He sighed. “I cannot help but think there would not be this kind of trouble if not for the inequity of the law and the burdens placed on people bound into clientage.”

“You’re kinder than I can be toward people who meant to do us harm! Bandits and troublemakers! You need to work on the wheels of the carriage. They didn’t quite look right.”

In the light of a perfectly shaped illusion of a candle lantern, we walked back the way we had come as Vai rolled illusory wheels ahead of us, trying to fix the lag. Soon we met the outriders approaching at a brisk trot, for they had heard the screams. When the servants saw the stains of blood upon the ground and the fragmented remains of the weapons, they turned as grim as Vai.

The night hung suspended as we traveled on as through a dream.

After some time one of the young men abruptly asked Vai what he had meant by “a legal code.” The senior man harshly told the lad never again to speak of such matters.

26

Sala’s wide avenues, packed districts, and tall houses spoke of prosperity. Coffeehouses with big glass windows were crowded with chattering men. A market bustled with women in head wraps and winter cloaks.

I tugged on Vai’s sleeve as I looked out the carriage window. “Look! An airship!”

Vai leaned over to follow my gaze. Ahead rose three scaffoldings. Taut lines tethered a gleaming airship to one of the towers. Figures moved on the tower with a grace that was not human.

“Fiery Shemesh!” I pointed. “Those are trolls! Did I tell you the prince of Tarrant expelled all trolls from Adurnam? It’s strange to see trolls—and airships!—here in the eastern wilderness. I wonder where they came from.”

We rolled along a street lined with offices whose signs advertised solicitors, architects, and civil engineers. A door to one of the offices opened and a pair of trolls dressed in drab dash jackets stepped onto the sidewalk. One looked as we passed. Quite unthinkingly I met its gaze directly. Its crest flared as threateningly as if I had challenged it, and it lunged. I slammed the shutter closed.

“Catherine?”

“Nothing.” I eased open the shutter.

All the main streets converged on the prince’s palace, a building ornamented by two towers surmounted by huge gilded eggs. Eggs? I stared at the towers until the gates of White Bow House cut off my view.