Under the Vale and Other Tales of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey Read Free Book Online

over, smiling. Though Meran watched closely, he did not see any money exchanged.
    “Wait here. I’ll get him.” Elade took off like a hound that’s suddenly seen a rabbit break cover.
    The man dropped the pie and bolted. He and Elade vanished into the crowd.
    Meran sighed. Not the way he would have done it, but he had no doubt Elade would catch their culprit. Then they could ask him what he’d done with Mistress Theret’s purse. Since there was no chance of catching up to Elade, he settled himself to wait.
    It was half a candlemark before Elade returned. She was alone.
    “I can’t believe he outran you,” Meran said.
    “What?” Elade asked blankly. “Oh, no. I caught up to him quickly enough. But he said he wasn’t the man I was after, so I let him go.”
    For a long moment, Meran stared at her. “He said he was innocent, and you believed him?”
    Elade simply stared back at him, looking cross. Then her eyes widened, and she looked utterly horrified.
    “Come on,” Meran said, sighing. “It’s time to consult an expert.”
     
    There was no place in all of Valdemar where a Herald and a Companion would not be made welcome. In fact, there were several Heralds at Summerfair, for one of a Herald’s duties was to hear disputes and give judgment, and another was to keep the peace, and those whose circuits brought them near the great fairs made sure to attend them.
    The only time things became awkward was when one traveled with a Companion whose Herald flatly refused to acknowledge himself as a Herald.
    They found Rhoses with three other Companions in an open space behind one of the larger pavilions. One of them was probably with a Herald Trainee on Progress, while the other two would be the Companions of the Heralds working the fair. In his time at the Collegium, Meran had become used to the sight of the dazzling white creatures who held the peace and safety of Valdemar in their charge, but no matter how much the Herald Candidates insisted they were easily distinguishable, he’d never been able to tell one Companion from another.
    But it was certainly Rhoses who came walking over to them, ears pricked forward in curiosity. When he reached them, he nudged Hedion hard in the chest.
    Hedion staggered backward. “Oh, not you too?” he said.
    They’d had to find Hedion before coming for Rhoses. While Rhoses could hear them perfectly well, it would be a rather one-sided conversation, since no one but Hedion could hear him.
    Not even Gaurane.
    A pause. “I am!” Hedion protested. “Here I am, doing nothing at all!”
    Meran had gotten used to listening to only half a conversation in the past several moonturns. It had never stopped him from being curious about the half he couldn’t hear.
    “You know him better than I do,” Hedion said darkly. “Come on, then.”
    Rhoses tossed his head, and once again Meran had the sense of a conversation taking place just beyond the range of hearing. Rhoses walked forward, and Hedion fell into step beside him. Few of those the little party passed gave them a second glance. Before he’d left Haven, Meran would have thought it impossible for anyone to mistake a Companion for a horse. But many of Valdemar’s citizens never saw a Companion at all—and many of those who did were woefully unobservant, at least in Meran’s opinion. A Bard was trained to observe, so that the things they saw could be used to add life and heart to the songs they crafted.
    “You see,” Meran said—he’d quickly learned to speak to Rhoses in the same way he’d speak to Hedion, “we’ve run into something a bit odd. There’s a man here at the fair with the power to make Elade change her mind.”
    Elade thumped him—hard—in the shoulder with her fist.
    “Ow,” Meran said ruefully, rubbing the bruise. “And that part isn’t the problem. But he’s a thief. And I’m not sure how he’s doing it.”
    “ ‘A Bard should know all the Mind Gifts.’ ” Hedion translated Rhoses’ reply. “