She discovered, as they continued with the exercises, staff fighting could take on a rhythm very like a sword bout and some of the techniques were not so very different.

When Donal finally called it a night, he ordered her to come back the next evening at the same hour to continue training. She returned to the Rider wing at half past seven hour, hair clinging to her sweaty brow and clothes damp. She was bruised all over and three fingers on her left hand were swollen and stiff. Her new staff, she noted, was entirely unscathed. It suffered not a scratch, chip, or dent. It was evidence, she supposed of the strength of the bonewood oak.

Lured by the sounds of chatter and laughter, she bypassed her own chamber and headed down the corridor to the common room, thinking maybe she’d get some sympathy from her friends. She found the room full of Riders playing card games and tossing dice, gossiping, or just lounging in front of the fire. A couple were engaged in horseplay. Most of these were the young, new Riders. She hadn’t had a chance to learn all their names yet, and it occurred to her maybe she never would with her journey to Blackveil fast approaching.

At one end of the long table in the center of the room sat Mara and Yates, as well as Elgin Foxsmith. They glanced up at her approach.

“Someone decide you were too old and frail to walk without a cane?” Yates asked, a smirk on his face.

Karigan considered giving him a good whack with it. “I have been hard at work while all of you have been loafing about here.” To her disappointment, her pronouncement aroused no sympathy. She stood there pointedly waiting for someone to offer her a chair, but no one took the hint. It appeared in addition to being unsympathetic to her condition, her knighthood, as usual, failed to elicit special treatment from her friends.

She sighed and cast about for a free chair but all were full. Finally she stole one from a young Rider who briefly left his chair to retrieve a playing card that had dropped to the floor.

“Hey!” he protested. “That’s mine!”

“Not anymore,” Karigan said.

“But—”

“You should respect your elders,” Yates said.

Karigan stuck her tongue out at him. “I’m not much older than you.”

“Neither of you are very mature,” Mara observed.

Karigan dragged her chair between Mara and Elgin and dropped into it with a groan of relief to be off her feet.

“Well?” Mara said when finally she was settled.

“Well what?”

“Yates said you were spirited away by a group of Weapons. What did they want?”

“They wanted to give me this.” Karigan set the cane on the table with a clunk that caused the room to go still and quiet. After a moment, the chatter and motion resumed.

“They gave you that?” Yates asked incredulously.

“That, several bruises, and some sprained fingers, I think.” With a grimace she showed them her left hand and sausage-sized fingers.

Elgin rubbed his upper lip and gazed intently at Karigan. Yates picked up the cane to inspect it.

“What in the name of the gods were they doing to you?” Mara demanded. “It’s not like you’re one of them—they can’t be stealing one of our Riders away!”

“I am thinking,” Elgin said, finally breaking his silence, “they have bestowed a great honor upon her.”

“They—” Karigan began.

“Honor?” Mara’s voice was aggrieved. “By breaking her hand?”

“Not—” Karigan tried to interject.

“It is obvious to me,” Elgin said, “they hold her in esteem.”

“But she’s a Rider, not a Weapon. I should really inform Captain Mapstone of this.”

“I—”

“I think Red probably knows,” Elgin said, “or at least sees it.”

Karigan heard an unmistakable snick as Yates’ hands probed the cane.

“I wouldn’t—” she began.

“If they hold you in such high esteem,” Mara said, turning to her, “why are they beating you up?”

“They—”

Yates shook the cane.

“No!” Karigan cried, but too late.

The shaft extended and the handle slammed into Yates’ forehead, knocking him over backward in his chair and leaving him in an unceremonious sprawl on the floor.

In the astonished silence that followed, Karigan said in a small voice, “They were teaching me staff fighting.”

A clamor arose in the room, but Mara shortly had it in hand. Elgin helped the dazed Yates to his feet and took him to the mending wing to get checked out. Yates would have a bump and bruise on his forehead as a reward for his curiosity.

Mara sent one of the young Riders out for a bucket of still unmelted snow in some shady corner of castle grounds to help Karigan’s swollen fingers. She sent another to the kitchens for whatever scraps were left over from supper since Karigan hadn’t had hers. The boy returned with bean soup and half a loaf of bread. Everyone else Mara sent to their chambers.

When at last the common room grew silent and empty but for Mara and Karigan, Karigan was able to tell her friend all about her visit with the Weapons. Mara tried out the mechanism of the staff several times, both impressed and disturbed.

“I can’t say I’m comfortable with them taking you into their world,” Mara said, setting the staff aside.

“I wouldn’t say they’re taking me into their world.” Karigan pulled her fingers from the bucket of snow and gazed at them. They were growing numb from the cold, but the swelling had decreased.