Davin felt uneasy. When the three of them met early in the morning, he was the only one that seemed to be in a decent mood. Niam stared out through puffy, swollen eyes, and Maerillus had a withdrawn and inward look. The walk to the Vandin camp took the entire day and part of the next, with Maerillus and Niam bickering the whole way.
At one point, Maerillus made an obvious effort to put a better face on his mood and joked about how the trip was probably for nothing.
“I hope it was just Bode’s mouth leaking,” Davin said earnestly.
“Hey! I know what I heard!” Niam said reactively. “I think he was telling the truth.”
“I can always hope,” Davin said.
When Niam lapsed into more silence, which wasn’t usually like him, Maerillus spoke up. “With things as strange as they’ve been lately, it would be nice if fate would cut us some slack.”
Davin nodded his head in agreement. “Speaking of strange things, have you heard that the nods seems to be getting worse?
Niam grunted an affirmative.
“I’ve seen several servants with it,” Maerillus said. “Dad sent the head butler home to get some sleep several days ago.”
“I caught the apothecary asleep at the counter two days ago,” Davin added. “Pretty bad when he can’t fix something to keep himself awake.”
About two years ago, the strange sleeping sickness had begun to affect the people around Pirim Village. No one suffered symptoms long. The worst of it involved a heavy drowsiness to come over anyone sick with the disease. People stricken with it sometimes grew so tired that they fell asleep in the middle of simple tasks.
“If that were the worst thing going on in town, I’d throw a party—with your dad’s money,” Davin joked.
Maerillus laughed and even Niam cracked a smile.
As they walked, Davin became increasingly unsettled. He initially hoped this was because Maer and Niam were constantly sucking the good mood out of him. Now, he was not so certain. The feeling hung like a massive tree leaning above him, about to fall down at any moment. He could only remember feeling an impending sense of danger this strongly one time before, and that was on a hunting trip with his brother Trev as they stalked a large ram. Trev’s arrow had taken the animal high in the haunches. The wounded animal left a zigzagging trail of blood through rough countryside as it fled. When Davin climbed a tall outcropping in order to get a better view of the terrain, he suddenly felt a ferocious presence boring into him. Trev called to him in an alarmed voice to stand completely still.
As Davin froze, the hair on the nape of his neck stood on end and goose bumps coursed down his arm.
A high-pitched twang sounded as Trev loosed an arrow. Davin heard its angry hiss through the air, followed by a flat thud and a high, keening scream of rage. Not eight feet away, a mountain lion fell dead to the ground from a tree branch just above his head. It must have been tracking the ram as well.
That was how Davin felt right now.
He looked around. The woods here were open and the thickly carpeted ground free of dense undergrowth. If anyone or anything was nearby watching, he ought to be able to make it out.