not seen it himself, de'unnero was positively gleeful.

"wait, but wasn't it a man-horse that yer monk fellows, the trouble-makin' caravan from st.-mere-abelle, dragged through palmaris?" colleen asked.

"you would be wise to take care how you refer to my holy brethren," de'unnero warned, but he brightened quickly as he turned the subject back to the fugitives. "and these two, nightbird and pony, are in caer tinella still?"

"there or just north of the place," shamus admitted. "they were to lead a caravan to the timberlands, though that was scheduled to go near the turn of spring."

"interesting," de'unnero mused, stroking his chin, his eyes taking on a distant look. he got up from his chair then, holding his hand out to keep the two from doing likewise, and started for the door. "you are dismissed," he explained. "go back to your quarters and tell no one - no one, do you hear? - of this discussion."

and then he was gone, leaving a very perplexed shamus and colleen sit-ting in the chairs.

"so yer friend an' his girl are outlaws o' the church," colleen remarked after a lengthy pause. "there's a kick in the gut for ye!"

shamus didn't reply, just kept looking nervously in the direction of the door.

"and what're ye to do?" colleen asked him, standing up and practically pulling him out of the chair.

regaining his composure, shamus straightened his jacket and squared his shoulders. "we do not know anything of the sort," he said firmly. "not once did the bishop indicate that nightbird and pony were outlaws."

"ah, but there's the little matter of the centaur," colleen remarked, obvi-ously enjoying her smug cousin's distress. "the centaur labeled as outlaw by the church, taken by the church, and then taken back from the church. seems yer friends might be a part o' all that. so what's captain shamus o' the kingsmen to do?"

"i will serve my king," he answered coolly, starting for the door, "and you shall do the same."

"yer king - or the bishop?" colleen asked, falling in step beside him.

"the bishop speaks for the king," was his curt reply.

colleen slowed down and let him move away from her, studying him carefully. she recognized the clear distress in his every move and thought that shamus, with his blind devotion, deserved a bit of discomfort. he had developed an honest liking and deep respect for both nightbird and pony, she knew, and was now having a hard time swallowing the notion that the two were not all that they had seemed - or, perhaps, that the two were much more than they had seemed.

for colleen, the feelings came more from the gut. it did not bother her at all that nightbird was an outlaw in the eyes of bishop de'unnero. in fact, her respect for the man and for pony as well was increased. she was a sol-dier of the baron, not the king, and since her beloved baron had been at odds with the church right before his death, the startling changes in palmaris were not at all to her liking.

any trouble that nightbird and his friend might cause would please her greatly, she thought with a smirk.

for shamus, the meeting with de'unnero had left thoughts much more troubling. in the stories the folk of caer tinella had told him about the ranger, and in the time he had spent beside nightbird, he had seen only good in the man, a true hero to the beleaguered folk of the northland. surely there was some mistake here; surely the man could be no outlaw!