The Spell of Rosette - Kim Falconer [97]
Rosette awoke to the stares of Drayco and Scylla. The two sat only inches away from her face, motionless, burning with intention. She stretched and smiled at the remnants of a delightful dream, her eyes focusing slowly in the dim light.
‘That is no way to wake a body up,’ she said to her black familiar, roughing his neck, ‘glaring like that.’
The storm has passed. We must reach the summit by noon.
‘Do you know why?’
Because that is when the meeting is.
‘What meeting? All this talk about a meeting and no-one tells me who—whom—we are going to meet.’
I don’t know that answer.
Getting her bearings, she stood up and headed for the glowing coals of the fire, the revelation of the night before flooding back.
‘Goddess of the Dark Forest, is it true?’
She thought of John’ra and Bethsay Matosh, of her older sisters and her little brother, D’ran. Everything she had recently learned made her feel distant, as if she were floating amongst the stars with no hope of coming in to land.
She mumbled under her breath, gathering her clothes that were spread out over the boulders near the makeshift hearth. She stepped into her leggings, warm and dry, and pulled her leather bodice over her head. She glanced back at the furs where An’ Lawrence had told her about her parentage. Why had Nell communicated to them both in such an elusive way? She did up her bodice laces, pulling on her sweaters and leather riding breeches. There’d better be a good explanation.
‘And now, Sword Master,’ she asked, though he was clearly not in the cave, ‘what of this secret journey that you and La Makee have cooked up? Where does this lead and why?’
I’ve asked, Drayco touched her mind, but Scylla says nothing.
‘I guess we’ll just have to see it played out.’
It seems so, Maudi. And the Sword Master’s your blood?
‘Apparently.’
How’s that for you?
‘I don’t know—but if we get off this mountain, Nellion Paree has some explaining to do.’
Drayco licked a paw and wiped the back of his ear. Everyone’s hungry.
‘Everyone?’
Me, Scylla, the horse beasts…
‘The horses! Where are they?’
At the back of the cave.
Rosette went to the horses and found them calm, resting quietly with their hind legs cocked and their heads down and drowsy. She tipped some grain from the pack onto the flat rocks and smiled at the rumbling sound their chewing made. She lugged water from the fire where ice had been set to melt and filled their leather trough before taking a long drink of her own.
We are very hungry, actually. There is nothing to hunt here. Drayco spoke for both familiars.
‘I am making a breakfast we can all enjoy, my lovely,’ she answered. She stoked the fire and filled a pot with chunks of dried meat and barley.
We should eat quickly.
‘What’s the rush now?’
We have to get out of here very soon. Scylla agrees. The Sword Master is returning. He’s anxious.
‘Well, we don’t want that, do we!’
Rosette looked towards the entrance as the covering flipped up and An’ Lawrence entered, ducking under the low, overhanging rock. Scylla, bobtail twitching, bounded to him, her thickly furred paws resting lightly on his chest as she jumped up.
‘Ouch!’ he shouted. It seemed her claws were not entirely sheathed. He tousled her head. ‘Okay! I’m back! What? What’s all the urgency?’
There was a moment’s silence before he said something under his breath. She turned back to the fire.
‘Good morning, Rosette. Feeling better?’
‘Good morning, Sword Master,’ she said formally. She didn’t turn around. ‘We need to be quick?’
‘We do.’
Very quick. Drayco pushed his head under Rosette’s hand.
‘All right, my famished one, breakfast is coming.’
‘I’m not really that hungry,’ he said.
‘I wasn’t talking to you.’
The flames jumped high as she spoke, the contents of the pot sizzling over.
An’ Lawrence began rolling up the furs and packing the saddlebags. ‘We have to get to the summit plateau by midday.’
‘So I’ve been told, though of course I have no idea why. In any case, the food is ready.’
‘Thanks. We can leave most of our supplies