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Tambor, Matya thought. There's that word again. She had
heard it several times in the knight's fevered rambling, but
she did not know what it meant, or even whether it was the
name of a place or a person. Whatever it was, it was
important to him. As important as that doll, she thought.
Even now, in his sleep, the knight clutched tightly at the
purse that held the small porcelain figurine. It had to be
valuable indeed.
While Matya was not one to go out of her way to help
others when it was unclear what - if any - reward she might
gain from it, neither was she without a heart. The knight
would have died had she left him there by the road, and she
would not have wanted that weighing on her conscience to
the end of her days. Besides, she suspected there was a good
chance the knight would die regardless of her aid, in which
case the doll would be hers, free and clear. Either way, it
was worth her while to help.
Getting the knight into her wagon had been no simple
task. Fortunately, Matya was a strong woman, and the
knight had roused himself enough to stumble most of the
way with her help. She had hoped to make Garnet by
nightfall, but she had tarried too long at the crossroads.
Shadows were lengthening, and the town still lay many
leagues ahead. Knowing night was not far off, fearful of
Rabbit stumbling into a hole or missing the trail in the dark,
she had made camp in the grove of aspen by the road.
She had tended to the knight's wounds as best she
could. The cut on his scalp was shallow, but he had lost a
good deal of blood from it
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