The Seeker - Isobelle Carmody [64]
“He couldn’t …,” I whispered, sickened.
“Some of us saw it,” said the other girl. Her face was ashen as she spoke, and I thought mine must look the same. I was still sitting on the side of my bed, alone and too shattered by what I had been told to eat, when Matthew came in. His face was haggard. I got to my feet at once, alarmed, and asked him if it was true that Ariel had let his wolves kill Selmar. He bowed his head. “He … he keeps boastin’ about it like it was a good joke on her.” Then he faltered and seemed to find it hard to speak.
I knew he must be worrying himself ill over Cameo, and I laid my hand on his shoulder. “I will go out and look for her tonight. I promise.”
He shook his head, and when he looked at me, his eyes were full of compassion. A thrill of fear shot thought me.
“The Council have found out about ye, Elspeth,” he said, answering the question he saw in my face. “That is what I came to tell you. I overheard Sly Willie tellin’ Lila in the kitchen just now. Some soldierguards arrived about an hour ago an’ they have been with Madam Vega ever since. She sent Willie fer a meal for them.” He went on to say that two Councilmen were due to arrive the following morning, and I was to be ready for them to take away at once. “It seems they want to make sure they have ye down from th’ mountains before the pass is completely closed. I came to tell ye that ye mun escape tonight, Elspeth,” Matthew said. “Willie thinks yer still in the sick chamber, an’ he told Lila that Madam Vega insists ye mun stay there fer the night. I’ve a bag of supplies an’ a blanket and a tinder box stashed in the bottom of the linen cupboard for ye. It’s not enough, but hopefully we will nowt be long after ye.”
“But what about the rest of you? Cameo …” I stopped, seeing anguish flood his eyes. “Cameo?”
He shook his head and his expression grew bleak. “Ye ken as well as I do what they meant to do to her. Days have passed since Ariel took her away, an’ no one has seen a hair of her since. I mun face … we mun face the fact that they have used th’ machine on her.”
“You can’t just give up on her,” I said.
“I will not. I dinna! But I am sayin’ that there is nothing you can do now, Elspeth. Ye mun save yerself.”
“At … at dusk each day, I will farseek you,” I stammered, hardly able to believe that all our careful plans had come to this. I gathered my wits and got the map from behind the stone. Matthew tried to refuse it, but I insisted, telling him I had already looked at the map and I had a second compass. “This mountain valley runs up into another, and that runs into another beyond that. The valleys go much farther into the mountains than you would guess. I will go high and deep and try to find a cave.”
Matthew nodded and pushed the map into his shirt, his eyes dark with apprehension. “Be careful.”
“You too,” I said. “Say goodbye to the others for me.”
“Ye ken I will,” he said. We stared at each other helplessly for a moment, and then he suddenly threw his arms around me and hugged me hard. “I love ye like a sister, Elspeth,” he said gruffly into my ear, his accent very strong. Then he released me and strode away.
Deciding I had better not linger where I was, I slipped out into the hall and went to wait in an empty chamber I had noticed as I came from the healing room. The door stood open, and I sat on the floor behind it. I could feel nothing, not even grief for poor Cameo. I listened to the sound of people returning from their meal and then readying themselves for bed. I stayed still and quiet when one of the senior Misfits extinguished most of the hall candles and locked the doors. They did not trouble with the empty room. I waited until I could hear neither voice nor footfall, and then I stood up and got the supplies Matthew had left for me. I headed for the front entrance hall and the main doors, determined to coerce anyone who got in my way.
But all at once I heard the voices of Madam Vega and of Ariel. My heart gave a leap of fear, and I turned swiftly