Daggerspell - Katharine Kerr [140]
“Of course. Do you doubt it?”
Jill stopped walking, and her mouth went a little slack.
“I know all these strange things must ache your heart, child. But Aderyn and I are here to deal with them. Go tend your father. I’ll come look in on him in a bit.”
Jill ran off so fast that he knew she was terrified. Although he would have liked to have comforted her, he had a crucial piece of work at hand.
By then, twilight had faded into night, and the astral tides, which influence the flux of forces in the etheric plane, had settled down after their change from the dominance of Fire to the dominance of Water, marking the coming of night. Nevyn found Aderyn, and together they left the camp. About half a mile away was a stretch of woodland that would give them the privacy they needed.
“Do you think our enemy will truly try to scout us out?” Aderyn said. “After all, he got a taste of your power this afternoon.”
“But he never got a chance to look me over. He fled as soon as I started the banishings. Well, I can’t know, of course, but I intend to stand guard anyway.”
“It’s doubtless for the best. So you were right, and there is dark dweomer mixed up in this.”
“I don’t know how deeply it’s mixed. My guess now is that this fellow is trying to work on the edges of things. Or he was. He betrayed himself nicely this afternoon.”
“And why was he trying to kill a silver dagger, anyway? I should think our Cullyn would be beneath his notice.”
“So would I.” Nevyn hesitated, considering. “I can only suppose it was because Cullyn’s the best guard Rhodry could have. Here, it’s been obvious from the first that killing Rhodry is the true point of this rebellion. The rebel lords may think that they’re getting him out of the way to lower their wretched dues, but they’re only so many tools in the paws of this dark master. I’m fairly certain that Loddlaen is only a tool as well. Here, you trained the lad. Does he have the power to make a true-seen prophecy about Corbyn’s death?”
“He doesn’t.”
“Well, then, where did he get it from? I’ll wager someone told him. And another thing. Loddlaen has no way of knowing that Rhodry is crucial to Eldidd’s Wyrd, and no reason to kill him, either. I think our real enemy’s been subtly influencing Loddlaen for months, using him like a stick to stir up a stench in a fetid pond.”
“And why does the dark master want Rhodry dead?”
“I don’t know.” Nevyn allowed himself a grim smile. “There he has the advantage of us. It’s the dark dweomer that’s always brooding about Wyrd and the future, not men like us who have the Light to trust in. I’ve been content to wait for more omens from the Great Ones about Rhodry’s Wyrd and let them reveal it to me in their own good time. I’ll wager our enemy’s been brooding and prying into closed things, and that he has a very good reason to want Rhodry out of the way. Whatever it is, it bodes ill for Eldidd.”
Aderyn nodded slowly. In the darkness, it was impossible to see his face, but the whole slumped set of his body showed his grief.
When they reached the woodland, they found a clearing near the edge. Nevyn lay down, went into his trance, and transferred into the body of light. He flew up slowly, circling the woods, a tangled reddish glow of vegetable auras, until Aderyn’s pure gold aura was a mere spark, far below. This far from the earth, the etheric was an eerie place. Unanchored by any living beings, the blue light shifted and swirled; at times it seemed to glow as thick as sea fog, then suddenly thinned again to reveal the silver glare of the stars above.
At last, after an untellable length of time, Nevyn saw what he was expecting. Far away to the east, a cluster of Wildfolk appeared, circling around a central point as if they were curiously watching a visitor to their plane. All at once they vanished—either out of terror, or because they’d been banished by someone who knew how to dispel them. Nevyn summoned the Wildfolk