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Page 412
Simon uttered a short exclamation of pain while the boy gasped, "Who? Who?"
"You are full young to be playing night games in the maids' quarters," Simon said drily, "but you serve my purpose, so I will serve yours. Get you back there. Rouse Lady Alinor's maid Gertrude and bid her tell her mistress that I await her" Simon put a hand to his head as if to run his fingers through his hair. The edge of the steel-sewn gauntlet clashed faintly against his helm. He dropped his hand.
"Await her where, my lord? Andand who shall I say waits? I cannot see."
"Sir Simon waits. Where?" Not the Great Hall. When it was empty sound echoed through that marble vastness. Not the inner court. The night air brought fever. "Where?" Simon repeated stupidly. "Oh, in the outer chamber of the King's apartment. And bring me some lights."
The boy ran back the way he had come. Simon followed slowly, dragging his feet a little. To an observer he would have seemed unendurably tired, but when he came to his goal he did not seek out the benches along the wall or the chairs near the table. He stood just inside the door, staring blankly into the darkness so that the page nearly bumped into him again when he came with a lighted taper. The boy drew in his breath sharply, partly with surprise and partly because he saw the stains on the white tabard were neither rust nor dirt but dried blood.
"Shall I light them all, my lord, and set them on the table?"
Simon started as if wakened and turned his head away from the light. "Yes. And wait outside. There may be more messages to carry."
The boy said nothing as he placed the tapers in holders and lit them, but his face showed disappointment. He had thought he was assisting at a clandes-

 
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