The sky gray in the east, Alyson slipped out the door and headed downhill, into the morning light, toward the Aquitaine Capital.
She"d slept through the night, waking only once to the shaking of the entire building, which she had thought at first was an earthquake.
The wooden timbers shook and creaked with a rolling rhythm, and it wasn"t until it had continued for more than two minutes, a breathy repetitive grunting added to it, that Alyson deduced what was going on.
She"d gone back to sleep instantly, had awakened at first light, had climbed down past the gloriously snoring Bertha, and was gone.
Shaking her head in wonder, Alyson headed into Aquitaine. Fashioning an “ignore me” cloak with the diamond, she kept close watch for other travelers, not knowing how well such a generalized co
