From Darkness Won Part 26

"Fine. Fetch him for me. Please?"

Sir Caleb bowed and exited the tent.

Achan glanced at Shung. "She would answer if she could, don't you think?"

"Without a doubt. The little fox does not joke of serious matters. Should Shung message her?"

"No. d.u.c.h.ess Amal said too many voices might frighten her if she had lost her memory. And I think she has, for she didn't seem to know me." He lay back down. "I'm going to look around Sitna Manor again. See if I can learn anything."

So Achan searched all of Sitna Manor. Things were different. Lord Levy's family had moved into the rooms in the keep where Lord Nathak and Esek had once dwelled. Poril was no longer the cook. A portly woman had taken over the kitchens. Stranger still, Noam was not in the stables.

What in all Er'Rets was happening?

When Achan returned to his body, his tent and most of the camp had been packed around him. The morning air chilled his arms. Sir Eagan and Sir Caleb were standing at his bedside, Cole just behind them with Matthias. Soldiers bustled about, mounting their horses and filling carts with rolled-up tents. Many heads turned toward the half-dressed Prince, who was still in bed.

Achan met Sir Eagan's cool gaze. "I can't find her."

Sir Caleb and Sir Eagan helped Achan to his feet. Two soldiers immediately began collapsing his bed.

Matthias approached, holding a set of clothes. "Time to dress, sir."

"We can talk more in the wagon," Sir Eagan said.

Achan's thoughts scattered. "But the rescue party is still going out, right? We can't just leave her."

"We can't send a rescue party to Sitna without knowing where her body is," Sir Caleb said. "It would be futile, a waste of manpower."

Achan glared at Sir Caleb. "Would you leave Esper?"

Sir Caleb's eyes lit like a fire, but his expression remained neutral.

Achan tried another tactic by appealing to Sir Eagan. "I sense her shields. She's not dead."

Sir Caleb took the pile of clothing Matthias had been holding and handed it to Achan. "Continue the search from your wagon, Your Highness, but we must get moving."

Shung, Kurtz, Cole, and the knights escorted Achan through the soldiers to his wagon where Achan dressed himself. Then he flopped down on one of the sofas. Shung?

The wagon lurched as Shung climbed inside. Sir Eagan lifted Matthias through the doorway then entered himself.

"I'm going to keep looking," Achan said.

Shung nodded. "Shung will keep watch."

All day Achan searched Sitna Manor from the Veil, but he found no sign of Vrell Sparrow. He did discover that Poril had gone south with Lord Nathak. So he looked through Poril's eyes.

The old cook sat beside the driver on a cart that followed a few dozen horses and a litter at night. A lantern swung from a post on the wagon seat, dangling behind the driver's head. Achan counted four more lanterns ahead that seemed to float through the dark night.

No, it couldn't be night already, could it?

Achan left Poril's mind and searched each face in the party. He found Lord Nathak and his wife in the litter, and a wooden box in the back of Poril's wagon.

A coffin.

After a long moment to raise his courage, Achan peeked inside, but the wooden lid blocked all light and he could not see anything within. If Sparrow had died, though, he would not be able to sense her. And he could.

Sparrow, please speak to me. Tell me you are not in that coffin. Please?

After a long wait with no answer, he came back to himself. Shung met his gaze briefly. Matthias sat on the floor with his back against Shung's legs, dozing. Sir Eagan sat at the table reading a scroll. Achan remained silent, knowing they'd pa.s.s by Sitna at some point this day-maybe already had. His old home, the place where Sparrow had to be.

It made him nauseated.

He glanced back to Shung and froze. For where Matthias had been sitting, there was Sparrow, her silky black hair spilling into Shung's lap. The man combed it with his thick, burned fingers, a half smile on his hairy face.

Achan's breath quickened. "What are you doing?"

Shung raised a bushy eyebrow and grunted a question.

Achan stood up so fast his head sc.r.a.ped the ceiling. Shung had no right to touch Sparrow. Achan bent down and lifted her into his arms. She was lighter than he remembered. He tucked her head under his chin and breathed in the smell of roses. "Sir Eagan, we must get Sparrow something to eat. I fear she's half starved."

The wagon rolled through a rut and Achan lurched. Rather than try to keep his balance, he fell back onto his sofa, cradling Sparrow in his arms.

The movement woke her. She locked her cat-like eyes onto his. "Are you all right, sir?"

Achan frowned. For the voice did not belong to Sparrow but to Matthias. He was holding the boy on his lap. He swallowed, feeling like a fool, and set the boy beside him on the sofa. He looked at Shung, and then to Sir Eagan.

Sir Eagan regarded him warily. "Are you well, Your Highness?"

Achan opened his mouth to answer, then lunged for the drape and pulled it open.

A starless black sky hung overhead as if it were the middle of the night, though Achan knew it could only be late morning. Pig snout. That explained the waking dream.

They had entered Darkness again.

14.

Noam steered the cart off the dirt road, through a field of waist high gra.s.s along two trampled wheel tracks.

A road seldom traveled. Averella was thankful to be gone from Sitna Manor. She still did not understand what had happened to her, but these people meant her no harm.

She floated alongside Kopay, one hand resting on his back, though she could not feel him and knew her hand would pa.s.s through him if she lowered it. Noam had hitched Kopay and another horse to this cart and filled it with supplies. It also carried Averella's body, covered in blankets as if she were merely asleep. Gren sat in the cart beside her body. Harnu sat up on the driver's seat with Noam.

Since dawn they had traveled west, toward the dark horizon. Averella hoped they would not meet a storm.

Noam had apparently fixed his gaze on the same thing, for he asked, "Is it my wandering mind or does Darkness look nearer than before?"

Averella stopped, and the cart rattled away from her. Surely they were not going into Darkness? Averella had never been there and had no intention of changing that fact.

"How could Darkness be closer?" Gren asked. "It's been in the same place all my life."

"It just looks closer, that's all," Noam said.

Their voices had grown faint, so Averella drifted after the cart until she caught up.

"How close to the Evenwall is this cabin, anyway?" Noam asked.

"Never wanted to know." Harnu scooted to the edge of the bench and squinted ahead. "Any moment a stream will enter the south side of the Sideros. We'll cross just past the fork and follow the stream into the forest. It's not far then."

It happened just as Harnu had predicted. The fork came, then a rocky ford. Averella floated right over the gurgling water. After crossing the river, they followed the creek into a thick forest. A bird squawked. Not a pleasant chirp or birdsong, but a caw, like a bird of prey circling a carca.s.s.

Averella looked up. A black bird stared down from a wiry poplar branch, its dark eyes fixed on her. How could a gowzal see her when nothing else could?

When she looked back, two more birds had joined the first. One cawed again. Averella floated to the other side of the cart, keeping it between her and the eerie birds.

Sparrow? Where are you? a man said.

Averella's ears itched suddenly, as if mosquitoes were biting her. She tried to run her hands over her head, but they only pa.s.sed through. Her skull suddenly squeezed, as if someone were pressing against both sides with their hands. Sparrow, please. I must know if you're safe. We're all very worried. You've been stormed. Please answer me.

Master Cham again. I am here, Master Cham. Though I doubt you can hear me.

Sure enough, he did not reply. Averella fought back tears. If only she could understand what it meant to have been stormed. She had some knowledge of herbs and healing, but she had never heard of such an ailment.

The sun vanished behind a cloud, and a chill clapped onto her arms. The forest was so thick here, it seemed like dusk. A branch snapped on her right. Or perhaps it had been a pinecone or acorn falling from a tree.

Thick fog grew around her ankles. Beads of perspiration hung from Master Poe's chin. Kopay sniffed, ears pointed high, eyes peeled wide. Something concerned him. There were no snakes in this forest. Perhaps a cham bear or wolf? Or perhaps he didn't like the gowzal either. Averella drew closer to the cart and scanned the forest.

Noam snapped the reins. "Come on, boys. Not far now."

The horses trudged on, though their hooves danced as if eager to turn and run.

"What's wrong with them?" Gren asked.

Noam struggled with the reins. "Something's spooked them."

Harnu reached back into the cart and lifted a sword. "This won't do much against a cham, so we'd better pray to Cetheria it's something smaller."

Then, as if Arman had closed a lid on the land, everything went black.

Gren screamed. The horses whinnied. Averella groped for Kopay, useless when she could not feel or see anything.

"The G.o.ds have cursed us!" Harnu cried. "We should've left Lady Averella with Lord Nathak."

"Don't be a fool!" Noam said. "It's only Darkness. I told you it looked closer."

"How do you know it's Darkness?" Harnu asked.

"Think, man. What else would it be?"

Silence stretched on until a bird screeched. Something in the trees above clicked like two sticks of wood striking one another.

"Grenny, there should be a lantern back there," Noam said. "Can you find it?"

The wagon creaked. Metal clanked against wood. "I've got it. Just a moment."

A firesteel sparked. Once. Twice. Three times. On the fourth try, the lantern glowed. The cart swelled into Averella's view, right where it had been. She still hovered beside Kopay, though her hand had pa.s.sed into his middle. She pulled it back and folded her arms.

"What should we do?" Gren asked.

"We can't go back," Noam said. "Not with Lady Averella in the cart."

"We could take her to Carmine," Harnu said.

"No!" Gren's urgent tone suggested some secret knowledge. "She does not want to go back there. She wants to follow Achan."

Averella frowned. It seemed very unlike her to follow a man anywhere. Especially a man she did not know. Although hadn't Gren told the old man that Averella was betrothed to this Master Cham? None of this made any sense.

"The cabin is close," Harnu said. "I say we stick to our plan."

"You mean stay in Darkness?" Gren said. "Harnu, do you know what people say about this place?"

"I've met people who lived here," Noam said. "They train themselves to stay calm. Not let it get to them."

"It's already getting to me," Gren said.

"Well, I can't think of anything else," Harnu said. "At least let's go to the cabin to talk about it. This forest is unnerving."

"Agreed." Noam cracked the reins and the horses lurched forward.

The horses moved faster than Averella would have liked. Perhaps they could see better than she could. The lantern cast so little light. But the idea of losing sight of it kept her moving.

"There!" Harnu shouted.

A dark structure built of logs loomed into sight. It was bigger than the cottages in Sitna Manor. Lantern light glinted off the iron hinges on the shuttered windows on either side of the front door.

Noam stopped the cart in front of the cabin and climbed down. "I'll take care of the horses if you and Gren will unload the cart."

Harnu jumped down. "There's a shed 'round to the left. You can put the horses there."

Noam unhooked Kopay first and led him away. Averella loathed to see Kopay go, but she did not want to leave the lantern. Harnu hung it on a post outside the door. He and Gren began to carry things into the cabin. Averella wanted to go in but stayed with the wagon until Harnu carried her body inside.

The musty smell grabbed her as she followed Harnu through the door. Inside, Gren had lit another lantern, which hung on a hook over a square table in the middle of a timber room. Gren stood there, taking things out of a crate and piling them on the table.

Harnu carried Averella's body to a small room. He settled her on a pallet and left. Averella could see nothing in the darkness except the end of a sideboard lit dimly by the light from the lantern coming through the door. The air felt damp, as if Darkness carried moisture. She stood with her body for a long while, then explored the small cottage and wandered out to where Noam had stabled Kopay. When she returned, Harnu and Gren were engaged in a heated discussion.