"ARI!" Jaedis screamed in horror.

"He's a bandit!" Arialain cried. "He wants to get you on the Wending Way and steal your hair!"

"That's not true!" Gunther raised his hands. "I would never have harmed either one of ye good ladies!" He stepped back from the point of Arialain's sword, but she promptly followed him.

"Ari—stop!" Jaedis sounded mortified.

"He's not from Bauble. He's not from any of those places he mentioned. Look at his boots, Jaedis. He's from Hexwick!"

"I—I bought the boots in Hexwick because they were cheap," Gunther said quickly. "I never lived there, truly! I live in Merridell."

"You live in Merridell, but you didn't know the way to the castle? Did you move here yesterday? You knew Maelyn's name readily enough. You've got the old speech of the nomads who settled in Hexwick originally, and furthermore, that gigantic horse can sit two people easily, especially two girls the size of me and Jaedis! You just wanted to get her alone to steal her Angtokal hair, which is rare and would fetch a high price!"

"Preposterous. You're being absurd." Gunther drew back from the sword again, and with his long legs, Arialain feared he would escape her. She shifted close to the horse and grabbed the dangling bridle with her free hand.

"Fine. Run away like a coward. But if you do, your horse will pay the price."

"Don't hurt the horse!" Gunther cried.

Arialain had no intention of hurting the horse. She had rightly guessed this was a horse man, someone who would rather die than see any harm come to his animal. He stood frozen, neither advancing nor retreating from them. Arialain clasped the horse's bridle, her sword trained in Gunther's direction. Her heart thundered and she hoped he couldn't see she trembled all over.

"Jaedis," Arialain said. "Check his saddlebag and see if there are scissors in there."

She kept her eyes on Gunther but heard Jaedis rustling. "No scissors!"

Arialain didn't yield. "He could have an accomplice in the woods. Get off the horse, Jaedis. And give it a good slap so he runs off."

"Ari, you're being crazy!"

"Just—just obey her," Gunther said to Jaedis in angry tones. "I don't want him hurt."

Once Jaedis had slid down and set the horse galloping, Arialain moved closer to Gunther. "I doubt you gave me your real name, but I will remember your face. Next time I see you, this blade goes all the way through your neck. Understood?" She lowered her sword.

Gunther looked disgusted. "I will not forget thy face either! Such a foul insult...." He tramped up the road, hurrying after his horse.

Jaedis reclaimed her basket and faced Arialain, aghast. "You bought a real sword?"

"Yes."

"And then what—couldn't wait to use it? You threatened a perfectly normal man!"

"He was a bandit. The signs were all there."

"Well, the scissors weren't there! And it's daylight!"

"They've attacked in daylight. And like I said, he probably had an accomplice waiting."

"You're crazy. You're crazy! You're crazy." Jaedis shifted the basket's handle to her elbow and started up the hill at a hard pace. "That was a normal, nice man! And you insulted him."

"He gave me a bad feeling. And he was from Hexwick."

"You do know ordinary people are from Hexwick, don't you? They're not all scoundrels."

"Then why did he lie about it? Why wear the boots of a woodland hunter, designed to make very little noise? Why insist a huge saddle holds only one rider? I can't believe you got up there!"

"I'm around people a lot more than you. Not to mention older."

Arialain scoffed. "By one and a half years."

Their argument continued until they mounted the hill and stood in front of the castle. They caught the attention of Coralina and Sir Brunner, returning to the castle from another direction.

Jaedis whirled around. "Did you two just come from the Wending Way?"

"Maybe," Coralina said smoothly.

"Did you see anyone in there? A stranger? Some kind of—I don't know— scary man holding a huge pair of scissors?"

Brunner and Coralina looked at each other.

"We didn't see anyone," Brunner said. "But we thought we heard footsteps in the brush below us. It was only for a minute or two."

"And probably a deer," Coralina said.

Jaedis gushed the whole story of their encounter with the man on the road, employing a lot of sarcasm. Arialain saw two reactions: Coralina looking as outraged as Jaedis. Brunner looking gradually more grave.

"If I had to put money on it—yes, I'd say that was a bandit," Brunner said.

"He wasn't!" Jaedis cried.

"What did he look like?" Brunner turned to Arialain, who described the man thoroughly, encouraged by the look in his eyes. He seemed impressed. When she showed him the sword and imitated how she'd used it, he laughed outright.

"Perfectly done! Especially figuring out that he worshipped his horse. Good instincts, Ari. We'll be looking out for the fellow, that's certain."

"So you really think he was a bandit?" Arialain felt amazed to have someone on her side.

"He showed a lot of bad signs. Make no mistake, you acted rightly."

"Thank you," Arialain said. Jaedis had disappeared inside the castle, probably to make sure Maelyn saw it her way, and Coralina had gone with her. No one was coming up the hill, and for this small window of time, she had Sir Brunner's attention. She had to ask, even if it embarrassed her.

"Sir Brunner... is there a way for someone like me to become a knight?"

To her amazement, his dark eyes didn't turn mocking.

"Is that your quest?"

"Well... sometimes I think about it."

Brunner shifted his weight to the other foot and folded his arms. "Can you handle straight talk?"

"I can. It's all I get from my sisters."

"You're young. And you're small. So it wouldn't be easy. Someone like you would be taught to fight with speed and stealth, rather than strength. Like a snake, you'd use surprise as your main element—especially because you don't look dangerous. Your innocent beauty is very disarming, so you'd be taught how to use that to your advantage."

Arialain couldn't help grinning. She liked being called a beauty. "Do you think Lumen Fortress would accept me?"

"Definitely not. I wouldn't want you there. Some of those men are hulking brutes, foul in every way. No, what you want is Women of Valor."

Arialain looked at him. "Women of Valor?" In the deepest corners of her mind, she knew she'd heard the phrase before. "Are they knights?"

"They don't use that term, but they do the same things. You'd be taught how to ride, fight, and protect without losing your womanliness. Many of them become spies. They usually answer to the queen, rather than the king, and they consider themselves the queen's army."

Arialain loved the sound of this. "Where are they? Are they in Grunwold? It sounds like something Grunwold would have."

Brunner laughed. "You're very smart! And yes! They have a training camp up in Grunwold. You should pay them a visit when you're there next, and ask if they have an opening. For a princess, I imagine they would."

Arialain was trying not to grin like a chipmunk. "I—I think I'll do that! Thank you so much, Sir Brunner! You don't know what it means. In which part of Grunwold is the camp—King's Elbow? Seems like everything's in King's Elbow."

"No... it's more remote than that. I think the women like their privacy. The camp is near the border of Grunwold, up in the northeast corner. The region that was formerly the kingdom of Pendora."