The Seeker - Isobelle Carmody [184]
“Why indeed?” asked the third man, who had not spoken yet. He had an unpleasant hissing sort of voice and quick, sly eyes. “We are to find out if Obernewtyn is truly destroyed and if there is truth in rumors of sedition here.”
“One look answered those questions,” said the first man.
“Did it?” asked the third in an insinuating tone. His two companions eyed him curiously.
“Do ye say there is sedition here? I have seen no sign of it,” said the big highlander at length.
“I say neither yes nor no to it. But the captain is no fool. He would not stay here for pleasure. Perhaps he knows something we do not.”
“What do ye mean?” asked the highlander.
“Just this—captains, as a rule, are told more than rank-and-file soldierguards. I heard he had his orders direct from the Council’s agent. Who knows what information he has,” said the hissing man.
“There is somethin’ strange about these mountain folk,” opined the highlander after a moment of thought. “I dinna know what it is, but when I am among them, my skin creeps.”
“Mine too,” said the first man. “Ariel spoke certain of sedition, and he’s seldom wrong.”
“Call him not by name!” snarled the third man, glancing about as if he feared immediate reprisal.
“His name is not so secret,” sneered the first.
“Well, then call him by it when next you see him, fool. There is one to make a man’s skin crawl.”
“I say we mun just as soon kill them all, miserable creatures,” the big highlander pronounced. “Then we need not trouble ourselves with findin’ out if they be seditioners.”
“Usually, we are told to bring back prisoners alive. But I have heard it whispered the Council’s agent wants none to come alive from the mountains. I wonder if it is true, and why,” pondered the first man.
“Indeed. I wonder what he suspects … or fears,” said the third soldierguard.
After a long pause, the highlander shook himself like an ox. “I wonder only how long before my head rests on a real bed an’ my tongue tastes a sweet fement,” he sighed plaintively.
“Never, if I catch you idling again when I have given an order!” came a new voice, so close my heart skipped a beat. Cautiously, I moved and saw that two more men had entered the clearing. From the markings on his collar, the tall, sallow-faced newcomer was the captain.
But the person behind him was no soldierguard. I stifled a gasp at the sight of Rushton!
Clad in shabby trousers and a ragged jumper, he was grim-faced and gaunt. The wild, dark gleam in his eyes told me why the soldierguards had judged him mad. He looked like a man possessed, and deep lines of suffering and despair made him appear far older than he was. There was a bitter twist to his lips that I had never seen before, and I was filled with pity at the thought of what the destruction of Obernewtyn had meant to him. He must have loved it more than life for its demise to mark him so.
As if he sensed my scrutiny, his head turned; he seemed to stare straight into my eyes. I shuddered at the emptiness in his face and was glad when he turned aside to follow the captain and his men from the clearing.
I slumped back, aching all over from tension. I could not forget Rushton’s face, for it warned me worse might have happened than I could even imagine.
I went afoot as we made our way back along the valley, but this time we went more warily and stayed close to the walls of Obernewtyn where trees grew thickly, offering shelter. I noticed fumes of faint blue smoke rising from the ruins and was struck by the feeling that I had seen them before.
“Elspeth?” came a voice from behind. I whirled in fright and found myself looking into the astounded face of Daffyd. Gahltha, who did not know him, moved aggressively between us, until I reassured him.
Daffyd came forward slowly, as if he thought I would disappear. “By Lud, it is you!” he cried. “I thought I was dreaming with my eyes open. We thought you dead. Your feet …” He looked down.
“Are healed,” I said firmly.