A Tale of Two Castles(11)

“Simple.” IT raised ITs voice. “Gather and hear. Masteress Meenore, finder of lost objects and people, unraveler of mysteries, will now exhibit, gratis, ITs skill at deduction, induction, and common sense, which in other circumstances would cost ITs customary fee.”

Luckily no one stopped to listen. The ones on line had to hear, which was bad enough.

Count Jonty Um blared, “A demonstration. I will enjoy this.”

“Your Lordship,” IT said, “my demonstrations are always enjoyable if one is not their object.”

The object today would be me!

IT continued. “You may ask the guests at your coming feast to recount my many other displays of intellect, which will entertain everyone.” IT swiveled ITs head toward me. “What is your name, girl of Lahnt?”

I didn’t have to tell! I hugged my satchel as if it could protect me. “Unravel the mystery of my name, if you can, Masteress Meenore.” My legs tensed to run from ITs flame.

Enh enh enh. “The girl from Lahnt is clever, hasty, brave, and lacking in respect for her elders.”

IT described me exactly as Mother would! Might IT be a mother, a she?

“Great faults and perhaps greater virtues,” IT said.

Mother would not have agreed about greater virtues.

“Your name is of no consequence. You started your journey with something in your purse that you considered valuable. Whatever it was, was taken. In your distress you forgot to tuck your purse away afterward, evidence of the theft.”

I pushed the purse under my apron.

Master Thiel, who’d finished eating, spoke. “Perhaps no one steals on Lahnt, so she didn’t anticipate her danger.” He smiled at me, showing pearly white teeth.

“Few do steal at home, Master Thiel.” I smiled back, a fourteen-year-old’s smile, I hoped, perhaps even a fifteen-year-old’s.

“If no one steals there,” IT said, “more reason for caution here. Despite the theft, her purse still contains coins, four or fewer tins.”

Could IT see through cloth? I asked, “How do you conclude that, Masteress?”

“Next in line,” IT said.

How rude, to ignore me! How interesting!

Leaning heavily on a cane, a tall man hobbled forward. His payment tinkled into the basket. “I like my cheese well done, Meenore.”

Instead of flaming, IT said, “By hiding your purse now, girl, you revealed that you still have something in it, which I had already surmised.”

“I am waiting,” the lame man said.

“You are safe in your guess, Masteress Meenore,” Master Thiel said, laughing charmingly. “She will hardly show us what her purse holds.”

Indeed, I wouldn’t. I was glad to have Master Thiel on my side.

The lame man held out his skewer.

“My customer waits. I will explain my conclusions in a moment.” Masteress Meenore toasted the food, to my eyes less thoroughly than IT had the other skewers. IT was eager to prove ITs brilliance. “She needn’t open her purse for me to know the contents. If she—”

“More flame, Meenore.”

IT toasted the skewer again and then continued. “If she never had more coins, the few she has now would be precious to her, and the purse would have been hidden from the start.”

The lame man spoke while chewing. “How do you know she has fewer than five coins?”

“Surely Master Thiel must have come to the same conclusion as I,” Masteress Meenore said.

Master Thiel shook his head, smiling.

But I knew, and I wished I’d departed the moment I saw IT. Rather than be shamed, I would shame myself. “Masteress Meenore observed me counting the tins as they dropped into ITs basket. If I had five coins or more, I would have joined the line. If I had no coins, I would not have bothered to count.”

“Ah,” IT said. “The girl without a name has inductive and deductive talents herself. She is poor and starving, from the way her eyes have dwelled on my excellent skewers. I have now explained in full.”

I hurried away before I could see Master Thiel’s pity. As I went, I made myself chuckle instead of weep. Good luck to bring a kitten to Two Castles? What would ill luck have been?

The drizzle increased to a light rain. Above the market, the stalls and the crowd thinned. A lark sang from its perch on an iron torch holder. I couldn’t help wishing the bird roasted and set before me.

The upper half of a tower showed beyond the end of the way. I had almost reached the top of town, and soon I would see the castle whole.

Here the homes belonged to wealthy burghers. The houses were taller, as befitted their owners’ elevated rank, with an extra story for servants.

The midafternoon bells chimed, muted by the rain. At the next corner I found a well. The water smelled sulfurous, but I drank anyway. The Two Castlers seemed healthy enough, and the water made my belly feel less empty. I rinsed my hands and face and neck, braided my damp hair, and tucked the braid into a knot at the back of my neck.

Then I looked down at myself. The hem of my kirtle was gray from the cog’s bilgewater, and gray stains splashed up my apron. My apparel was unfashionable and, of course, I lacked a cap. What would the mansioner master make of me?

I heard a strange call that rose and fell, high-pitched, low-pitched, and bubbling. The sound troubled me until I remembered the king’s menagerie.