The Riddle - Alison Croggon [195]
“The Jussacks have been under the sway of a black sorcerer, a minion of the Winterking, for twenty years now,” he said. Maerad thought of Amusk and shuddered.
“I think he is now dead,” she said. Cadvan shot her a surprised glance. “He was killed by wolves,” she said. “I’ll tell you in a moment.” Cadvan nodded and continued his story.
“Ursk was an evil place to be; in the hall of their chieftain some Jussacks tried to rob me. They suffered for their pains; after that, they were afraid of me, but even so they would not or could not tell me anything of a young girl called Maerad of Pellinor.
“I went then to Arkan-da, and wasted many fruitless days trying to find a way into his stronghold. But in my searching, I had no rumor of you. I was sure that I must know if you were there, even through the Winterking’s warding of his stronghold, and at last I thought I must have made the wrong guess, and that perhaps I would find news of you in Murask. The snow had begun early, and it took a little longer to retrace my steps across the Arkiadera; otherwise I might have caught up with you. I reached Murask three days after you had left with Dharin. I planned to follow, but Sirkana told me there was no team of dogs faster than Dharin’s, and so I decided to await your return.”
Maerad and Dharin had been expected back after four weeks, and after five Cadvan began to be anxious. After six weeks, frantic with worry, he went to Sirkana to beg the use of a sled to trace Maerad’s path north, but she would not permit it.
“She said, I have already paid the price for your quest, twice over,” said Cadvan. “I will sacrifice nothing more. My heart failed me, because I knew then that something must have gone badly wrong. She told me that she had foreknown that Dharin would die on his journey north. She knew nothing of what would happen to you.
“I wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled for permitting you to leave Murask when she knew already that your journey was doomed. But she said to me: It was the right decision, although it broke my heart. I loved Dharin as my own son, as dearly as my own brother, who also died for the Light. There was no other way that the One could know what she needs to know. And, after that, I could not rebuke her.”
Maerad thought of Sirkana’s stern, beautiful face. She was amazed by her strength; she could not imagine making the same decision. And she thought sadly again of Dharin, her cousin, his lifeblood spilled onto the snow.
“I still did not know what had happened to you, or where you were, and Sirkana said she knew nothing beyond what she had told me,” said Cadvan. “I had no idea where, in that wide empty land, I could begin to search for you. I was in great despair. But that night I dreamed of Ardina.”
Maerad sat up attentively. “Ardina?” she said. “I have seen much of her.”
“That does not surprise me. I think there is much at stake for Ardina in this whole question of the Treesong,” said Cadvan, giving Maerad a penetrating glance. “She appeared to me as the Moonchild, and she said: If all goes well, seek the Lily in her birthplace on Midwinter Day.” He stretched out his legs and sighed. “I didn’t much like that phrase, if all goes well,” he said wryly. “But I had no better plan. She could only have meant Pellinor. So I made the journey with Darsor back along the Murask Road and through the Gwalhain Pass, which was cold and long, and difficult with the snow, but this time not especially perilous, apart from the danger of freezing to death. And then I rode hard across Lirhan to Pellinor, dreading to miss Midwinter Day. I arrived here yesterday, and this morning I caught a rabbit and thought I would make a stew. And so you find me.”
They sat ruminatively for a time, staring across the ruined Circle of Pellinor. Then Cadvan stirred and said, “Well, you have heard my story. But I’m sure yours is more interesting.”
Maerad told him the whole tale of what had happened since their separation in the Gwalhain. Cadvan