Heirs of Prophecy - Lisa Smedman [50]
Larajin lay in the darkness, wondering what had happened. Her first thoughts were of Tal. Was he still alive? Had that truly been a vision of his death shed seen? If so, when was it going to happen-now, or in the future? There was no way to know and little she could do to warn or protect Tal while she lay there in that tent, so far from home. The thought left her with a hollow in her stomach even deeper than her hunger pangs.
Hours must have passed since the celebration in the forest clearing. Had they carried her to this tent to recover from the druid's spell? Larajin was confused, groggy from her long sleep, hungry, and in need of relieving herself.
She sat up and located the faint line of gray that was the tent flap. Through it blew a cool breeze that smelled of rain. As she sat up and crawled toward the exit, something shifted. Larajin saw the dim outline of a creature,
perched on the horizontal pole just above the tent flap, peering at her. Enormous round eyes gleamed in the darkness, then blinked. The creature shifted again, and Larajin heard a rustle of feathers.
"Goldheart?" she asked hopefully. She reached out in the darkness to stroke the tressym.
A loud hoot filled the tent, stopping her short. The creature unfolded its wings and flapped them once, warning her away. This was no tressym. It was an owl-an enormous one, as large as a hunting dog. It peered bale-fully at her, snapping its beak at her questing fingers. She pulled her hand back.
As the need to relieve herself grew more pressing, Larajin tried once again to crawl outside. The owl, however, beat its wings furiously and rose from its perch, raking the air in front of it with its talons and snapping its beak. Its message was unmistakable. It didn't want Larajin to leave the tent.
Warily, Larajin searched for another exit but found none. She was frustrated and puzzled. Had this creature crept inside the tent while she lay sleeping? Or had one of the elves deliberately placed it there to prevent her from leaving? She had read in one of the books at Stormweather Towers that wood elves used owls as watchdogs.
Whatever the reason for it being there, the owl was clearly not going to let her get past it.
Feeling her way around the tent, she located a wooden bowl and dumped out the cold food that filled it. She used it to dig a hole and relieved herself, then covered the hole with earth and settled back onto her mossy bed, glaring at the owl. Whether the creature had been left there or crawled in on its own, she'd had enough of the thing.
"Hello!" she shouted in Common. "Rylith! Are you out there? What's going on?"
Lantern light flickered against the walls of the tent, and voices called out to one another in the elves' tongue. Then one side of the tent brightened. A moment later, moving shadows appeared and grew on its side.
Heirs of Prophecy lip
The owl, which had returned to its perch, ruffled its wings a second time when the tent flap beside it opened. An elf poked his head through the entrance, peered at Larajin from under bangs that dripped with rainwater, and nodded when he saw she was awake. He said something to her in his own language, then switched to broken Common.
"You wait," he said. "Rylith gone."
"Where is she?" Larajin snapped.
Travel to setting sun."
"She's journeyed west? Where to?"
The elf s only answer was a stony look. There were some questions, it seemed, he wouldn't answer.
Frustrated by his silence, Larajin chafed. She'd expected Rylith to come to the tent, to explain what had happened-what the purpose of her spell had been. Larajin felt no different than she had before, but the magical energy must have done something to her, had some lingering effect. She also wanted to ask Rylith what her vision had meant. Not the part about Tal dying-that was clear enough-but the multitude of voices shouting at her. Larajin didn't have the patience