The White Road - Lynn Flewelling [107]
The man unwound the long length of blue-and-white cloth and handed it to the woman named Nowen, who carefully tucked it away in her saddlebag.
Seregil gave Alec a look that said clear as words, There's no help for it, tali. We'll take this one step at a time.
But there was still the matter of what Sebrahn would do now.
"At least let me say good-bye." Alec dismounted and went to Hazadrien's horse. Sebrahn came willingly into his arms. Alec hugged him close for a moment, his heart like a stone in his chest, then he set the rhekaro on his feet and knelt in front of him.
"I'm leaving, Sebrahn." His throat went tight and he had to clear it before he could go on. "Seregil and Micum and I, we're going away for a little while."
Please, throw a fit. Sing this away!
But Sebrahn just looked up at him with those wide silver eyes. "Leeeeaving."
"Yes, leaving. You're staying. Staying? With Hazadrien."
Sebrahn looked at him for a moment, then turned and held his arms up to the tall rhekaro.
"It's time to go," Seregil said quietly. "Come on."
Alec's heart ached as he lifted Sebrahn back up into Hazadrien's arms. "Take good care of him."
The tall rhekaro said nothing, and his expression did not change as he shifted Sebrahn in his lap.
Going back to Windrunner, Alec swung up into the saddle and looped Patch's lead rein over his pommel. Looking back over his shoulder, Alec saw Hazadrien and the other 'faie ride off without a backward glance.
Sebrahn did nothing.
And Alec's heart broke a little more.
Rieser braced for an attack as soon as they were out of sight of the other Ebrados, but his traveling companions appeared to be ready to keep their word, at least for now. If they slipped away from him, he would hunt them down. If they murdered him, Turmay would know and there would be nothing to stop his riders from heading home with the small tayan'gil. Either way, he would have accomplished his mission.
All the same, he couldn't help noticing how Alec bit his lip and looked away as they went on.
"Sebrahn will be safe. I've given you my word."
Alec spared him a black look and rode to the head of the line.
Seregil admired Rieser as they rode away from his people. The man might not trust them, but he trusted in their honor. It was astonishing, really, and so ill-founded.
"We have a day or two of riding ahead of us," Seregil told him as they set off down through the foothills toward the coast. "We might as well pass the time pleasantly. Why don't you tell us about this 'white road'?"
"Haven't you guessed?"
"Tayan'gil means 'white blood.' The white road leads to them?"
"Yes, and the white road we followed when we left Aurenen. But the tayan'gils themselves are sometimes called 'white roads.' It is their blood that heals us, and the same blood that made us exiles."
"I see. And am I correct in assuming that Hazadrien was made from your ancestor, Hazadriel?"
"Yes."
"That was more than four generations ago. He's really that old?"
"That's correct. She is dead, but he still exists. No one knows if they ever die."
"How do you feed him, if the person he was made from is dead?" asked Alec, breaking his silence at last.
"Any Hazadrielfaie can feed a tayan'gil. We all share the same blood. Think what you like of us, but my people will not let Sebrahn go hungry or be harmed."
"Anyone?" Alec looked positively dismayed at that.
Seregil's heart went out to him. First the little rhekaro's disregard for their departure, and now this. Perhaps this will help him accept the truth, and what has to happen when we get back.
Turning to Rieser, he asked, "How did Hazadriel and her people come to be in that valley?"
"How much do you know of her?"
"Only that she had some sort of vision, gathered up some followers, and headed north."
"That's the end of the story, but not the beginning. She was captured by the Plenimarans, and was used by a--What did you call them?"
"Alchemist."
"Yes, by an alchemist to make Hazadrien. Somehow she escaped, and brought four other 'faie back with her, and five tayan'gils, including Hazadrien. They were the