The Seeker - Isobelle Carmody [153]
19
WE CALLED HER Dragon, after the picture I had seen in the library.
We had set up a comfortable camp inside the roofless shell of a building with a clear view of Aborium and the surrounding plains. Each night, I set food out, hoping to make her understand that I meant no harm. But though the food had been gone each morning, we did not catch sight of her. Sometimes I sensed her watching us but could not reach her. After a few initial attempts to instill her particular brand of fear into one or another of us, and being fended off by me, she had given up trying to frighten us away.
The third night fell, and I was silent and preoccupied with thoughts of the ragged urchin girl. Kella was trying to force Pavo to set his notes aside and eat. Finally, losing her temper, she shouted at him.
“If you don’t eat, you’ll be dead before you have the chance to get your precious books out of their hole in the ground!”
She broke off, looking horrified at herself. But Pavo burst out laughing. “Kella, what would I do without you? All right; you win.”
We all laughed at the martyred expression he gave the flushed healer.
“No luck with the girl?” Pavo asked me over nightmeal. “Have you given thought to what sort of powers she has?” Pavo said.
I frowned. “Empathy and coercing, though I have never encountered that combination.”
Kella gave me a quick look. “It’s more than coercing. Domick can’t make things appear in the air.”
I shook my head. “The creature she conjured looks so like the ones on the map. I think she took the image from my unconscious and somehow projected it into all our minds.”
Brydda yawned. “Whatever she does, it’s kept the soldierguards from looking for us here. And I saw no patrols out on the plains today. I think they have moved the search to Half Moon Bay or Morganna. I doubt they will bother with Murmroth or Port Oran, given the distances involved. As soon as you’ve finished with the books, we can leave.”
Pavo nodded absently. “I feel as if I could never be finished, but I’ll have as much as we can safely carry by tomorrow.”
No one looked at me, but I knew they were thinking of Dragon.
Time was running out, yet I seemed no closer to reaching the girl than when I had begun. I went out with a pot of stew and sat down to wait, determined to make some sort of contact. Hours passed, and I was beginning to drift off to sleep when I heard a faint sound.
Snapping wide awake, I sensed her trying to drive me off. Frustrated and baffled, she paced outside the light like a hungry, wild cat.
“Hello?” I called softly. The wind hissed in scorn, but there was no answer. I took up the pot of stew and held it out.
Still no answer, but instinct told me she was watching. I sighed, feeling suddenly defeated.
Then I heard a movement, and she was there, the half-moon shedding a wan light on her grubby face. I was careful not to make any sudden movements as she crept forward, never taking her eyes from me. She reached out abruptly and snatched the pot from my hands, turned, and ran into the night.
I sighed heavily and went back to the campfire. Reuvan sought to comfort me, saying he thought sheer curiosity would make Dragon follow us when we left. That and our food offerings. I was not so certain, but we had no more time to spare.
That night, we left the city after concealing the entrance to the library under rubble. If Dragon did follow, the city would have lost its guardian, and we did not want the books and all their secrets to fall into the hands of the Herder Faction.
There was no sign of Dragon as we left, but I sensed her eyes watching us from some dark corner of her lonely city.
I sent out a broadspan beckoning call, but there was no response.
Brydda had said that we ought to reach the sparse, distorted trees of the fringes before the moon rose, if we did not stop, for once again we were not able to move at more than a plodding walk. I asked what he would do if we could safely cross the Suggredoon.
“To begin with, I will ride to Rangorn to see my parents. Then I will return to Sutrium and join the group