Cloud Walker, All Fools' Day, Far Sunset by Edmund Cooper

us.’
    Kieron smiled at him benignly. ‘Aylwin, my friend, first collect your wits. Then collect your painting materials from the mill and return with some discretion to your master. You have not been here this day. You have not seen me or Mistress Alyx. You understand?’
    ‘I understand, Kieron. But we are sworn in friendship.’
    ‘Then let us maintain the bond. You shall not be put at risk for an accident such as this.’ He turned to Alyx. ‘Mistress Alyx, have you seen Aylwin, the miller’s prentice, this day?’ He was holding her in his arms, and he knew that Aylwin would see how he was holding her.
    Alyx’s cheeks became red. ‘Not if you require it, Kieron,’ she said softly. ‘I have not seen the miller’s prentice this day.’
    ‘Well, Aylwin,’ pursued Kieron, ‘by the same token, you have not seen Mistress Alyx and myself. For if you claim that you have, I will surely kill you.’
    Aylwin was offended. ‘We are sworn. Was that necessary?’
    ‘Forgive me, Aylwin. I do not think clearly. Events move too fast. Now go.’
    Alyx tried to stand up, cried out with pain and fell down again. ‘The ankle – it swells mightily, and the pain is worse … What shall we do, Kieron? What shall we do?’
    ‘If I were to put you on your horse, could you ride back?’
    ‘Perhaps. I think so.’
    He bent down and lifted her gently, then he carried her to where the horse was tethered. It was a greater distance than he had thought, and Alyx – though light – was still somewhat heavier than he had thought. The exertion strained his limbs and his lungs. He set Alyx down on the grass and waited to recover himself before lifting her on to the horse.
    Alyx surveyed her swollen ankle, and her dirty clothes with a look of despair. ‘How shall I explain all this?’ she cried. ‘What a state I am in!’
    ‘You fell,’ suggested Kieron. ‘You fell from the horse.’
    ‘I never fall,’ she retorted regally. ‘Is it not known that I am the best horsewoman in the south country?’
    ‘Nevertheless, Alyx, today you fell. The truth will assist neither of us. Neither your father nor Talbot must ever learn that you rose perilously over the meadow on the end of a hot-air balloon.’
    ‘What if I were seen?’
    Kieron shrugged. ‘The word of a commoner against the word of a Fitzalan? Besides, you could not have been seen, except with a spy-glass.’
    ‘My father’s watchman has a spy-glass. He reports on the arrival of vessels for trade.’
    ‘Then he will not report on the antics of an unwilling aeronaut,’ said Kieron patiently. ‘Also, you were aloft so little time, and it would not be possible to discern your identity from such a distance.’ He grinned. ‘Particularly since you thrashed about so – behaviour which Mistress Alyx Fitzalan would never stoop, or rise, to … We must take some chance, Alyx. If, indeed, a figure were seen, I will plead guilty. It was, after all, my balloon … Come, I will lift you to the saddle.’ He managed to get her seated in reasonable comfort on the horse without too much exertion.
    She looked down at him unhappily. ‘What will they do to you, my love?’
    ‘I do not know,’ he answered, affecting small concern. ‘Likely there will be some tedious penance. But, swear that whatever happens, you will admit no knowledge of this matter.’
    ‘Kieron, how can I so swear when I know not what they will do to you.’
    ‘Because I require it, for your sake, for mine, and for that of poor Aylwin who is now half out of his mind with fright.’
    She sighed. ‘Then I so swear; but I am afraid.’
    ‘Smile, Alyx. That is how I would always remember you.’
    ‘Shall we meet again before – before I wed?’
    ‘Ludd knows. I do not … Alyx, it is within the month is it not?’
    ‘Seventeen days hence … I love you.’
    ‘I love you also. Go now, and let us each remember the other’s love with gladness.’
    Sadly, Alyx turned her horse towards Arundel. Kieron watched her