‘You think she went to Sawlney?’ I asked in alarm. The brutal ex-rebel loathed Misfits and despised those who tolerated them. Given what I had heard, he might very well be working with Radost to orchestrate attacks on Misfit travellers, for the pair had been thick as thieves once upon a time. Certainly Analivia had known it and if she wanted to find her father and brother, that would be a good place to start.
Garth shrugged. ‘She was convinced her father had help in planning his escape.’
‘I understand your concern but she promised to bring Bergold up for the moon fair and I can’t see her lying to him,’ I said, wondering if she had intended to use the visit to persuade him to live at Obernewtyn, thereby freeing her to pursue her father and older brother.
‘She sets great store in keeping her word,’ Garth agreed. ‘And she did mention that Bergold is desperate to see a magi play. Nor will he be disappointed, for I spoke to Gevan over firstmeal this morning and he said the coercers have resurrected one of the old plays in honour of Obernewtyn being turned into a settlement. In truth, I think Gevan liked all that prancing about in masks and costumes with paint daubed on his face,’ the teknoguilder added with amused scorn.
He reached out and gripped my arm, his expression suddenly avid. ‘Now Elspeth, having looked at that journal of Jacob’s, you can no longer deny that Hannah was in love with Jacob Obernewtyn.’ Touched by the enormous man’s doggedly romantic streak, I agreed that the journal was clear proof that Jacob had loved Hannah, but I could not help but point out that there was no proof in it that Hannah had loved him in return.
The teknoguilder looked indignant. ‘What of this love token she left with him, saying it would lie with them in death? This key he swore to wear about his throat.’
‘Are you sure it was a love token?’ I asked. I did not mean it as a question and before he could launch into yet another theory, I remarked mildly that his guild folk were like to walk all the way to the pass if he delayed any longer, besides which I wanted to try to get back to Obernewtyn before the Norselanders left.
He nodded and said we would discuss the matter further when he returned for the moon fair. I turned to climb down from the wagon.
Fian gallantly handed me down the last deep step, and when I reached the ground, I turned to look up at Garth. ‘One other thing: you might come across Straaka’s brother in the White Valley. Ahmedri is his name. He rode as far as the watchhut with me this morning, and then he went riding off to see where Straaka died. Perhaps you could invite him to stay the night with your people. He might like staying in one of the tents Jakoby gave you, and he will certainly want to hear any tale you can tell him of his brother.’
‘I will offer to show him the drowned Beforetime city of Newrome,’ Garth said eagerly.
‘I doubt you will get Ahmedri into the caves unless you tell him his brother was there before him,’ I said, as Fian climbed up into his seat.
Garth’s eyes widened. ‘But he was there many times. Straaka came whenever Miryum did.’
Now it was my turn to be surprised. ‘Miryum visited Newrome with Straaka?’
Garth nodded. ‘Twice she went down with the divers, though Straaka never did.’
‘Why ever would she do that?’ I asked, truly puzzled, for though strong and courageous, Miryum shared Rushton’s indifference to the past.
‘She saw that model Jak made of Newrome, and she wanted to see for herself how the city looked,’ Garth said as if this were a desire anyone would reasonably feel.
I mounted Gahltha and watched the wagon lurch across the stream and away down the road, trying to imagine stolid, incurious Miryum and the intense Straaka moving through the half-drowned subterranean city, picking their way up uneven banks of rubble formed where buildings had fallen or clambering through dulled metal frames or along walls scabbed with great shimmering clusters of the taint-devouring insects that were the basis of Jak’s passionate studies.
When I had dived on the sunken parts of the city, I had been enthralled, so I could imagine Miryum beneath the water gazing around in amazement. She had been all but fearless, save when it came to heights, for like many coercers her Talent seemed to shape her ill for them. I did not wonder that Straaka had avoided the water, for no desert dweller would willingly enter that dark, cold body of water under a mountain. Indeed, I imagined it had been hard enough for the tribesman to go into the mountain at all. The only reason he would have done so was for love of Miryum. But why had she gone there?
When the wagon was out of sight, I remounted and we set off again. At my request, Gahltha brought me in the main gate, and up the curving drive to the house. The sun was shining fleetingly as he splashed through puddles shimmering with reflections of the cloud-flecked sky, then we were at the front entrance and I was glad to see four wagons standing there side by side, for these must be the wagons that would carry the Norselanders down to the lowlands.
The wagons were partly loaded, when I dismounted to check, but there was no sign of anyone about. Thanking Gahltha, I bade him return to the farm and then I farsought Ceirwan, who told me the Norselanders were in the kitchens finishing an early midmeal. I went there straight away, and found Elkar telling Javo the ingredients for a molasses biscuit the Norselanders favoured for sea journeys because it would keep indefinitely.
Cinda spotted me at once and when I had set a probe in her mind she told me that their departure had been slightly delayed because one of the wagons had needed some last-minute repair. The horses would come with it, when it was brought from the farms, along with some more supplies, which were even now being readied by the kitchen master.
‘Elkar and I are about to visit the Healing Hall to collect some herbs that Roland wants to send to Sover,’ she added. ‘Maybe you would like to go with us?’
I agreed with alacrity, yet again regretting that there had been so little time for us, for Cinda was a person I might truly have regarded as a sister, if we had lived closer. For some reason I thought of Gilaine, who had also been mute, and whom I had also felt I could love as a sister. They were much alike and I wondered what it meant that I felt this way about two young women who were unable to speak aloud. Maybe it was merely that I had been forced to enter their minds in order to communicate with them, though I eschewed such intimacy as a rule.
Entering the mind of another person meant that it was difficult to lie or be removed or cool, but I had found both of them easy to trust because of their essential gentleness.
I am attracted to gentleness because I am not gentle, I thought.
‘Who is she?’ Cinda asked, having seen Gilaine’s image in my mind.
I told her the story of my meeting with Gilaine in Henry Druid’s camp in the White Valley and of the highlander Daffyd’s search for her.
‘Where is he now?’ she asked.
‘He knows that Gilaine is in the Red Land, and so I have no doubt that he will travel with the expedition, though I do not know if he is still in Sador, or has come to Sutrium.’
‘So they will finally be reunited,’ her image sighed, eyes shining.
‘What are you two talking about that is making Cinda so dewy eyed?’ Elkar enquired, coming to join us.
Cinda insisted on recounting the story in fingertalk as we made our way to the Healing Hall, and when she had got to the end, Elkar looked at me and said aloud, ‘I hope he finds her safe and that they are able to be together at last. Many sorrows and hardships are bearable if you can have your beloved at the last. The saddest thing would be to long for someone and strive for them, and yet never to be allowed to be with them.’
Cinda gave him an exasperated look and flicked her fingers at him, and he laughed and shook his head at her. We had reached the Healing Hall now, where Roland was waiting with several boxes of herbs as well as some small bags. He greeted us all and then told the Norselanders, ‘Two healers have volunteered to go back with you to Herder Isle to work with Sover. You need not worry about them taking up space in the wagons. They have go
ne to ask horses to carry them as far as the lowlands. They both have secondary Talents as empaths and Millen has a weak coercive Talent as well, which Sover might put to good use. They will stay till the spring and then return. By the way, I advise you to think about changing the name of the place. Those wretched Herders do not deserve to have an island named after them,’ he added grouchily.
Elkar said diplomatically that the matter of renaming Herder Isle had been under discussion ever since the Faction had collapsed. Then he and Cinda began to examine the herbs. I took the time to ask the Healer guildmaster quietly how the twins fared.
He shook his head, his expression at once grim and weary. Since my probe was still bedded in Cinda’s mind, she felt my grief and regret and asked if she might go with me to see the twins, of whom she had heard much talk. When I conveyed her request, Roland glared at her but she only looked back at him with her wide, gentle grey eyes until his expression softened. He led us to the chamber where the twins lay and Cinda looked down on them with pity and wonder.
‘It is as if they are a prince and princess under a wicked spell of power like that storysong you showed me,’ she said.
‘If only there was magic strong enough to break the spell that binds them,’ I said, and thought of Angina in shining spirit-form, begging me to help them. Use the black sword, he had said.
‘What is the black sword?’ Cinda asked.
‘It was only something in a dream,’ I sent, though saying it, I found myself wondering if this were true.
‘It is often so with twins,’ Elkar murmured after Cinda had told him about them. ‘There is a goddess bond between them and none may sever that.’
When we returned to the kitchen, I saw Linnet with a group of coercers and excused myself to go over and ask the coercer-knight if she knew why Miryum had been so interested in Newrome. Linnet shrugged and said she had no idea, but a very tall youth with buck teeth lifted his head from his soup and said, ‘She dreamed of it, Guildmistress Gordie.’
‘Miryum dreamed of Newrome?’ I asked, startled.
‘She dreamed of a Beforetime city under the ground and she thought it might be Newrome before it was flooded,’ he said, seeming suddenly abashed by my interest.
‘What did she dream, did she say?’ I asked.
He lifted his eyes reluctantly and said, ‘She had dreamed she and Straaka were in this Beforetime city, only in the dream he did not see her or hear her. He was like a dream within a dream, she said. It bothered her, that dream.’ He glared down at his food again.
Before I could ask any more questions, Cinda came to lay a soft hand on my arm and said they were leaving. Sarn also came hurrying in. ‘Guildmistress, I have worked the whole night, but I have still not completed everything. I am so sorry, but Wila and Tomash will be able to finish it.’
‘I’m sure they will. All will be well,’ I assured her. The older woman looked both exhausted and elated and I thought suddenly that there were other things than a lover that one could yearn for passionately. We walked out together with the Norselanders, and I pushed what the young coercer-knight had told me of Miryum to the back of my mind to consider later.
Outside the front entrance there were now five carriages, many horses and humans and a great deal of noisy activity. Grufyyd and Louis Larkin were hitching horses to the wagons with the help of some beastguilders, while people were loading packages and barrels supervised by Javo who was uttering his usual measure of cautions peppered with curses and cries of dismay.
‘It looks like another storm is brewing,’ I murmured, glancing up at the sky, where clouds were thickening. There was no longer even a chink of blue visible and the wind that had got up had a distinct nip to it. I noticed Rushton standing a little to the side of the nearest wagon with Brydda, Gevan and a group of coercer-knights. I saw from their attire which of the knights had been assigned to travel with the wagons and was surprised by their number, given that some of Dardelan’s armsmen would also be accompanying the travellers. Clearly Rushton was taking no chances on the supplies being stolen by robbers.
As ever, the master of Obernewtyn seemed to sense my regard, and when he looked over, his expression tightened slightly. If I had not known what I now knew, that sudden rigidity would have hurt me. As it was, I only wished that we were alone so that he would take me in his arms and kiss me. Perhaps something of my thoughts showed in my face, for his eyes narrowed.
I looked down, suppressing a wild desire to burst out laughing.
‘Greetings Guildmistress,’ Brydda called, striding over to join me. I schooled my expression and my mind as he beamed at me, saying, ‘I hear you have been down to the watchhut already this morning. You might have waited and ridden with us.’
‘I had arranged a meeting at dawn because I knew when everyone was leaving,’ I said. I gestured at his travelling attire. ‘But I thought you meant to stay until the moon fair.’
‘I am. Louis and I are only going as far as Enoch’s farm. Rushton is sending Louis down to lure Enoch up to Obernewtyn for the moon fair. You know that he and the old man are thick as thieves?’
I nodded.
‘I am going with him because Dardelan wanted me to question the old man about local robber bands, but it was too wet and late to stop in on the way up. I will send a missive down to Dardelan if there is anything to report.’
‘You might also send word to Dardelan from me to say that Radost’s daughter may well be headed to the lowlands to try to track down her father and brother. She fears they will come after her and Bergold if they are left to run loose. She has some notion of dealing with them herself. I have no idea what she has in mind. She may have gone to Kinraide first, to see how they escaped the Councilfarm, since she was convinced they must have had help, or she might go straight to –’
‘Sawlney,’ Brydda finished the sentence for me. ‘Don’t worry, Elspeth. Garth gave me an earful about Analivia last night and I have already scribed a note for Dardelan with a description of her, which I have given Elkar to deliver. I daresay Dardelan will recall her. She is not exactly easy to forget. You need not fear for her.’
‘The thought of her falling into Jude’s hands makes my blood run cold,’ I said.
‘Fair enough, but keep in mind that Analivia is no meek Ylane. And Dardelan has people watching Jude right now to see if there is anything he does that can be used to accuse him. They do so openly as a deterrent and I doubt he would dare hurt Analivia if she comes to him in public.’
‘And if she doesn’t approach him openly?’
‘Once Dardelan gets my message, he will most likely instruct his spy to watch out for her and divert her if he can.’
I nodded, though I had to bite my tongue not to protest against anyone being used as a spy, after what had happened to Domick. Then something else he had said struck me. ‘What will happen to Stephen Seraphim if Louis convinces Enoch to come up for the moon fair?’
‘I think Rushton hopes they will both come up,’ Brydda said.
I knew that Rushton was ambivalent about the fact that his defective halfbrother dwelt with Enoch on his remote highland farm. Reluctantly, he had permitted Gevan to erase his halfbrother’s memories of his time with Alexi and Madam Vega, after Roland and Kella argued that the wrong the older man had witnessed during this period lay at the core of his festering and irrational horror of Misfits. The coercive treatment had eased the older man’s fits of madness and violence, but it transpired that Obernewtyn itself had been a constant reminder of what had been removed, so that being there unsettled his mind. It had been Louis Larkin who had suggested Stephen might be better away from Obernewtyn, and he had proposed Enoch’s farm. The old coachman’s infrequent early reports made it clear that his guest was happier and far calmer on the farm than he had been at Obernewtyn and that his nightmares about the past came only very occasionally instead of every other night. More recent reports indicated that Stephen Seraphim and Enoch had become good friends, but still the matter troubled Rushton.
As if he had overheard his halfbrother’s name, Rushton came over to us. Linnet and Gevan followed, arguing yet again about the need for the coercer-knights to be recognised as a separate guild.
‘We were just talking about the possibility that Stephen Seraphim might come up for the moon fair if Enoch does,’ Brydda told Rushton, his booming voice drowning out the coercers’ argument.
‘I hope he will,’ Rushton said. ‘In truth, I wish he might live here again, for is not this his home even more than it is mine? He was born here and I was born and grew up elsewhere.’
‘He’ll nowt come, lad,’ said Louis Larkin, who had ambled over to us with Grufyyd and had heard his words. ‘Stephen is content where he is an’ a man dinna leave contentment unless he is a fool.’
‘Obernewtyn was his before it was mine,’ Rushton said tersely.
‘Much good it ever did him,’ Gevan said impatiently. ‘You know yourself he would never have had the wit to run it, Rushton. The weight of even the pretence of it cracked his mind as much as the things that foul Alexi did and had him do with that harpy who worked with him.’
‘Besides, in a very short time, Obernewtyn will not belong to anyone,’ Brydda pointed out cheerfully.
At that moment another carriage came rattling up the curved drive and we all turned in surprise to watch it approach, for all carriages and wagons arriving with moon fair visitors were directed by a sign just above the pass to enter by the farm gate. That the wagon had come in the front entrance meant it came on Obernewtyn business. But neither Jil nor Alden had sent any word about the carriage or its inhabitants, which meant the visitors were known or at least harmless.
Then the carriage came close enough for me to recognise the healer Kella sitting on the front bench seat beside a blond giant. I could see that there were several others sitting inside the wagon behind them, and it came to me with a surge of joy that Dameon might finally have come home, and if he had come, perhaps Dragon was with him.
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