The young Shee frowned. “No,” he said shortly.
Alethia was quite ready to argue with him, but Maurin spoke before she could reply. “Perhaps you should let me make the fire. Traders know no magic, but we do have a few tricks to use on wet wood.”
Without waiting for an answer, Maurin went over to the pile of branches and began sorting them. The others watched as he laid out the wood that suited him, and then began whittling on one of the drier pieces. Soon he had a pile of relatively dry shavings, and he pulled out a small fire box and took from it tinder and flints. In a short time, a warm fire was burning and the party huddled around it thankfully.
The storm began to let up in mid-afternoon, but Jordet vetoed Har’s suggestion that they continue on. “Mountain storms can be tricky,” he said, “and this is the best shelter in the area. It will be worth the extra time on the road to be sure of missing another cloudburst.” True to his prediction, the rain began again shortly before nightfall, and the travelers could only be glad they had not ventured farther.
Alethia awoke a little after dawn and sat up. Har, Tamsin, Maurin, and Worrel still slept in a row at the mouth of the cave, and Rarn lay next to Alethia, a discreet distance from the others. Jordet was nowhere to be seen, and his stallion was missing from among the horses.
Carefully, so as not to wake Rarn or the others, Alethia rose and tiptoed out of the cave. The sky was clear and the first rays of the sun poured over the mountains to the east. Gathering her cloak about her, for the air was crisp, Alethia walked slowly through the tangled pile of boulders that had sheltered them from the wind the day before.
Just at the edge of the rock pile she met Jordet riding up the steep little path to the cave. “Good morning!” she greeted him. “Where have you been?”
“Checking out the road ahead,” Jordet replied, dismounting. Privately, Alethia felt that the narrow trails they had followed for the past two days could hardly be called roads, but she did not comment. “I am afraid we will have to backtrack and take the lower trail,” Jordet continued as they walked together back toward the cave. “The trail is washed out up ahead, and we cannot get past.”
“What’s that?” Maurin’s voice floated out of the cave toward them, followed by Maurin himself. The rain and the night spent on the hard cave floor did not seem to have hurt him at all; rather the reverse. Alethia vaguely remembered tales that the Traders prospered on hardship, and found herself more than half believing them.
“We are going to take another route,” she answered Maurin’s question absently. “The trail ahead of us was destroyed in the storm yesterday.”
Maurin looked at Jordet, and the Shee nodded.
“The other path is more difficult at first, but it is shorter,” he explained. “If we start now, we should reach Eveleth tonight.”
This last statement was enough to whisk the travelers back into the cave to repack the few things that they had taken out of the saddlebags for comfort overnight. Under Jordet’s direction, they retraced their previous day’s journey as far as the foot of the mountain, and then turned to follow the narrow ravine at its base. Sheer cliffs rose on either side; the floor of the ravine was littered with shattered slabs of rock that had torn loose from the cliffs above them. The rocks shifted treacherously underfoot, and more than once the horses stumbled, so that their progress was slow. Even the Wyrds’ sure-footed ponies moved cautiously over the uncertain surface.
As they neared the middle of the ravine, Alethia saw a brown heap lying on the rocks ahead of them. At first she thought it was a trick of the sun reflecting from the cliff walls, but as they drew nearer it resolved into the figure of a large brown horse lying on its side. Pinned halfway beneath it lay an unconscious man in a dark cloak, and Alethia stifled a gasp as she recognized him. It was one of her Lithmern kidnappers.
Jordet was the first to reach the fallen man. He swung down from his horse to examine him, and as the others arrived and dismounted, he looked up. “The horse is dead, but the man lives. Help me lift him.”
With the assistance of Tamsin, Har, and Maurin, Jordet was able to slide the Lithmern out from under the dead animal. He examined the fellow thoroughly, and announced: “There are no bones broken and no permanent harm has been done him, but he is half dead of exposure. He has evidently been lying here all night. He must have been trying to get through here yesterday, and his horse slipped in the rain.”
“The more fool he,” Worrel commented. “This way is hard enough in dry daylight without taking chances in such weather. I did not know that the Shee allowed human visitors—what takes him on this road, do you think?”
“Har,” broke in Alethia, “I know him.”
“What?” Jordet straightened to face her.
“He is one of the Lithmern who kidnapped me; I remember him well,” Alethia said. “He brought me food on that first morning.” She shuddered as she remembered the cold look in his eyes. Tamsin looked at the Lithmern thoughtfully.
“I believe you said this route was faster, Jordet? Not such a fool, then; he was trying to get ahead of us,” the minstrel said. “Would you say this is your vanishing knife-thrower, Har?”
Har bent over the man with an exclamation. “His sheath is empty!”
“Well, now that you know who and what he is, what do we do with him?” Rarn broke in pointedly. “Leave him? Kill him? Or bring him along?”
“Bring him along by all means,” Jordet responded promptly. “I think food and drink and a warm cloak will repair what harm has been done, and he cannot do us a mischief if we keep close watch on him. He may be able to tell us something useful when we reach Eveleth.”
The others agreed, all except Alethia and Worrel, who shook his head ominously when he was overruled, but kept silent. They relieved their captive of his sword, and Jordet replaced the man’s soggy cloak with his own. The Lithmern seemed to be recovering consciousness, and Har poured a cup of water from one of their water-bottles and forced it on him.
After a few swallows the man choked, sputtered, and sat up. He blinked uncertainly at his rescuers as he looked around him. Then his glance fell upon Alethia. His face darkened and he reached for his missing sword.
Jordet stepped in front of him. “You are our prisoner,” he informed the Lithmern calmly, “and we are taking you with us to Eveleth.”
The man paid no attention to Jordet at all; his gaze was fixed on Alethia. He straightened and seemed to grow taller. A shadow fell on him, and he raised his hand from where he sat to point directly at Alethia. As though the words were dragged from him, he began to speak. “Asi, kalan nitranon…”
The little group stood frozen, all except Worrel. The Wyrd was standing just behind their prisoner, and, as the Lithmern began to speak, he drew his dagger, reached up, and brought its hilt smartly down on the back of the man’s head. The Lithmern slumped unconscious once again. Worrel calmly replaced his weapon and turned to Jordet. “A dangerous prisoner, Ward-Keeper.”
For a moment, their eyes locked; then Jordet smiled. “Dangerous indeed! I fear we have underestimated these folk if even such as he can wield a spell of passage.”
“You recognized it, too? Well, perhaps you are right,” Worrel replied. “Yet he seemed to me more one used of magic than himself a user. In any case we had best make speed to Eveleth. And I do not seek to trespass on your authority, Ward-Keeper, but I would feel myself safer were our prisoner gagged and bound.”
“I’ll not differ with you there!” Jordet said. “I do not seek to prove my talents against such a one; there will be better need for such power at another time and place.”
“What is the need for this?” Maurin inquired as Jordet and Worrel set about binding their prisoner.
“Bound and gagged he cannot work magic,” Worrel replied, slipping a loop of rope over the Lithmern’s right hand. “And as he was about to work a spell to snatch himself and our charming companion to an unknown but probably unpleasant destination, I think our precautions are more than justified.”
Alethia had been leaning against Alfand with her head down ever since the Lithmern’s collapse. Now she raised her head and stared fixedly ahead of her. The pupils of her eyes were enormous. “Blindfold him,” she said in a flat voice.
“What? Why?” Jordet said, looking around.
“Blindfold him. Blindfold him!” she repeated, and they could all hear the hysterical note in her voice.
“All right, Allie,” Har said soothingly. “It’s all right.” He put an arm around her shoulders, but she shrugged it off and repeated, “Blindfold him!” Jordet frowned, but Worrel tore a strip from the bottom of his cloak and wrapped it around the Lithmern’s eyes. Only when this was done did Alethia collapse, sobbing, into her brother’s arms.
Chapter 10
BY NOON THEY WERE out of the ravine. Alethia rode at the rear of the group, keeping as much distance between herself and the prisoner as possible. She still felt lightheaded and nervous, but she hid her tension from the others as well as she could. It was bad enough to have made a display of herself over blindfolding the Lithmern. She could not explain, even to herself, why she had done so.
They were just beginning another climb when a pinpoint of light darted from behind a rock toward Jordet’s head. Alethia cried a warning, but it was unnecessary; the light circled Jordet’s head twice, then hovered in front of him. It looked very like a spark rising from a fire, but it burned with a bright, silvery light that showed no sign of extinction.
Jordet smiled and spoke a phrase in an unfamiliar language. The light dipped, then darted off and disappeared ahead of them.
“What was that?” Har asked.
“It is a type of spell used as a guide, a seeker,” Jordet answered. “Someone is looking for us.”
“How long before he finds us?” Maurin asked. “And should we let him?”
Jordet looked startled. “I doubt that it guides an enemy; there are other spells that could locate us without giving so obvious a warning. We are less than half a day’s ride from Eveleth—someone must have ridden out to meet us.”
“Perhaps,” Maurin said. “Or perhaps that is what we are meant to think. How soon can we expect to meet whoever-it-is?”
“Seekers are not difficult to make, but it takes power to hold them in being for any length of time,” Jordet said in a thoughtful tone. “I would guess that we have half an hour, perhaps as much as an hour before we meet the sender. But I do not look for trouble so near to Eveleth.”
They proceeded warily despite Jordet’s assurances, but there were no further signs. Half an hour later, they reached the end of the climb and paused to let the horses rest. Looking ahead, Alethia saw a stretch of relatively flat ground. In the center stood a figure on horseback, motionless beside a small fire. If it is an enemy, he is certainly not worried about being seen, she thought, and her tension receded a little.
Jordet waved and started forward; the others followed a bit more reluctantly. As they drew nearer, the figure resolved into a tall woman enveloped in a dark wool traveling cloak, whose silver-white hair and slanted green eyes proclaimed her one of the Shee.
“Greetings, Keeper of the South Ward,” she said to Jordet as he halted in front of her. “And greetings, too, to the Wyrds of Glen Wilding.”
“Greetings, lady,” Jordet replied formally. “What brings you alone to seek our company?”
“A story best told in comfort,” she answered. “Though time presses, I ask you to pause here, for the news I bear is difficult to ponder on horseback.”
Jordet nodded and swung himself to the ground. As he went to help Tamsin and Har unload the captive Lithmern, the Shee woman’s eyebrows rose. “What is this?” she demanded.
“We, too, have a story to tell, lady,” Jordet said.
The travelers made themselves comfortable around the fire. Alethia, once seated, looked pointedly from Jordet to the Shee woman and back. Jordet said, “Before we begin, I think introductions are in order. This is the Lady Illeana, wizard of the Veldatha and high in the confidence of the Council of Lord Advisors. Lady Illeana, my companions—” He named them quickly, beginning with the Wyrds and ending with Tamsin.
Illeana nodded coolly in acknowledgment. Jordet leaned forward. “Now, tell us what message is so urgent that it brings you to meet us so close to Eveleth.”
“It is not my choice, but the Lord Medilaw’s that brings me here,” Illeana replied. “Nine nights ago the Lady Isme of Brenn broke the covenant of exile and sent a speaking-spell to Eveleth to ask us to keep watch for her daughter, kidnapped by Lithmern not an hour before. Though Isme broke the dictates of the Council, Queen Iniscara chose to lend what aid we might, so the message was sent on to the Glens of the Wyrds, and there the matter rested.”
“That much I have learned or guessed from the news the Wyrds brought me,” Jordet said. Alethia wondered that he could be so patient. Illeana’s formality annoyed her almost as much as the Shee woman’s attitude. If one of them had been kidnapped, and they had asked for help, Mother would have done a lot more than just send word to someone else to keep watch, she thought.
“Then one called Murn arrived three days ago, bringing with her a Talisman of Noron’ri,” Illeana continued with a reproving look at Jordet. “When we heard her story, Iniscara ordered the Veldatha to break the exile once more and send a speaking-spell to Isme in Brenn. Then we learned that the city was under attack, and word was sent to you to escort Alethia of Brenn to Eveleth. I am come to tell you that it is no longer necessary.”
“You mean the siege has been lifted?” Har said eagerly.
“No,” Illeana replied. “But the message was sent in haste, when it seemed wise to have your sister under the best protection we could provide. Now, of course, it is obvious what happened. The Lithmern found one of the Talismans of Noron’ri; in using it, they learned or guessed that Isme was more than she seemed. And so they sent to Brenn to kidnap her, that she might not use her power against them in battle.”
“You think they were afraid of mother?” Alethia said, surprised.
Illeana looked at her contemptuously. “A full-blooded Shee, trained in magic, is more than a match for any human wizard, even with one of the nine Talismans. Unfortunately for the Lithmern, their attempt went astray and they got Isme’s half-blood child instead of Isme. The error was compounded when they lost the Talisman.”
“They wanted me,” Alethia said as firmly as she could. “They knew my name, and—” She broke off, unable to explain to this cool, distant stranger about the Lithmern captain with shadows instead of a face, and the way he had hunted for her in her vision.
“If you are correct in thinking that, they must have been seeking a hold over your mother,” Illeana said in a tone that made it clear she thought Alethia was mistaken. “In either case, without the Talisman, the Lithmern can be of little danger to you. Therefore there is no longer any reason for you to continue to Eveleth. Lord Medilaw Robal, High Minister to the Queen, has arranged a place just east of here where you can stay in safety and comfort for a time. It will cause less trouble if no humans come to Eveleth to disturb us.”
Alethia pressed her lips together, trying to keep her temper. She saw Maurin’s eyes narrow, and he glanced toward their captive. Before he could make the obvious comment on Alethia’s presumed “safety,” Har burst into speech. “What of Brenn?” he demanded. “How can we help the city by going further east?”
“What is that to me, or to the Shee?” Illeana said scornfully. “The Council has other things to concern them.”
“Such as?” Jordet asked quietly, with a quelling look at Har, who had opened his mouth to retort angrily.
“Firivar sent a prophecy to the Queen this morning,” Illeana answered. “Whatever it relates to is of far more importance than this little matter.”
“ ‘Whatever it relates to’ may be this little matter,” Rarn put in.
Jordet nodded. “A prophecy just now is too timely to be coincidence.” His eyes narrowed suddenly. “Do
es the Queen know of your message to us, or Lord Medilaw only?”
“I cannot say,” Illeana admitted, looking disturbed. “Lord Medilaw speaks for the Queen, but she was closeted with the foreteller when I left.”
“There may have been other developments in Eveleth since you left as well,” Jordet murmured. “Certainly there have been some here.”
“And while I mean no disrespect to the abilities of the Shee, Alethia may not be as safe as you assume,” Worrel said. “The Lithmern may not have the Talisman of Noron’ri, but the one this morning began a spell of passage without—”
“A spell of passage?” Illeana interrupted. “You must be mistaken!”
“He is not,” Jordet said. Quickly, he told the story of their encounter with the Lithmern in the ravine. Illeana listened carefully, and her lips tightened.
“You were wise to take him prisoner,” she said when he finished. “We will spell-bind him now. Such a magician cannot be permitted near Eveleth otherwise, nor can we set such a magic worker free without precaution.”
“Is it wise to attempt such a thing here?” Jordet replied. “I have little knowledge of his ability, but Alethia says he was one of the party that tried to kidnap her. If so, he may be more skilled than you expect.”
Illeana gestured impatiently. “Two Shee, both prepared and one a Veldatha, can easily best a human wizard. Your fears are groundless; he does not have the Talisman to aid him now.”
“He may not need it. The Talismans were made by a human wizard,” Jordet said softly, but he rose and followed her over to the inert Lithmern. Illeana motioned to Worrel to join them, and began giving instructions in a low voice. When she finished, Jordet looked at Alethia.
“I think you should be back as far as you can,” he said. “I do not think he could attack you successfully from within a Circle, but there is no sense in taking chances.”
“What are you going to do?” Alethia asked in a voice she hoped was steady.
“We are going to cast a spell that will block his use of magic and bind his will. When we finish, he will not be able to work further harm, either by magic or by force. With two of us to make the attempt it should not be difficult.” His eyes were worried despite his words, and Alethia was not very reassured. She moved as far as she could and found another seat behind Tamsin and Maurin.