The Seeker - Isobelle Carmody [63]
“In case you have any notion of escape,” Ariel said, so close that the hair on my neck stood on end, “I should warn you again about the mountains and the wild wolves. I have seen them tear rabbit and deer apart while literally on the run. No one has ever been mad enough to try to escape in this season.” He ran his fingers through his white-blond hair, a languid movement that lent his cruelty a casual air.
I looked away from him, certain he must have been able to hear my heart hammering in my chest. Behind us, the imprints made by our boots were already filling up with a fresh drift of velvety white snow. I told myself that whatever Ariel guessed from my expression as I had looked out at the mountains, he could not possibly know we were plotting an escape that very night.
But we did not go that night, for at midmeal, Sly Willie came for Cameo, and there was nothing any of us could do but watch as she was led away. Matthew looked so openly distraught that I kicked him under the table. There was no chance to talk until we got to the farms the next morning, and I was shocked to see they were covered in a thick white blanket of snow. We seemed to have gone in a matter of days from summerdays to wintertime.
“We mun help her,” Matthew said, seeming not to see the transformation.
“Tonight I will see if I can find out where she is,” I promised, just as Rushton arrived to send us off on our various errands. He seemed distracted, and it occurred to me that he had been that way for some time, but I was too worried about Cameo to ponder it deeply. I found myself among a group sent to round up the small herd of goats, which were to be led through the maze to a small yard adjacent to the house. I was in one of the farthest fields, having just found a lame goat, when it began to snow hard. It took me a long time to get her back to the stable, and when I’d done so, I was shivering with the cold.
Rushton heard me cough, took one look at me, and sent me up to the house with an older Misfit to see Guardian Myrna. By night, I was running a high fever, my voice was a painful croak, and I had been put into a sick chamber. There was no question of going out to look for Cameo, and I finally fell into a fitful sleep in which red birds swooped at my face and the ground opened up malevolently and tried to swallow me.
The first person I saw when I woke was Rushton. “You are awake at last,” he said. “The horses missed you.”
I frowned, wondering how long I had slept. Then I wondered why he was visiting me.
Before I could ask, Guardian Myrna came in. Rushton sat up slightly and said in a clipped voice, “Try to remember exactly what medicines you gave that lame horse.” She went out again, and Rushton leaned close. “I told her I wanted to talk to you about a farm matter, but that isn’t true. I came to give you this.”
He held out a small cloth bag. I took it and opened it, and a wonderful summery smell filled the air. He closed my hands around the package and urged me to keep it hidden and eat it when no one was around. “It will help you regain strength quickly,” he said, and then without another word, he left.
Later I drew the bag open and looked inside to find a moistened ball of herbs. My mother had made such things, and I pondered the fact that Rushton would give me medicine that was so obviously the product of forbidden herb lore. I came to the conclusion that he genuinely wanted to help me. Certainly the ball of herbs would do me no harm, and indeed that night, I slept deeply and well.
When I woke, it was night again and my head was clear. Guardian Myrna came in and, seeing I was awake, examined me and said brusquely that I might as well go back to my own chamber and sleep, for she needed the beds.
I arrived in my room as the others were changing for the nightmeal. There was a queer solemnity in their faces, and I asked with some trepidation if something had happened. I was afraid for Cameo, of course, for there was no sign of her. But one of the girls came close and whispered, “Selmar is dead. She tried to run again, but