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on either side of his head, twitching like a mammut's. "You may ride up here, seated on the Baron's tent."
    "I'll take the child," Yvon said, holding out his hands. At least he could protect the heir.
    Sebius tapped her heart. "Oh, no, no, no. No child in swaddling should be separated from his loving mother. The babe shall be perfectly safe."
    "Oh, yes," the handler added. "The babe will be perfectly safe up here. Giruma is a very gentle mammut."
    "I'll keep him with me," Xaragitte said firmly. "He may soon be hungry again." She turned her back on Yvon.
    He went to boost her up and so did Sebius. With one helping her on either side, she climbed onto the kneeling mammut's back and settled on the cushion of the pack it carried. When the animal stood again, she smiled nervously.
    "Onward," Sebius told the mammut handler. "We have very far to go today."
    "Be careful," Yvon said, walking beside the beast, but Xaragitte did not look at him.
    Sebius matched steps with Yvon, speaking in a low voice. "I must see to the strays-the other strays." She laughed, and although he didn't like being referred to as a stray, Yvon smiled in reply. "But later you will walk with me, yes, and tell me all you know about the valley. Yes?"
    "My knowledge is a drop of water in a broad river."
    "Ah! But a thirsty man is glad for even the smallest drop that wets his tongue. Do you have much experience with cattle?"
    "None at all, but for the team that pulls a plow." And that some forty years ago, as a boy. He saw no need to be so specific.
    "That is a difficult task," Sebius said, absurdly pleased. "You will talk to me, and perhaps in the weeks and months, nay years, to come we shall labor side by side. I cast divination bones before we departed the Imperial City, and they indicated that my future and fortune would be made by a man named Bran."
    Chills shivered through Yvon. "It's not an uncommon name."
    "But you are an uncommon man." Sebius continued to grin. "Yes, anyone can see there is something hidden about you. Make my fortune here as the bones foretold, and I shall see you never want for anything again."
    The other boy returned, bearing bowls of boiled oats mixed with maple syrup. He gave both to Yvon, to preserve his dignity, and Yvon passed one up to Xaragitte. She murmured thanks.
    Sebius grabbed the boy roughly by the shoulder and shook him. "Fetch this lovely woman, the image of Bwnte herself, watered wine to drink. Not a drop for yourself or I'll have you beaten! And when you return, remain in her service throughout the day." The lad darted off, and Sebius turned to Yvon. "I must attend to other duties now, but I've marked the boy and you may order him about as you like."
    Yvon nodded acceptance of this around a mouthful of oats. He followed along behind the lumbering tusker, using two fingers to spoon the food into his mouth. He licked the bowl clean when it was empty and stuffed it in his pack.
    At the castle, their true identities would certainly be discovered. Yvon knew it. But if they arrived in darkness, and slipped away before the dawn, they had a chance.
    The mammut handler talked constantly with Xaragitte as the leagues fell away beneath their feet. Yvon helped her down at the noon halt. "You must watch what you say," he whispered, with a nod at the jug-eared boy. "He'll report everything to the eunuch."
    "He'll report that I love my baby and that my baby loves mammuts and silly songs." She changed Claye's position to the other breast. "What kind of name is Pwylla? It sounds like something you'd throw on a rug."
    He didn't have anything to say to that.
    "You have no honor at all, do you? You didn't have to give our names. But you lie, you break your word without a second thought-"
    "Just don't mention his name," Yvon said, tilting his head at Claye.
    She turned her shoulder against him. Every muscle in her neck looked taut and strained. "I said the baby's name was Kady. Kady, you hear me?"
    Her dead lover's name. "Fine. Good."
    "And I