The pillars of creation

She had never thought about it in that way. She viewed it more as simple desperation than calculated deception.

As Betty rubbed the top of her head against Jennsen's leg, she idly stroked the goat's ear and watched as the men left their game of dice to take horses from travelers. She didn't like the rough way the men handled the horses, using switches instead of a steady hand.

Jennsen scanned the crush of people until she spotted the red scarf. She coiled the slack out of Betty's rope and started off, pulling Rusty along with her. Surprised, Sebastian stepped quickly to catch up.

The woman in the red scarf was setting out pots with her sausages when Jennsen reached her. "Mistress?"

She squinted in the sunlight. "Yes, dear? Some more sausages?" She lifted a lid. "They are good, aren't they?"

"Delicious, but I was wondering if you would accept a payment to watch our horses, and my goat."

The woman replaced the lid. "The animals? I'm not a stableman, dear.»

Jennsen, holding the rope and the reins in one hand, rested her forearm on the side of the cart. Betty folded her legs and laid down beside the wheel. "I thought you might like the company of my goat for a while. Betty is a fine goat and wouldn't cause you any trouble."

The woman smiled as she peered down over the edge of her cart. "Betty, is it? Well, I could watch your goat, I guess."

Sebastian handed the woman a silver coin. "If we could picket our horses with yours, it would put our minds at ease that they were in good hands, and that you were keeping an eye on them."

The woman carefully inspected the coin, then appraised Sebastian more critically. "How long will you be? When I sell my sausages I'll want to be heading home, after all."

"Not long," Jennsen said. "We just want to go find the man you told us about-Friedrich."

Sebastian, in an offhand manner, pointed at the coin the woman was still holding. "When we get back, I'll give you another to thank you for watching our animals. If we don't get back until after your sausages are all sold, then I'll give you two for your trouble of waiting on us."

Finally, the woman nodded. "All right, then. I'll be here selling my sausages. Tie your goat to the wheel, there, and I'll keep my eye on her until you get back." She gestured over her shoulder. "And you can put your horses with mine, there. My old girl would enjoy the company."

Betty eagerly took the small chunk of carrot from Jennsen's fingers. Rusty nudged her shoulder, insistent that she not be left out, so Jennsen let the horse have a piece of the rare treat, then passed a chunk to Sebastian so an ever-eager Pete wouldn't be left out.

"If you lose track of where I am, just ask around for Irma, the sausage lady.»

"Thank you, Irma." Jennsen smoothed Betty's ears. "I appreciate your help. We'll be back before you know it.»

As they mingled into the crowd funneling toward the great plateau, Sebastian put his arm around her waist to keep her close beside him as he escorted her into the gaping maw of Lord Rahl's palace.

Jennsen could hear in the distance Betty's plaintive bleating at being abandoned.

CHAPTER 16

S oldiers in polished breastplates, all caff ying upright pikes with razorsharp edges glinting in the sunlight, silently studied the people entering between the great columns. As their scrutiny turned toward Jennsen and Sebastian, she made sure not to look them in the eye. She kept her head down and moved in step with the other people shuffling past the ranks of soldiers. She didn't know if they paid any particular attention to the two of them, but none reached out to seize her, so she kept moving.

The huge, cavelike entrance was lined in a light-colored stone, giving Jennsen a sense of passing into a grand hall rather than through a tunnel into a plateau the size of a mountain. Hissing torches in iron brackets set into the walls lit the way with a dotted line of light. The air smelled of burning pitch, but it felt warm inside, out of the winter wind.

To the sides, cut into the rock, were rows of rooms. Most were simple openings with a short front wall behind which vendors sold their wares. Walls in many of the small rooms were decorated with brightly colored cloth or painted planks, offering a welcoming touch. It had appeared that anyone outside could set up shop and sell their goods. Jennsen imagined the vendors inside had to pay rent for the rooms, but, in return, they had a warm and dry place in out of the weather to do business, where customers were more willing to linger.