Black wizards - Douglas Niles [64]
"Yesyesyesyes!" shreiked Newt, blinking into invisibility in his excitement. A second later he was back, buzzing happily.
"I was going to introduce you to the bats today," said Genna as they started toward the cottage. "But that can wait till later. They're more talkative at night, anyway."
Robyn walked thoughtfully back to the cottage. She felt at peace for the first time since the stranger had come. When Newt had removed the heartlike rock from the grove, it seemed as though a whole world of trouble had vanished. But another thing bothered her, and now she felt she could talk about it.
"Teacher, I'm troubled by a dream I have had several times in the past weeks. I'm certain it is a vision from the goddess."
Genna looked at her quizzically.
"It's about my… father, the king. And Tristan, too. I'm afraid something terrible has happened! They need me!"
"You wish to cease your studies?" Genna asked softly.
"No! But I must learn what has happened, I must go to them! Can you forgive me if I leave you for a while?"
Genna smiled sadly. "There would be nothing to forgive. You are a capable and accomplished student, able to make your own decisions. If you must leave, for a time, so be it. I only hope you will return."
"Genna, I will!" Robyn pledged. "And thank you!" She felt a giddy sense of relief and anticipation. She would travel to Corwell as swiftly as possible!
The women had almost reached the cottage when they heard a pathetic bleating in the distance. They paused and heard it again. The sound originated to the south, near the edge of the grove, and seemed to be coming closer.
"That sounds very bad," frowned Genna, turning to run toward the cries. Robyn joined her and quickly outdistanced her teacher. She raced through the garden and into the oaks where she almost ran headlong into a terrified doe.
She grasped the trembling creature around the neck and stopped its flight, muttering soothing sounds. Kneeling beside it, she felt the animal's shaking subside, although it did not cease entirely. In moments Genna joined them.
"What's the matter, brown-eyed one?" she whispered in a voice so soft that Robyn could barely hear.
The deer bleated again, a sound that Robyn could not understand specifically, but she easily recognized the deer's sheer terror. Burrs matted the animal's sides and belly, and its legs were covered with many small scratches.
Genna looked at her student, and the lines of concern around her eyes deepened. She stroked the deer a few times, and gradually it settled down. She did not rise until the creature began to graze contentedly on the sweet grasses of the druid's grove.
"I do not understand what frightened her," she explained. "But never have I seen such lasting terror. She has obviously run many miles."
"What should we do?" asked Robyn. The deer's panic aroused deep feelings of anger within her. She wanted to punish whatever had tormented the creature so.
"I must go and have a look," said the druid.
"Let me come with you!" pleaded Robyn.
"No, you cannot yet. I will call upon powers you have yet to learn, though your abilities grow daily." Her teacher smiled at her and patted her shoulder reassuringly. "While I am gone, I want you to remain in the grove. We may have other creatures coming here to seek our help."
As she finished speaking, a huge flock of blackbirds squawked into sight. Thousands of feathered figures raced through the sky until they were all safely within the confines of the grove. There they settled, still agitated, into the highest branches of the towering oaks.
Robyn and Genna both noticed that they, too, had fled from the south.
* * * * *
Death reached out with cold fingers to seek the Prince of Corwell. Tristan only vaguely felt the chill presence beside him, for all of his feelings were blanketed in a gray fog.
The pounding cadence of the galloping horse penetrated his consciousness only barely, and he did not sense Daryth's arms around him, holding him in the saddle. The pain