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Dwarfing everything around it. She counted four windows above her. She’d seen pictures of buildings that were more than a single story and except for the barns with their hay lofts this was the tallest building she had ever seen in person.
    It loomed over her. A giant of stones. It’s edges sharp and square.
    “ Madelen.”
    She couldn’t stop looking at the tower where someone stood on top of it.
    “Madelen.”
    She jerked her gaze to Herrick’s.
    “The trainees are being gathered on the north side of the Keep.” He pointed to where a few other people and horses stood.
    She dragged her gaze from them back to Herrick. Herrick who’d ridden the trails before and knew where she was supposed to go. “Are you a keeper?”
    He smiled and shook his head. “I’m a mage.”
    She’d thought at first he just looked older than he was down at the river, but he must be considerably older if he was a mage. Her uneasiness which had plagued her on the trip suddenly gripped her in its hold and she couldn’t move.
    He dropped his smile as he dismounted. “Good luck with your training, Madelen.”
    He walked his horse away and she tightened her reins to keep Ginger from following. Ginger danced beneath her and whinnied to her new love. Herrick’s horse turned his head and nickered back to her for the first time.
    She pulled herself out of her idiotic stupor and fought moment arily with Ginger to go where Herrick had directed her. He had gone in the opposite direction. Five other potential keepers waited with an adult. She frowned at Jiline, but didn’t exude the same energy the mages from the village, and now that she wasn’t being an idiot, Herrick had exuded. It had to be the power they held inside them.
    “Name,” the woman asked.
    “Madelen of Ainsley,” Jiline said, waiting and hoping the woman would pull out one of those crystals.
    But she didn’t. She just looked over her list and marked it. She glanced over her shoulder and Jiline noticed the open door into the Keep.
    “Evie!”
    A girl with long blond hair came running and stopped by the older woman who looked to be about her mother’s age. “Take Trainee Madelen to the stable and then bring her back to the hall.”
    “Yes, Mistress.”
    “Trainee Madelen,” she barked.
    Jiline straightened her shoulders and suddenly realized she hadn’t dismounted Ginger. She quickly did. “Mistress?”
    “Keeper Evie will help you with your pony. Do not wander off from her.”
    Jiline nodded and led Ginger after Evie. She headed in the direction Herrick had gone, wondering if she would run into him again. But the stable was empty except for another young person who was feeding the horses stabled in the large half stone, half wood building built into the side of the Keep.
    “We need a stall for Trainee Madelen’s horse.”
    The boy smiled briefly. “Pony, Evie, it’s a pony not a horse.”
    Jiline could see Evie’s eyes narrow, but she didn’t say anything. The boy waved Jiline over. “I’m Keeper Brody. I take care of the horses. What’s your pony’s name?”
    “G-Ginger,” Jiline said surprised by the eager friendliness she saw in his gaze.
    Again, none of the uneasiness swamped her as it had on the trail. She really needed to learn to trust her instincts. Not that Herrick had meant her any harm, obviously, but she should have realized that her uneasiness around him wasn’t normal.
    “I promise to take good care of her ,” Brody swore.
    Evie made a noise and he smiled again.
    “They’ll be wanting you back quick so I’ll go ahead and untack and brush her down if it’s all right with you.”
    She nodded as he expertly plucked the reins from her hand. He passed the saddlebags off to her in the same motion and led Ginger away. Ginger balked for a moment, but followed the boy into a stall. Her ears pricked at Jiline and she nickered.
    With Evie’s impatient eyes on her, she called, “Be a good girl, Ginger, I’ll see you in a little bit.”
    Evie had