The Farseekers (25 page)

Domick paused to drink thirstily from a mug Katlyn had given him.

'What about the Druid's friend? Did you see him?' Kella asked.

Domick looked grim. 'Almost from the first day, I heard talk of a special agent who worked for both the Herder Faction and the Council getting information to help expose Seditioners. It was he who masterminded the capture of the man who betrayed your network, Brydda. And he who made him talk when no one else was able. The agent was said to be brilliant and completely ruthless.'

Then you heard no talk of Obernewtyn?' I mused, wondering how the soldierguard had come to mention it. Unless the Council did suspect Rushton of their own accord.

Domick shook his head.
I
had heard no mention of Obernewtyn - until two days ago. I overheard a conversation between two Councilmen about this special agent and his certainty that something was going on at Obernewtyn. One Councilman said he didn't think there was anything in it, and the other reminded him that the agent had seldom led them wrong. I became certain then that this special agent and the Druid's friend were the same person.'

'The Druid must have decided he wanted Obernewtyn investigated after our escape,' I said, regretting mentioning Obernewtyn to the Druid. 'It must have made him suspicious.'

But Domick frowned. 'That's what I thought at first, because what other reason would this agent have for wanting Obernewtyn investigated?' He looked so stern, I felt suddenly frightened of what he was about to say.

'I never saw the agent,' Domick went on slowly. 'Though I often heard him spoken of. And I never heard any name mentioned. It made sense for such a man to prefer his face and name to be secret, but I was curious. Someone told me he only came very late at night to make reports, so I managed to get myself put on to night duty. Twice I was able to catch glimpses of him, but he always wore a hooded cloak that concealed his face. I ought to have left once I heard them talk of Obernewtyn, but my curiosity got the better of me.

'One night I heard him talking, and I had the strangest feeling I had heard his voice somewhere before. That made me more determined to see what he looked like. The next night he was to make a report, I hid in a cupboard in the meeting room. I saw him come in through a crack in the door, but he kept his hood on all the while he talked. I could not see his face but I could hear him clearly.

'He told the Council the man he tortured for information about Brydda had said he thought Brydda had family in Rangorn. A mother and father. Apparently he had overheard that because it was thought Brydda Llewellyn was an escaped orphan. The agent said he had sent soldierguards to the area and their report showed only one couple fitting the description. He wanted Council permission to bring them in for interrogation. This would ensure the capture of the Black Dog.

The Council voted to send a troop of guards to Rangorn. They are on their way here now.'

Brydda's face was pale and tense. 'I
did not know anyone knew - he must have seen or overheard something. Poor Bom.'

I said nothing. There was something in Domick's manner that warned me the story was not finished.

'I nearly died when I heard them talk of coming here. I knew they would catch Katlyn and Grufyyd, and possibly you too. I didn't know Brydda would be here as well.

'I was desperate to get away to warn you, but I had to wait until the room was empty. At last the meeting ended and all the Councilmen left but the main one. Only then did the agent take off his hood, and I saw his face.'

'You . . . you recognized him?' Kella breathed.

Domick nodded.

'Ariel,' he said. 'It was Ariel.'

It was too risky to try for Sutrium with the soldier-guards on their way so we headed towards the mountains where we would hide until the danger was past. No one would guess we would deliberately trap ourselves in a cul de sac.

The soldierguards aren't subtle enough to suspect we would do anything other than the obvious,' Brydda said. 'When they don't find us here, they'll think we have escaped by going around Berryn Mor because that's what they would do in our place.'

Brydda knew of a place where we could make a safe camp at the foot of Tor where a thick copse of trees concealed a narrow valley running into the foot of the hills. From the other side no one would suspect the trees continued for more than a few steps before reaching the steep mountain side. Brydda had played there as a boy, and remembered it well despite his long absence.

Jolting through the darkness, and chilled by a damp, blustery wind, I thought bitterly of Domick's news. Obernewtyn was in danger. We were in danger. With Ariel to force the pace, I had no doubt the soldierguards would appear in spring directly after the thaw. Ariel, of all people, would know that Obernewtyn was at its most vulnerable then. If we failed to get back in time to warn Rushton, Obernewtyn would be completely unprepared, defenceless against the soldierguard onslaught.

But it was a matter of days, perhaps a quarter moon, before the pass would be snowed shut. Domick must have known, when he came to us, that he was losing the last chance of warning Obernewtyn. But if he had not delayed and ridden to warn us, the soldierguards would have taken us all.

I could not imagine how Ariel had survived and what course had brought him to the Council. After initial disbelief, we realized he must have found a way through the mountains to the Highlands and, there, stumbled on the Druid camp. His beauty would have endeared him to the exiled Herder, with his fanatical desire for perfection, but how had he risen to such heights in Council esteem? And what was his interest in Obernewtyn?

Ariel had hated Rushton when he was the overseer. I tried to imagine his reaction at learning Rushton had legal Claim to Obernewtyn. How it must have galled him.

Ariel must have persuaded the old Druid to let him go to Sutrium. To begin with, he might have meant only to get away, but soon enough he would have seen the advantages in such an affiliation, the chance of playing both sides against the middle.

I shivered, as certain as I had ever been of anything in my life, that Ariel wanted revenge; that this was the real motivation behind his laying the seeds of suspicion about Obernewtyn. His quick ascendency within Council ranks proved he had lost none of his ability to manipulate. Ariel had a way of easing himself irrevocably into advantageous positions and making use of people.

It was Brydda's thought that Ariel would probably have begun by offering information about the Druid to the Council - just enough to whet their appetite and give himself credibility. Not enough to give the Druid away completely. He would have made the same offer to the Herder Faction and it would have been easy to use information learnt from one group to feed the other, rising in the estimation of both. No matter who won, Ariel would triumph.

The only mystery lay in Ariel's accusation of Sedition at Obernewtyn, and his apparent certainty that the firestorm story was a lie. Domick said he sounded as if he knew Obernewtyn had not been burnt out, but there was no way he could have known that.

'Perhaps he means to plant evidence of Sedition,' Idris offered diffidently.

I looked at him. 'If Ariel is only guessing, then the irony of it is that everything he claims is true. It's almost too much of a coincidence.'

I had the feeling I had overlooked something vital but was too tired and worried to dwell on it further. We had spent precious time packing Katlyn's invaluable store of dried herbs. Almost everything else had to be left behind and tears coursed down her face as Brydda threw a flaming torch on the roof of the cottage.

'It is only stone and mud and straw I know, but all the memories of happy years are in those walls, and now they burn. Perhaps it is a sign,' she sobbed.

It did not take us long to reach Brydda's hiding spot. It was as good as he had led us to believe. We could even see the cottage burning in the distance, while we were invisible behind a thick girdle of Eben trees.

As soon as we arrived, Brydda set Kella and his mother to organize supper to occupy her mind. He asked me to walk with him to find some firewood leading the way purposefully through the trees. I looked around curiously. The ground sloped up steeply offering a sweeping view of the Land.

This is a sight I remember well,' Brydda said softly. Over the tree-tops, I could see the dense darkness of the Blacklands in the moonlight like a shadowy stain across the Land.

Pavo had once said the Blacklands would recede in time, but I could not imagine anything growing on the black stinking soil. I shuddered, and for a moment it seemed to me Ariel and the Blacklands were symptoms of the same evil.

Beyond the hills was the silvery rush of the Suggredoon and the huddled village of Rangorn. I could even see the mists that hung above Glenelg Mor. Behind me was the towering bulk of Aran Craggie and Tor. So many ways to go and none fast enough to get us to Obernewtyn in time.

The wind in the tree-tops sounded like the whispering ebb and flow of the sea. Brydda stirred as if the same wind had blown through him, ruffling his thoughts like so many leaves. I bent to pick up a stick, but Brydda touched my arm and shook his head.

'I wanted to talk to you alone. I think you should consider coming back to Sutrium with me, all of you,' Brydda said seriously. 'Domick must go back. Very few people have managed to work their way into such a position on the Council. He will be valuable to both our causes. Pavo is not capable of the trip to the mountains, you know that. He needs Kella with him. I will organize a safe journey for you all to Obernewtyn after winter.'

I nodded. 'It would be too dangerous to have Jik in Sutrium after what happened in Aborium. Especially if there are as many Herder Priests about as Domick said. And Dragon could not be confronted with a city. I would be grateful if you would take Kella and Pavo for the time. But one of us must try to reach Obernewtyn before the pass freezes to warn them. I will go and take Dragon and Jik with me.'

'Why can't you speak to them with your mind?' Brydda asked.

'Impossible,' I said. 'First, the higher I am above sea level, the more powerful my farseeking range. But even if I were to make it to the Highlands, where my range is better, the tainted mountains between the Highlands and Obernewtyn are a barrier I can't penetrate. There is only one way to warn them. Someone has to go up to Obernewtyn.'

'Is it wise or sensible for you to go, Elspeth? What about your feet?' Brydda protested.

'My feet are well enough, and I am better equipped to deal with trouble than any of the others, even Domick. Even so, I doubt I will be able to get up into the mountains before the pass freezes, but I must try.'

To my surprise, Brydda grinned. 'I might have a way to shorten the road back to Obernewtyn. Let's get some wood and go back to camp. I have an idea I want to put to you all.'

It was after midnight by the time we had eaten and Brydda laid his plan out. Pavo, Kella and Domick were to go back to Sutrium with Brydda's protection. In exchange for shelter and the setting up of a safe house as Rushton wanted, Domick would share all he learnt with Brydda, unless Domick believed it would harm Obernewtyn. All the horses would also go to Sutrium for the winter. 'Elspeth, Dragon, Darga and Jik will travel through the mountains to warn Rushton of Ariel's machinations,' Brydda said.

Through the mountains,' Domick spluttered. 'Impossible!'

'Through the Olden way,' Brydda went on.

Kella gaped at him. 'But the pass is poisonous.'

In answer Brydda pointed to Darga. 'Not all. And that is where Darga comes in. I have seen with my own eyes that he can tell poisoned substances from clean ones. Therefore he will be your guide.'

'You talk as if you had seen the pass,' Domick began with a touch of resentment.

'I have,' Brydda said simply. 'I told you I roamed these hills as a boy. I know where the pass is. I recognized your description of it. I have been into it from this end, though not right to the top, and I'm not dead. Probably there is only a section tainted near the Druid compound.'

'You don't know that,' Domick said belligerently.

Brydda nodded. 'I know. But it is the only way to reach Obernewtyn quickly. The rest can travel there in the spring, as soon as you send word that all is well.'

I nodded with a rush of hope. 'It is the best chance we have to warn Rushton about Ariel.'

'Then I'll go,' Domick said.

I shook my head. 'Kella and Pavo will need you. And Brydda is right about the job you have in the Council. It is too important an advantage to waste. Rushton would want you to stay and find out as much as you can. But you'll have to stay out of Ariel's way. If you remember him, you can be sure he'll remember you.'

'What about the Druid?' Kella asked.

I grinned. 'I only have to worry about the compound since the settlement is some distance away. The compound is lightly guarded and we'll only need a distraction to slip by. I'll have Dragon with me. She can make her dragon face to distract them.'

The others laughed, including Dragon who, though she did not understand, seemed to find laughter itself funny.

'Rushton will never forgive me for letting you go into danger,' Domick groaned.

'Tell him that I refused to listen,' I said firmly. 'But I think he will be more interested in what you can learn. If you can get back to Sutrium before tomorrow night, no one will even know you were away.'

It was decided. I would go at first light. Brydda would take us to the start of the Olden way and we would go on alone. He and the others would wait until the soldierguards had gone before going to Sutrium. Brydda gave me careful instructions about how to contact him.

We left in the cold, grey light of the very early morning after saying our farewells. First to Katlyn and Grufyyd, who had been so kind, to Idris, Reuven, Avra and the horses, then to Kella and Domick.

I said goodbye last of all to Pavo, knowing it might be the last time I would see him. I could not hug him, because any sort of pressure was unbearable for him. He was delirious most of the time, and he blinked at me in a puzzled way, as if his memory were disintegrating.