The Seeker

by Isobelle Carmody

  “Beforetime weaponmachines,” I said. “I don’t know why, but right now our biggest problem is that Alexi and Madam Vega are the ones who control the machine that caught hold of my mind that time. Tomorrow night, they are going to use it on Cameo, thinking it will force her to reveal hidden Misfit powers. Somehow, they imagine Cameo can help them find the weaponmachines—or at least Marisa Seraphim’s map that shows where they are.”

  “But Cameo knows nowt of any map,” Matthew said. He glanced over to where she sat farther along the bench, plaiting grass in her thin fingers, her eyes on the hazy line of mountains visible beyond the stark branches of the trees in the nearest orchard.

  Dameon coughed, and we both looked at him. “I have been thinking about what is being done to Cameo. What if they think they can use Misfit powers to raise the ghost of Marisa Seraphim?”

  “But … that is not possible,” I said.

  “No, but they do not know that.”

  “Wait!” Matthew said, eyes glittering with excitement. “What if it’s nowt the ghost of her that they are seeking, but simply traces of her mind? Dameon, ye told me once that ye can pick up echoes of feelings from objects.”

  Dameon nodded, but said that feelings could not give them any useful information.

  I nodded slowly, too. “If they are strong, thoughts leave an echo as well.” I wondered if Matthew had hit upon the right answer. Certainly, Marisa’s books and papers would be full of her thoughts and impressions, and I knew that if I desired it, I could probably read those thoughts. But how could Alexi and Madam Vega know so much about Misfit powers? Was it possible that Madam Vega divined it because of her own unacknowledged Misfit ability?

  “We mun leave tonight,” Matthew said urgently. “Perhaps if Henry Druid has a secret camp in the mountains, we can join him. Or at least raid his supplies.”

  “Perhaps we have no choice,” Dameon said. “I just wish we had managed to get a map.”

  Triumphantly, I told them about the map I had found. That decided Dameon, who said the supplies we had collected would have to do. We would bring whatever of our stored supplies we could conceal and carry back through the maze that evening. I would come and unlock their doors that night and do any coercing needed, and we would then make our way to the front of the house and go out the same way we had come in—through the front gate. Despite everything, the audacity of the plan pleased me.

  That afternoon, as we gathered to be taken back through the maze to the house, snow began to fall lightly and softly, whitening the world. Uneasily, I looked out to the mountains, my breath making little puffs of mist in the cold air. Their tips were white, too, barely visible against the pale sky.

  “In case you have any notion of escape,” Ariel said, so close that the hair on my neck stood on end, “I should warn you again about the mountains and the wild wolves. I have seen them tear rabbit and deer apart while literally on the run. No one has ever been mad enough to try to escape in this season.” He ran his fingers through his white-blond hair, a languid movement that lent his cruelty a casual air.

  I looked away from him, certain he must have been able to hear my heart hammering in my chest. Behind us, the imprints made by our boots were already filling up with a fresh drift of velvety white snow. I told myself that whatever Ariel guessed from my expression as I had looked out at the mountains, he could not possibly know we were plotting an escape that very night.

  But we did not go that night, for at midmeal, Sly Willie came for Cameo, and there was nothing any of us could do but watch as she was led away. Matthew looked so openly distraught that I kicked him under the table. There was no chance to talk until we got to the farms the next morning, and I was shocked to see they were covered in a thick white blanket of snow. We seemed to have gone in a matter of days from summerdays to wintertime.

  “We mun help her,” Matthew said, seeming not to see the transformation.

  “Tonight I will see if I can find out where she is,” I promised, just as Rushton arrived to send us off on our various errands. He seemed distracted, and it occurred to me that he had been that way for some time, but I was too worried about Cameo to ponder it deeply. I found myself among a group sent to round up the small herd of goats, which were to be led through the maze to a small yard adjacent to the house. I was in one of the farthest fields, having just found a lame goat, when it began to snow hard. It took me a long time to get her back to the stable, and when I’d done so, I was shivering with the cold.

  Rushton heard me cough, took one look at me, and sent me up to the house with an older Misfit to see Guardian Myrna. By night, I was running a high fever, my voice was a painful croak, and I had been put into a sick chamber. There was no question of going out to look for Cameo, and I finally fell into a fitful sleep in which red birds swooped at my face and the ground opened up malevolently and tried to swallow me.

  The first person I saw when I woke was Rushton. “You are awake at last,” he said. “The horses missed you.”

  I frowned, wondering how long I had slept. Then I wondered why he was visiting me.

  Before I could ask, Guardian Myrna came in. Rushton sat up slightly and said in a clipped voice, “Try to remember exactly what medicines you gave that lame horse.” She went out again, and Rushton leaned close. “I told her I wanted to talk to you about a farm matter, but that isn’t true. I came to give you this.”

  He held out a small cloth bag. I took it and opened it, and a wonderful summery smell filled the air. He closed my hands around the package and urged me to keep it hidden and eat it when no one was around. “It will help you regain strength quickly,” he said, and then without another word, he left.

  Later I drew the bag open and looked inside to find a moistened ball of herbs. My mother had made such things, and I pondered the fact that Rushton would give me medicine that was so obviously the product of forbidden herb lore. I came to the conclusion that he genuinely wanted to help me. Certainly the ball of herbs would do me no harm, and indeed that night, I slept deeply and well.

  When I woke, it was night again and my head was clear. Guardian Myrna came in and, seeing I was awake, examined me and said brusquely that I might as well go back to my own chamber and sleep, for she needed the beds.

  I arrived in my room as the others were changing for the nightmeal. There was a queer solemnity in their faces, and I asked with some trepidation if something had happened. I was afraid for Cameo, of course, for there was no sign of her. But one of the girls came close and whispered, “Selmar is dead. She tried to run again, but Ariel got her. He … shot her so she couldn’t run, then … set his wolves loose.”

  “He couldn’t …,” I whispered, sickened.

  “Some of us saw it,” said the other girl. Her face was ashen as she spoke, and I thought mine must look the same. I was still sitting on the side of my bed, alone and too shattered by what I had been told to eat, when Matthew came in. His face was haggard. I got to my feet at once, alarmed, and asked him if it was true that Ariel had let his wolves kill Selmar. He bowed his head. “He … he keeps boastin’ about it like it was a good joke on her.” Then he faltered and seemed to find it hard to speak.

  I knew he must be worrying himself ill over Cameo, and I laid my hand on his shoulder. “I will go out and look for her tonight. I promise.”

  He shook his head, and when he looked at me, his eyes were full of compassion. A thrill of fear shot thought me.

  “The Council have found out about ye, Elspeth,” he said, answering the question he saw in my face. “That is what I came to tell you. I overheard Sly Willie tellin’ Lila in the kitchen just now. Some soldierguards arrived about an hour ago an’ they have been with Madam Vega ever since. She sent Willie fer a meal for them.” He went on to say that two Councilmen were due to arrive the following morning, and I was to be ready for them to take away at once. “It seems they want to make sure they have ye down from th’ mountains before the pass is completely closed. I came to tell ye that ye mun escap
e tonight, Elspeth,” Matthew said. “Willie thinks yer still in the sick chamber, an’ he told Lila that Madam Vega insists ye mun stay there fer the night. I’ve a bag of supplies an’ a blanket and a tinder box stashed in the bottom of the linen cupboard for ye. It’s not enough, but hopefully we will nowt be long after ye.”

  “But what about the rest of you? Cameo …” I stopped, seeing anguish flood his eyes. “Cameo?”

  He shook his head and his expression grew bleak. “Ye ken as well as I do what they meant to do to her. Days have passed since Ariel took her away, an’ no one has seen a hair of her since. I mun face … we mun face the fact that they have used th’ machine on her.”

  “You can’t just give up on her,” I said.

  “I will not. I dinna! But I am sayin’ that there is nothing you can do now, Elspeth. Ye mun save yerself.”

  “At … at dusk each day, I will farseek you,” I stammered, hardly able to believe that all our careful plans had come to this. I gathered my wits and got the map from behind the stone. Matthew tried to refuse it, but I insisted, telling him I had already looked at the map and I had a second compass. “This mountain valley runs up into another, and that runs into another beyond that. The valleys go much farther into the mountains than you would guess. I will go high and deep and try to find a cave.”

  Matthew nodded and pushed the map into his shirt, his eyes dark with apprehension. “Be careful.”

  “You too,” I said. “Say goodbye to the others for me.”

  “Ye ken I will,” he said. We stared at each other helplessly for a moment, and then he suddenly threw his arms around me and hugged me hard. “I love ye like a sister, Elspeth,” he said gruffly into my ear, his accent very strong. Then he released me and strode away.

  Deciding I had better not linger where I was, I slipped out into the hall and went to wait in an empty chamber I had noticed as I came from the healing room. The door stood open, and I sat on the floor behind it. I could feel nothing, not even grief for poor Cameo. I listened to the sound of people returning from their meal and then readying themselves for bed. I stayed still and quiet when one of the senior Misfits extinguished most of the hall candles and locked the doors. They did not trouble with the empty room. I waited until I could hear neither voice nor footfall, and then I stood up and got the supplies Matthew had left for me. I headed for the front entrance hall and the main doors, determined to coerce anyone who got in my way.

  But all at once I heard the voices of Madam Vega and of Ariel. My heart gave a leap of fear, and I turned swiftly and ran down a short hall. Opening the first door I came to, I was startled to find a set of steps winding up. I ran to the second level and then to the third, slowing down when I saw light at the top, but it was only a lantern hung on the wall of a corridor. I decided to go along the passage and see if I could find other steps leading down, closer to the front door.

  I had not gone far when, very quietly, a voice spoke behind me.

  “If you make one sound, I will kill you.” To my utter terror, I felt the tip of something sharp press into my neck.

  PART III

  THE MASTER OF OBERNEWTYN

  22

  “NOD IF YOU will not cry out,” the voice said.

  With a queer sense of desolation, I recognized whom that whispered voice belonged to. I moved my mouth to speak, but the hand over my mouth tightened. Limply, I nodded.

  He unlocked a door beside us and propelled me into a small but lavish bedchamber. Candles were lit and a fire warmed the air.

  I stared about me with a kind of despair, for this was not the room of any hired servant. Like the rest of Obernewtyn, the room was hewn of gray stone, but unlike those in the chambers of Misfits, the window in this room was wide and would afford a view, too, though now the shutters were pulled across to keep out the cold night air. The floor was covered in a thick, beautiful rug, and the table and chairs and the comfortable couch were enough to make anyone suspicious.

  Forgetting my initial fear, I turned angrily to stare at my captor—Rushton.

  “I thought you worked for pay,” I said accusingly.

  He shrugged, seemingly unashamed of himself. “My position here is … ambiguous,” he said softly. “Keep your voice down,” he added.

  Outrage gave way to confusion. If he didn’t want us to be heard, then he must not intend to denounce me. I watched him warily as he crossed to the front of the fire. He poked at the embers with a stick, and gradually I went closer.

  He looked up at me, the firelight flickering over his grim face. “You don’t seem frightened. Are you?” he asked.

  “No,” I said simply, because it was true. I felt too numb. He gestured for me to sit on the couch, and I shook my head. Uttering a growl, he moved swiftly, plonking me unceremoniously onto the seat.

  “Then you are a fool,” he said. I looked up at him resentfully. “Only a fool would not be afraid in your situation. I could have been one of the guardians.…”

  My anger and bewilderment melted at his grave tone.

  He sat down opposite me. “It is time for us to talk. Lud knows we should have done so before now.” He shook his head as if at his own folly.

  “Why were you sneaking around in the dark?” he asked with some of his old haughtiness. I bridled at his tone and gave him a sullen look that made him frown.

  “I ought to march you off to Madam Vega right now,” he said, but his tone was one of weary contempt, empty of threat. “You have caused me a great deal of trouble, and it might be the best thing to let them have you. I knew there would be trouble the first time I saw you,” Rushton added. “And Louis warned me.…”

  I stared. “Louis warned you about me?”

  He actually smiled at that. “It is rather late in the day to become cautious, Elspeth. He said you were curious as a cat, and so you are. Perhaps I should tell you that I know Alexi is searching for a Misfit with particular abilities to help him find something hidden. I believe you have the abilities he seeks, and I suspect he finally knows that.”

  I gaped, my heart thundering. How could he know so much? “I … I don’t know what you mean,” I faltered.

  He lifted his dark brows skeptically. “I am also aware that the Council has sent men to bring you to Sutrium. And I can guess that your friends have been unable to help you except to advise you to run, as far and as fast as you can. It is wise advice, for it appears the Council is very interested in Misfits like you—there are far more of you than most realize. The Council interrogates them, then burns them, or they are given to the Herders who carry them off to Herder Isle.”

  I looked at him dumbly, aware that I was shivering from fear. Seeing that I made no effort to deny what he said, he nodded slightly and continued.

  “Your only option is to get away tonight, but I tell you quite simply that you have no hope unless you put yourself in my hands and do as I say.”

  “Who are you? Why would you help me?” I asked.

  He gave me a guarded look. “It is enough for you to know that I am no enemy to you. Or to your suspicious friends, though you have jeopardized my own plans with your endless questions and curiosity. Rest assured I do not share the ambitions of Vega and Alexi to dig up the past. It is better dead and buried.”

  “Plans?” I asked, and unexpectedly he smiled.

  “Even now you are curious,” he said, his tone half amused and half exasperated. “I wonder if you really understand how much danger you face. Louis was right. You are curious to the point of foolishness.” All at once, a sad sort of tenderness softened his eyes. “Selmar was curious, too, when she first came. Always asking questions and poking her nose into everything. She near drove Louis mad in the beginning. So hungry for answers, whatever the cost—and it proved dear.”

  “I can’t help what life has made of me,” I said defensively.

  He stood abruptly. “Come. There is no more time for talk.”

  “What am I to do, then?” I asked.

  Rushton handed me a thi
ck gray cloak from a wall peg. “You’ll need a heavier coat. It is impossible for you to leave the grounds tonight. The weather will get worse before it gets better and even an arrowcase would not help you, for the storms that run from the Blacklands affect the bearings. Nor can you go through the pass if you managed to find your way there, for it is white with snow, and though not yet completely blocked, it will be impossible to see where the ground is too badly tainted to cross on foot.” He spoke calmly and deliberately. “I cannot let you stay here, either, because the house will be searched from top to bottom, and I am not exempt.”

  “Then there is nowhere for me to go,” I said despairingly.

  “You must remain on the farms until the weather clears. They will not be able to search there until the storm ends, and since the maze is snowed in, they are unlikely even to think of the farms to begin with. As soon as the moment is right, I will return for you, and I will tell you of a place where there are supplies enough to last you until the wintertime ends.”

  “But if the maze is impassable, how are we going to get to the farms?”

  Rushton crossed restlessly to the window and peered through the shutter. “We will go outside the grounds and around. They won’t imagine you would escape only to come back inside the walls.” He frowned. “I thought I heard something.…” He shook his head and came back to the fire, pulling on his own coat.

  “The wolves?” I asked, thinking of poor Selmar.

  Rushton only smiled. “They are locked up.” He looked at me searchingly. “You are pale. I hope you are properly recovered. You took the medicine I gave you?”

  I nodded. “It was herb lore, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes,” he said simply. “One of my friends has great skill in the art of healing, as did my mother. I know there is no evil in those old ways. The Council and Herder Faction are fools, frightened of everything. Now they have decided you are a danger because they don’t understand you.” He shook his head again and glanced out the window. “We must go now.”