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will see this woman for what she is. But I withdraw my protection the
outsiders are no longer my guests."
Sgäile straightened and stiffened, staring at Most Aged Father as if some
breach had occurred. Brot'an's features clouded. Both men were about to speak,
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but Most Aged Father held them silent with a frail wave of his bony hand.
"She stands formally accused," he continued, "as does Léshil for bringing her
into our land, knowing what she is. All three interlopers will remain under
guard. That is within the purpose and service of the Anmaglâhk. Do you not
agree?"
The final question was aimed at Brot'an. Wynn waited for a denial, some
argument that might get Magiere out of danger.
Brot'an nodded polite. "Yes, and I thank you for the reminder. I will escort
them."
Sgäile looked ill. Perhaps he had never disagreed with Most Aged Father
before.
Brot'an placed a hand on Wynn's back. "Go."
She hurried out to find Fréth waiting at the stairs, blade in hand.
Leesil hooked the doorway curtain with a finger and peered out of their
living cell. Four armed Anmaglâhk stood outside the domicile elm, gripping
shortbows with arrows notched. Urhkar was among them, but not Osha. Leesil let
the curtain fall back into place.
Magiere slumped upon one bed ledge in the tree's wall, her arms folded across
her chest as if she held herself together. Wynn sat with Chap, spreading
parchments of Elvish symbols on the dirt floor.
"We have to find a way out of this," Wynn said. "I do not believe Magiere
will be given a fair trial. These people are paranoid about humans, let alone
a&
She didn't finish, but Leesil knew what she meant. Let alone an undead, half
or otherwise, though even that wasn't the truth.
"We wouldn't get six paces out the door," Leesil said in frustration. "What's
this council like? What kind of trial laws do the elves have?"
"How should I know?" Wynn snapped. "I have never seen one, even in my land.
Chap may know more."
Chap swung his head from side to side and huffed twice for "no." Wynn sighed,
sat back, and ceased spreading out the parchments.
Magiere had hesitated upon entering their quarters and remained silent
thereafter. Leesil crouched before her and placed his hands on her thighs.
"I never should have brought you here& any of you."
Magiere didn't answer, but Leesil felt a quiver in her legs.
"I am guilty," she finally said. "At least of what they think I might be."
"Don't talk like that!" Leesil said. "You're not some undead."
She raised only her dark eyes to him the same look she gave him when she
thought he was being thickheaded or purposefully evasive. But her face was
more weary than annoyed, as if she'd already given up.
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"Do not do that!" Wynn snapped. "Not unless I am expecting it. I have had
enough of getting sick for one day."
Leesil pivoted to find Wynn shoving Chap away. The dog growled and then
clawed at the parchments. But he wasn't tapping out symbols for Wynn to read.
He just scattered them in a tantrum as the sage tried to grab the sheets away
from him.
"Stop it!" Wynn shouted at the dog. "We are talking the old way, whether you
like it or not."
"Keep your voice down," Leesil warned. "What's going on?"
Both of them ceased fighting over the parchments. Chap growled at the sage,
barking once for "yes."
Wynn took a long breath, frowning. "I did not want to distract you from more
immediate concerns."
"Spit it out," Leesil demanded, and Chap barked agreement.
Wynn rubbed her knees where she knelt, and then crawled closer to Leesil.
"I can hear Chap," she said.
"What?" Magiere asked, her voice hushed.
"And I hear when he communes with his kin," Wynn added. "Although it may
never happen again. They used him as much as anyone has used either of you."
Leesil couldn't even form a question. The more Wynn whispered of all that had
happened, from hearing Chap with the silver deer to the assault of the Fay,
the less he wanted to know. As the sage finished, he stared at her and the
dog.
Chap watched him silently in turn.
Leesil understood being an outcast in this world. He'd been alone but for
Chap, without a place of his own, until he'd stumbled into Magiere with Chap's
meddling, of course. But now it seemed the dog didn't know everything
concerning his own purpose.
Chap had been played by his own kind one more unwitting tool manipulated by
the Fay. Leesil wanted to sympathize with his oldest companion, but right now
the last thing he needed to hear was that Chap was almost as ignorant as the
rest of them.
And Wynn could hear him?
"The mantic sight," Wynn went on, "which I invoked by ritual in Droevinka to
help you track the undead sorcerer& it returns at times. Whatever Chap did to
take it from me, something went wrong, and it is getting worse. I was able to
call it at will, but then Chap had to lick it away again."
"But you still hear him, even without the sight?" Magiere asked.
Wynn nodded, and then she flinched with a gag and uttered one word.
"Sorhkafâré."
Magiere's leg muscles knotted under Leesil's hands.
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Wynn balled up her little fist at Chap. "I told you not until I am ready!"
Chap ignored her and focused on Magiere, and Leesil turned his eyes on the
woman he loved.
That word or name did it mean something to her? Magiere's pallid skin made it
hard to be certain, but she looked suddenly ill.
"Where did you hear that name?" she whispered.
"Not me," Wynn said. "That was Chap."
Leesil followed Magiere's rapt attention back to Chap, as Wynn slumped in
resignation, speaking for the dog and turning a bit sickly herself. For every
word Chap spoke through Wynn, Leesil saw his own dread echoed in Magiere's
brown eyes.
Most Aged Father had been alive during the war in what the sages called the
Forgotten History. How long ago wasn't clear. Even his own people didn't
remember where or when he had come from.
The sages still argued over when this war took place, and even Chap couldn't
guess, for his memories didn't give him any measure of time. However long ago,
Sorhkafâré had not been old. Now he was the decrepit leader of the Anmaglâhk
and impossibly ancient.
What Leesil heard still didn't explain the man's fanatical hatred of humans, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]