The Dragon Revenant - Katharine Kerr [7]
“I dreamt there was a witch in the chamber with me. My Mam used to say that a witch could draw out your soul and put it into a little jar. I laughed, then, but this morning I felt just that, like someone was trying to steal my soul.”
Nevyn felt that weary sort of annoyance that comes from seeing your worst fear confirmed.
“How did you fight this witch off?”
“I don’t know.” She looked profoundly embarrassed. “I couldn’t move to give the sign of warding, and I couldn’t even really see where the witch was. I just knew that she was there with me. So, I … well, I just sort of pushed back. I called on the Goddess to protect me, and pushed the witch away. Does that make any sense, my lord?”
“It does to me, Mistress Tewa. Just one thing, though. That witch was more likely to be a man than a woman. You see, our enemies were trying to do to you what they eventually did to Bryc. They can take over a person’s body for a little while, if he’s weak enough, and use it like their own.”
Bryc moaned, tears starting in his eyes.
“Your Grace,” he said to the tieryn. “I never would have. Never would I have hurt the lass. Please believe me.”
Lovyan flicked Nevyn a questioning glance.
“I believe him, Your Grace. Now that I know what they’re doing, I can put a stop to it, too. If I may make suggestions, Your Grace?”
“Of course.”
“Two things. Bryc needs to be sent away—not out of blame, mind, but for his sake.” He turned to the heartsick boy. “They’ve made a link with you now, lad, and they might try to use it again. If they’re successful, this time they’ll kill you. Do you understand? They’ll use you, then toss you aside.”
His face pale, Bryc nodded a slow agreement.
“The other thing is, the captain should be the child’s bodyguard from now on. Whenever you go outside, Mistress Tewa, you take him along with you. I can’t imagine anyone taking over Cullyn’s mind.”
“No more can I,” Cullyn said. “I agree with Nevyn, Your Grace. Since they can’t work their stinking trickery anymore, they might send someone in here with a sword.”
“Done, then.” Lovyan gave them each a firm nod. “And as for you, Rhodda, you obey the captain’s orders from now on.”
“I will, Granna.”
Everyone smiled, doting on the pretty little lass because she was such a welcome relief from the dark things around them. Only Nevyn knew that the child was touched by strange magicks, that thanks to the elven blood she’d inherited from her father, not only could she see the Wildfolk, she could command them. Poor Bryc’s scratched and bruised face made it clear that she had a good streak of elven vengefulness, too. Even with all his other worries and burdens weighing him down, Nevyn knew that he’d have to scrape out a little time for her.
That night, his worries pressed heavily upon him. Just after sunset he went up to his high chamber and threw open the shutters to let in the brisk autumn air. The evening was so brilliantly clear that he could see far beyond the town down to the harbor, where the ghostly white wave-foam mirrored the stars just coming out in the velvet dark sky. Distantly he heard the booming of the bronze bell at Manannan’s temple, announcing that the gwerbret’s men were raising the iron chain to close the harbor for the night. In town, a few dogs barked in answer, and the dark was pricked or slashed here and there by a lantern bobbing down a street or a crack of light from a window. At the sight of the stars and the rising moon some of his weariness ebbed away, and he stood there for some minutes, leaning on the sill and thinking of very little, until a soft knock at his chamber door roused him. With a muttered apology, Elaeno slipped in, shutting the door softly behind him. It always amazed Nevyn that the enormous Bardekian moved as gracefully and quietly as a cat.
“I was just taking a look at our prisoner,” Elaeno said. “He seems much better today. It looks like he’s mending cursed fast. That fever he had should have killed an ordinary man … well, not that I’m any sort of a chirurgeion.”
“Oh, I agree with your diagnosis well enough.