Free The Book of Deacon: Book 02 - The Great Convergence by Joseph Lallo

underneath. Hanging from his belt
was the new sword, concealed in a sheath.
    "Do I take from your presence up here that
you have chosen to aid us?" Desmeres asked, opening the door of the
carriage for her.
    "Certainly do not want to spend the rest of
my life in that hole. We shall see if I aid you or not. I want to
know more about it first," she said, stepping inside and dropping
her bag and staff on the floor.
    "Fine, fine. I wouldn't expect you to do it
without considerable instruction anyway," he said, starting to
close the door.
    "Aren't you coming inside?" she asked.
    "Dawn will be here soon, and our driver is
still a few hours away. Lain is the best there is, but even he
couldn't drive a carriage in broad daylight without being seen. I
will drive it until we meet the coachman," he said.
    "What about Myn?" she asked.
    "One of the lines in every description of you
mentions that you will be in the company of the dragon. She will
have to tag along with Lain," Desmeres said.
    Myranda's heart sank as Myn turned to Lain in
the distance, cast a goodbye glance, and trotted off to him.
    "As for you, there is an outfit in the
carriage, I suggest you change into it while you are alone,"
Desmeres said, closing the door.
    A moment later the carriage lurched into
motion. Myranda looked around her. In all of her life this was the
first time she had been in a covered carriage, save the rather
unpleasant trip in the back of the black carriage after the cloaks
attacked her. The seats were cushioned with deep red velvet. Doors
that were better crafted than those on her childhood home kept even
the slightest draft from breaking through. On the glass windows, of
which there was one on each door, there was a gauze curtain to keep
prying eyes out but allow light in, and a heavy drape of the same
red velvet to eliminate the light. She lowered the gauze curtains
and looked over the outfit. It was exquisite. Fine lace, linen and
. . . silk! She had seen women pay a fortune for any one of these
pieces of clothing. When she had put on the dress and petticoats,
she found them to be just precisely her size, as though they had
been hand altered to suit her. She wondered for a moment how Lain
had managed such a feat, but her thoughts were interrupted by the
gleaming white fur coat that would protect her against the freezing
cold. Fur was not at all an uncommon thing to see someone wear in
the north. If one had forsaken the ubiquitous gray cloak, a rough
one of fur was generally in its place. In those cases, though, it
was merely a skin, perhaps not even cleaned, draped about the
shoulders and tied about the waist. This was, again, tailored to
suit her. She slipped it on and found it to be more than warm
enough. If they wanted her to go unrecognized, they had certainly
chosen a fine wardrobe. Dressed in this way, Myranda didn't even
feel like herself. The crumpled pile of overused clothes on the
floor of the carriage more closely resembled her true self than who
she might have seen in a mirror. After stuffing her former self
into the bag and attempting to gather her hair into something more
becoming of her wardrobe, she drew the curtain on one side of the
carriage and gazed outside.
    After a few minutes, a fellow traveler passed
in the opposite direction. He was an older man in a sleigh that was
nearly falling apart. He wore a cloak so tattered that the hood was
useless, replaced with a fur hat. He tipped it as he passed.
Myranda smiled at him. It was the first time that anyone had
acknowledged her as she traveled. She leaned into the soft seat and
pondered why people were so willing to ignore their own, and so
eager to acknowledge those that were better off. Her thoughts were
interrupted when the carriage pulled to a halt just as the traveler
disappeared from view. Desmeres appeared outside the window and
pulled the door open.
    "Has this curtain been open all along?" he
asked.
    "Yes," she said.
    "Close it. You should know better," he
said.
    She obeyed