2 To Light A Candle.13 (60 page)

He heard his name called a couple of times, but did not stop. He had to get home.

He pushed open the door of Grander's house. The common room was filled with Centaurs. All were villagers familfar to him, but he saw no one that belonged to the household.

"Blessed Herdsman—it's Cilarnen!" Corela gasped. The kindly middle-aged Centauress started forward, her face a mask of shock. "We thought you must be dead—now, don't move. Where are you hurt?"

"I'm not hurt," Cilarnen said. "It's not my blood. I'm all right. Are you— Is— Where is—?" He looked around, still hoping to see familiar faces, and saw none.

"Come into the kitchen," Corela said, coming forward and putting an arm around his shoulders.

There was soup, tea, and hot ale in the kitchen. Corela dismissed the Centaurs working there with a glance, and closed the door behind them with one well-placed nudge of her hind hoof.

"There is bad news," she said. "It is best given quickly."

Cilarnen nodded, unable to ask.

"Grander and Marlen are gone to the Herd. They are truly dead. I've seen their bodies. Not pretty, but quick. Jarel has lost an eye, but he will live, they think, with scars to brag on. Erlock's leg will heal, but it is likely he will be lame. Minor injuries only to the others of this house—so minor that they were all able to share price with Wirance, and so they are sleeping now. Sarlin, too."

"They can't be dead," Cilarnen said blankly. I never told them how kind they were tome. I never thanked them.

"They have gone to the Herd," Corela repeated gently. "And they will be reborn as good spring grass to feed our flocks. Now wash and eat. There are many tasks that need doing."

"The horses," Cilarnen said, with a pang of guilty realization. It didn't matter what else had happened in the world. The horses still needed to be looked after—fed and watered and turned out for exercise. "I have to go to the stables. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Wash first," Corela told him firmly. "And eat."

IT was good advice, so Cilarnen took it. He didn't think that the horses would appreciate it if he came to them reeking of blood.

Once he'd finished his morning stable chores, it occurred to him that nobody probably had time for any of Stonehearth's livestock that morning.

Well, he did. He didn't need to sleep yet. He wasn't sure he could. There was something inside him, something that made his chest and throat feel tight whenever he thought of Grander, something that wanted to burst out. It was worse than when he'd been caught and told he was going to be Banished.

Much worse.

He didn't want to be alone with it.

The sheep and goat-pens were outside the walls, guarded by shaggy herding-dogs in their kennels. The great beasts came rushing forward when Cilarnen appeared, barking savagely when they caught his scent, then sniffing and nudging at him hopefully.

No one has been here to feed them either, Cilarnen realized. The sheep and goats could eat hay, but that wouldn't do for the dogs. He'd have to go find something to feed them after he unpenned the animals.

The barking had roused the pens' inhabitants, and a great bleating and baaing issued from within. Cilarnen opened each door in turn, jumping out of the way quickly to avoid being trampled by the outrush of hairy and woolly bodies.

The herd dogs, abandoning immediate hope of food, rounded up their charges and began herding them down to the river for their long-delayed morning drink. While they were gone, Cilarnen went to the storage barn, unbolted the door, and began dragging shocks of fodder out, dumping them in the snow. Centaurs might be able to carry them, but he wasn't nearly as strong as a Centaur.

He had no idea how many were enough, or what to do with them, but at least the animals wouldn't starve.

"That's enough."

Cilarnen looked up, to find Kardus standing in the snow behind him. The Centaur Wildmage had a large canvas bag slung over one shoulder, and a knife in one hand.

"Bolt the door, or the goats will get in among the fodder and gorge until they burst." As he spoke, he began cutting the braided lengths of straw that bound the fodder-shocks together. "Then help me spread this over the snow, or the strong will keep the weak away from the food."

By the time the dogs brought the herds back, Kardus and Cilarnen had covered the snow with hay, and both sheep and goats settled to browsing contentedly. Kardus reached into his bag and pulled out several large brown loaves. He tossed one to each of the waiting dogs, who were standing by expectantly. As they gulped them down, Cilarnen saw that the loaves were meat and bread mixed together, obviously what the dogs were used to receiving.

"I told Toria I would see to the flocks today," Kardus said. "But I see you got here first."

"I'd done the stables," Cilarnen said. "I didn't think anyone would have thought about the other animals yet."

"They have thought," Kardus said. "But there are many dead and injured, and not enough hands to do the work."

My friends are dead, Cilarnen thought bleakly, feeling his throat tighten and eyes sting again. And everyone in Stonehearth had lost friends. It was a small village. Everyone knew everyone else.

"Kardus—why did the… Demon… come here? Do you know? Tell me!" But the Centaur Wildmage only shook his head wordlessly.

"CAN anyone tell me," Savilla asked with spurious mildness, "just why there was an open attack on that grubby Centaur village?"

Her highest-ranking nobles were gathered before her in the formal Audience Chamber, where she had summoned them as soon as the word of Yeth-lenga's attack upon Stonehearth had reached the World Without Sun. She did not know why he had attacked—and she could not ask him before she killed him, for the Lightborn had managed, not merely to defeat him, but to destroy him.

To destroy one of the eternal, beautiful children of He Who Is.

For that they would pay in the last full measure of pain and despair, but Savilla would not hurry either her pleasures or her vengeance.

Her own spies ranged freely and far, wherever magic and ancient land-wards did not constrain them. She had agents—both Endarkened and otherwise—in the Wild Lands—but Yethlenga had not been one of them. Her creatures knew better than to risk her displeasure by showing themselves openly, no matter what the personal cost.

"I will know what I will know," Savilla said dangerously.

She sat upon the Shadow Throne, dressed in scarlet as red as her skin and white as pure as shattered, aged bleached bone. There was utter silence. No one dared to speak, even though their Queen had asked a question.

"Highness." Prince Zyperis broke the silence at last, crawling forward and bending low before her, wings tightly furled in submission. "Yethlenga's action goes so strangely against your wise counsel that perhaps it was only… childish foolishness."

"And so you would excuse it?" Savilla hissed. She reached out with one foot and placed it on his shoulder, digging in with her talons until the blood flowed.

Zyperis raised his head to meet her gaze, though the movement opened deeper gouges in his back. "Never. Only beg that you question those who will give you proper answers, my Queen," he said softly. "Ask those who have been his companions and servants. If they knew his plans, and did not tell you, that is treason, and must be properly punished."

Savilla straightened, and pushed Zyperis away from her with a kick that sent him sprawling, bending his wings painfully beneath him. She waved him to his feet with a languid gesture.

"Rise, all of you. Chamberlain, bring Yethlenga's household here to me. Now."

Soon an odd assortment of beings were ushered into the Audience Chamber—several Lesser Endarkened, the squat misshapen cousins of their greater brethren; a collection of humans, and a blind Centaur. All knelt immediately.

"Your master, Yethlenga, is dead," Savilla said without preamble. "Your lives and fortunes depend on what you can tell me now. I will reward truth, and pun-ish lies."

"Great Queen, we will tell you everything," one of the Lesser Endarkened said. "And so will the vermin."

The slaves knew very little, but the questioning of the servants produced the names of two of Yethlenga's companions: Anilpon and Iroth.

And when the slaves were sent to the Pits to await new masters, and Anilpon and Iroth were sent for, they could not be found.

"Where are they?" she demanded of her chamberlain.

"We are searching for them, Queen Savilla," Vixiren, underbutler to her household, said.

The tension in the Audience Chamber eased, just a fraction, now that Sav-illa's wrath had found a new target.

"It is nearly as good as a confession," Zyperis suggested.

Savilla glanced sharply at her son. He had been brave today, speaking out and risking her wrath. But had it merely been an attempt to divert attention from himself? Had Yethlenga been one of Zyperis's spies? Was this a conspiracy, and Anilpon and Iroth its other members?

Perhaps.

And perhaps not.

She did not think Zyperis was ready to challenge her just yet. And the attack upon Stonehearth had been—as he'd pointed out—strange. There was nothing to gain from killing a few Centaurs and terrorizing an isolated collection of mud huts. Zyperis would never make such a foolish mistake.

But was it so foolish?

Something at Stonehearth had been capable of killing one of the Endarkened.

And now she might never know what it had been.

"YOU have to know," Cilarnen pleaded.

"I do not lie to you when I tell you I do not," Kardus said. "I have traveled far—even into the Lost Lands, where the Dark Folk—as they call them there— raid among the folk as foxes among hares. But never have they come this far south since the end of the Great War. It is true that Andoreniel calls us to fight in honor of the ancient Treaties, but the Elves have seen only Their work, and Their creatures in the Elven Lands, not They Themselves."

"But one was here. And it said that They have agents in Armethalieh," Cilarnen repeated stubbornly, holding on to what he knew. So much of what Kardus was telling him simply didn't make sense to him, and he was really afraid to ask for an explanation.

What was the Great War? When had it been? Did it have anything to do with Armethalieh? Did that mean the Elves and Demons had fought before? What did that have to do with humans?

"Perhaps that is why the humans there would not heed the Elves, when they tried to warn them," Kardus said. "I do not know. Perhaps Kellen Wildmage will know. We will ask him when we see him."

Would Kellen even care what happened to Armethalieh? Somehow Cilarnen doubted it.

Still, he had to try.

He turned and followed Kardus back toward the gate.

AT the end of three more days, the small party left Stonehearth, heading for the Elven lands.

They left a badly damaged village behind them—and far too many dead— but in the days before they left, Wirance sent messages to the nearest villages, and help—in the form of food, supplies, and hands to help with the rebuilding— would soon arrive.

If it had been at all possible, Comild, Wirance, and the others would have waited until the others arrived. Nearly a third of the surviving Centaur soldiers were too badly injured to travel with them. But Kardus thought that Cilarnen's news must be brought before the Elves without delay, and Cilarnen reluctantly agreed, little though he wanted to meet the Elves.

And everyone agreed it was too dangerous for the two of them to travel alone.

Sarlin had given him a horse to ride. It was one of the draft horses—there was nothing else available in the Centaur village—but it was better than walking. She'd insisted he take it.

"YOU'VE already done so much for me," Cilarnen had said when she offered him the horse. She was the Lady of Stonehearth now, and the responsibility weighed heavily on her young shoulders, but there was no one else to take it up. She had put aside her grief to take charge of the preparations for their leaving, gathering together supplies from the remains of the village's stores, finding clothing and armor for those whose possessions had been destroyed, making sure Cilarnen had proper clothing for the journey. Wirance had his own mount, of course—a sure-footed mule, the preferred form of transportation in the High Hills, especially in winter—but Cilarnen needed something other than his own two feet, or they'd not arrive at their goal until spring.

"You took me in, you and—and Grander, and Marlen—" His throat closed, and he swallowed hard. "I never told them… I never told you…"

Sarlin hugged him hard. "Oh, hush now, City-man! We knew. Hyandur told us how they'd hurt you there—how they'd killed all your friends, and worked their evil spells on you, and chased you off with their horrible stone dogs, and still you wouldn't say a thing against them because they were kin. That would put anybody off! And you worked hard for us, and never complained, and then… you saved our lives. You did. Wirance told us. The Herdsman gave you your magic back, and you saved us. The least we can do is give you a proper four legs to get on with."

"Oh, Sarlin!" Cilarnen said, caught halfway between laughter and tears. "I promise I'll come back—and I'll take good care of Tinsin, I will. I wish—"

"I wish Papa had been here to see this day," Sarlin said softly. "He always knew you'd amount to something, City-man. But go on with you. You've plenty to do to get ready. And don't worry about us. You won't know, being City-folk the way you are, but farming folk are tough. We'll get through this. We'll get a crop in the ground come spring—and come you back by Harvest, you'll see us doing well."

"I believe that, Sarlin. And we'll make sure you can," Cilarnen vowed.

He wasn't sure who "we" was—though it felt right to say it. Not the High Mages. They didn't care what happened to the folk of the Wild Lands—and they twice didn't care if those folk didn't happen to be human. And he wasn't sure— yet—whether the Elves cared either. But even if it was only he and Kardus—for Cilarnen knew by now that the Centaur Wildmage cared about all his people— Cilarnen would do his very best to see that Sarlin and her people were left to live their lives in peace.