Bearers of the Black Staff - Terry Brooks [108]
He took a deep breath. “All too well. I’ll wait on you. I can promise that much.”
She stared him down, and then nodded. “I’ll bring you your audience. Practice your speech to them while you wait. And practice one to me, as well.”
Then she was gone.
TWENTY-ONE
WHEN SIDER CAME BACK INSIDE THE COTTAGE, Panterra Qu could feel the anger radiating off him. The Gray Man’s face was rigid with it, and his posture warned against saying anything. So Pan sat quietly, ate the food he had found in the kitchen in the cold box, and waited for the anger to dissipate, the familiar calm to return.
After a while it did. “That looks good,” Sider offered absently.
He rose, disappeared into the kitchen, and returned with a plate of his own. He ate hurriedly, obviously anxious to finish before Aislinne and the men returned, saying nothing further to Pan.
But when he was finished and had returned his empty plate to the kitchen and lowered himself into a chair across from the boy, he said, “Are you ready for this?”
Pan nodded. “What do you think will happen?”
The Gray Man shook his head. “No one will be happy to see us, Skeal Eile least of all. But they will stay and listen because they will know that our being here means we have something important to tell them. They’ll listen, but maybe they won’t believe. It depends.”
“I guess it does,” Pan agreed. He thought about it for a minute. “What will you do about Skeal Eile?”
Sider Ament shrugged. “That depends, too. If I don’t like what I see in his eyes, I’ll have to reconsider my thinking. Otherwise, I’ll seek a promise of unconditional support in front of the other two. That sort of public oath carries weight. Since we won’t be staying, we won’t be at much risk. It’s Aislinne who should worry.”
“Aislinne seems able to take care of herself,” Pan said. “And she has friends besides us who can protect her.”
The Gray Man nodded and looked away, his gaze drifting toward the curtained windows and the night beyond. “She was always resourceful.”
Panterra wanted to ask him about Aislinne, wanted to know more. There was a history between the two that went way back; any fool could tell as much. He wanted to know what that history was. But he knew that asking would be wrong and likely brushed aside. He would have to wait and hope that at some point Sider Ament would choose of his own volition to talk about it.
They waited in silence then, listening to the night’s deep stillness, searching for sounds that would signal the coming of the others. It was not long before they heard footsteps and accompanying voices. Those approaching did not do so cautiously or with any indication that they knew who was waiting inside. Pan heard Pogue Kray’s deep voice rumble in sharp cadence to Trow Ravenlock’s quieter tones. But he did not hear Skeal Eile or Aislinne, and wondered if something had happened.
The door opened and both speakers stepped inside, drawing to an abrupt halt the moment they saw Panterra and Sider. Aislinne and Skeal Eile followed, Aislinne entering last and closing the door firmly behind her.
“What is the meaning of this, Aislinne?” her husband asked at once, never for a moment turning away from the two visitors, his dark eyes angry.
“We have a nice piece of trickery at work here, Pogue.” Skeal Eile offered a guarded smile, but his voice was smooth and pleasant. “Your wife possesses depths of deception still unplumbed, it seems.”
Only Trow showed any semblance of calm, giving Sider a nod and saying to Pan, “How are you, Tracker? We miss you and your partner. Have you come back to stay?”
Ignoring the others, Aislinne moved to the front, turning to face her husband. “I did not tell you who waited because you would not have come and it was important that you did. If you hear them out, I think you will agree with me and forgive me my deliberate omissions.”
Pogue Kray glowered at her. “Sometimes, you step too far over the line with me, Aislinne. You should not presume—”
“I see