The Wandering Fire Part 11

Aline shook her head. "They have been seen near the town but not yet in the Temple grounds, High One. If they had been, I am to say, then-"

"Then the Mormae would have linked to tell me. Audiart," Jaelle murmured, "is cleverness itself." She tossed her head, and the red hair rippled down her back like a river.

Aileron's eyes were bright in the torchlight. "She wants me to come and clean them out for her? What says the High Priestess?"

Jaelle didn't even look at him. "This," she said, "is your Warden, not my Second, Aileron."

There was a silence, and then a polite cough and Paul Schafer walked forward toward Audiart's messenger.

"One moment," he said. "Aileron, you spoke of cleaning out the wolves. It may be more than that." He paused. "Aline, is Galadan in Leinanwood?"

The priestess had fear in her eyes. "We never thought of that. I do not know."

And so it was time. That was a cue for her, if anything was. Kim schooled her face and, as she did, Aileron's glance swung over to find her.

Would she ever be used to this? Had Ysanne ever grown accustomed to this shuttling back and forth on the timeloom? Only last night, restless and heartsick for Jennifer, she had fallen into half sleep and a blurred, insubstantial dream of a hunt in a wood, in some wood, somewhere, and a rushing thunder over the ground.

She met the King's glance. "Something is there," she said, keeping her voice crisp. "Or someone. I have seen a hunt."

Aileron smiled. He turned to Shalha.s.san and to Arthur beside him. "Shall we three hunt wolves of the Dark in Gwen Ystrat?"

The dour King of Cathal nodded.

"It will be good to have an enemy to kill just now," Arthur said.

He meant more, Kim knew, than Aileron heard, but she had no s.p.a.ce for sorrow because something else from her dream had slotted into place with the High King's words.

"It will be more than a hunt," she murmured. It was never necesssary for a Seer to speak loudly. "I'll be coming, and Loren, and Jaelle, if she will."

"Why?" It was Paul, challenging, bearing his own burdens.

"I dreamt the blind one," she explained. "Gereint of the Dalrei will be going to Morvran tomorrow."

There was a murmur at that. It was, she supposed, unsettling for people to hear such things. Not much she could do, or cared at the moment to do, about it. She was very weary, and it wasn't about to get easier.

"We'll leave tomorrow then, as well," Aileron said decisively.

Loren was looking at her.

She shook her head, then pushed her hair back from her face. "No," she said, too tired to be diplomatic. "Wait for Diarmuid."

It wasn't going to get any easier at all, not for a long time, maybe not ever.

It was pa.s.sing away from him. He had seen it coming long ago, in some ways he had willed it to come, but it was still a hard thing for Loren Silvercloak to see his burdens pa.s.sing to others. The harder, because he could read in them the toll exacted by their new responsibilities. It was manifest in Kim, just as her power was manifest: a Seer with the Baelrath and the gift of another's soul, she must be staggering under the weight of it.

Today was a day of preparations. Five hundred men, half from Cathal and half from Brennin, were to ride for Gwen Ystrat as soon as Diarmuid returned. They were waiting because Kim had said to wait. Once it might have been the mages who offered such decisive counsel, but it was pa.s.sing from them. He had set the thing in motion when he brought the five of them, and he was wise enough, for all Matt's reproachful glances, to let it move without his interference, insofar as that was possible. And he was compa.s.sionate enough to pity them: Kim, and Paul who bore the weight of the name Twiceborn, with all such a thing implied, but who had not been able to tap into his power yet. It was there, any fool could see, it might be greater than any of them could fathom, but as of now it was latent only. Enough to set him painfully apart, not enough to give him compensation or direction.

And then there was Jennifer, and for her he could weep. No compensation, or even dream of it, for her, no chance to act, only the pain, so many shadings of it. He had seen it from the first-so long ago, it seemed-before they crossed, when he had read a message in her beauty and a dark future in her eyes. He had taken her anyhow, had told himself he had no choice; nor was that merely sophistry-such, at least, Rangat's exploding had made clear.

Which did not take away the sorrow. He understood her beauty now, they all did, and they knew her oldest name. Oh, Guinevere, Arthur had said, and was any fate more harsh in any world than that of the two of them? And the third.

He pa.s.sed the day alone in untranquil thought. Matt and Brock were at the armories, giving the benefit of their expertise in weapons to the two Captains of the Guard. Teyrnon, whose pragmatic good sense would have been of some help, was in North Keep. They would reach for him that night; he and Barak, too, would have their place in Gwen Ystrat.

If ever any mage, any worker in the skylore, could be said to have a place so near Dun Maura. The tall mage shook his head and threw another log on the fire. He was cold, and not just from the winter. How had it come to be that there were only two mages left in Brennin? There could never be more than seven; so Amairgen had decreed when first he formed the Council. But two, only two, and at such a time? It was pa.s.sing from them, it seemed, in more ways than one.

Two mages only in Brennin to go to war against Maugrim; but there were three mages in Fionavar, and the third had put himself in league with the Dark. He was on Cader Sedat, that enchanted island, long since made unholy. He was there, and he had the Cauldron of Khath Meigol and so could bring the newly dead back to life.

Whatever else might pa.s.s from them, that one was his. His and Matt's. We will have our battle in the end, he had said to the Dwarf.

If the winter ever ended. Metran.

Night came, and with it another storm worse than any yet. Wind howled and whistled down the Plain into the High Kingdom, carrying a wall of snow. It buried farms and farmhouses. It blanketed the woods. It hid the moon, and in the inhuman darkness figures of dread seemed to be moving within the storm and the howling of wind was the sound of their laughter.

Darien lay in bed listening to it. He'd thought at first it was another nightmare but then knew he was awake. Frightened, though. He pulled the covers up over his head to try and m.u.f.fle the voices he heard in the wind.

They were calling. Calling him to come and play outside in the wild dark dancing of the storm. To join them in this battering of wind and snow. But he was only a little boy, and afraid, and he would die if he went outside. Even though the storm wasn't so bad where they were.

Finn had explained about that. How even though Darien's real mother couldn't be there with them she was protecting him all the time, and she made the winter easier around his bed because she loved him. They all loved him; Vae his mother and even Shahar his father, who had been home from war only once before they had come to the lake. He had lifted Darien up in the air and made him laugh. Then he had said Dari would soon be bigger than Finn and laughed, himself, though not the funny laugh.

Finn was his brother and he loved Dari most of all and he was the most wonderful person in the world and knew everything besides.

It was Finn who had explained what Father had meant when Dari came crying to him after, because there was something wrong about him being bigger than Finn. Soon, Father had said.

Finn had dressed him in his coat and boots and carried him out for a walk. Dari liked it more than anything when they did that. Finn would throw Dari in the snow, but only where it was new and soft, and then fall in himself so they both got all white, rolling about, and Dari would laugh so hard he got the hiccups.

This time, though, Finn had been serious. Sometimes he was serious and made Dari listen to him. He said that Dari was different from other little boys. That he was special because his real mother was special, and so he was going to be bigger and stronger and smarter than all the other boys. Even Finn, Finn said. And what that meant, Finn said, was that Dari had to be better, too, he had to be kinder and gentler and braver, so he would deserve what his real mother had given him.

He had to try to love everything, Finn said, except the Dark.

The Dark was what was causing the storm outside, Dari knew. And most of the time he hated it like Finn said. He tried to do it all the time, to be just like Finn was, but sometimes he heard the voices, and though mostly they frightened him, sometimes they didn't. Sometimes he thought it might be nice to go with them.

Except that would mean leaving Finn, and he would never do that. He got out of bed and put on his .knitted slippers. He pulled back the curtain and paddled over, past where his mother slept, to the far wall where Finn's bed was.

Finn was awake. "What took you so long?" he whispered. "Come in, little brother, we'll keep each other warm." With a sigh of pleasure, Dari kicked off the slippers and crawled in beside Finn, who moved over, leaving Dari the warm part where he'd lain.

"There are voices," he said to Finn.

His brother didn't say anything. Just put an arm around Dari and held him close. The voices weren't as loud here, when he was beside Finn. As he drifted to sleep, Dari heard Finn murmur into his ear, "I love you, little one."

Dari loved him back. When he fell asleep he dreamed again, and in his dream he was trying to tell that to the ghostly figures calling from the wind.

CHAPTER 9.

In the afternoon after the storm-a day so clear and bright it was almost a mockery-came Diarmuid, Prince of Brennin, back to Paras Derval. With certain others he was brought to the High King's antechamber, where a number of people waited for him, and in that place he was presented by Aileron, his brother, to Arthur Pendragon.

And nothing happened.

Paul Schafer, standing next to Kim, had seen her pale when Diarmuid came into the room. Now, as the Prince bowed formally to Arthur and the Warrior accepted it with an unruffled mien, he heard her draw a shaky breath and murmur, from the heart, "Oh, thank G.o.d."

A look pa.s.sed between her and Loren, who was on the far side of the room, and in the mage's countenance Paul read the same relief. It took him a moment, but he put it together.

"You thought he was the third one?" he said. "Third angle of the triangle?"

She nodded, still pale. "I was afraid. Don't know why now. Don't know why I was so sure."

"Is that why you wanted us to wait?"

She looked at him, grey eyes under white hair. "I thought it was. I knew we had to wait before going to the hunt. Now I don't know why."

"Because," came a voice, "you are a true and loyal friend and didn't want me to miss the fun."

"Oh, Kev!" She wheeled and gave him a very un-Seerlike hug. "I missed you!"

"Good," said Kevin brightly.

"Me too," Paul added.

"Also good," Kevin murmured, less flippantly.

Kim stepped back. "You feeling unappreciated, sailor?"

He gave her a half smile. "A bit superfluous. And now Dave's fighting an urge to bisect me with his axe."

"Nothing new there," Paul said dryly.

"What now?" Kim asked.

"I slept with the wrong girl."

Paul laughed. "Not the first time."

"It isn't funny," Kevin said. "I had no idea he liked her, and anyhow, she came to me. The Dalrei women are like that. They call the shots with anyone they like until they decide to marry."

"Have you explained to Dave?" Kim asked. She would have made a joke but Kevin did look unhappy. There was more to this, she decided.

"He's a hard man to explain things to. Hard for me, anyway. I've asked Levon. It was his sister." Kevin indicated someone with a sideways nod of his head.

And that, of course, was it.

Kim turned to the handsome, fair-haired Rider standing just behind them. There had been a reason for waiting for this party, and it wasn't Diarmuid or Kevin. It was this man.

"I have explained," Levon said. "And will do so again, as often as necessary." He smiled; then his expression grew sober and he said to Kim, "Seer, I asked if we might talk, a long time ago."

She remembered. The last morning, before the Baelrath had blazed and her head had exploded with Jennifer's screams and she had taken them away.

She looked at her hand. The ring was pulsing; only a very little, but it was alive again.

"All right," she said, almost curtly. "You too, Paul. Kev, will you bring Loren and Matt?"

"And Davor," Levon said. "Diarmuid too. He knows."

"My room. Let's go." She walked out, leaving them to follow her. Her and the Baelrath.

"The flame will wake from sleep, The Kings the horn will call, But though they answer from the deep, You may never hold in thrall Those who ride from Owein's Keep With a child before them all."

Levon's voice faded away. In the silence Kim became aware, annoyingly, of the same faint static she'd heard two nights ago; again it was from the east. Gwen Ystrat, she decided. She was getting herself tuned in to whatever sendings the priestesses were throwing back and forth out there. It was a nuisance and she pushed it from her mind. She had enough to worry about, starting with all these men in her bedroom. A frustrated woman's dream, she thought, unable to find it amusing.

They were waiting for her. She kept silent and let them wait. After a moment it was Levon who resumed-it was his idea, after all. He said, "I learned that verse from Gereint as a boy. I remembered it last spring when Davor found the horn. Then we located the tree and the rock. And so we know where Owein and the Sleepers are." He couldn't keep the excitement from his voice. "We have the horn that calls them and... and it is my guess that the Baelrath roused is the flame that wakes them."

"It would fit," said Diarmuid. He had kicked off his boots and was lying on her bed. "The Warstone is wild, too. Loren?"

The mage, by exercise of seniority, had claimed the armchair by the window. He lit his pipe methodically and drew deeply upon it before answering.

"It fits," he said at length. "I will be honest and say I do not know what it forms."

The quiet admission sobered them. "Kim?" Diarmuid asked, taking charge from where he lay sprawled across her bed.

She was minded to give them a hard time, still, but was too proud to be petty. "I haven't seen it," she murmured. "Nothing of this at all."

"Are you sure?" Paul Schafer asked from by the door, where he stood with Matt Soren. "You were waiting for Levon, weren't you?"

He was awfully clever, that one. He was her friend, though, and he hadn't given away her first apprehension about Diarmuid. Kim nodded, and half smiled. "I sensed he was coming. And I guessed, from before, what he wanted to ask. I don't think we can conclude much from that."

"Not much," Diarmuid concurred. "We still have a decision to make."

"We?" It was Kevin Laine. "Kim's ring, Dave's horn. Their choice, wouldn't you say?"

Levon said, "They aren't really theirs. Only-"

"Anyone planning to take them away and use them?" Kevin asked laconically. "Anyone going to force them?" he continued, driving the point home. There was a silence. Another friend, Kim thought.

There was an awkward cough. "Well," said Dave, "I'm not about to go against what gets decided here, but I'd like to know a little more about what we're dealing with. If I've got the horn that calls these... ah, Sleepers, I'd prefer to know who they are."

He was looking self-consciously at Loren. They all turned to the mage. The sun was behind him, making it hard to see his face. When he spoke, it was almost as a disembodied voice.

"It would be altogether better," he said, from between the setting sun and the smoke, "if I could give a fair answer to Dave's question. I cannot. Owein and the Wild Hunt were laid to rest an infinitely long time ago. Hundreds and hundreds of years before Iorweth came from oversea, or the Dalrei crossed the mountains from the east, or even men pushed into green Cathal from the far lands in the southeast.

"Even the lios alfar were scarcely known in the land when the Hunt became the Sleepers. Brendel has told me, and Laien Spearchild before him, that the lios have only shadowy legends of what the Wild Hunt was before it slept."

"Was there anyone here?" Kevin murmured.