The Red Wyvern - Katharine Kerr [148]
“Lilli.” Nevyn’s voice was a soft whisper. “What are you thinking? Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“The dark wins in the end. The dark always sucks up the light.”
Nevyn smacked his hands together hard. Lilli came to herself with a little shake of her head.
“What?” she said. “What was that? What was I saying?”
“Naught that you need to remember. I won’t lie to you. The situation’s very grave.”
“If there was only somewhat I could do.”
“Oh, there is. If you’re willing, you can help me win this battle. I have to tell you honestly, though, that it could be very dangerous.”
“It’s dangerous already, isn’t it? But what could I possibly—oh, wait, I do see. I can be bait.”
“Just so. It’s a real risk, but I don’t know what else to do. She could wander around here for a long time. It’s a huge dun. I’d have a cursed hard time chasing her down.”
Lilli hesitated, feeling her heart pound, but she was remembering Bevyan, lying in a grave behind Lord Camlyn’s dun.
“I don’t care about the risk. I’ll do it.”
“You’re sure?”
“I am. For all I know she’ll try to kill someone else once she’s done with me.”
“She’s already done that. Practicing, I suppose. Well and good then. As much as I hate to risk you, I—wait. I can lay a double trap, now that I think of it.”
Lilli merely nodded. Her heart was pounding so loud, it seemed, that she could barely hear him. Her breath came ragged in her chest.
“I think,” Nevyn went on, “that we’ll move you to a room in another broch and put Branoic on guard at your door. I’ll be hiding somewhere nearby, and we’ll see if she falls into our trap.”
When Nevyn said he’d be hiding nearby, he meant of course nearby on the etheric plane. His actual body would lie some distance away. For the rest of the afternoon, he stayed with Lilli and kept her among other people where she’d be safe. Once night had fallen, and the astral tides were calm again after their change, he gave Branoic his orders.
“I’m going up to Lilli’s old chamber. Give me time to get there, and then take her to the new one. You stand guard outside, but remember, lad: if you hear her scream, get into the room fast.”
“You can trust me for that, my lord,” Branoic said. “Never fear.”
In Lilli’s chamber Nevyn lay down on her bed in the darkness. He crossed his arms over his chest, each hand on the opposite shoulder, then let his breathing slow into long, measured breaths while in his mind he built up the image of his body of light, a pale blue and nearly featureless simulacrum. With an effort of trained will, he transferred his consciousness into it. Even though it hovered above him, for a moment he felt as if he were falling; then he heard a rushy click, and he slipped over to find himself floating above his body. Blue light suffused through the chamber and gleamed on black stone walls gone dead, a prison around him. Turning a little he floated up to a join of wall and ceiling. Behind him the silver cord, pulsing with life, payed out, linking him to his untenanted body below.
Curious Wildfolk appeared to hover around him. Here on their proper plane they gleamed like crystals, all angles and geometry as they trembled and flew.
“Stay away, little brothers,” Nevyn sent his thoughts to them. “I’m laying a trap.”
They winked out and disappeared. Nevyn waited, but time is hard to measure on the etheric, and he began to fear that Merodda had gone directly after Lilli. Perhaps she could sense her daughter’s presence from some distance. Yet if he left too soon and she found his unguarded body, the consequences would be grim. If she snapped the silver cord, his body would die, leaving him adrift out on the astral long before his Wyrd demanded.
Nevyn dropped down to float just above his body, but before he could transfer over, he felt rather than saw another presence on the etheric nearby. Like a flushed grouse he flew up and got back into his corner just as the silvery-blue form of a naked