Luck in the Shadows

the right teacher. I know just the man. Then, of course, there'd be palming, etiquette, lock work, disguise, languages, heraldry, fighting—I don't suppose you can read?"
    "I know the runes," Alec retorted, though in truth he could only make out his own name and a few words.
    "No, no, I meant proper writing."
    "Hold on, now," cried Alec, overwhelmed. "I don't mean to be ungrateful—you've saved my life and all, but—"
    Seregil waved this aside impatiently. "Given the circumstances of your capture, getting you out of there seemed the least I could do. But now I'm talking about what you want, Alec, beyond tomorrow, beyond next week. Honestly, do you really mean to spend the rest of your life mucking out stalls for some fat innkeeper in Wolde?"
    Alec hesitated. "I don't know. I mean, hunting and trapping, it's all the life I've known."
    "All the more reason to give it up, then!" Seregil declared, his grey eyes alight with enthusiasm. "How old
    did you say you are?"
    "Sixteen."
    "And you've never seen a dragon."
    "You know I haven't."
    "Well, I have," Seregil said, swinging up into the saddle again.
    "You said there weren't any more dragons!"
    "I said there weren't any more in Skala. I've seen them flying under a full moon in winter. I've danced at the great Festival of Sakor and tasted the wines of Zengat, and heard mermaids singing in the mists of dawn. I've walked the halls of a palace built in a time beyond memory and felt the touch of the first inhabitants against my skin. I'm not talking legend or imagination, Alec, I've done all of that, and more than I have breath to tell."
    Alec rode along in silence, overwhelmed with half-realized images.
    "You said you couldn't imagine yourself as anything more than what you've been," Seregil went on, "but I say you've just never had the chance to try. I'm offering you that chance. Ride south with me after Wolde, and see how much world there is beyond your forests."
    "But the stealing part—"
    Seregil's crooked grin held no trace of remorse. "Oh, I admit I've cut a purse or two in my time, and some of what I do could be called stealing depending on who you ask, but try to imagine the challenge of overcoming incredible obstacles to accomplish a noble purpose. Think of traveling to lands where legends walk the streets in daylight and even the color of the sea is like nothing you've ever seen! I ask you again, would you be plain Alec of Kerry all your life, or would you see what lies beyond?"
    "But is it an honest living?" Alec persisted, clinging to his last shred of resolve.
    "Most of those who employ me are great lords or nobles."
    "It sounds like a pretty dangerous line of work,"
    Alec remarked, aware that Seregil had once again side-stepped the question.
    "That's the spice of it, though," cried Seregil. "And you can end up rich!"
    "Or at the end of a rope?"
    Seregil chuckled. "Have it your way."
    Alec gnawed absently at a thumbnail, his brow creased in thought. "All right, then," he said at last. "I want to come with you, but first you've got to give me a few straight answers."
    "It's against my nature, but I'll try."
    "This war you spoke of, the one that's coming. Which side are you on?"
    Seregil let out a long sigh. "Fair enough. My sympathies lie with Skala, but for your safety and mine, that's as much as I'll say on the matter for now."
    Alec shook his head. "The Three Lands are so far away. It's hard to believe their wars could reach us here."
    "People will do quite a lot for gold and land, and there's precious little of either left in the south, especially in Plenimar."
    "And you're going to stop them?"
    "Hardly," scoffed Seregil. "But I may be of some help to those who can. Anything else?"
    "After Wolde, where would we go?"
    "Well, home to Rhнminee ultimately, though first—"
    "What?" Alec's eyes widened. "You mean to say that you live there ! In the city where the wizards are?"
    "What do you say?"
    Some small, final doubt held Alec back a moment longer. Looking Seregil in the eye, he asked, "Why?"
    Seregil raise one eyebrow, perplexed. "Why what?"
    "You hardly know me. Why do you want me to come with you?"
    "Who knows? Perhaps you remind me just a bit of—"
    "Someone you used to know?" Alec interjected skeptically.
    "Someone I used to be." The crooked grin flashed again as Seregil pulled off his right glove and extended his hand across to Alec.
    "So it's settled?"
    "I guess so." Alec was surprised to catch a glimpse of what looked like relief in his