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our
bar stock for coin. What else should I know?”
    “Don’t improvise. Do whatever they tell you, when
they tell you. They’ll be very nervous and likely to panic
and do anything if they see one little thing going different from
what they prescribed. If you’ve got to get some paybacks,
wait till everybody is home safe. That much money will leave
tracks. Bloody ones, probably.”
    “I’ll worry about that when the time comes. Most
probably it’ll have to wait till the Stormwarden returns.
Thank you, Mr. Garrett. Your expertise has confirmed the soundness
of my own reasoning. I would say that we’ve had an amicable
and productive relationship. But there is one thing you could do to
make it perfect.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Stay away from Amiranda Crest.”
    “It’s been twenty years since I let anybody pick my
friends, Domina. You’re a sweetheart, but if I make an
exception for you—”
    “I’m not accustomed to disobedience.”
    “You ought to get out into the real world more.
You’d get in practice real fast.”
    “Get out of here before I lose my temper.”
    I figured that was good advice. I headed for the door.
    “Stay away from Amiranda.”
    I supposed Amiranda had gotten similar advice regarding Garrett.
I nearly trampled the Stormwarden’s daughter Amber. I pulled
the door shut behind me. “Eavesdropping?”
    “She’s right.”
    “About what?” Her ears were sharper than mine if she
could make out anything through that door.
    “You should forget Ami. I’m much more
interesting.”
    In that instant I decided she was wrong. Amiranda Crest was a
woman. This one wore a woman’s body but the creature inside
was spoiled, vain, snobbish, and probably not very bright. At a
snap judgment. “We’ll have to talk about it
sometime.”
    “Soon, I hope.”
    I think I grunted.
    “Let me know when.”
    Persistent little devil.
    The office door opened. “What are you doing here,
Amber?”
    “Talking to Mr. Garrett.”
    Willa Dount put on a fierce scowl and pointed it my way. It was
my fault that the women in the Stormwarden’s house tracked me
down. “Go back to your apartment, Amber. You know you
aren’t permitted in this wing.”
    “Stick your elbow in your ear, you old witch.”
    The Domina was absolutely astonished. I feared she would begin
sputtering. But her footwork was good. “If you wish to
contest my authority in your mother’s absence, we’ll
refer the dispute to your father.”
    “Naturally. He’ll say whatever you tell him to say,
won’t he?”
    Domina Dount remained painfully aware of my presence.
“Amber!”
    “How did you get a hold on him? It can’t be because
you’re a woman. You freeze bathwater when you sit in
it.”
    “That will be quite enough, Amber.”
    “Excuse me, ladies. I never feel comfortable in these hen
sessions. I’ll just be running along.”
    If looks could kill. Domina Dount wanted me deaf to her
humiliation. Amber wanted my support.
    I walked. I watched for Amiranda, but there was no sign of
her.
----

X
    The Dead Man remained engrossed in his war games. He was feeble
company at the best of times. When he was like this, with his
genius totally committed, he was no company at all. I consoled
myself with the suspicion that he was on to something overlooked by
the commanders of the many armies in the Cantard. I was spared his
irascibility, too.
    Old Dean was worse company. Each meal came with its pitch for
some deprived and homely female relative who, he hinted, had just
the touch the house really needed. Amiranda did not come to visit
as I’d hoped. After a few days of that I got to feeling
wretchedly sorry for myself and decided to go spend my recent gains
buying a few barrels of beer retail, for on-site consumption.
    I couldn’t get my heart into it. They ran me out of the
first two places for doing nothing but taking up space while I
nursed a single brew.
    The kidnapping kept nagging me. I should have been happy to have
my hundred-ten marks