“He says he knows your father, claiming he is a Paracelsus at Kenatos who is out of favor with the Arch-Rike. Some bad debt, probably. You never know with these things. He told me quite a tale. I don’t know how much of it is true.” He glanced back at the Vaettir a moment, saw the man in conversation with his wife. Winemiller half-smiled and dropped his voice even lower. “Mother will keep him distracted a while. You have a necklace, Phae. Made with a blue stone. The one that was left in the basket with you.”
She reached for it around her throat, but a subtle jerk from his head made her stop. “No, he can see you from there. When you go to bed tonight, leave it under your pillow. Apparently, that is how he found you. Then I want you to crawl out your window and go straight to the barn. Trasen, take Phae to the cabin in the mountains. Also take some bows, a few braces of arrows, knives, and short axes. Rope. It’s always good to have enough rope. A change of clothes too, but travel light. If you leave tonight, you might get there by nightfall tomorrow.”
Phae had not even thought of that. She wanted to hug and kiss him, but knew that it would attract the Prince’s attention. She needed to look forlorn and rejected. She put on her best pout.
Trasen folded his arms, nodding warily. “Will you send word for us?”
“I will come myself,” he promised. “If what Prince Aran told me tonight is true, the whole family is in danger. We might all need to go live in the cabin for a while. But it gives me some time to verify what I can from his story. I don’t care how many people the Arch-Rike can pay. This is Stonehollow. Our neighbors mind their own business. We won’t be as easy to find as Aran thinks.”
“Thank you,” Phae mouthed to him. She gave Trasen a hopeful look.
“No one threatens my family,” Winemiller said angrily. “We look after our own. We always have. We always will. You are a Winemiller, Phae.”
The other children had slipped away to their rooms. Dame Winemiller was still engaging Prince Aran in conversation, prattling on with her wealth of stories. Phae slipped past them into the corridor, looking downcast but secretly eager. She passed the ladder leading up to the loft and debated within herself if she should climb it one last time and peek in on the little ones. She chose not to, but opened the door and found Rachael nearly ready for bed.
When she started pulling together another shirt and pants and stuffed them into a pack, she heard Rachael gasp. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”
Phae nodded and then the two orphans hugged each other fiercely. Rachael kissed her cheek. “I don’t like sleeping alone. What will I do without you?”
Phae smiled. “Will you do my chores for me? Until I get back? The little ones need stories. Can you do that for me?”
Rachael nodded, wiping a tear from her eye. “Are you leaving soon?”
She sighed, nodding silently, and continued stuffing clothes in the pack. Fetching her cloak from a peg on the wall, she fastened it around her neck. The action reminded her of what she needed to do. Around her neck, she wore a simple chain necklace with a blue stone set in a gold band. The stone was light blue with a white cat’s-eye streak in it. Dame Winemiller had said she had been delivered to them with the necklace, that it was the only thing she had arrived in, save a blanket. There was no name and so the family had chosen one for her. Phae.
Phae unclasped the necklace and stared at the curious thing. She was reluctant to leave it behind. It was the only physical part of her past that was left as the blanket and the basket had fallen apart years before. It was heartbreaking to part with it.
Phae knelt by the bedside and rumpled the covers. She slipped the necklace underneath her pillow. Then, rising, she hugged Rachael one last time and unbolted the window. With a hard push, it opened outward on the hinges. The sky was black, dotted with shimmering stars. The smell wafting in was the one she had smelled earlier coming from the vineyard. Planting her boot on the edge of the bed rail, she gracefully climbed up and swung herself out the window. She dropped to the ground outside with only a little puff of dirt. Rachael handed her the pack and shut the window behind. Pressing her face against the glass, she waved goodbye.
Fear and anguish were Phae’s companions. She did not want to leave the homestead. But the cabin was not so very far. Perhaps this would all be nothing. Perhaps the danger wasn’t real.
Perhaps it was.
Head down, Phae walked to the barn. She was so grateful that Trasen was going with her. It would make everything so much easier. What an adventure they would have together. Hopefully, by the time his fortnight of leave was over, it would all be resolved.
Trasen saw her approach and met her from the shadows of the barn. He was equipped with the items Winemiller had suggested and handed her another bow to carry. She saw the dagger in his belt.
She bit her lip, glancing back at the house. “Can I borrow your knife?” she asked.
He looked at her curiously. “Why?”