AutumnQuest by Terie Garrison Page A

labors. I pushed the unwelcome comment from my mind.
    The serving girl looked back at me impatiently, and for the first time, I noticed a look of worry in her eyes. I hurried to catch up.
    “You will be able to see to Master, won’t you?”
    “Well, I’m here to see him,” I said, a sense of anxiety beginning to oppress me as I perceived a heavy tension emanating from the house.
    “Oh, but you must save him.”
    “Save him? What are you talking about?”
    “You must save him,” the girl repeated, tears starting in her eyes. “He can’t die just because those stinking Royal Guardsmen cut off his hand and foot.”

    WinterEnd is celebrated the day after the first buds appear on the early-blooming axcel bush, one of which is planted in every village, town, and city square. When the buds are spotted, typically by children keeping careful watch, word spreads quickly so that preparations for the feast the next day can begin.
    Summer Solstice is celebrated with elaborate magic exhibitions, concerts, and feasts. Winter Solstice is a night filled with the telling of stories and the imbibing of hot drinks. In some communities, storytelling competitions can be as fierce as the drinking competitions.
    Emancipation Day, in late Autumn, originated as Judgment Day, the annual day of execution. As capital punishment fell out of practice, a new custom evolved in which one half of petty criminals are set free. Eligible prisoners are gathered together in the prison and each pulls a stone from a leather sack. Each stone is painted black or white with an equal number of each in the sack. Then the warden removes a stone, and all prisoners who have a stone of the opposite color are freed.
    There are other holidays, many of a local or regional nature. For example, a village might celebrate the anniversary of its founding, or the king might declare a day of feasting in honour of the birth or marriage of a prince or princess.
    ~from The Book of Lore

“What?” I stopped mid-stride. She turned around and looked at me imploringly. “When they were here two days ago they questioned Master, and before they left, they cut off his hand and foot. As punishment, they said. But now infection has set in, and Mistress is afraid he’ll die. He needs a healer, so we sent to Roylinn, and now you’re here.” This short speech seemed to take up the last of her courage reserves, and she broke down in sobs. “Please hurry,” she managed to stutter out.
    “But I can’t. I’m not a healer.”
    Her sobs grew louder as the meaning of my words sank in. I patted her shoulder awkwardly. “But one will surely be along soon.”
    Just then the front door of the large house burst open. A small woman with an intimidating air about her looked down at the two of us standing at the foot of the steps, then charged down herself.
    “Mallie, why are you delaying the healer? Pull yourself together, child.” And before I could utter a word, she took my elbow in a powerful grip, pulled me up the steps and into the house, and led me down the corridor, keeping up a running monologue I couldn’t manage to interrupt.
    “A good girl, and a good worker, and I’m quite fond of her. But sometimes she just can’t control her emotions. Leaving you standing on the doorstep crying her eyes out while Gam is dying for want of your care. Damn the soldiers!” She made a few choice remarks about them and their predecessors. “And they have the gall to say they’ll spare his life, but then they go and mutilate him like this, as if that won’t kill him. I told him he should never have gotten involved with that damned egg.”
    She threw open a door and pushed me ahead of her into the room. The odors of disinfectant, herbs, and putrid flesh made me gag. “What egg?” I choked out the words.
    “He found a dragon egg hidden in a load of fine cloth that came from Hucklow.” I caught my breath, but she didn’t seem to notice. As she continued, I tried to compose myself. “I