AutumnQuest by Terie Garrison Page B

told him to be done with it, just take it to the woods and leave it. But would he listen to me? Does he ever? No. He hires that worthless carter Beels. O’course, he paid the price anyway, didn’t he just?”
    “Ma’am!” I finally broke through her tirade. She stopped and looked at me, wide-eyed. “I’m not a healer. I can’t help you. I’ve only come to deliver a horse from Kibee.”
    “Oh.”
    Her suddenly woebegone face touched my heart. “I’m sure the healer will be here soon,” I said gently.
    “Yes.” It came out as a whisper. “Indeed.”
    “So maybe I should just go.” I pointed towards the door.
    A deep voice from the vicinity of the bed startled me. “Mama, I’ll take care of this.” A young man of about twenty rose to his feet as he placed a damp rag on the sick man’s forehead.
    He walked over to us, then led his mother to the bedside. “You stay with Papa. Look after him. I’m sure the healer will be here directly.” The woman sat down next to the bed and took her husband’s intact hand in her own. The young man came back to me and escorted me from the room.
    “I’m sorry. She’s quite distraught.”
    “I should say so. I don’t blame her at all.” I looked back at the door he’d just closed and shuddered. “I’m just sorry I can’t help.”
    He led me to an office across the corridor from the bedroom. “You said you’ve brought a horse?”
    “Yes. A horse and a letter from Kibee.”
    “Then I should be able to take care of it. Unless it’s confidential?” I shook my head when he paused. “My father has been training me to take over the business, although we didn’t expect it to be so soon.” An understandable bitterness crept into his voice. I pulled the letter from its place in the front pocket of my pack and handed it to him.
    “Oh! I’m completely forgetting my manners. I’m Nevis. Can I get you some water to drink?”
    “Yes, please. And I’m Donavah.”
    He motioned for me to take a seat while he went to a table along the far wall and poured a glass of water from a crystal decanter. He handed it to me, and I took a drink. The water was surprisingly cool.
    Nevis sat in a chair near me and read Kibee’s letter. I watched him. He had pale green eyes and rather dark skin. His black curly hair was trimmed short, and a sprinkling of freckles gave him an impish look. What struck me most, though, wasn’t his appearance but the way he treated me: not as the half-educated student I was but as an adult. It felt odd, but in a pleasant sort of way.
    “Well, everything appears to be in order,” Nevis said, tapping his hand with the letter. “Is there anything I can do for you? Would you care to stay here for the night? I can have a guest room prepared.”
    “Oh, no, thank you.” Then I turned the conversation to what I really needed to know. “Um, your father. What happened? I couldn’t quite follow what your mother said.”
    “Ah, that’s a bad business. Don’t get me wrong; he’s not as bad off as Mama makes him sound. But still.” He just shook his head and sighed. “You heard Mama say he found that dragon egg in a load of cloth?” I nodded. “Well, his first idea—and not a bright one, I can tell you—was to keep it and hatch it himself.”
    “That’s crazy!” I exclaimed, then quickly clapped a hand over my mouth. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
    Nevis chuckled. “Well, you’re right. It is crazy. Mama eventually made him realize that, with considerable help from me.” I smiled, imagining the scene. “So he decided to send it back to Dallon, the merchant in Hucklow, and he hired Beels, an illiterate old carter, to take it. Somehow, the old man figured out what he was transporting. He ‘lost’ the egg not far from here. A student from Roylinn had stolen it was the story he told the soldiers—before they cut his tongue out.”
    I shuddered again. If this is what they did to those who innocently handled the dragon egg, what might