“Welcome to the day, Griffin Girl. We’ve determined which of the exits is closest to the Valpen region.” Sala uncrossed her arms and braced her hands against the edge of the platform. “Alas, it isn’t very close.” She gestured at Norwil. “Some of the council wanted to limit our help to something in the way of weapons and provisions. What with the griffin, we’re better stocked than usual.” Luca opened his mouth, but Sala silenced him with a raised hand. “However, many of our traders, people who’ve been out on the surface and know how to manage, are volunteering to go with you.”
“A few of us with each group,” Ganni managed to cut in. The light in his eyes was enough to show he was one of the people who’d volunteered. Sala grinned and shrugged one shoulder.
“Without the use of roads and couriers, we’re most in need of swift communications,” Luca said. “Is there a Far-thinker among the volunteers?”
Wynn made some stifled noise, and Ker shivered in agreement. It was one thing to know that the Gifts from the stories were real, it was another to know that there were actually people who could read thoughts. As for traveling with such a person . . .
Tel must have been thinking along the same lines. “Someone who can push arrows and such aside, that would be a bigger help.”
At that moment Ker found she had Nate Primo’s plaque tight in her hand. He’d reached the Faro safely, that much she knew from Flashing it that morning. Was that similar to what a Far-thinker did? Or could the Feeler know other things, like where Jak Gulder was right now. They weren’t the only ones who knew about the Valpen region.
“Too large a group might attract the wrong kind of attention,” is what she said aloud. “Is there anyone who can do both? A, uh, Far-thinker and a . . .”
“A Mover,” Ganni said. “‘One person, one Gift’ is the way of it, Griffin Girl.”
Ker blew out a breath and sat back. The stories never mentioned that, but it might explain the different sixth color in the Feelers’ auras.
“Kerida is right in saying that a smaller group attracts less attention,” Luca said. “In our present circumstances, if we can only take one, then let it be a Far-thinker. At least we will be in close contact with one another.”
“Truth to tell, I’m not keen on traveling with someone who can read my thoughts.” Wynn spoke up for the first time. “Just saying,” she added with a shrug.
“Full of silliness, these tales of yours.” Ganni shook his head. “Far-thinkers can’t read everybody’s thoughts, child. We’d none of us like that any better than you. No, they only read the thoughts of other Far-thinkers.” He turned to the women seated on the edge of the platform. “What do you think, Sala?”
Sala folded her arms again. “You’ll need at least three. One of us for each group, and one to stay here.”
“Volunteers,” Norwil cut in. “Even the one who stays.”
Sala rolled her eyes, though she was smiling. Then her eyes took on that unfocused stare Ker had seen once before. The hairs on Ker’s arms lifted.
Sala was a Far-thinker? Ker’s hands clenched tight. On a hunch, she said her opening word and, for the first time, examined another’s aura on purpose. As she was beginning to expect, Sala’s aura didn’t look like Ganni’s. Where the old man’s had shown a deep pink, Sala’s extra color was black. And so was that of the scar-faced woman next to her. Interesting.
Sala’s focus returned to the people around her. “Cuarel and I will go. Dersay will remain in the Mines and Tunnels.”
“When can you be ready?” Luca said.
“If Ganni can help with our packs,” Sala said, “we shouldn’t be long.” She turned to Ker. “You go ahead. We will catch you up.”
They were back in their sleeping alcove, packing their few remaining possessions along with the new clothing the Feelers had given them when Luca arrived.
“It’s ridiculous for me to tell you all to be careful, Kerida, as if you wouldn’t be. But that is the usual advice in these circumstances, so I give it.”
“Yeah, well, you be careful, too.” Ker’s grin became a smile when Luca smiled back at her.
“This is new to you, but don’t be shy of making use of your Far-thinker. Don’t leave us wondering what’s happening with you. Tell us, above all, as soon as you’ve secured the prince.” Luca assessed her, head tilted to one side. He stood like that another long moment before raising his head. “Ah, here are your guides. Farewell, youngsters. May the Mother smile on you, the Daughter and Son walk with you, until we meet again.”
Two unfamiliar Feelers appeared out of the darkness, their hands full. The first went straight to Luca, handing over a small pack, a waterskin, and a satchel. The second came to Ker. He unslung two small food satchels he’d had over his shoulder. Tel took up his larger pack and the one remaining sword, Ker and Wynn a satchel each.
Once Wynn had hefted her spear over her shoulder, the Feeler beckoned them to follow him into the tunnels, leading them away from the meeting cavern and the baths. He took them only a few dozen spans into the darkness, however, before he stopped.
“Head down this way,” he said, gesturing at the more-or-less straight passage. “Sala will join you.” He gave Ker a slight bow, turned on his heel, and left them.
“Great.” Tel fumbled to pull out the glow stone before the Feeler’s luminescent adornments faded completely from sight. “‘Head down this way.’ Wonderful.” He held the stone higher, and peered into the darkness before turning back to Ker, his mouth pressed tight and his brows drawn into a vee. “Can you find the way out?”
Ker gave him a hard look and didn’t bother to answer.
Wynn shifted her pack and looked back in the direction they’d come. “What if Sala doesn’t show?” She sounded as if she wouldn’t exactly be sorry.
“I could get us out if I had to.” Ker tried not to sound tired. “It would take longer, though. I might have to Flash every single tunnel and branching, to find the ones we wanted.”
“Another thing, once we’re out of here,” Wynn asked, “will I be able to talk about the Feelers?”
“Can’t talk about it.” The voice wasn’t Sala’s. “Ganni says never talk about it.”
Out of the darkness stepped the giant boy/man, Ennick. He squinted at the light, and Tel closed his hand over the glow stone.
“Ennick, why are you following us?” Ker’s voice was gentle. She hoped he hadn’t decided to come with them.
“Not following. Showing the way. Valley of Simcot Exit. Tunnel twenty-seven. Left at the fork. Third right, a left, a long march through tunnel one hundred and fourteen, a right, and a left. Past the wet rock. Careful along the ledge. Then the Valley of Simcot Exit.” He smiled. “I brought my own food. Not following. Showing the way.”
Kerida glanced at Tel, and he shrugged, nodding.
“Can we trust him?” Wynn said.
“Ennick doesn’t get lost,” he said proudly. “Not once, not ever.”
“There’s your answer,” Ker said.
“Doesn’t Sala know the way?”
“Not as well as Ennick does. Isn’t that right?” The Far-thinker appeared at Ennick’s elbow. She had a small pack of her own, with a cloak tucked in under the straps, a satchel that matched theirs, and another waterskin.
“I’m helping,” Ennick said.
“That’s right.” Sala reached up to pat him on the shoulder. “No one knows the way as well as Ennick. Lead on, my boy. Lead on.”
Ennick nodded, smiling, and they stood aside to let him walk in front. The tunnels here weren’t wide enough for even Ker and Wynn to walk abreast, so Tel motioned to Wynn to take the lead position behind the two Feelers and took rearguard himself. They stopped once to sleep, after the “long march” and once to refill their waterskins when the tunnel opened into a chamber at the “wet rock” Ennick had spoken of. The chamber had a pool of crystal water, almos
t round, and as big as the span of Ker’s arms. It must have been fed from a spring somewhere, though she couldn’t see where it emptied. The water was cold enough to raise bumps on the skin, and numb the fingers.
“What about Weimerk? Will we see him?” Ker asked.
“Too big now,” Ennick said, spreading his hands wide from where he crouched next to them as they finished closing the waterskins. “Can’t come inside.”
“He comes and he goes,” Sala said. “Sometimes I can feel him.” She tapped her forehead so Ker would know what she meant. “But not like I can feel Cuarel or the others.”
“Ledge is next,” Ennick said, as they all stood. “Now careful on the ledge. Hands free, everything else tied down. Be so very careful. I can’t help you if you fall. Not like Ganni.”
It took them well into the next day to reach the exit they’d been heading for. Once there, Ennick stopped well short of the opening, chewing on his thumb and shifting from foot to foot. Ker was as certain as if she’d Flashed it that he’d never been outside. He gave each of them a hug, and kissed them as if they all were brothers and sisters. Ker was happy to see that neither Wynn nor Tel held back.
This time the sun was shining as they stepped outside, and from the look of things it was late afternoon.
“Is it me”—Wynn was rubbing the outside of her arms—“or are we a lot higher up than when we went in?”
Suddenly Ker was bowled over by a combination of sparkling feathers and damp fur.
“Oooof. Ah, Weimerk, there’s a rock in my back.”
The pressure immediately lifted and a single round eye examined her while two huge paws prodded at her. The griffin focused first one eye and then the other on her face. “Are. You. Well. Kerida? You. Do. Not. Smell. Like. Yourself.”
Ker’s ears burned hot. “Yeah, well, I’ve been cold and hungry and scared, and then scared and cold and hungry.”
Weimerk tilted his head to one side and sat back on his haunches. “Yes. That. Is. The. Approximate. Order.”
“Um, Ker?” Wynn stood braced, holding the spear and then, as if she realized what she was doing, grounding it. Sala watched them all with a smile on her face.
Ker rolled upright. “Weimerk, you didn’t say hello to Sala, or to Tel Cursar and Wynn Martan.”
“Ah. Human. Courtesies. I. Know. Of. Them. Of. Course. Sala. We. Are. Well. Met. I. Felt. You. Coming. Tel. I. Have. Seen. You. Already. Wynn. Martan. You. I. Am. Seeing. For. The. First. Time. Kerida.” The griffin turned back to her. “Are. You. Staying. With. Me. Now. Or. Going?”
“Going, I’m afraid, Weimerk.” Ker stood up and dusted herself off. “We have to find a prince and bring him to safety.”
“Of, Course. I. See. His. Thread. In. Your. Colors. You. Do. Not. Have. The. Jewel.”
Ker frowned. “Luca Pa’narion has one.”
“Does. He?” Weimerk was smiling at her, though Ker couldn’t have said how she knew. “Interesting. I. Regret. I. Am. Still. Not. Large. Enough. To. Fly. You. To. Your. Destination.”
“You’d have to be big enough to fly all of us,” Ker said.
Weimerk tilted his head the other way. “No. We. Are. Part. Of. The. Prophecy. Kerida. Nast. You. And. I. And. Besides. You. Awakened. Me. I. Cannot. Feel. About. Them. The. Way. I. Feel. About. You. It. Is. Impossible.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’re not big enough.”
“That. Is. A. Circular. Argument. But. I. Take. Your. Point. Shall. I. Accompany. Your. Group?”
“Well, thank you, but no.” Ker tried to imagine how they could explain him away. “We’re trying not to draw attention to ourselves.”
The griffin nodded. “Will. You. Be. Going. Now?”
Ker picked up her pack. “That’s right.”
“I. Will. Welcome. You. Upon. Your. Return.”
Ker glanced at her friends. Wynn’s eyes were round as saucers, and she had her upper lip in her teeth. Tel just shrugged.
“We may not be coming back here,” she told the griffin.
“Really? You. Imagined. There. Was. Some. Other. Way?”
Cuarel: I can’t believe it’s Mothering snowing again. What’s with you?
Sala: Nothing here. Sky full of stars.
Dersay: I wish I could see a sky full of stars.
Cuarel: You had your chance. You could have traded places with either of us.
Sala: Not with me. I’ve got seniority.
Cuarel: Yes, we all know how much more experience you have with the outside than we do.
Dersay: Speak for yourself.
Sala grinned, safe in the knowledge that the Talent was asleep, the tall boy was on watch, and the little red-haired girl was turned the other way.
Dersay: I know you’re smiling, I can feel it. Like an itch.
Sala: Can you feel me rolling my eyes?
Cuarel: You wouldn’t have been able to travel with anyone but Luca, Dersay, and you know it. Right now I’d be happy to make the switch. Griffins, but I’m already stiff and sore. Luca says we’ll be another three days at least.
Sala: We could be at the prince before that.
Cuarel: If I’d known what was coming when you talked me into this, Sala, I’d have stayed away from that Mothering meeting. How are you holding up?
Sala: I’ve been in worse places. They’ve all had military training, at least, even the Talent, though hers is a while back. I don’t have to teach them how to keep a good pace, or how to stay quiet in the woods, which is more to the point just now. And they don’t expect me to wait on them hand and foot.
That’s what she’d been doing when the Talent High Inquisitor had found her. Guiding official visitors through the newly sealed province of Ma’lakai while she recovered from a bad cut to her sword arm. She’d never had to learn whether the army would have taken her back, not once Luca had found her. Dersay wasn’t completely right when she implied that Sala would rather be out than in. Belonging somewhere was a good thing.
Dersay: You’re happier outside, Sala, even if you won’t admit it. We can feel it in your thoughts, both of us.
Sala: Are you going to sleep anytime soon? Because I’d like to get some before my watch starts if it’s all right with you two.
Cuarel: Fine, fine. Check in at sunrise.
Dersay: Wake me.
Sala resisted the urge to roll over. She wasn’t going to find a more comfortable spot. At least those two chatterboxes had finally stopped talking to her.
• • •
Another two days walking had brought them to what the Griffin Girl said was the land of the man they were looking for.
“It’s all so normal.” The little redhead’s voice was flat with more than simple exhaustion. “How is it possible that people are just going about their everyday lives with the Luqs dead and the Halians in the Polity?”
Sala looked at the others, but no one seemed about to respond. They’d twice seen the dead hanging at crossroads, and once a burned-out villa, but few other signs that an invasion had taken place. There’d been worse in Ma’lakai when the Wings first came in her grandfather’s day. Or so she’d heard.
The Griffin Girl rubbed her face, and Sala grimaced. They certainly hadn’t seen any Halls.
“Can you make out a name?” Tel Cursar was saying to the girl now.
“I’m trying to stay focused on the person we’re looking for; that’s hard enough.” The girl was frowning as she said it.
“I’m impressed you can even find the place, never mind getting the land to tell you the name of the owner,” the red-haired girl said. She smiled a sudden smile. “If it’s this hard for you, won’t it be even harder for Jak Gulder?”
A bark of laughter from Tel Cursar. “Let’s hope so.”
Sala held up her hand for silence.
“Sala?” The Griffin Girl was more comfortable wi
th her than the other two, though Mother knew that, as a Talent, she should have been the most against them. “Sala, what is it?”
“I’ve lost Cuarel.” All three youngsters froze, looking at her, and then at each other. Tel’s hand went to where his sword should have been, if it weren’t packed away with everything but their belt knives.
Dersay: What do you mean? She’s right here.
Sala: I can’t hear her.
Dersay: Wait. No, she says she can’t hear you either.
Sala: Griffin dung! I guess we’re not very “far” thinkers after all.
Dersay: Cuarel says could this mean there are more of us than we think, but they’re too far away for us to hear them?
Sala could feel herself grinning. They’d have to send envoys to the other Clans, first chance they got. Just because they hadn’t heard anyone, didn’t mean there was no one to hear. In the meantime . . .
Sala: We’ll have to double our contacts. Dersay, you’ll have to relay.
“It’s all right,” she said aloud, explaining in a few words what had happened.
“Interesting,” the Talent said. “So you didn’t know that your range had limits?” Her eyes narrowed, and Sala suddenly felt as if the girl could see through her.
“It is interesting.” Tel Cursar gestured at the road. “But can we talk about it as we go?”
“Nothing to talk about,” Sala said as she set off in the lead, Ker walking next to her.
A turn of the road brought them into view of a large villa. It had the typical look of the central part of the Peninsula, owing more to the architecture of Sala’s homeland than anyone in the Polity wanted to admit. A large, white, squared building with an interior courtyard, and long narrow windows, the design intended to help with both the summer heat and the cooler winter weather. The usual outbuildings gathered around the main one, like chicks around a hen, likely stabling and storage for the grapes and wine-making tools. There was no enclosing wall, but then, it had been so long since war had come here, there probably wasn’t a walled Holding in the whole of the Peninsula.
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