Luck in the Shadows

came round to the kitchen door. Inside, two women were hard at work over wooden bread bowls.
    "Kora, her ladyship wants this messenger boy fed," snapped the manservant. "See to it he stays put until he's called for."
    "As if we don't have enough to occupy us this morning, and us up to the tits in flour," huffed the taller of the two women, pushing a lank strand of hair back with her forearm. "Stamie, Stamie girl! Where the blasted hell are you?"
    A thin, pockmarked girl of seventeen or so staggered out of a pantry room with an immense ham in her arms. "What is it now, Auntie? I's just out to boil the ham as you told me."
    "Put that aside for a moment and set this lad up in the chimney nook with a bite of tucker. There's some rabbit pie at the back of the larder needs eating. That'll do well enough for him."
    Retreating meekly to his corner, Alec was quickly ignored by all but plain Stamie, who seemed to be the only friendly inhabitant of the place.
    "You just let me heat this up for you," she said, setting the pot of leftovers in the coals. "Do you fancy a pint of beer with your food?"
    "Yes, please. It's a long ride all the way up here from Rhнminee."
    "Rhнminee, you say?" she exclaimed softly, stealing a glance in her aunt's direction.
    "Gods, what I wouldn't give to find service in the city! But you've a country accent yourself. How'd you manage it?"
    "My position, you mean? Well now, there's not a lot to tell," Alec stammered; he'd been sent in as a simple messenger, for the Maker's sake! It hadn't occurred to any of them that he'd need some detailed history. "Master Verik knew my father, that's all."
    "Lucky you. I was born into this lot, stuck out here in the williwags, same old faces day after day."
    Her callused hand brushed across his as she reached to stir the coals, and hectic patches of color fleeted across her sallow cheeks. "What's your name, stranger?"
    "Elrid. Elrid of Market Lane," Alec replied, noting both her blush and the striped bead she wore on a bit of red yarn around her neck.
    It was a common country charm to attract a lover.
    "Well, Elrid of Market Lane, it's a fair pleasure to see someone new for a change. At least someone I don't have to wait on hand and foot!" she added, rolling her eyes.
    "Lady Kassarie's got guests, then?"
    "Oh, yes, but even they're the same old lot. I spent half last night trying to keep old Lord Galwain's footman out of my skirts, as usual. Why is it never the one you want that takes the liberties, eh?"
    This observation, together with the warm look that accompanied it, left no doubt where Alec stood in her estimation.
    "You'd best be seeing after that ham now, Stamie," her aunt interrupted gruffly. "I'm sure this great big lad don't need you spooning his food into him. Off with you, now! And no mooning about."
    With a resentful roll of her eyes, Stamie hefted the ham again and disappeared into the yard. Bolting down his pot of tepid scraps under Kora's watchful eye, Alec greeted Illester's reappearance with considerable relief.
    The old man dourly handed him a sealed scroll and a silver coin. "See that you put that letter into Lady Althia's hands yourself, boy. Your horse has been watered. Off with you now!"
    Message in hand, Alec galloped half a mile down the road before doubling back through the trees to where Seregil and Micurn were waiting.
    "Well?" Seregil demanded.
    "I spoke to Lady Kassarie. She claims he never came and that she wasn't expecting him. The watchman said the same when he let me in."
    "She didn't pretend not to know him, though?" asked Micum.
    "No, she just seemed surprised and a bit worried over the whole business. She gave me this note to carry back."
    Lifting the seals with his knife, Seregil read the letter. "Nothing unusual here. She sends her regards and hopes that Lady Althia's husband turns up soon. There's no sign of a hidden message or cipher."
    "She did ask me if I'd noticed anyone on the road this morning," Alec told him.
    "Nothing suspicious in that," said Micum. "What was the household like?"
    "I only saw the hall, kitchen, and part of the yard. She has some other guests, though. I saw two horses saddled for traveling and the scullery maid mentioned a Lord Galwain."
    "Well done," Seregil said, clapping him on the back. "What about Kassarie and her people?"
    "She's civil enough, I guess. She sent me to the kitchen for something to eat while she wrote out the note. The servants, though! They all treated me like something they'd