The Seeker - Isobelle Carmody [186]
We both froze at the sound of running feet. The brush parted, and Roland burst into the open. “Where’s Matthew?” he cried. “We need him to farseek the camp! Something has gone wrong. All contact has been severed, but we dare not go down there with the soldierguards …” He stopped dead, catching sight of me. “Elspeth?”
“Yes, it’s me,” I said impatiently. “I’ll see what’s happened.”
“But you …,” he said, dazed.
I waved him to silence, closing my eyes to concentrate. I sent my mind flying toward the makeshift camp, seeking out any familiar pattern. It was as if all there slept.
At last I located a weak consciousness. Focusing in, I discovered it was Ceirwan.
“Who … who is that?” he sent groggily, barely discernible.
“It is Elspeth,” I sent. “What has happened there?”
There was a pause. “Elspeth … impossible.”
I felt his grief but could waste no time on it. “I did not die. Now you must focus. I can hardly understand you. What has happened?”
I sensed his struggle to concentrate. “I … They drugged us. The soldierguards think we hide evidence of sedition in the ruins. You must stop them from getting to Obernewtyn … get coercers …” He faded out again, and this time it was impossible to recall him.
I opened my eyes. “They’re okay, but they all sleep,” I said. “The soldierguards have drugged them and are about to go and examine the ruins firsthand.”
“We’ll have to fight,” Daffyd said.
I shook my head. “I have a better idea, Daffyd. One less likely to escalate into violence. You ride Gahltha and bring back one of the coercers. The guildmaster, Gevan, if you can. Also, get a group of them to go down to the camp as soon as the soldierguards leave.” I outlined my plan quickly.
“It might just work,” Roland said.
“And it would explain why Rushton was so anxious to keep them away from the ruins. But will the captain react as you expect?” Daffyd asked.
“It’s my guess they’ll prove a craven lot, more worried about their own skins than their duty. But if not, Gevan is a coercer, and so am I, at need.”
“You, a coercer?” Roland asked sharply. I ignored him, giving Daffyd a leg up onto Gahltha. The black horse allowed Daffyd to mount, then sped off, keeping close to the tree line.
“Come. We’ll meet Gevan in front of Obernewtyn,” I told the Healer guildmaster. “We’ll have to make sure they don’t come too close to the buildings. Now describe to me the symptoms.…”
It was dusk when the soldierguards appeared, riding along the entrance road leading up to Obernewtyn. Catching sight of Gevan and me, the captain reined his horse.
“Who are you, girl? I’ve not seen you before. What trickery is here?” he shouted harshly.
When I did not answer, he ordered one of his men to bind us. The man dismounted, but he paused when he was close enough to see my face clearly.
“Captain … I think there’s something wrong with her …,” he called uneasily.
I lurched toward him, and he backed away hastily. “Help me!” I moaned. “Help me. I am ill.”
The captain dismounted, staring at me suspiciously. “Ill? What do you mean? I won’t stand for …” He stopped, having come close enough to see the black blisters on my lips. Gevan moaned loudly, making the man jump. His face changed, contorting with horror, and he spun away. “Lud’s curse! These creatures have the plague!”
The soldierguards murmured in dismay.
“Shut up and let me think!” the captain snarled, mounting his horse. The other soldierguards did the same.
“What are we goin’ to do, Captain? We won’t be allowed to live if anyone finds out we’ve been in contact with the plague!” said one soldierguard.
“We can’t stay here. I don’t want to die of plague!” wailed another man.
“We won’t,” said the captain tightly. “Now listen to me, all of you. It will take closed mouths and a tight story to save us from being burned. We will tell the Council all was as Rushton had claimed—Obernewtyn a poor ruin, the valley tainted. We will tell them we found no one here. No one must ever know there was plague here. Even a whisper would be enough to see us dead.”
The men nodded,