“We should go,” Sol said, a while after darkness had fallen.
Ian stood as well, his muscles starting to feel the strain of the day’s work now that he had been sitting still for some time.
Across the fire, Meena started to hug the children goodbye. Some of them appeared to get several hugs.
Lyra stepped forward with a glass lantern—only, it was not lit with a flame from within. Rather, the whole lantern was a single piece of the magical glowing glass. Because of the way it cast a low light, Ian assumed it would be more effective on a dark trail than a regular flame lantern. This one would be less likely to blind his eyes to the darkness.
Lyra handed the lantern to Sol, then held out a large cloak. “Here, take this,” she said.
Ian waved away the offered gift. “There is no need.” He was already wearing a thick woolen cloak.
“This one is spelled to repel water.” Lyra pushed the cloak toward him. “It will stay dry no matter the weather.”
“Thank you,” Ian replied, trying to sound as humbled as he felt by the proffered gift. “But surely someone here needs it more than I do. My own cloak was made by the best seamstress in the city, and her fabric has never failed me. In fact, it has also stayed consistently dry...” Ian realized what he was saying and looked over at Meena.
“Oh!” she said, her face round with surprise. “Oh! Mistress Cedrice has been spelling our cloaks this whole time!”
“She always said it was due to the superior weave of the wool,” Ian said. Ever since Ashlin had moved in with the older woman and apprenticed under her three seasons ago, they had known that Mistress Cedrice was a descendant of the Majis. She had been the one to teach the royal family everything she had learned about her people from her own mother and grandmother.
“And she always charged so much extra for the finer wool,” Meena said. “A price we gladly paid for the warmth and dryness.”
“Where do you think she was getting those cloaks?” Lyra asked, her eyes sparkling in the firelight.
“It was incredibly dangerous of her to sell a spelled item, but we never suspected anything was amiss.” Ian shook his head. “Clever woman.”
Chapter 15
Robin walked through the cobbled streets of the Allysian capital city, enjoying the warm sun that still shone this far north. Behind her, her horse clopped contentedly down the cobbled stones, likely happy to be free of her extra weight as she was not riding him. His saddlebags were heavy enough on their own.
While Erich’s pouch of gold had helped, it was far from enough to cover the rising costs of supporting everyone at Lockwood, much less the villages beyond. Fortunately, the people of Lockwood produced a variety of goods that could be sold or traded. So Robin had brought several blocks of beeswax as well as cleanly carded wool to trade in the neighboring kingdom. She could have tried to sell it in one of the larger Iseldan cities, but these days, no one in Iseldis had the coin to spare.
She also had other matters to attend to in Allys.
Thanks to Ilida, Lockwood Manor was used to managing without Robin, whose River’s Talon business required frequent travel.
Beside her, Ulli walked in silence holding the reins of his own mount. From the slight movement of his head, Robin knewhe was scanning the busy street ahead of them for any sign of danger. It was an instinctual habit for him, and one that she valued.
“Here,” Robin said, tugging the horse’s reins toward the gate of a small villa.
“You said we were visiting a monastery,” Ulli said, taking in the warm clay home.
“It is not the building that makes the monastery”—Robin pushed open the unlocked gate to reveal a lovely open courtyard surrounded by covered walkways—“but the monks inside the building.”
Ulli took the reins of Robin’s horse before she passed through the gate. “Go see to your monks,” he said. “I will get this boy some water.”
Robin turned back, reaching into her saddle bags to extract a single block of beeswax and a sack of wool. Then she entered the villa.
The courtyard was empty, which was not unexpected. The monks were a quiet group, going about their daily business while literally leaving their front door open to any that needed to enter.
The monks that resided here had once been housed in a large, ancient monastery on the shore of Iseldis. But when the sea storms ravaged the shoreline, the Council of Five Kingdoms had ordered the monks to retreat from their home. Several of them had traveled all the way here to Allys to establish a new home in the donated villa.
Robin had visited the monks several times, and she made her way down a familiar corridor to Brother Elias’s study. She saw no one as she walked, but she could hear the quiet sounds of peaceful men going about their daily tasks from other rooms in the house.
When she reached her destination, the door to the study was open, likely to allow for a cool breeze to flow through the small room. As she stood in the open doorway, Robin had the thought that the old man hunched over his desk in front of her would have made a terrible bandit. He neither heard nor saw Robin approach.
Smiling at his focused demeanor, Robin knocked on the door frame before she announced herself. “A moment of your time, my good brother?”
Not startled in the slightest, Brother Elias lifted his head. “Lady Robin,” he greeted her, his eyes soft and welcoming. “Your company is always unexpected but never unwelcome.”
