Chapter 16: The Heron Comes Down

Theron went up the vault stair three steps at a time, and Linnea ran behind him.

At the top, in the lantern light of the lower yard, stood the king's clerk.

He was a small, stooped man in a dark cloak, with ink on his right thumb and a leather case under his arm.

Two of his riders waited behind him with their horses.

He looked pleased to see them.

"Lord Commander," he said. "I did not think you would be awake."

"Why are you at my gate at midnight?"

"I have a message from his majesty. I was told it could not wait for morning."

Linnea stopped a pace behind Theron's shoulder.

The clerk's thoughts were in her head already, thin and dry and perfectly clear.

They have found the captain. Quick. The girl is with him. Hold your face.

She kept her face still.

"My message," the clerk said, drawing a folded sheet from the case, "is an invitation."

He held it out.

"His majesty dines at Highcastle tomorrow evening. He asks the Lord Commander and Recruit Blomqvist to sit at his table."

"Tomorrow," Theron said.

"The day before the muster. He feels it would be a kindness to the recruit."

"A kindness."

"There will be old friends at the table." The clerk smiled. "Her family has been the king's guest these two days."

Theron did not move.

Linnea felt something rise in her chest and stop.

Her family. In a king's hall. Under his roof, where the other Blomqvist girls had gone and never come out.

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