4

He ran back to his quarters, and rushed to Wynnora's room. She was not there. He walked back out into the living room just as Luxa and Ripred were coming in.

"How fare your cousin, Gregor?" Luxa asked. He shrugged.

"I don't know. She's not here."

"I'll find her," Ripred said. "She reeks of the Overland and books." Gregor did not see how that was a bad thing. He followed Ripred with Luxa through the palace corridors. Ripred never faltered once, and confidently navigated his way to Nerissa's quarters. They stepped in and saw Nerissa sitting with a freshly bathed Wynnora.

"Wynn. Are you hurt?" Gregor said, rushing to her.

"Oh, hi," she said. She waved to them, then went back to wiping something on her lap. "I'm hurt, but nothing serious." Gregor doubted that. She had a bruise on her cheek, both knees were badly bruised, a cut on her temple, several cuts on her arms, and a huge slash on her thigh. They had all been bandaged.

"How did you escape with your life?" Luxa asked. She looked completely baffled.

"Nerissa sent Clio to get me, and she was great in getting us out of there." A peach colored flier sat in the window and looked badly shaken.

"I do not wish to be ambushed again," Clio admitted.

"Well I'll try not to get you into any more trouble," Wynnora said with a grateful smile. "I also had to fight them off," she added, frowning while holding up two sai. "I wasn't planning on dropping down here, so I had these with me. They were my mother's, and now there is blood on them." Gregor did not see any blood, but Wynnora continued to wipe at them anyway. He took her hand to stop her. She was trying to hide it, but she was not handling the ambush well.

"Nerissa sent for you?" Luxa asked. "But I did not request for her to come. How did you know to send for her when you did?" Nerissa smiled.

"I think by now we should not question how Nerissa knows things," Ripred said.

"Indeed, and now I think I shall find something to read. Ripred, would you accompany me to the Museum?" Nerissa asked. He agreed, and they left together.

"Why did you come down? I thought you were staying up there for good," Gregor asked.

"Well, I was sort of planning on coming back down, but never had the time. And then I just decided to take a walk out to the cave before going home, and Clio was there. So I figured why not?"

"It is good to see you again," Luxa said. "It has been quite some time."

"Thanks. I missed you guys."

"Wynn?" Howard looked like he ran here. He also looked exhausted, and Gregor figured he must be overworking himself again. "Why did you not find me when you returned?" He rushed over to Wynnora and immediately began inspecting her wounds. Gregor and Luxa looked away awkwardly as he slipped her dress up higher to look at the slash on her leg, which no doubt was her most serious injury.

"Ok, slow down there. You could at least buy me a drink first," Wynnora said in an annoyed tone while pulling her dress back down.

"What? I do not understand. Who dressed your wounds?"

"I don't know. Some guy with pale skin and purple eyes."

"Wow, Wynn. You're so funny," Gregor said sarcastically. Howard pulled off the bandages, then began complaining about the horrible job that was done. He immediately started redoing the stitches himself. Gregor's cousin rolled her eyes and let him.

"Wynnora, please tell me what happened when you were attacked," Luxa said.

"Not much happened really. Clio already told Mareth where we were. There were two men, a woman, and two fliers. I just fought them off until we could get out of there."

"There must have been something else," Luxa insisted. Her voice was raising. "Did you recognize them? Did they say anything? Did you kill them?" Wynnora flinched at the last question, and looked away. Gregor put his hand on her shoulder. "You must tell me, Wynnora."

"Calm yourself, cousin," Howard said. "Can you not see she needs time?"

"Just because you are fond of her, does not mean I must baby her," Luxa snapped angrily. "We do not have the luxury of being frightened after a skirmish." Howard's face turned a deep shade of red.

"That's enough, Luxa," Gregor said sharply. He did not care that she was queen. She was out of line. She turned to him with fire in her eyes, and Gregor stared right back at her not willing to back down this time.

"There were scrolls," Wynnora interrupted. "I was able to grab a bag of scrolls. They're with Mareth. I imagine they're in code. And if you're interested, Lizzie and Hazard have been writing to each other for some time trying to break it." Gregor had no idea about this, but he wanted his cousin to rest.

"We can talk about this later, Wynn. Is it alright if I leave you with Howard?"

"Yeah sure," she sighed. "He looks like he wants to yell at me anyway."

"Keep him out of the hospital," Luxa ordered. "He is to rest. Gregor, come with me." Gregor knew he was in trouble, and he braced himself as he followed Luxa out of the room.