Dog and Dragon-ARC by Dave Freer

tastes, though.”
    Meb was willing to bet that those were the times that it really was old boiled shoe. “Well, if I can go into his tower, I can go into the kitchens. And if anyone asks I will say he told me to, and I’ll bet not one of them will ever check.”
    Neve giggled, which, the sensible part of Meb knew, was just the sort of encouragement she did not need. Without Finn to keep her out of trouble…That nearly made her cry again, so she resolutely thought about other things until they came to the kitchen of Dun Tagoll—with spits and hobs and great cauldrons…and most of them idle. There was, however, new bread. That much her nose told her. There was also a sudden shocked silence at her presence there.
    The cook, large ladle in hand, approached tentatively. “What can we do for you, Lady Anghared?” he asked.
    So even here they knew who she was. “I have just been speaking with Mage Aberinn in his tower.” Someone would have seen them going there, unless castles were vastly different from villages. By the gasps and nods she could tell that the two weren’t that different. “I came to see the state of the provision of the castle. And also to get a heel of that new bread.” Neve’s struggle to keep a straight face definitely made her worse. “And a jug of small beer.”
    “The…mage put a stop to brewing. There is wine…”
    Meb didn’t need to be a mage with great powers to tell that that hadn’t happened. “I won’t mention it to him. Or to those in the hall,” she said with her mouth as prim as possible.
    She got the bread and small beer. And smiles as the two of them retreated to her chamber.
    “I’m not eating or drinking this alone,” said Meb. “And small-beer is the only kind of reward I can give you for coming into the lion’s den with me. He didn’t seem to know that I wasn’t telling him the whole truth all the time either.”
    Neve shook her head. “Eh, my lady, I had a friend back in our village like you. Always up to some mischief.”
    “Oh dear. What happened to her?” asked Meb, already expecting a homily.
    Neve shrugged. “She got into a fair amount of trouble, got a few beatings, but mostly got away with it, I suppose. And then she got pregnant.”
    “Ah.” It had to end badly.
    “Yes, she married the miller’s boy. She was the strictest mother in the village,” said Neve. “You wouldn’t think she was the one who got up to mischief. Or led the rest of us to do such.”
    “I was a mouse back in my village most of the time. I was too different. Then the pirates burned our boats, and, well, I had to learn,” she said quietly, trying not to think of who had taught her. Never do the expected…
    “I just came here when that happened,” said Neve, equally quietly, helping herself to some of the bread without thinking.
    “Well, that’s learning too. So you’ll help me? Tell me, quietly, when I am doing something too crazy? I just don’t know. I don’t know where I should be, and what I should do.”
    Neve nodded. “When you’ve eaten, m’lady, I’ll take the plate and jug to the kitchens. You should be in the bower. The ladies would be sewing and weaving there now. Maids too. I’m not very skilled.”
    “Oh good. That’s two of us.” Meb ate another piece of bread and tossed her tasseled juggling balls in the air, doing a simple one-hand routine, keeping all four balls in the air while Neve stared. “I think this is about all I’m really any good at. Will that do? Mama Hallgerd also showed me how to set stitches and weave flax, and tie netting knots.”
    “Don’t show them the juggling! They’ll think you’re…I don’t know, m’lady.” They won’t like it. I think it’s wonderful. Like magic. Can you do other things?”
    “A few,” said Meb, taking a drink and wiping her lips with the back of her hand. Grinning she said: “I can belch pretty well, too” and she demonstrated, “but I don’t think that’ll impress Lady Cardun.”
    Neve