“Ah, your friend smells the meat,” said Patrick, reaching in to pull out a chain of links wrapped in paper.
“Don’t give it to him. He’s fine.”
“Honestly, the scent of it has been rather turning my stomach,” he said. “He’s welcome to it.”
Patrick tossed the packet to the grass, where Baldbeak set happily to work, then sat with his back against a tree, lounging as if he were in a comfortable chair and seeming quite at his ease. I lowered myself beside him and started to eat. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was. I tore off pieces of the bread with my teeth and gulped it down.
“Thank you for helping me,” I said at last, grudgingly.
“You are very welcome.”
“I was wondering one thing, though—how did you know he had stolen goods on board?”
“I was meant to be buying them.” He grinned. “No matter.”
“What?”
“I was supposed to meet him later today and take them off his hands … But it was a trifling deal, one I don’t mind discarding. And he hardly seems the sort of fellow with whom I want to do business.”
“So you’re a criminal?”
He shrugged. “That’s an ugly word.”
“Is it an accurate one?”
He smiled, but did not answer. “So,” he said conversationally. “Where are you off to?”
I paused in my chewing and stared at him. “I don’t mean to be rude, but …”
“But it’s none of my business? Fair enough. I am a desperate character. And you mean to travel alone?”
I thought I saw where this was going. Mother had told me all about Men and had nothing good to say. They were almost on a level with petty magicians in her estimation. “I suppose you’re going to offer me a ride,” I said with heavy sarcasm.
“Hardly. I am deeply untrustworthy.”
This startled a laugh from me.
“But I may be able to point you in the right direction,” hesaid. He crossed his arms behind his head, again exposing that rip in the shoulder seam of his coat.
“And where are you going? You are far from anywhere out here,” I said. “Unless you plan to put on a magic show for the geese.”
“It is rather in the middle of nowhere,” he admitted. “Lucky for you and your raven, though.”
“And no more stolen goods to pick up.”
“Most unfortunate.”
Baldbeak had strewn the sausages across the grass while he feasted, making them look uncomfortably like entrails.
“I am going to Quell,” I confessed, making the decision to come clean. After all, he might be able to help.
He raised his eyebrows. “That’s a long way for a young woman traveling alone.”
“Well, I don’t have much of a choice. How do young women travel, usually?”
“By carriage, if they are of the nobility. With footmen, and outriders, and perhaps a hired mage in case of any magical trouble on the road.”
I sighed. “That would be nice.”
