The Shadow Isle - Katharine Kerr [149]
“It be so unfair! I ken how grand it does sound, that I be the lady of this isle. Mam does go on and on about it, how I be the lady, and so I must do this, and I must do that, and truly, at times I do wonder if she ever does see me, just me.”
“Ah, I think I’m beginning to understand. But she loves Wynni just because Wynni is Wynni.”
“True spoken.” She paused, looking up at him with wide eyes. “I be frightened, Laz. I must marry, Mam tells me, some man of the Mountain Folk, and I want not to marry or have aught to do with such things. All Wynni needs must do is live her life as she chooses, and it be not fair!”
“I see. You envy her.”
Mara nodded.
“I’ll tell you somewhat. I’ll wager that Wynni thinks your mam loves you more, and that, in truth, Angmar loves you both the same.”
Tears filled Mara’s eyes. With an irritable shake of her sleeve she brushed them away. Moments like this one forced Laz to remember just how young she was, no matter how powerful her dweomers were or would become. “I think me,” he said, “that when you meet a man who pleases you, what you want and don’t want will change.”
She looked up, shocked, then smoothed her face into an unread-ably bland expression. “Mayhap. Mam does say the same. I’ll think on it.”
In the morning, Marnmara walked with him down to the pier. The dragon boat stood ready, bobbing in the slack waves of the lake. Some distance from it, out of earshot of the boatmen, Mara stopped Laz for a few last words.
“I slept not much, this past night,” Marnmara said, “for there be much to brood about. The nature of this isle does much concern me, but you, too, were in my thoughts.”
“For that I’ll thank you,” Laz said.
“You’d best wait for gratitude till you hear what I did see.” She paused for a smile. “You did teach me many things it were needful for me to know, Laz, and for that my heart be grateful. So I did scry upon your wyrd. You stand in the middle of a dangerous road, and which way you might go, I cannot say. I will tell you, though, that one way leads to great evil, for I think me you did much evil in lives past. Go that way, and great evil will befall you in return. The other way leads to the saving of you. There be more than one way to pay the debts you owe.”
Laz found himself shocked speechless.
“It be your choice, which way you turn on the road. For your sake I do hope you choose the correct way.”
“So do I.” Laz suddenly found himself laughing, a high nervous giggle. “So do I.” He choked the noise back with an effort of will. “Can you tell me more about—”
“I can’t. It be not given for me to know. My thanks again for your teaching.”
Marnmara smiled again, patted him on the arm, then turned and walked back to the manse. As Laz watched her go, he found himself wanting to run after her and beg her to let him stay in safety on the island. Yet his old life lay close at hand, his men, his sorcery, and above all, Sidro. With a sigh, he picked up his meager bundle of belongings and headed for the pier.
The boatmen rowed him across without comment, but when they reached the shallows, Lon stopped him as he was about to go over the side.
“You sure you’ll fare well here?” Lon said.
“I hope so,” Laz said, grinning. “I always have before.”
“Well and good, then. Here’s luck to you!”
Laz jumped down into the shallows. When Lon handed down the bundle, Laz caught it twixt his lower arms and his chest. He distrusted his stumps of hands when it came to carrying something heavy, but he safely splashed across and gained the shore. By the time he turned to look back, the dragon boat had put out into deep water. The clanging of the gong echoed around the valley, then slowly faded away as the boat disappeared into the rising mist.
Laz had a moment of wondering if the island itself would disappear into that mist and never be seen again. If it did, would he regret it? A little, he decided, perhaps he’d regret it a little, for Marnmara’s sake.
Clutching his bundle, he walked away from the lake and clambered partway up the side of a low hill to the shelter