From Darkness Won - Jill Williamson [90]
She sighed as if he were the most exasperating man in all Er’Rets. Can you tell me how to get back into my body?
Aye. Are you with your body now? Can you see it?
No. The black bird took me from it. Then the brown bird brought me here.
Achan paused, frustrated, yet desperate to control his temper so he would not frighten Sparrow away. Tell me about this tent. Are there any people in it?
Yes. There are two men.
What do they look like?
One looks to be a guardsman, asleep in a chair by the entrance. Drooling too, I believe, which is rather disturbing for a guardsman. The other man is shirtless, sitting up in a bed, looking around with the most puzzled expression.
Achan jumped off the bed. What is he doing now?
Oh, he just stood up. Praise Arman he is wearing pants.
Indeed. “Sparrow, you’re here!” Achan said aloud. “You’re with me right now!”
Sparrow gasped. You are Master Cham?
You don’t recognize me?
Should I?
Aye, you should. Achan wheeled around and grabbed his Shield’s shoulder. “Shung! Wake up, man. Sparrow is here!”
Shung moaned and glanced around the tent. “The little vixen has returned?”
“Yes! Yes! In this very tent.”
He squinted past Achan. “Shung sees no woman.”
“She’s in the Veil. Watch my body. I’m going after her.”
“Aye, Shung will watch.”
“Good.” Sparrow, I’m coming. Stay where you are. Uh… where are you?
I am by the center pole, over the straw mat.
Achan stared into the empty air surrounding the pole and exhaled. Amazing. He fell back onto the bed and closed his eyes. Concentrating, he sat up, this time leaving his body where it lay. He looked directly toward the center pole.
Sparrow hovered above the mat like a ghost. Almost before he thought to move, Achan was at her side.
She shrieked. How can you move so quickly?
You just have to concentrate.
Why call me Sparrow, Master Cham? Is that a code?
It’s your surname, silly girl. Vrell Sparrow.
Sparrow’s eyebrows puckered. Are we friends? For only my sisters and close friends call me Vrell.
You have sisters?
Four.
Really. Sparrow once told him she had no one in all Er’Rets. Since then he’d learned she had a mother and now four sisters. Where do they live?
Sparrow pursed her lips. If we are such close friends, you and I, how is it that you do not know I have sisters? Or where they live? Why should I trust you, Master Cham? You could be a scoundrel.
He laughed at her formality. I am not a scoundrel.
She lifted her chin so that her nose tilted upward. So you say. But how am I to know that for certain?
He grinned, struck again by her regal behavior. Always the odd duck, Sparrow was. You just have to trust me.
Little Cham. Shung’s voice roared in his head.
Achan spun around. Sir Eagan, Sir Caleb, and Matthias stood inside the doorway to his tent.
“Tell the prince to come back,” Sir Caleb said.
Sir Caleb says come back, Shung said.
I heard him. Achan turned back to Sparrow. She had drifted to the wall of the tent. Her eyes were wide like a deer when it hears a branch snap in the forest.
Sparrow, what’s wrong?
You are the prince? Prince Gidon? You look different.
I’m not Esek, Sparrow, blazes. Let me explain what—
Your Highness, please, Sir Caleb said. New Kingsguard soldiers approach carrying a white flag.
Sir Caleb’s words captured Achan’s full attention. They surrender?
Doubtful, Your Highness. They wish to parley, more likely. We must ride out to hear their terms.
Terms? He looked back to Sparrow. Promise you won’t leave, Sparrow? I can help you get back to your body. Say you’ll wait.
She gave a sharp nod of her head.
Nothing Achan felt confident about, but what else could he do? I’ll return shortly. Much has happened that you have forgotten. I’ d like the opportunity to explain. Will you wait?
Yes.
Thank you. He bowed to her, a formal act for Sparrow, but it felt right somehow. Achan blinked and found himself back in his body. He sat up and stared at the place he last saw her. Sir Caleb gripped his arm to help him stand. Achan continued to stare into the empty space at the wall of his tent.