‘You’re one strong companion,’ he crooned as he curried her thick winter coat, steam rising where the saddle had been. ‘Thank you, milady.’
Picking up each hoof, he checked for stones or loose nails and ran his hand down her legs, feeling for swollen tendons. Nothing. She’d be fit and sound, ready to climb the pass tomorrow—if the storm cleared.
Jarrod made a fire with what fuel he could find. Fortunately, the little gorge had trapped a great deal of driftwood from previous floods. They’d lodged in the shrubs and rocks and the twisted shapes were dry and combustible. In moments he had a comfortable blaze going, placing his little pot of dried beef soup on the coals that were already burning red. He flipped open his book—a novel about leviathan sea creatures said to dwell in the southern seas—reading aloud to the mare as he melted drinking water and mulled wine. When the sun had well and truly set, he wrapped himself in furs and fell asleep. Nell would find him tomorrow, and together they would find Rosette.
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 here.’
‘Leave them here?’
‘For the return. No sense lugging them up to the plateau and then back down again. They’ll be safe enough. I’ll saddle up.’
Rosette dished out two portions of the stew into the felines’ plates and added ice to take out the heat and give them more liquid. They didn’t waste any time lapping it up. She left the remainder beside the fire and followed An’ Lawrence to the horses. His back was to her as he saddled them.
‘That’s it?’ she asked, tapping his shoulder. ‘That’s all you have to say…
we have to be quick?
No comments about, let me see, anything else?’
He clamped his hand over hers to stop the tapping. He tried to hold it, but she pulled back. ‘Rosette, we have a task to perform and it must be successful. There is no time to talk about last night’s revelation.’
‘You tell me I’m your daughter and that my whole upbringing was a lie, that Nell and you were lovers and she’s my mother, then it’s, “Oh, sorry, there’s no time to talk about it. Break camp—important meeting—chop chop”?’
‘It’s a shock to me too, I assure you. I have more than a few questions for Nellion myself, when we next meet. But we can’t dwell on it right now.’ He caught her wrist and squeezed it tight. ‘Do you understand me? We have to stay focused. Things are going to get dangerous.’
‘Because, so far, it’s been a summer picnic?’
He growled. ‘Focus, Rosette. Do you understand?’
‘Perfectly,’ she replied.
No time for this!
Drayco said.
You two will have to sort out your bonding later.
Rosette huffed.
I’ve no desire to bond with him. All I want is some clarity.
The meal disappeared in silence, An’ Lawrence eating in the back of the cave and Rosette by the fire. She could hear him speaking to the horses as he finished tacking up, but she didn’t look his way. She busied herself, rolling up the packets of food and tucking the crockery into the saddlebags that were to be left behind. She slipped on her sheepskin coat, ready to go. An’ Lawrence stood silently at the cave entrance, testing the wind.
‘Gale’s dropped completely,’ he said, staring out over the horizon.
‘Thank the goddess,’ Rosette said.
‘We’d best get to the top of this last ridge while we can.’
‘Again,
why?
’
‘We’re to meet a…a messenger.’
‘What kind of messenger?’
‘It could look like almost anything.’
‘Thing?’
‘Creature.’ He turned and stared her in the eyes. ‘There will be no time to debate. We will have to respond immediately and judiciously.’
‘Judiciously?’
‘It may seem evil to you, frightening, but it is older than that. From another world. Uncanny. It is not our place to judge or form an opinion. We must simply respond to instructions.’
‘Sounds to me like you have met such a
thing
before.’
‘I have.’
She waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t. ‘Anything else you’d like to tell me about this creature, before we go? Any hint you might want to give your only daughter before she faces the unknown, completely baffled from lack of information?’ She looked at him questioningly. ‘Am I your only daughter, or are there sisters and brothers somewhere that I have yet to meet?’
‘Not that I’ve been told of, Rosette,’ a warning in his voice.
She ignored it. ‘So there could be?’ Her eyes went wide.
‘Stop thinking about the past, Rosette. It doesn’t exist.’
‘I can see that it doesn’t exist for you.’
The look he threw her made her mouth snap shut. ‘Last warning, Rosette. Let it go. All our lives are at stake. Stay focused on the messengers.’
‘Messengers? Now there’s more than one?’ She turned to Drayco. ‘It seems there’s more than one, a whole party of them, perhaps?’
‘There could be more than one, yes.’
Rosette studied the gravity in his eyes. ‘I’m listening,’ she said, schooling her features.
‘These messengers require special treatment. You must not be dazzled by them. You must not be impressed, neither must you startle. Most importantly, do not behave frivolously. They have no sense of humour, I promise you, and they will not tolerate your sharp tongue.’
He led his horse out of the cave. Rosette and the familiars followed.
‘Do you understand?’
‘Perfectly,’ she said, her hands shielding her eyes from the glare.
‘You’ll need these.’ An’ Lawrence gave her a pair of glasses, the lenses darkened with a sea-green tint. ‘The snow is blinding without them.’ He put on a pair himself and checked his daughter’s fit. ‘Let’s go.’
Leading the horses in single file, they headed up the icy slope. Rosette shivered from the cold shock. She also shivered from the Sword Master’s indifference. She had lost one family already, one father. John’ra was gone and now she had a second chance that also seemed to be slipping away before she could grasp it.
Rosette dispelled the thought and concentrated on their immediate situation. She still had no clear idea what they were rushing to meet. Messengers? A creature? Many creatures? If being an apprentice meant being kept out of the loop, she was doing just fine. She pushed her left hand deep into her pocket, gripping the reins with the other. Rosette was determined to get to the bottom of all these mysteries; if nothing else it was a suitable distraction from her dark mood. Clucking to her horse, she hurried to catch up.
There is good news here, Maudi.
What’s that?
You’ve made apprentice.
I know, but somehow I thought it would make me feel a whole lot better.
Jarrod leaned forward in the saddle as the mare lunged over a fallen log and scrambled up yet another slope. He stood in his stirrups, scanning the terrain ahead. Snowdrifts piled high to his left, but the howling wind had kept the trail frozen and
manoeuvrable. He knew he was getting closer, gaining on them. He could feel it.
If the fair weather held he would be at the summit before nightfall. He stroked his horse’s neck as they crested the grade and skirted around an outcrop of boulders. Without her instincts and stamina, he doubted he’d find the way. The mare had been through this pass over many summers. She knew where they were headed and seemed to understand the urgency. It felt like the first bit of good luck since setting out on this journey.
A shrill whistle from above brought him out of his musing. He eased to a halt and searched the sky. It called again and he automatically answered in his goshawk whistle. A bird circled overhead and spiralled towards him. He urged his mare on. If this was Nell then she’d spotted him and would catch up in due time. If it was not, he’d take it as another good omen. The mare seemed unperturbed and they trotted steadily up another grade.
When they reached the top a hooded figure stood beside the trail, precariously close to the edge of a precipice. Three ravens perched in a dead pine branch behind her. Nell’s sudden presence was too much for the mare. She spooked like a green-broke filly, jumping upwards and sideways inside a second, bunching her hindquarters to bolt.
Jarrod shortened his reins and brought her under control as Nell pushed back her hood.
‘Steady, Wren. It’s only me.’ She held a hand out towards the horse’s flaring nostrils.
‘How do you do that?’ Jarrod asked, patting his horse’s neck.
‘Years of practice.’
He laughed. ‘I’ve yet to master it and I’ve had quite a few more years than you, Nell.’
‘Ah, but you are not a witch.’ She rubbed her hands together and slipped on her gloves. ‘You’ve done very well to get this far, this fast.’
‘It’s Wren. The mare’s amazing.’ He looked up at the sky and back to the cloaked woman. ‘Not as amazing as you, but damn fine anyway. What’s the news?’
‘They’re at the summit. I saw them crest the plateau.’
‘Rosette? Is she all right?’
‘She looked okay from where I was, but I didn’t get too close. I’m guessing they’re waiting up there for a messenger.’
‘Messenger?’
‘Wards of Kreshkali. They’re shape-shifters, after a fashion, very interesting. Dangerous, though.’
‘What does this mean?’
‘Makee must think that Rosette knows something about the lost spell. She’s fishing for information.’
‘In these waters? I thought you said Makee wouldn’t guess.’
‘I’m not certain of anything now.’
Jarrod looked at her and shook his head. Magic was such a complex art, as were those who wielded it.
‘Did you find out anything more?’
‘Very little. Makee’s suspicious of me and singleminded. All her intent is focused on this meeting, I know that much.’
‘Won’t An’ Lawrence protect her, being her blood?’