Gingerly, and trying not to look like a foreigner, she stepped onto the sidewalk, only to be immediately accosted by a grimy boy of indeterminate age, waving pieces of printed paper in the air.
She leaped back, primed to run the other way.
More details from John Browns funeral! You want to know about em, guv?
Ah . . . Did she?
Read all about Her Majestys sorrow. Read it for a penny.
She found her breath. A newspaper, that was what the boy was wavingnewspapers in the Domain hadnt used actual paper for a very long time.
Sorry. Never cared for the man, she said truthfully.
The boy shrugged and continued peddling his wares down the narrow street, which was squeezed in by tightly packed brick houses with steep, pitched roofs.
She came to a stop before the front door of Mrs. Dawlishs house, black and unassuming beneath an arched doorway. There, shed made it. Now she only had to pass herself off as a boy. For the foreseeable future.
And under the watchful eyes of Atlantis.
Titus changed into his school uniform in his own room. As he stepped out into the passage, Wintervales door opened.
When did you get here? asked Wintervale, surprised.
A while ago, said Titus. I have been in my room.
Why didnt you join Kashkari and myself?
I was in a foul moodran into the Inquisitor today. You do not look too pleased either. What is the matter?
My mother. I had to go back home just now.
Titus asked the obvious. Does she not usually leave for Aix-les-Bains as soon as you return here?
Baden-Baden this time, but she hasnt left yet. I found her in the attic in a state. She kept saying shed killed someone and that this time there would be no forgiveness from the Angels. I checked the house from top to bottom: nothing. If she had truly killed someone, youd think Id have found a corpse.
It was not easy being Lady Wintervales son. She was not consistently insane. But at times she came close enough.
Is she still at home?
Shes gone to stay with my aunt. Wintervale knocked the back of his head against the wall behind him. Atlantis did this to her. When are you going to lead us to overthrow them?
Titus shrugged. You will have to organize the revolt, cousin. If I could, I wouldnt be here.
Lying to Lady Callista and the Inquisitor was a perennial necessityTitus took pride in rarely speaking a true word before those two. But lying to his second cousin, equally necessary, had always bothered him. He wished Wintervale werent so trusting.
Why do you think Im trying to get into Sandhurst? said Wintervale. The British fight lots of wars. Maybe there is something to be learned from them.
Titus also wished Lady Wintervale had not adamantly adhered to the tradition of having a child from one of the Domains grandest families study alongside the heir of the House of Elberon. Lady Callista had been his mothers companionlook how well that had turned out.
Try not to get yourself killed in one of Britains colonial wars, he told Wintervale. It would be the ultimate irony.
Do I hear mentions of colonial wars? said Kashkari, joining them, dapper in his impeccably turned-out uniform and sleek black hair. Is your stomachache gone, Wintervale? You look better.
Im fine now, said Wintervale.
Lady Wintervales unpredictable mental state and penchant for relying on her only child meant that Wintervale often had to invent sudden pains to go back to his roomor clear his roomto use the wardrobe portal.
Do the two of you want some tea? Wintervale issued his usual invitation.
Why not? said Kashkari.
I will join you in a minute. I think I saw Fairfax from my window. Let me go down to make sure it is really him.
Fairfax! exclaimed Wintervale. Are you sure?
But your window doesnt face the street. How did you see him? asked Kashkari.
He was walking across the grass. Who knows? Maybe he wants to refamiliarize himself with everything.
About time, said Wintervale. We need him to play.
He still does not feel the strength in his leg, said Titus, moving toward the stairs. The otherwise charm he had created before he first stepped into the school was fairly watertight: no one doubted
that Fairfax existed. All the same, he had better reach the ground floor soon. The boys would not recognize her as Fairfax unless someone said the name aloud; and only Titus could do that. Who knows whether he will still be any good at sports after an injury like that?
Wintervales other passion, besides returning the barony of Wintervale to its former glory, was cricket. He had convinced himselfand a fair number of other boysthat Archer Fairfax was the veriest cricket prodigy whose return would propel the house team to the school cup.
Strange. Hes been gone only three months, and already I cant remember what he looks like, said Wintervale.
Lucky you, said Titus. Fairfax is one of the most ferociously ugly blokes I have ever met.
Kashkari chuckled, catching up with Titus on the steps down. Ill tell him you said that.
Please do.
Mrs. Dawlishs house, despite its overwhelming majority of male occupants, had been decorated to suit Mrs. Dawlishs tastes. The wallpaper in the stairwell was rose-and-ivy. Frames of embroidered daisies and hyacinths hung on every wall.