The Farseekers

by Isobelle Carmody

  This knowledge added an unspoken bittersweet note to the celebration, for it seemed to underline the precarious nature of all our lives and hopes.

  'He is content,' Darga sent from where he lay on the hearth. 'He is not afraid to die.'

  After we had eaten, Katlyn managed to do what we had failed, and persuaded Dragon to wash.

  Jik, Idris, and Reuvan went off with Grufyyd to organize sleeping quarters in the barn, and Kella went to sort out blankets.

  I was glad to find myself alone with Brydda, having had no chance to question him about the soldierguards. As if by agreement, nothing more had been said of it.

  His first words took my breath away. 'I don't suppose you come from Obernewtyn?'

  I gaped at him.

  He nodded. 'It was a thought I had earlier, for I guessed you weren't quite telling the truth when you said you came from the Highlands. Then my father said one of the soldierguards had mentioned Obernewtyn, and everything came together. The soldierguards were here looking for Seditioners possibly disguised as gypsies, and they asked about Obernewtyn. I heard the place was burnt out by a firestorm.'

  'A lie to keep people away,' I said, realizing there was no point in further lies. 'Do your parents know?'

  'I don't think so. My father only spoke of it in passing as a curio. But I would not panic just the same. Perhaps the soldierguards were told to mention it to see if there were any reaction. I don't think they knew anything for sure. How could they?'

  'They couldn't have managed to connect us and Obernewtyn . . . unless the Druid is mixed up in it.'

  'You think the Druid has got his friend to send out soldierguards?' Brydda asked. I had told him earlier what had happened in the Druid camp.

  I nodded. 'I told them I had seen Obernewtyn burned out, but if he has guessed we were not real gypsies, he might question it. I must warn Rushton.'

  Brydda nodded. 'It might be safer for you all to leave Obernewtyn. Especially if an investigation is going to expose the lie about the firestorm. If you ever need refuge, I would be happy to have your people join me.'

  'Rushton will have to decide that,' I said.

  Idris opened the door and asked Brydda to help shift the books from the cart into the shed because it had begun to rain again. Left alone except for Pavo, I tried to imagine how it would be to leave Obernewtyn. I could not bear to think of it. I looked at Pavo and felt a pang of sorrow at the thought that he would never see Obernewtyn again.

  Seeming to read my mind, his eyes fluttered open. 'Don't be sad for me, Elspeth.' His voice was barely audible. Even talking exhausted his meagre reserves. 'I have lived free in a world where freedom is rare. I have pursued work I love. I have learned much and I have had good friends and perilous adventures. What man that lives three times my span can say as much?'

  I blinked hard and found I could say nothing without crying. I was glad to see everyone troop back in laughing and talking. Kella called out that she was warming some fement. This prompted Brydda to sing a rollicking song about a drunken seaman. In the midst of uproarious laughter, the door opened and Katlyn entered with a stranger.

  The room fell into an astounded silence. The unknown girl was slender as a willow wand with creamy pale skin and a flame-coloured mop of curls. But the most startling thing of all was the girl's extraordinary beauty.

  Slowly it dawned on us who we were looking at.

  It was Dragon.

  'I don't believe it!' Jik gasped.

  I was stunned. Who would have suspected what lay under the dirt? Even clad in a rough hessian shift, she was fair. And her hair! I had never seen hair that colour - like gold and flames entwined. Later Katlyn told me it had broken her heart to cut it, but it had been so matted and fused with dirt, she had no choice.

  Dragon's eyes, blue as the summer sky, flickered round uneasily.

  'Don't stare at her. She doesn't understand,' I said softly.

  Though unable to stop looking, the others sank into more natural poses. Beaming with pleasure, Katlyn ushered Dragon around to my side. Reaching out, I tugged at one springing fiery curl.

  Dragon took the strand of her hair and pulled it round to her eyes, then she let it loose and promptly lifted the shift to show the blue underskirt I had given her.

  Reuvan burst out laughing. She looked up at him startled, and bared her teeth. That broke the spell woven by her dramatic transformation. 'She may be a girl,' Reuvan said, 'but she is still dragon-natured and had better keep her name as a warning to anyone who might think otherwise.'

  Brydda patted his mother's shoulder. 'Well, I always knew you were a witch.'

  Even Pavo smiled at this absurdity.

  Over steaming mugs of fement, we talked of ways and means to get to our various destinations. I told Katlyn and Grufyyd the whole story of Obernewtyn, deciding they knew so much already, it was better to take them into our confidence. If Obernewtyn were under investigation, we would have to leave it anyway and, if not, I had an idea that Katlyn and Grufyyd would be a great deal more content in the mountains than in Sutrium. Besides, like Brydda, I felt we would be allies.

  Our only chance of reaching the Highlands before winter set in was to take the same path as Brydda planned, fording the Suggredoon, round Berryn Mor, to avoid Sutrium and along the main road, since the soldierguards would have returned to their camps. My one concern was of our dwindling hope of reaching Obernewtyn before the pass froze. Even without the inevitable delays, it would be a trip of many days.

  'If only the Olden pass had not been poisonous,' I sighed.

  'Poisonous . . .?' Brydda began.

  Suddenly Darga growled and Dragon jumped to her feet.

  'What is it?' I said, but Brydda hissed. In the silence we could hear a horse galloping fast towards the house.

  A lone rider could not mean soldierguards, but who would come out so late in a cold wet night? There was nothing to do but wait, and there were enough of us to deal with one, so we waited calmly, listening to the horse approach, and its rider dismount. There were steps on the porch and the door was flung open.

  'Domick!' cried Kella starting to her feet. For a moment Domick stared at her, then he strode into the room.

  'Thank Lud you're here. You must leave here tonight, all of you,' he said.

  'What is it?' Brydda asked sharply, rising to tower over the coercer. Domick's face changed as he noticed Idris, Reuvan and Dragon.

  'It's all right, Domick. They're friends,' I said quickly. 'They know about us and Obernewtyn.'

  Domick looked less disapproving than I expected. He glanced at Brydda speculatively. 'I guess you are Brydda Llewellyn, better known as the notorious Black Dog. It is good to meet a man whose name I have heard so many times.'

  Brydda met this with a curious look. Domick sighed. 'It's a long story. Too long for now, but I'll give you the meat of it. Why you have to get away from here tonight, and how I have heard Brydda's name so many times, are part of the same tale, so I'll go at it from the head.'

  He threw off his dripping oilcoat. 'I first heard the name of Brydda Llewellyn here, but I heard it again before I had even crossed on the ferry. Soldierguards were watching the ferry, looking for you. I overheard them saying Brydda Llewellyn's network of Seditioners had been exposed and he was on the run. I wanted to come after you, Elspeth, to warn you, but I knew I would be too late to get to you before you got to Aborium.' An expression of such indecision crossed his face that I realized what a struggle it had been for him to go on to Sutrium.

  The first thing I noticed about Sutrium was the number of Herders about. They seemed to outnumber Councilmen, and there was a definite feeling of fear whenever they were around.

  'I mingled with people wherever there were crowds. I had the feeling I was safer in that way. I let people understand I was a trading Jack until my cart had been burned in a firestorm. That explained my ignorance about customs Lowlanders take for granted. And it let me ask questions. I spent handfuls of silver trying to loosen men's tongues w
ith fement. I knew I had to get close to the Council, but I couldn't think how.

  Then one night in a drink hall, I heard two men talking about a third man who was to take up a job at the Council. They were laughing and warning their friend that his new job was dangerous and risky. The third man was beside himself with fear by the time they left. I got into conversation with him by offering him a mug and learned that he had come from the Highlands to work in Sutrium. He had been recommended by a Herder, and though he neither wanted nor liked the idea of going to Sutrium, he dared not refuse. In the end, I managed to persuade him to let me take the job.' Domick flicked a look at me which told me what sort of persuasion he had used. 'I turned up in his place, and was accepted at once, since they were expecting someone from the high country.

  'At first I heard nothing useful. It was a menial job and I began to think I would have been better off applying to be a soldierguard. Then I realized I could not have found a better way to spy on the Councilmen. Once my face was familiar, it was as if I were nothing more than a broom or mop and they talked quite freely in front of me.

  'I heard them talk of a sweeping investigation of the Highlands planned next year to flush out traitors and Seditioners, and I heard enough to make me certain the Council knows the Druid is alive. I heard much talk about the Black Dog and his efforts to undermine authority and plunge the Land back into chaos. They think of you as a terrible threat, Brydda, and hunger to get hold of you. They were expecting news of your capture from Aborium, but I guess it was bad news.' He grinned at Brydda.

  Domick paused to drink thirstily from a mug Katlyn had given him.

  'What about the Druid's friend? Did you see him?' Kella asked.

  Domick looked grim. 'Almost from the first day, I heard talk of a special agent who worked for both the Herder Faction and the Council getting information to help expose Seditioners. It was he who masterminded the capture of the man who betrayed your network, Brydda. And he who made him talk when no one else was able. The agent was said to be brilliant and completely ruthless.'

  Then you heard no talk of Obernewtyn?' I mused, wondering how the soldierguard had come to mention it. Unless the Council did suspect Rushton of their own accord.

  Domick shook his head. I had heard no mention of Obernewtyn - until two days ago. I overheard a conversation between two Councilmen about this special agent and his certainty that something was going on at Obernewtyn. One Councilman said he didn't think there was anything in it, and the other reminded him that the agent had seldom led them wrong. I became certain then that this special agent and the Druid's friend were the same person.'

  'The Druid must have decided he wanted Obernewtyn investigated after our escape,' I said, regretting mentioning Obernewtyn to the Druid. 'It must have made him suspicious.'

  But Domick frowned. 'That's what I thought at first, because what other reason would this agent have for wanting Obernewtyn investigated?' He looked so stern, I felt suddenly frightened of what he was about to say.

  'I never saw the agent,' Domick went on slowly. 'Though I often heard him spoken of. And I never heard any name mentioned. It made sense for such a man to prefer his face and name to be secret, but I was curious. Someone told me he only came very late at night to make reports, so I managed to get myself put on to night duty. Twice I was able to catch glimpses of him, but he always wore a hooded cloak that concealed his face. I ought to have left once I heard them talk of Obernewtyn, but my curiosity got the better of me.

  'One night I heard him talking, and I had the strangest feeling I had heard his voice somewhere before. That made me more determined to see what he looked like. The next night he was to make a report, I hid in a cupboard in the meeting room. I saw him come in through a crack in the door, but he kept his hood on all the while he talked. I could not see his face but I could hear him clearly.

  'He told the Council the man he tortured for information about Brydda had said he thought Brydda had family in Rangorn. A mother and father. Apparently he had overheard that because it was thought Brydda Llewellyn was an escaped orphan. The agent said he had sent soldierguards to the area and their report showed only one couple fitting the description. He wanted Council permission to bring them in for interrogation. This would ensure the capture of the Black Dog.

  The Council voted to send a troop of guards to Rangorn. They are on their way here now.'

  Brydda's face was pale and tense. 'I did not know anyone knew - he must have seen or overheard something. Poor Bom.'

  I said nothing. There was something in Domick's manner that warned me the story was not finished.

  'I nearly died when I heard them talk of coming here. I knew they would catch Katlyn and Grufyyd, and possibly you too. I didn't know Brydda would be here as well.

  'I was desperate to get away to warn you, but I had to wait until the room was empty. At last the meeting ended and all the Councilmen left but the main one. Only then did the agent take off his hood, and I saw his face.'

  'You . . . you recognized him?' Kella breathed.

  Domick nodded.

  'Ariel,' he said. 'It was Ariel.'

  PART III

  THE KEN

  20

  It was too risky to try for Sutrium with the soldier-guards on their way so we headed towards the mountains where we would hide until the danger was past. No one would guess we would deliberately trap ourselves in a cul de sac.

  The soldierguards aren't subtle enough to suspect we would do anything other than the obvious,' Brydda said. 'When they don't find us here, they'll think we have escaped by going around Berryn Mor because that's what they would do in our place.'

  Brydda knew of a place where we could make a safe camp at the foot of Tor where a thick copse of trees concealed a narrow valley running into the foot of the hills. From the other side no one would suspect the trees continued for more than a few steps before reaching the steep mountain side. Brydda had played there as a boy, and remembered it well despite his long absence.

  Jolting through the darkness, and chilled by a damp, blustery wind, I thought bitterly of Domick's news. Obernewtyn was in danger. We were in danger. With Ariel to force the pace, I had no doubt the soldierguards would appear in spring directly after the thaw. Ariel, of all people, would know that Obernewtyn was at its most vulnerable then. If we failed to get back in time to warn Rushton, Obernewtyn would be completely unprepared, defenceless against the soldierguard onslaught.

  But it was a matter of days, perhaps a quarter moon, before the pass would be snowed shut. Domick must have known, when he came to us, that he was losing the last chance of warning Obernewtyn. But if he had not delayed and ridden to warn us, the soldierguards would have taken us all.

  I could not imagine how Ariel had survived and what course had brought him to the Council. After initial disbelief, we realized he must have found a way through the mountains to the Highlands and, there, stumbled on the Druid camp. His beauty would have endeared him to the exiled Herder, with his fanatical desire for perfection, but how had he risen to such heights in Council esteem? And what was his interest in Obernewtyn?

  Ariel had hated Rushton when he was the overseer. I tried to imagine his reaction at learning Rushton had legal Claim to Obernewtyn. How it must have galled him.

  Ariel must have persuaded the old Druid to let him go to Sutrium. To begin with, he might have meant only to get away, but soon enough he would have seen the advantages in such an affiliation, the chance of playing both sides against the middle.

  I shivered, as certain as I had ever been of anything in my life, that Ariel wanted revenge; that this was the real motivation behind his laying the seeds of suspicion about Obernewtyn. His quick ascendency within Council ranks proved he had lost none of his ability to manipulate. Ariel had a way of easing himself irrevocably into advantageous positions and making use of people.

  It was Brydda's thought that Ariel would probably have begun by offering information about the Druid to the Council - just enough to whe
t their appetite and give himself credibility. Not enough to give the Druid away completely. He would have made the same offer to the Herder Faction and it would have been easy to use information learnt from one group to feed the other, rising in the estimation of both. No matter who won, Ariel would triumph.

  The only mystery lay in Ariel's accusation of Sedition at Obernewtyn, and his apparent certainty that the firestorm story was a lie. Domick said he sounded as if he knew Obernewtyn had not been burnt out, but there was no way he could have known that.

  'Perhaps he means to plant evidence of Sedition,' Idris offered diffidently.

  I looked at him. 'If Ariel is only guessing, then the irony of it is that everything he claims is true. It's almost too much of a coincidence.'

  I had the feeling I had overlooked something vital but was too tired and worried to dwell on it further. We had spent precious time packing Katlyn's invaluable store of dried herbs. Almost everything else had to be left behind and tears coursed down her face as Brydda threw a flaming torch on the roof of the cottage.

  'It is only stone and mud and straw I know, but all the memories of happy years are in those walls, and now they burn. Perhaps it is a sign,' she sobbed.

  It did not take us long to reach Brydda's hiding spot. It was as good as he had led us to believe. We could even see the cottage burning in the distance, while we were invisible behind a thick girdle of Eben trees.

  As soon as we arrived, Brydda set Kella and his mother to organize supper to occupy her mind. He asked me to walk with him to find some firewood leading the way purposefully through the trees. I looked around curiously. The ground sloped up steeply offering a sweeping view of the Land.

  This is a sight I remember well,' Brydda said softly. Over the tree-tops, I could see the dense darkness of the Blacklands in the moonlight like a shadowy stain across the Land.