The Seeker - Isobelle Carmody [132]
Katlyn gasped. “But is it possible?” No one answered, since we were the living proof of our story.
“Looked overmuch damage for an overturned boat,” Grufyyd observed dispassionately.
I continued. “Now … all I have told you is true, but I have not told everything, mostly to protect the ones we left behind. But I would not have said this much unless I trusted you and because we want you to understand why we can’t stay here.”
“We are no strangers to necessary secrets,” Katlyn said gently. “But since you will not stay, then we would like to offer you further help, in return for a favor.”
“What favor?” Domick asked.
Grufyyd rose suddenly and decisively. “Our son, Brydda, does not live strictly according to Council lore. In short, he is a seditioner. He helps people who are to be burned—helps them to get away an’ start afresh. Our problem is that we have lost contact with him. Brydda has neither visited us nor sent people to be hidden for two moons. We are afraid something has happened to him. We are too old for intrigue, and we ask that you will go into Aborium to give Brydda a message from us.”
“Aborium,” Jik said and paled.
Domick looked at me. “No,” he said decisively. I was startled at his brusqueness after his words the previous night. “If I was coming with you, it might be different, but …”
“We mean to part before Morganna, you see,” I explained. “Domick will remain in Sutrium. The rest of us will cross the Suggredoon, and on the other side we meant to stay away from the towns. Especially Aborium, for it does not have a good reputation, even in the highlands.”
Grufyyd nodded. “It is a bad place. Yet all west coast cities are the same. Ye will have to enter one for food and fodder. And it may be that we can help.”
“I do not see how asking us to deliver a message to your son can help us,” Domick said belligerently. He stole a glance at Kella, and suddenly I understood his agitation.
Grufyyd nodded with a grave courtesy that made Domick seem rude and brash. “I meant to offer you the use of a cart. Ye will travel more swiftly and safely that way. And I can provide you with some false Normalcy Certificates.”
“We will be happy to deliver a message to your son,” I said. “It is the least we can do.”
Grufyyd’s face broke into a beguiling smile. He crossed abruptly to the door, gathering up his coat. On the threshold, he turned. “It will be best for you to go soon. I will ready the cart for tomorrow morning.” Without waiting for a response, he went out, leaving a startled silence behind him.
I looked around to see Katlyn giving Domick an apologetic look. “He has been frightened for Brydda; we both have. But dinna fear for your friends, Domick. No one checks papers, save at the main entrance to Aborium. And it is even possible Brydda can help you find th’ refuge ye seek.”
Katlyn looked at me and smiled. “Now … food and drink to travel.” She turned to her store cupboards.
“How are we to find your son?” Jik asked timidly.
Katlyn smiled over her shoulder at him. “Ye mun go to the Inn of the Cuttlefish and ask for Brydda Llewellyn—that is the name he calls himself. Wait then, and he will come to you.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Domick asked.
Katlyn’s back faced us, but it seemed to shrink. “Then that will mean he cannot come. The journey takes two days. If you leave very early tomorrow morning and travel steadily, you will arrive at Aborium at daybreak. That is the best and safest time to enter the city. Tradesmen from outlying regions come then, when the gates are opened.”
“It is a walled city?” Domick asked sharply.
“The gates are open freely and unguarded in the daylight hours,” Katlyn assured him.
She turned to us suddenly, her face serious. “I dinna think ye will come to harm seekin’ Brydda out, but take care just th’ same, for there are other dangers on the west coast besides the Herders and the Council soldierguards. Those Brydda helps to run away do not account for all the disappearances from the city.”
“Slavers …,” I