The Seeker - Isobelle Carmody [187]
“But are we not already infected?” asked one of the men.
“Thank Lud we made our own camp and did not sup or dally with these wretched people. ’Tis said plague spreads by close living. We should be safe if we leave at once.”
“What about these two and the people in the camp? We can’t leave them here alive,” said another of the soldierguards.
The captain shook his head grimly. “There must be no witnesses. If anyone ever does come up here, it must be exactly as we have said. Do not bother with these half-dead wretches. The wolves will finish them. But while the others are drugged, we will burn the camp. Now let’s ride. I want to be quit of this cursed valley as soon as possible.”
It was growing dark when the soldierguards torched the camp.
As I had hoped, they did not trouble to make sure their victims were inside, else they would have found the settlement deserted. The coercers had carried all the unconscious out and set them under the trees.
From the distance, we watched the huts blaze. Silhouetted in orange light, the soldierguards let out a hoarse cheer before mounting and riding out of the valley. None looked behind him.
“Are they all right?” Gevan asked, watching Roland lift Rushton’s eyelid.
He nodded in satisfaction. “Only drugged, though I have not seen this kind of drug before.” He moved to look at Ceirwan.
I leaned over Rushton and stared into his ravaged face. In repose, he looked so terribly sad.
Unexpectedly, his eyes fluttered open, flamed with longing; then he shook his head and groaned. “Ah, Elspeth, love,” he sighed; then his eyes fell shut.
I stared down at him in wonder.
27
“I AM THE Master of Obernewtyn. Who among you will choose a guild this night?” Rushton asked.
Those prepared crossed to stand in line facing him. “We choose our places,” they spoke in unison.
Rushton handed each of the candidates a candle and then lit them all from his own, the flame guttering slightly. Fortunately, the wind was low. “May you choose well,” he murmured.
“I am Merrett. I choose the Coercer guild,” said the first, a thin, dark-eyed girl.
There was a predictable buzz of surprise, since her mother was a healer. Merrett crossed to the table and set her candle amidst the Coercer token.
Zarak, grinning with pride, held up his own candle. “I am Zarak, of the Beastspeaking guild. With permission, I choose anew: the Farseeker guild.” There was a burst of applause as he crossed to the Farseeker table, and I smiled inwardly at the success of Ceirwan’s negotiations.
There were no other surprises, and when all had chosen, the newly guilded led a toast to Obernewtyn.
Able to escape momentarily from his affectionate guilders, Dameon came to sit beside me. I was amused and flattered to hear some children sing an idealized version of my own first journey to Obernewtyn.
“I had no idea how brave and wise I was,” I laughed.
Dameon smiled. “I think they are already at work on the epic of your journey to the coast. But I doubt anyone will ever sing the complete story.”
I looked at him. Dameon had always been able to see more than most people. Like Atthis, his judgment lay in some keener place than his eyes. I had not told anyone what had happened in the mountains, but for a moment, I was tempted to confess to the empath. Such a secret burden made me feel lonely, even in the midst of my friends. Then I remembered Atthis’s warning that I must tell no one of what I was to do.
Behind my seat, Gahltha stirred, as if he, too, heard an echo of the voice that had changed his life. The black horse had become my shadow whenever I moved outside Obernewtyn’s halls, regarding himself as my special guardian. Fortunately, this was not too noticeably odd, since he and Avra had become the first animals to attend guildmerge. Rushton had decided to make use of the direct entrance from the outside that had once been a secret passage; the horses used it proudly.
Dameon patted my hand. “Some secrets are safer kept.”
I smiled wanly. “I’m glad to be home, but I can’t help worrying about what will happen next.”
Dameon