Davin walked through crowds of visitors and townspeople, reveling in his day of freedom. Briefly, he wondered what Maerillus and Niam might be up to.
With any luck, maybe Maerillus might find another girl to take his mind off of Betsy. Seeing Maerillus play the gloomy role in their trio instead of Niam was too strange for Davin to fathom right now. Of course, things could have been worse. Davin just missed Salb, who appeared locked so deeply inside an unpleasant thought that he walked right by without recognizing him. And that was good because while Bode might have kept his temper in check, Salb would have tried something stupid and harmful, and the last thing Davin wanted was trouble. Something was coming and it seemed to lie just over the horizon. Davin may not have had Niam’s ability to sense unseen things, but just like the feeling haunting him at the Vandin camp, more trees were going to fall soon.
Davin turned to go back, but stopped abruptly. A panicky looking Bug just ran into a group of shoppers on the other side of the park because her attention was directed at someone behind her. The moment Davin saw who she was running from, his heart turned cold. Before Davin could make out where they were going, the endless motion of people surrounding them swallowed up both Bug and Card.
Davin cursed. They were too far away to keep track of. Before Davin could take a step to follow, Niam emerged from a cluster of people across the street. Farther back stood the tall bell tower of the new monastery, and beyond that, the mayor’s office. A look of frustration clouded his sharp, boyish features, and his skinny friend looked furious.
Davin waved his hands and bellowed as loudly as he could. Niam stopped, turned, and gaped openly in surprise. He tried to shout something back, but was simply too far away to be heard. Davin shook his head and pointed frantically in the direction Bug and Corey had disappeared. Niam was closer, and if he hurried, he might be able to catch up with them eventually.
He prayed that Niam understood. His friend nodded his head and sprinted off in the right direction. “Let me guess,” Maerillus said, suddenly standing in the middle of a ring of holly bushes, “There’s about to be trouble.”
Davin looked at Maerillus blankly for a second. “How’d you get in there?” he asked completely surprised.
“Good place as any to have lunch alone,” Maerillus said quickly. “What’s going on with Niam?”
“Not Niam this time,” Davin said as Maerillus hastily stepped over the lowest holly bush. “It’s his friend, Madeline. Card is after her and it definitely looks like trouble.”
“Oh,” Maerillus said, knowing full well the kind of trouble Card spelled for Madeline. “That’s not good.”
“No,” Davin said as they speedily made their way to the side of town Niam, Bug, and Card had run toward. “It’s not.”
“How are we going to find them in all of this?” Maerillus asked, slowing to an easy jog beside Davin as knots of people thickened the closer they drew to vendors alongside the street.
“Let it all play out,” Davin said soberly. “It always seems to anyway.”
“We do have a way of finding trouble,” Maerillus quipped dryly.
“I think trouble found us today,” Davin said.
Behind them, as if in response to Davin’s words, Jalt moved easily through the throngs of people, remaining just out of sight.