The Princess Who Rode on a Mule

King Valentine is a mad tyrant, and belike he will force his daughter Hadley to marry someone e'en worse than himself. The Baron of Comberlane is greedy, and Lord Vardis, though handsome, is cruel. Master Cope, the King's steward, would help Hadley if he could, but alas, what can be done? (Short story, 11,290 words)
Excerpt:
The trader held up the bell, and Hadley grasped it by its pretty, gleaming loop, and shook it twice or thrice.
"'Tis very little," she said at last.
"'Twas once bound to the leg of a hawk. In Dunclyden, there are bells as large as a man that make a prodigious sound, but none can be heard more clearly than this wee thing....Nay, keep it, daughter."
Hadley smiled. "Where is the hawk?" she asked, as she wrapped the bell in a handkerchief and tucked it into the purse at her girdle.
"She outdistanced her master long ago..."