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As it transpired, neither Dameon nor Dragon were among the newcomers. I had probed the inhabitants of the carriage even before it had stopped, but before I could tell Rushton, he had leapt forward to greet the healer and ask if Dameon was within. Kella told him apologetically that the empath had not returned from the Westland before they left.
‘But he might well have got to Sutrium by now,’ she added earnestly, seeing and no doubt feeling our disappointment.
‘Well even if he has, I hope he will wait and come up with Dardelan,’ I said worriedly.
‘He knows the dangers of the road for Misfits these days, though in fact it might be safe enough even for a blind man, given the number of armsmen we saw patrolling the main roads,’ Kella said, smiling at the big, blond youth sitting at her side. I was fascinated to see that he had yellow-gold skin and eyes so narrow that they were almost slits. If he had not had blond hair, I would have taken him for Sadorian, and yet Sadorian skin was more brown than yellow.
I was startled to realise that he was staring at me, mouth hanging slightly open to reveal very crooked, very white teeth.
‘This is Okan,’ Kella said, bidding him climb down and open the back of the wagon so the others could get out. The blond giant gave her a wide, loose smile full of adoration and climbed down clumsily to obey.
‘Dardelan is furious about the gangs and he is absolutely determined that no one will be harassed or troubled during the moon fair,’ the healer was saying. ‘Apparently there has been another attack and a woman was killed, so the road is crawling with his armsmen and he has ordered all of the chieftains to put out their own patrols as well.’
‘Whether or not he waits to come up with Dardelan, I hope Dameon does not intend to ride all the way on that little mare,’ Gevan said dubiously, for he had witnessed the blind empath’s first riding lessons with some dismay.
‘You may be surprised to see how his riding has improved these days,’ Rushton told the Coercer guildmaster. Then he sighed. ‘We will just have to do without him for a while longer. But what brings you here, Kella? I thought you had decided not to come up for the moon fair?’
‘Darius received word from the leader of the Twentyfamilies of an important meeting to be held in the White Valley. When he said he would attend, I decided to come up as well, for travelling is very hard on his limbs. In that case, he said we might just as well visit Obernewtyn for the moon fair. So here we are.’
I had heard the gypsy beasthealer had been working with Kella at the Healing Centre and that they now treated beasts as well as humans. In truth it had sounded to me as if these days the Healing Centre in Sutrium was as much a teaching centre for beastspeakers who wished to learn more about healing, and for healers desiring more training. They were said to flock to the centre and vied for the chance to work there. What had begun modestly had become a very large and important centre for healing and learning. Healers and herbalists came from all over the Land as well as from Sador and the Norselands to study there and to offer their own knowledge. There was even talk of establishing a teaching library and of trying to amass a collection of Beforetime books about healing.
I could only admire Kella, who had been the moving force behind it all. Yet I still felt very ambivalent towards her because, although we had been good friends in the days when she had been a healer at Obernewtyn, and even after when she had gone to live with Domick in Sutrium, her failure to visit the renegade coercer when he had been dying on the west coast, or at least to come and say a word at his burial, had seemed to me unforgivably callous.
It was this that prevented me from greeting Kella with the warmth shown by the others, but not wanting to draw attention to my coolness, I spoke a few words of welcome from a distance. Kella nodded to me, but from the look in her eyes I knew she sensed my real feelings.
There had been something evasive in her expression that made me wonder if she now regretted how she had behaved. This did nothing to soften my heart towards her. Indeed, as 1 watched her smiling sweetly at Rushton and greeting Grufyyd and Louis with hugs, something in me hardened at the memory of her indifference to Domick, whose suffering at the end of his life had been truly horrible.
My mind was suddenly full of visions of the young man who had been yet another victim of Ariel’s hatred of me. It was not Kella’s fault that Domick’s strangeness and coldness and rejections had driven them apart, but they had once loved one another fiercely enough to defy the unspoken rules of their respective guilds, and I could not understand how she could refuse to come to him at the end. After all, what had happened to him had been our fault – all of us at Obernewtyn, including her – and even as he was dying, he had spoken of her with love and longing.
The others who had travelled in the back of the carriage were now helping Darius down and I felt a rush of pity to see, yet again, his handsome face atop his stunted and twisted body. Yet he was not white with pain as I had often seen him after other journeys. No doubt his more settled life was serving him well, and probably Kella had been draining his pain as they travelled. No wonder he had chosen to live at the Healing Centre, where he would have access to her skills. And just as obviously she valued him as a friend and as a healer, given that, on her own account, she had come up to the highlands for his sake.
Darius caught my eye and limped through the others to greet me. He had been very ill when last I had seen him, but now, though he grimaced as his misshapen limbs moved and stretched, I saw that he was less stiff and awkward than he had been. Up close, his resemblance to Swallow startled me as much as ever, but I greeted him with genuine pleasure and suggested the healers that had come up with him should take him straight to Roland, who would surely prescribe a tisane. He smiled and said that he felt well enough for the time being, and that Okan would see to him later. He was indicating the blond giant, and his gesture brought the big youth loping over with a look of eager anxiety.
‘Do you have need of me, master?’ he asked, in a strange almost breathless accent.
‘No, Okan, but thank you for asking,’ Darius said gently. ‘Maybe you can go and see if Kella needs some help unloading the boxes we are bringing to Roland.’
‘That’s the Healer guildmaster at Obernewtyn, yes?’ he asked so earnestly that it struck me that he was slightly defective. As soon as he had moved away, Darius confirmed it.
‘We do not know much about him save that he was washed ashore in a storm as a baby lashed to a spar. That he was not drowned was a miracle, according to the woman who found him and took him in. She brought him up as her son but she was not young and when he carried her to us at the Healing Centre she was dying. It was a natural death and we could do little but give her herbs to ease her passing. Indeed, we wondered why she had asked to be brought to us, for most folk in old age prefer to remain in their homes. Then it transpired that she had wanted to speak to us about Okan. She explained how he had come to her and then she said that as we could well see, he was simple minded and generous and utterly gullible and these traits would make him fair game for any rogue who thought to misuse him, once she was not there to protect him. She said that she had always thought that, when she died, he might come and serve in the Healing Centre because he had a gift that might make him useful to us. She asked if we would prentice him and agree to care for him. Before Kella could answer, she collapsed, and died later that same night without ever regaining consciousness.
‘Okan was inconsolable of course, and we kept him on to help with odd jobs because he was sweet-natured and willing and strong but most of all because he was so helpless. Then one day we discovered his mother had spoken true. He had hands with true healing power when massaging and manipulating bones and joints. No doubt the old woman had been well eased by them in her time and of course we are glad to use his skills. I only wish he would not call me master.’
‘I think the title is not unfitting given your work at the Healing Centre,’ I said, fascinated by the tale, and wondering what ship Okan
had fallen from, and where he had come from, for I was suddenly sure that he was not Sadorian nor even Gadfian, but from one of the other many small settlements scattered about the world, which were remnants of greater civilisations in the Beforetime. I wondered, too, what Roland would make of Okan’s skills, for there might be an element of Talent in them.
Rushton came over to greet the beasthealer, and Darius said, ‘If you will permit it, Master Rushton, I should like to examine Miky while I am here. Roland scribed of her condition to Kella and we were thinking we might try to apply some of the new methods Sover has developed during his treatment of the damaged minds of the shadows on Herder Isle; a combination of coercion and empathy mostly, but used as a healing tool. It was Sover’s suggestion that this sleep of Miky’s might have come about because of her grief and guilt over her brother’s sickness, which she has suppressed. Certainly it seemed too much of a coincidence to all of us that she would develop an illness that so closely mirrored her brother’s condition.’
‘I would be glad if you can find a way to help her, my friend,’ Rushton said seriously. ‘Roland is at his wits’ end. And he would certainly like to hear more of Sover’s research. I am sure he will be irritated to have missed your arrival and will come searching for you as soon as he hears of it.’
As they went on talking, my gaze drifted to Kella, who was now greeting Cinda and Elkar. I guessed they had encountered one another at Dardelan’s residence in Sutrium, for the Norselanders had been his guests and Kella went there often to consult with the young high chieftain; they had also probably gone to the centre to deliver their missive from Sover. Rushton moved on to speak with Linnet and I turned back to Darius.
I was startled to find the gypsy studying me with that queer half-unfocused gaze that told me he was looking at my aura. I had not realised the crippled beasthealer possessed that ability, and before I could make up my mind to ask what he saw, he said, ‘You have been with one of us recently.’
‘I met with Iriny this morning,’ I said, surprised. ‘You can see that in my aura?’
‘I see the colours of beasts better than humans,’ he answered, seeming untroubled by my startled question. ‘That is how I heal them. But I can see human auras, too, and there is a tinge of gypsy in yours. I don’t know any better way to say it. It is as if you had been in the maze and I could tell that because of the smell of greenthorn lingering in your clothes. I take it Iriny told you her brother is to choose a heartchild?’
I nodded. ‘I guessed it must be the reason you were summoned.’
He shrugged and said quietly, ‘It was less a summons than information, for it was Swallow who proposed to the elders that I be exempted from the portion of the ancient promises that requires us not to settle until they are fulfilled. But this matter of the D’rekta choosing a heartchild is important to my people and I wish to show my support for Swallow. It is a sad thing to know you will not leave a child to take your place in the world.’
The gravity of his expression made me wonder if the twisting of his body went so deep that he could father no children. Yet the likelihood of his bonding with a woman and having a child must be remote in any case. Suddenly I remembered the sickness that had stricken him in Saithwold, which had arisen partly from his secret yearning for Kella. He was clearly at ease with her now and must have found some way to get over what he felt. How strange that one could heal from love, as if it were a chill or some small sickness. I did not think I could ever be cured of love for Rushton, whether he returned my feelings or not, or whether I saw him again or not. Loving him was as much a part of me as my arm.
Darius was watching me still, and I said hastily, ‘Gahltha will be glad to see you, as will the other beasts you treated after the massacre in the White Valley.’
‘I have worked hard at learning Brydda’s signal speech and I am looking forward very much to speaking with them directly at last,’ Darius said. He hesitated and glanced over to where Kella stood talking with Gevan. Then he looked back at me and said softly, ‘Kella longed to come here, but she feared it too, I think, for she believes that you judge her because of what happened to Domick. Do you?’
I could not deny it outright or he would see the lie. I said slowly, ‘It is hard for me to think of him. He loved Kella and yet he rejected her and treated her ill. It was not her fault they parted. Nor was it her fault that he became ill in his mind or that Ariel infected him with plague.’
All I said was true, but in my heart I did blame her – not for what had happened to him, but for failing him at the end. Fortunately Sarn interrupted to say goodbye. I bade her travel well and safe and assured her again that I trusted Wila and Tomash to complete her work before we departed for the Red Land. Then Cinda and Elkar came to bid me a last farewell and there was the flurry of everyone who was to leave climbing into carriages or mounting up on horseback and they all departed with a great rattling of harness and a clattering of hoofs.
Cinda leaned out of the last carriage to blow a kiss to me and I was touched to see that she wore the silver comb I had gifted to her the previous night. She must only just have pushed it into her hair, which was too short yet to properly hold the teeth, but I was touched by her gesture. I lifted my hand and waved to her, regretting that I would never see her again, and knew that I would never forget her courage.
A trailing skein of cloud crossed the sun, and the world darkened for a moment. I was not the only one to look up to see that the clouds had an ominous bruised look. Once again there was the feel and smell of rain in the air, but there was still enough of a wind that the clouds and the storm and rains they harboured might be blown away over the mountains.
I dropped my eyes in time to see the last carriage vanish out of sight around the drive.
‘You fear for the Norselanders?’ asked Darius, who still stood alongside me.
I shook my head. ‘I do not think the seas are yet wild enough to be a danger to them and I think there is only hope and enthusiasm in the Norselands these days, neither of which is very dangerous. I was actually thinking about Dameon.’
‘Do not fear for him,’ Darius said gently. ‘He is one of those rare people who will draw strength from the very thing that would sap the will and heart of lesser folk.’
Slightly puzzled by his words, I offered the beasthealer my arm and suggested we go inside and make our way to the kitchen where he could get warm and maybe find a bite to eat, though it was still an hour or so till the first sitting for nightmeal. Darius cast another look at Kella who was still deep in animated conversation with Gevan and then he smiled and said he would be glad to go in with me.
As we made our way up the steps and across the foyer, I marvelled that the beasthealer could look so serenely upon someone he had once loved so much that it had sickened him, knowing he could never have what he desired. I did not think my own nature would bear it so bravely or gracefully. Then I clamped down on these thoughts and asked the beasthealer if he knew whether Dameon had ridden west on Faraf.
‘She wanted to carry him, for she adores him, but he feared that his errand required a speed that neither of them could manage very well. She took him to the ferry, though. Kella went to see him off with some others and she told me when she returned that two of your people had come across to fetch him: the coercer Merret and a younger blonde woman. A healer, too, I think.’
‘Blyss,’ I said. ‘They are bonded.’
‘I thought so, from their auras,’ Darius said. ‘Kella told me that Dameon had ridden off with Blyss on one of those greathorses that dwell in the west. Merret promised that she and Blyss would remain with the empath for as long as he was in the west, and bring him safe back to the ferry port when he was ready to return.’
‘They will take good care of him,’ I murmured, hoping they would decide to escort him all the way back to Obernewtyn. It would be good to see them one last time. I could even imagine them arriving, tiny elfin Blyss riding high on a greathorse and dark-eyed Merret riding beside her on a
smaller horse, though perhaps it was not possible for the greathorses to be ferried across the river. Then it struck me that I had excluded Dragon from my mental picture.
Darius was describing alterations to the Healing Centre in Sutrium when Javo came puffing up to offer his own arm and a bite of early nightmeal as we approached the passage leading to the kitchens. Darius beamed at the other man and as they greeted one another warmly, I remembered that an unlikely and unexpected friendship had grown up between the irascible kitchen master and the gentle beasthealer when Darius had stayed with us before. Darius broke off to thank me courteously for bringing him so far, and as he transferred his hand to Javo’s, he said he was sure I had more important things to do than to escort him around.
I assured him that it had been my pleasure, and watched with some amusement as the two men, so physically disparate, went off chattering like long-lost brothers.
I might have gone with them, but in truth I had eaten such a hearty firstmeal in the watchhut that despite it now being late afternoon I had no appetite. I decided I would go back to the Farseekers hall and read through Sarn’s incomplete notes. I turned abruptly only to cannon into Rushton who was coming up swiftly behind me. Linnet and another coercer-knight were a little way behind him, talking with Gevan as they walked, and Rushton caught my arm and said in a low, urgent voice, ‘We are wanted on the farms on an urgent matter.’
Somewhat bemused, I stood silent as he conveyed this news to Linnet and the others when they caught up with us, managing to imply that I had proposed the errand to him. ‘I don’t know what time we will be back for we will stay down on the farms for nightmeal,’ he added lightly and then he bade them all a brisk farewell and set off back the way he had come, all but hauling me along with him.
When we had got around a corner, he slowed down and I said, amused, ‘Linnet does not like to let you out of her sight.’
‘I do not want to let you out of my sight,’ Rushton growled. ‘Now let us go before someone else ensnares me.’
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