They were silent after that, lost in thought. The sun drifted west, the light faded to dusk, and the world slowed and stilled around them. The clouds that had begun to form earlier had massed and darkened further, and the first few drops of rain began to dampen their faces.

It was fully dark and raining hard when Tenerife reappeared. “They’re off,” he announced, giving Tasha a look.

“Then so are we.” The big man was on his feet at once. He turned to Xac Wen, who had scrambled up after him. “It might be better if you wait here.”

The boy was incensed. “I’m not waiting here! I did everything you asked of me, and I’m coming with you to see how this ends. You can’t stop me!”

Tenerife gave a short laugh. “Who would be foolish enough to try?”

Tasha bent close, his features taut and expressionless. “Listen to me, then. If you come, you can only watch. You can do nothing else. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

“You will also have to keep to yourself everything you see. Maybe forever. That might be hard for a wild jaybird like you. Can you do it? Do you promise? No matter what?”

“I promise. Not a word.”

They set out at a trot, Tenerife leading the way. As they went, he quickly explained that he had kept watch on the palace near its rear entry until well after dark before seeing Isoeld surface from out of a small cottage at the rear of the grounds that he knew to be connected to the palace by an underground tunnel and through which Elven rulers had been slipping away to clandestine meetings since long before he was born. Teonette had been waiting just at the edge of the grounds, and together they had set out on foot traveling eastward.

“The rats flee the sinking ship,” Tasha observed. “Just as I thought they would.”

“They will have horses and a carriage waiting, but not until they are safely outside the city,” he finished.

“Then we can catch them before they escape,” Tasha responded, and picked up the pace.

They raced through the city in a line, Tenerife leading, Xac Wen trailing, down roads and pathways, through small stands of trees and between houses, three shadows lost in the darkness and the rain. At times, even Xac found it hard to tell where it was they were going, but Tenerife seemed completely certain and never hesitated.

“Stay well behind us and out of sight,” Tasha told Xac at one point. “Don’t let her see you. We don’t want her to know that you’re with us.”

Xac Wen wasn’t entirely certain what they intended to do, but he understood well enough that the Queen would recognize him if he showed himself and the brothers didn’t want that.