As she trudged through the snow, the night’s events came back to her. It seemed so far away. She felt no joy from killing Bucur; she felt joy from feeling free. Free, for the first time in years. Free to die. Saliné shook her head. The wind picked up with her last thought. It’s getting worse. Determined, she walked further, snow crunching under her boots. Soon, even that sound vanished, as she ploughed through knee-deep snow. Her only company was the howling wind. That, and the howling wolves. They are still far away, Saliné encouraged herself. The cold, the wind and an abrupt sense of loneliness cut through her, but she felt more and more numb. She was tired. She wanted to sleep. Her steps became less frequent, then they became erratic. Bent against the wind, she hit a tree with her shoulder, but she hardly felt the shock. Exhausted, she leaned against the thick trunk. I am tired. I need to sleep. Slowly, she slid down, her back scratching the rough bark of the pine tree.
For a few moments, a figure came to her, an unknown man, smiling at her, his eyes and hair black. The colors were crisp and pleasant. The smile was pleasant too. I was not dreaming. That was a Vision. It’s only the second time I’ve had one, if I don’t count the dream when Father warned me about Dog. Mother told me that my Light is stronger than hers. Vio’s Light is much stronger, perhaps even stronger than Dochia’s. Mother was afraid that the Wanderers would try to kidnap Vio. Why did this Vision come to me now? It’s pointless. I will die here. She was now seated in the snow, her legs half covered by it, her head leaning back against the tree. The mare touched her gently and snorted. The cold moved further inside her. Drained and hopeless, Saliné was falling asleep.
Chapter 8 – Saliné
Saliné opened her eyes, slowly. It hurt. She moaned, and forced herself to look around. Blurry at first, the world around her began to have contours, then colors. The pain continued, but the place she found herself in was warm and pleasant. I’ve died. There was no other way to explain the warmth after the long agony in the frozen forest. She blinked through the pain. The afterlife probably doesn’t look like this. The room looked real, a place inhabited by humans and not by spirits; flames were dancing in the fireplace, logs were singing in the fire, and the pleasant scent of resin filled her nostrils. This is not heaven; this is a real room. Maybe I am still alive. But how did I get here? She forced herself to think, to remember, but nothing came to her. I am here, however it happened. Involuntarily, she shook her head, and pain overwhelmed her. Her view darkened, and she panicked, feeling like the room was moving away from her. She wanted that room desperately; it was the only thing that proved she was still alive. That and a vague feeling, somewhere between a memory and a presentiment.
It was hard to keep her eyes open and harder to move. Pain forced her to give up the attempt to stand, and she was content to observe the things around her. The room was unfamiliar, and that alleviated her fear that she was back in Castis. How did I get here? She recalled some faint memories of a man, or two men, lifting her from the snow and tying her to a horse, like a useless bag. Was it a dream? But I am here... What happened to my mare? I hope she survived too. Codrin gave her to me. She is the only thing I still have from him. Her and my flying knives...
The door opened with a faint noise, and she tried again to move, pain and fear fighting for control of her. Too weak to stand and defend herself, Saliné pretended to be still asleep. Surprise might help, if things went bad. Closing her eyes eased the pain too.
“I never saw a more beautiful woman,” Eduin said, absorbed by Saliné’s fair face.
“You are not yet married, and a mistress can help during the cold winter nights. I’m not saying you have to,” his father laughed, seeing the frown on his face, “but consider it; I may be tempted too.”
“Father, she is so young, nineteen, perhaps not even that.”
“Young and fresh. I did not say you should force her; that would be an unacceptable breach of hospitality, and seduction is always more interesting. The negotiations for your marriage will end in spring, and the wedding will be in autumn. Laure is pressing us. I agree, her niece and your future bride is less ... agreeable than this girl, but her dowry will enlarge our lands considerably. There is still plenty of time for you to learn more about women. I don’t remember you complaining about your previous two mistresses.”
My future bride is much less than agreeable, and it’s not just her looks. That woman is a shrew. “This girl is different.”
“What’s so different about her, except that she is strangely beautiful? I see a head with auburn hair, and that tells us that she is from the north. We need to know how she came to be here. She has a charming mouth. I can imagine pleasant breasts under that dress, and long legs under the blanket. Where the women you had before so different?”
“I can’t tell you why, but she is different, and she is dressed in a fine riding costume. She is clearly not a commoner. I am glad that I went to Siecle and found her.”
“You disobeyed my orders.” The voice of Foy, the Seigneur of Laurden, became cold, even angry.
“What kind of Seigneur would the people think I was, if I hid like a coward behind my men? Savages from the south attacked Siecle. I had to go there. You did the same at my age.”
“Perhaps. So, you think she is different because she wears an expensive riding suit.”
“That tells us things about her status, nothing about the woman.”
“Then why is she special? And don’t tell me that story about a strange feeling telling you to go there and find her. Men don’t have the Light.”
“I don’t know, Father. Whatever you think about the Light...”
Before Eduin could finish, there was a knock at the door, and a servant entered with a letter. “A courier from Lady Maud,” he said, and Saliné twitched involuntarily. The movement would have betrayed her, but both men had turned away, toward the servant, and ignored her. Pain had not, and she suppressed a moan.
“You may go,” S’Laurden said to the servant, taking the letter. “My dear aunt Maud. I’ve never received a pleasant letter from her. Her writing is so much like Maud herself, cold, biting, and nasty. Intelligent, though. Hmm,” he said thoughtfully. “It seems that the Candidate King and Queen have vanished somewhere south of Frankis, and no one knows where they are.”
“I forget their names.”
“Bucur and Saliné. They are important names. Try to remember them. I know nothing about the girl, but I heard in Tolosa, from Pierre, that the man is a scoundrel. Maud wants us to search for them and... This is interesting. She wants the girl.”
“Why should we give her the girl?” Eduin’s mind was still set on the beautiful stranger he had saved from the deadly storm.
“Because dear Maud is the Master Sage of the Circle, son. And dear Laure, her daughter and my second cousin, is the Duchess of Tolosa, our big northern neighbor. She acts like a Duke, as Baldovin is so weak. It’s not his fault, he is ill most of the time. Pierre, the Spatar, is the only real man there, but there is not much love between him and the Duchess. He opposed that military misadventure in Poenari, but she ordered him to go anyway. It ended badly, and I bet that Laure is biting her nails right now. That’s a pity, she has such nice fingers.”
“Joffroy told me that his father was wounded on their way back from Poenari. He suspected the Circle.”
“No way, Maud is too intelligent for such a blunder. If she wants someone dead, then he is dead. That’s why you can’t refuse her. But I need to know why she wants the girl. Sometimes it helps that we are so far from the main centers of power, sometimes it’s a disadvantage. If we find the Candidate Queen, I may be able to negotiate some further advantages, like the dowry for your bride. What name did your damsel in distress use in her delirium?”
“Vio. Did you think she is...?”
“You think she is special, and she may be, but a Candidate Queen doesn’t ride alone into an uninhabited area, and into a storm. Did she say any other names?”
“Mother and Corrin, or somethin
g like that. Probably her brother.”
“Or her husband, or her lover. Let’s go, I think that you have ogled her enough. Maybe she will wake up tomorrow.”
“I will ask the servants to leave her something to eat. In case she wakes up during the night.”
“That’s a good way to impress a girl. Write her a message too.”
“Thank you, Father, that’s a good idea.”
Her tension dissipated after they left, and Saliné felt asleep instantly. She woke in the morning, her eyes opening onto a man and his warm smile. The man in my Vision, she thought, unable to speak.
“Good morning, Vio. I am glad that you are awake. I am Eduin.” Why is she scared? As it had happened in the forest, during the Mother Storm, Eduin had the sudden impulse to reach for her hand and calm her. He stopped himself, and pretended to shift his position in front of her bed.
Eduin, the man who came yesterday. Maud’s relative. She closed her eyes, opened them again. The man did not vanish, and his smile grew wider. And warmer. “Good morning, Eduin. I don’t remember what happened to me, but I assume that you saved me yesterday, during the storm. Thank you, you are most kind.” I hope you are kind enough to skip the part about the mistress.
“You are welcome, but actually it happened two days ago, in the evening. Do you feel strong enough to come and eat with us?”
I have slept for almost two days... “I don’t know, if...”
“There is only one way to find out.” He grinned and, stretching his right hand out, clasped hers. “Let me help you,” he said and pulled her up gently, before she could react.
To her surprise, there was almost no pain left in her body, and she stood up easily. Unwillingly, Saliné found herself face to face with the man, who she thought must be in his early twenties. Despite her reticence, she found him handsome and somehow trustworthy, though the conversation about mistresses still lingered in her mind, in a wrong way, as it was Foy who had brought the issue, but she was to tired the day before, and some of her memories were distorted. Eduin was in my Vision that happened during the storm, she thought again, still trying to find a reason for that. Even if it stayed hidden for a while, there always was a reason behind a Vision. Fate warned and helped me. Is my Light stronger than I thought? “Thank you,” Saliné finally said, when the silence had gone on too long. “I can walk by myself.” Her hand was still in his, and she freed herself gently, feeling his thumb playing along her skin. She frowned briefly, but said nothing.
“Are you sure?” he asked, jokingly. “I am ready to help you walk, even to carry you in my arms.”
“Thank you, but that won’t be necessary.”
“Come then, my father is waiting for us.”
“Eduin, where am I?”
“You are in Laurden. My father is the Seigneur of Laurden.”
And Maud’s second degree nephew. Guiscard was right, the road did lead to Laurden. Why did he warn me about the storm? He knew that I killed Bucur.
Entering the room, Saliné found herself facing Foy S’Laurden, the Seigneur of Laurden, and a girl, with a delicate fair face and black hair. Her eyes moved between Foy and Eduin, finding some physical resemblances, except for the father’s dark brown hair, and the son’s black curls. Involuntarily, she compared them to the other father and son who had marked her life: Aron and Bucur. There was the same ruthless determination in Foy as in Aron, yet she had the feeling that the man was not evil. When she thought of Eduin, she remembered his mistresses. That was so much like Bucur, and her lips twitched. Maybe he is not so wicked, Saliné encouraged herself.
“Did I pass the test?”Foy asked, and his eyes crinkled with mirth.
“You passed it two days ago, Sir, when you sheltered this stranger in your house. I thank you for your kindness.”
“What do you think, Eduin? We have a girl who knows how to speak for herself.” She doesn’t speak like a commoner, and Eduin was right, her riding suit is expensive.
“You know my thoughts already,” Eduin said, and offered Saliné a seat.
“My son thinks you are special, Vio. Are you?”
“I am just a girl.”
“That’s quite plain to see, but what more can you tell us about this girl?
“My father was the Half-Knight of Debretin,” Saliné said. “I was going to Valeni, where Lady Agatha, a distant aunt of my mother’s, had arranged a good marriage for me.” Debretin was in Arad, more a fortified house than a castle, and as she did not know until now about Laurden, she did not expect them to know about Debretin, which was much smaller and further north of Arad.
“Do you know the man?” Eduin asked, a bit more eagerly than he meant to.
“Yes, he is a kind man, who I like. We met two years ago, when I visited Valeni with Mother.”
“As a young man, I was once in Valeni,” Foy said. “I attended Lady Agatha’s wedding.”
“My grandmother was there too. A sad story, Lady Agatha’s husband was killed soon after the wedding, and she never remarried.”
So she did not lie about Agatha… “Yes,” Foy nodded, “a sad story, but Valeni is far from here.”
“Our ship was caught in a storm from the north, and we landed in Sebastos. We hired two people who knew the roads.”
We? Foy thought, looking at her.
“My mother hired two protectors to guard me. I suppose that they are dead now. It’s a strange thing, but I don’t remember much of what happened in the last few days.”
“It happens sometimes when you are in shock. You were unconscious and freezing, when we found you,” Eduin said.
“Thank you, again, Eduin.”
Foy looked at her and frowned thoughtfully.
I should have said Sir Eduin, Saliné suddenly worried. It’s too late now.
“The men you hired brought you much too far south.” Foy was still thoughtful, feeling that her reactions were not those of the daughter of a Half-Knight; he guessed that she was trying to mimic a lower status, but everything in her stance worked against her. Why would she do that? The higher the status, the more chance of being treated well. Maud’s letter about the missing Candidate Queen resurfaced in his mind, but he chose to ignore it.
“They knew that we were strangers, maybe they just wanted more money,” Saliné said, injecting some sadness into her voice. “I suppose that is of no matter now.”
“My dear niece,” Foy turned toward the girl, who was studying Saliné with a strange intensity. “What do you think?”
She is a Wanderer, a thought whispered to Saliné. She felt a strong pressure from the Light, and a hidden meaning in all that happened. And in all that will happen.
“So you know what I am,” the girl said, a glimmer appearing and vanishing in her eyes.
“What should I know?” Saliné asked, hiding well her surprise.
“That I am a Wanderer. I am Idonie, the Twenty-First Light of the Frankis Wanderers.” I was right about her Light; this complicates matters.
“Yes, I knew that you are a Wanderer,” Saliné whispered.
“So, you are special.” Foy’s thick brows drew together, and he looked between the two women.
“I have some Light, but that doesn’t make me special. There is not enough of it to make me a Wanderer.”
“But you know about the Wanderers,” Foy insisted, “and there are not many people who know about them.”
“In my family, we know about the Wanderers. My mother is a Helper.” She pondered for a while. “I know Dochia.” It may help me to know a powerful Wanderer without revealing who I am. She saw Idonie react, and unwillingly, their eyes locked for a few moments. Surprised by the strong interaction between them, both looked away.
“Idonie had a Vision about you arriving in Laurden, that’s why she came here, this morning.”
“Wanderers have Visions,” Saliné said, a touch of irritation in her voice.
“Vio,” Foy said gently, “we just want to know more about you and understand Idonie’s Vision. From
what I understand, there is always a purpose in them. You have nothing to worry about. Let’s eat now. We will have time to get to know each other.” Foy nodded at her, smiled and, looking down at his dish, he proceeded to eat.
Saliné calmed, but she could not be light-hearted. For the first time in her life, she was surrounded entirely by strangers, on foreign ground. A guest of strangers and a prisoner of chance. Recalling that Eduin had saved her made her look at him out of the corner of her eyes. She found that he was doing the same. He winked at her and, blushing faintly, she looked at her plate, and began to eat. Once her nerves had settled, she realized how hungry she was. She still forced herself to eat slowly, though breakfast struck her as being both different and delicious. Because I am so hungry, she thought, amused. Last time I ate was before the storm, and my mare... What happened to her? “Eduin,” she said suddenly and stopped, realizing that she had interrupted him.
“Yes.”
“I don’t know if... What happened to my mare?”
“A beautiful horse, indeed. A perfect riding animal for her mistress. I will take you to the stables after breakfast.”
“Thank you. She was a gift from... From my mother,” Saliné said gratefully, dropping her eyelids and drawing a deep breath, annoyed by her inability to recall what had happened in the last two days. And afraid about what she could have spoken in her sleep.
“I will be happy to show you the castle too.”
“Thank you. Will you help me get to Valeni? My wedding is supposed to be in a month from now.”
There is no wedding planned to happen in Valeni, Idonie thought suddenly.
“Laurden lies in a large valley, surrounded by mountains,” Eduin said. “They are not tall mountains, but after the Mother Storm, all the passes are blocked. There is no way to leave the valley until spring.”
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