” In his hands was a small brown package tied with white string.
“For Charlotte?” Alison guessed.
“It’s a puzzle I bought from the dwarves while you were sleeping this morning. A funny little metal contraption. She always loved that kind of thing.”
Alison smiled. “I’ll tell them to wait for you.”
She crossed over to the carriage and was greeted by one of Rinka’s biggest hugs.
“I missed you,” said Rinka.
“How was Princess Chloe?” asked Alison once she could breathe again: the orc had one hell of a grip.
“Amazing. I’ll tell you all about it on the ride up.”
“Boys and girls?” said Lady Sibba, gesturing to the two carriages.
“Of course,” said Rinka, linking arms with her and climbing into the front carriage. “How else are we meant to gossip?”
Alison felt bad for Weyland—he was, despite his size, one of the girls more than one of the boys.
“Don’t worry,” said Lady Sibba, sensing Alison’s concerns. “I’ll catch him up on it all once we’re there.”
As the carriage traveled the path to High House, Rinka told them of her travels the past couple of weeks. First, they had gone to see Princess Chloe at her country home.
“We told her the truth,” said Rinka. Rinka had posed as a noble from the continental principality of Paistos during the summer in order to convince Loegria’s courtiers to save Herot’s Hollow from the construction of a dam. It had worked, butprimarily due to her befriending of Princess Ceridwen, who had the ear of the king.
“How did she take it?” asked Alison.
“She was very surprised,” said Rinka. “I think we really fooled her. But she was great about it. She had ideas for how to tell the rest of the court. Some of them were completely wild, like saying that my father had been eaten by sea lions and that in Paistos, it meant I had to forfeit my title.”
“Highly plausible,” said Alison.
“Do they even have sea lions in Paistos?” asked Lady Sibba.
