Arrows of Time - Kim Falconer [109]
‘Patriarchal, I gather?’
‘Somewhat.’ Her lip curled. ‘First, certain weapons were discouraged for the female initiates, and before long they were banned altogether. He’s got quite a spell cooking. It’s blinding everyone to the truth.’
‘No one challenged him?’
‘I wouldn’t say that.’
‘What would you say, then?’ Selene asked.
Nell let her eyes rest on the other woman. ‘No one challenged him and lived.’
‘More accidents?’
She nodded.
‘But not you.’
‘He’s tried a few times…’
‘You stay one step ahead?’
‘One or two.’ She smiled fully. ‘Comes easier now with a foot in the many-worlds.’
‘But you need some help waking up your Gaela? Breaking the spell?’
‘If you’d be so kind.’
‘I think that can be arranged, though first I have to…’
‘Find Rosette?’
He looked startled. ‘You know where she is? She’s in trouble? Why didn’t you tell me straight up?’
‘And toss away my bargaining chip?’
The trees darkened as the sun went behind a cloud. The wind dropped and only a single whistle from a distant hawk could be heard. Jarrod felt goosebumps rising on his arms.
‘Tell me what you know,’ he said. This time it was his voice that carried an edge.
Nell cleared her throat. ‘In the beginning, when I first stepped through the corridors, I followed her around—it was like an uncharted maze. It took time to get used to the twists and turns. She’s trodden some strange paths, some illusive, and some she would have been better off leaving be, perhaps.’
‘She’s taken a bad turn?’
Nell didn’t reply.
Jarrod rubbed his jaw. ‘Please go on.’
‘I’m not sure we would call it a “bad” turn. If it is, it’s the kind you can do nothing about.’ Nell wrinkled her nose. ‘Fine line, really, don’t you think?’
‘Again these riddles!’ Selene said. ‘I don’t think she knows anything at all.’
‘Wait,’ Jarrod said. It wasn’t a request. ‘What do you mean, Nell? A fine line between what?’
‘Between knowing or not knowing. Is it choice or fate? Is it “bad” or is it necessary?’ She touched the tender skin around her heart. ‘It doesn’t matter either way. I know what has to be done.’
‘It matters to me,’ he said, the fire in his voice rising again.
‘Let’s just say she’s on ice for now.’
Jarrod frowned. ‘Ice?’
‘She’s not going anywhere for the moment.’
Jarrod stood still. ‘I think you best tell me what you know, straight and clear, or I’m leaving all the chips on the ground where we stand.’
Nell sighed. ‘She’s gotten herself mixed up with a medic on another world—strange place. Very dark. Bad smell…a lot of rules. Why would people want to live that way? It’s crowded, bleak, and devoid of any pleasure as far as I can tell. Terrible climate. The population seems to be in a constant state of mourning, though they claim nobody has died.’
Jarrod’s eyebrows went up. ‘No deaths?’
‘Chip number one.’
‘And Rosette?’
Nell hesitated. ‘She’s reached a bit of a stalemate.’
‘Explain.’
‘That healer has her held up somewhere and isn’t keen to let her go.’
‘What about Drayco?’ Shane asked. ‘Surely he’s with her? He’ll protect her.’
Jarrod and Selene turned to look at him. He licked his lower lip. ‘Can you see someone getting past that beast?’ he asked.
‘That’s why it doesn’t make sense,’ Jarrod replied. ‘Between the two of them, they’re more than formidable.’
Nell shook her head. ‘Last I saw her temple cat, he was wandering the corridors.’
‘Alone?’ Jarrod’s voice was barely audible.
‘I didn’t see anyone else at the time,’ Nell replied. ‘Though us blood witches aren’t the only ones travelling these paths.’ She whispered the last sentence, but he heard it loud and clear.
‘Trackers?’
‘Perhaps.’
He felt his body give way, his knees buckling beneath him. In an instant several possible ramifications flashed through his mind at once, all of them threatening his life. Drayco would never leave Rosette. Even if things became extreme, she wouldn’t send him off on his own. Unless she was trapped? Injured? Dead? He thought he would be sick.
If Rosette was lost, so was he, and with him their branch of the many-worlds. Without