1 Chapter 1

“Cast your Runes?”

In the market crowd,it was hard to hear any single thing,but the street magicians knew their trade well and could capture anyone’s attention,even in a crowd this size.I was no exception.The soft voice came from my left,and when I turned,I faced the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.Her hair was a curly auburn that fell to her waist,and her eyes were the deep green of thick leaves after a summer storm.

She swayed with lithe grace as she extracted a leather pouch from somewhere within the folds of the black cloak that hid her body.As she shook the bag,her ruby lips pulled back into a wide smile.“You look like one who has a date with destiny,love,”she purred.“Why not see what advice the oracle can give for the price of a piece of silver?”

Entranced,I sidestepped out of the flow of the crowd and into the small space surrounding her table,not caring whom I jostled in the process.I dug into my pocket,pulling forth what I hoped to be a gustpaand handed it to her.Even before it landed in her open palm,it disappeared,and the leather pouch began to rattle as she shook it again.Prying apart the tied thongs,she held the bag out to me.I reached in,feeling smooth coolness beneath my fingers,and picked three of the stones.

I set them on the table in the order I had drawn them.Squinting,she rearranged them so she could read them from right to left as I had placed them before myself,and she flipped over the two which were blank.One remained so.She was quiet for a few moments,ever mindful of the effect her silence would have on me as I awaited my fate.Then she cleared her throat and pointed to the runes between us.

“You’re on a quest of sorts,no?”she asked,looking into my eyes.I nodded,and she continued.“This first stone is marked with raido,the Rune of the Journey.Your present course,though what you seek is closed to me.”

I bit my tongue,not willing to tell her whom I sought.She was a passing sigel,a street magician who traveled from town to town like dandelion spore,taking root wherever the crowds might be.She may have heard the legend of Talitha,but I couldn’t take her into my confidence here,in the middle of the marketplace.So I kept quiet,and she pointed to the second stone.

“This is gebo,the Rune of Partnership.I see you travel alone,and in this age it isn’t safe for a woman to do so.But your crossbow and quiver tell me you’re a warrior of sorts.”I nodded again,but she didn’t see me—her eyes were trained on the stones.“However,someone will be joining you soon.”

I started and she looked up,her green eyes flashing in the afternoon sun.“Ah yes,you’ll not travel alone much longer.”

Before I could respond,she pointed to the blank stone and smiled.“Odin’s Rune,the Unknowable.The end and the beginning.A portend of death at times,but don’t be afraid.Quite the contrary in this case.Here it represents karma,and tells us nothing is predestined that cannot be changed.This is your future.”

Eerie.Without a word,I began to draw away.Next she’d want to read my palm for another gustpa,or maybe cleanse my chakra,or some such nonsense.But before I moved too far,she grabbed my wrist.When I turned,she smiled again.“What’s your name,quester?”

“Morlea,”I told her,eager to go.The spell she had woven to draw me in had broken and my mind wandered.If I wanted a place to sleep tonight,I had to leave for the inn now.They would only hold my place until dusk before giving it away if I didn’t show to reclaim it,andalready the Runes and their meanings were slipping from my mind.I had a princess to find.

But her lips formed my name,and at the will of her magic,my mind snapped back to the stones and to her.“The Boar’s Head Inn,”she said,releasing my wrist so I stumbled into the flow of the crowd.A few people pushed me back,angry I had fallen into them,but most steppedout of my way.They saw the crossbow,I knew.

Still,I got turned around and thrown off-balance.I shook the crowd away and turned,lookingfor the table where she had been,but it was gone.

****

I hadn’t noticed it before,but the inn where I was staying was none other than the Boar’s Head she had mentioned.Either she’s telepathic,or it’s the only inn in town.I guessed the latter—I’d never heard of a sigelwith psychic abilities.Street magic is a learned trade,not innate.Or perhaps she had been telling me where shestayed,not where I was at.Regardless,I couldn’t seem to get that pretty face framed by tendrils of curls out of my mind as I went up the stairwell to the rooms above the tavern.As I lay down for a quick nap before dinner,her face floated above me in the darkness of the windowless room.

I woke much later to the distant sound of flutes trilling below me.A band of troubadours were in full swing downstairs,the tavern dimmed so the stage opposite the large fireplace appeared lit by the candles edging it,but I could scarcely hear them above the raucous laughter of the inebriated audience.I sat down at a table close to the stage—the only emptyone I could see in the dimmed room—and ordered a large draft when the barmaid hurried to my side.My taste for ale was something I had developed as a result of my travels.

Presently my beer came,and with it a supper of sliced steak and mashed root vegetables,a meal paid for with my room.The troubadours finished up their song amid a smattering of applause.A few coins found their way onto the stage,but no one seemed to be paying much attention to the evening’s entertainment.Then an older man came out onstage and,clearing his throat,raised his voice above the crowd.“Travelers and thieves,”he began.

Someone laughed near the back of the room.I dove into my meal with just the slightest glance his way.

Clapping his hands together,he gave me a toothless grin.“Tonight we have a special treat for you!A dancer,known far and wide as the most beautiful woman alive.The way she moves!Even an old man like myself remembers what it’s like to be young when she sways before my eyes and she is here,for your pleasure!”