Traveller's Refuge (10 page)

“Who are you?” Bish asked in puzzlement. He had never seen anything like the strange man. His long silver hair, arranged in a multitude of small braids, each finished with a jeweled clasp, pooled around his knees as he knelt next to Trav. When he moved, the clasps clinked together like a delicate wind chime. Bishop squinted in the cave’s dim light, unwilling to accept the hint of fangs and delicately pointed ears he could swear the little man had. His face reminded Bish of a withered apple, except for those bright, twinkling green eyes. They brought to mind bird eyes. The little old man had some sort of cloth wrapped around his lower body and soft leather sandals.

“I am Dai.”

“Uh-huh. And who are you when you’re home, Die?” Bish’s brows rose in query.

“I am Dai. A healer.” He looked directly at Bishop. “Your friend is in need of a healer.” His head came up as he heard people approaching. “Good. Help has arrived and soon your friend will be more comfortable.”

Shoving the blanket away, Bish clambered to his feet. No one was going to move Trav until he talked to somebody that made more sense. Several people appeared on the pathway behind the waterfall shielding the cave, carrying bright light wands and all talking at once. When they saw Bish, the babble stopped abruptly as though cut with a knife.

The oldest man in the group tilted his head to one side, smiled widely revealing definite pointed fangs and said calmly, “Hello, Bishop. Fancy meeting you here.”

Bish knew that voice though he hadn’t heard it in many years. He sat down so suddenly he would have bruises on his backside for a week. He shook his head very slowly and then just stared. “Baron.” His eyes grew round with shock as he really looked at him. Baron’s black hair, shot through with silver streaks now, was arranged like the old man’s hair. He wore the same soft skirt-like garment with matching vest and the soft sandals. And in the light of the wands they carried, his skin was indisputably
blue
.
Almost absently, Bishop noted the gently pointed ears, pierced and decorated with multiple gold rings. After a minute, he realized that he was opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish but no sound was coming out. He tried again but it came out as a hoarse croak. “Baron.”

Merlyn came and squatted down next to him, with his arm across his shoulder. “Bish, I’m glad to see you.” He gestured for the others to come closer. “This is part of my family. Llyon. Tyger.” Two tall young men with blinding red hair arranged in tight twists on top of their heads. “Wrenna.” A tiny young woman with locks the color of glorious sunrise streaming down her back. “And two men from our village, Jonas and Mali. And you remember Jade, don’t you?” Yes, he remembered Jade but she looked quite different with her glowing auburn hair bound up in some kind of braided coronet arrangement sprinkled with tiny jewels. He had never seen her when her hair was this neat. And they were all blue…

After scrutinizing the strange group, Bish turned to face his brother, “Baron, why have you never let us know that you were okay?”

Merlyn stood and helped his brother to his feet. “That’s a long story, Bish, and we’ll have plenty of time to tell it later. Why don’t we get this man settled and then we can talk.” He looked down at Trav with faint smile. “Well, he certainly looks like Dancer.”

Bishop was finding the entire encounter stranger by the second. “How do you know Dancer?”

Llyon and Dai worked with quiet haste to stabilize Traveller while Wrenna knelt near his head. Suddenly, she slumped over with her head resting on his shoulder. Tyger jumped to pull her away but Dai shook his head. “Leave her, Ty. They’re in
rapport
and it’s better if they’re touching.”

More confused than ever, Bishop turned to his brother and demanded, “What’s going on? What is she doing?”

Merlyn took his arm, turning him away from the group working on Trav. “Wrenna is his mate. She’s helping them stabilize him by linking with him mind to mind. You needn’t worry about him. We certainly wouldn’t want to have to face Dancer if something happened to Traveller!”

“You didn’t answer me before. How do you know Dancer?”

A small smile crept across his face as Merlyn replied proudly, “He’s my bond-son.” Observing the panicked look on Bish’s face, he suggested kindly, “Look! You’re very tired and your friend needs immediate attention. Come with us and I assure you that we will explain everything as soon as possible.”

Wrenna, with the help of Tyger, got to her feet and joined her father and Bishop. Taking him by the hand, she suggested, “Why don’t you come with Mama and me, Uncle Bishop? Traveller is your friend?”

“Uh, yeah. He’s Dancer’s brother.” Unsure of how it had happened, he found himself treading along the narrow path behind the waterfall, toward a beautiful jewellike clearing surrounded by a lushly blooming valley. Wrenna led the way with Jade sandwiched securely between her and Bishop. He turned to go back but Jade’s firm grip on his other arm prevented him from leaving. In the early morning light of the clearing, he stopped and really looked at her. Really saw the obvious. “My God, you’re blind! What happened?”

Jade lightly squeezed his arm and smiled. “A fall, long ago, Bishop. I’m fine now but as you see, I do need help. Will you lend me your arm until we get back home? Merlyn will be busy taking care of your friend.”

“Who are these people, Jade? Did you know you all have blue skin?”

“I’m blind, Bishop—not deaf. Of course I know we’re blue. It’s part of the adaptation to the valley,” Jade replied calmly. “Why don’t we start back toward the village?”

“What about Traveller?” he demanded stubbornly.

“Traveller will be fine. They will bring him to our house so you’ll see him then.” She tilted her head and queried, “Wrenna? Will you go see if Dancer and Eppie can come later? I know you don’t want to leave Traveller but you should be back by the time they carry him home.”

Wrenna reluctantly agreed, turning down a narrow rough path that led around the village to Stonehollow, accompanied by Harmony. Breathing a sigh of relief when the enormous dog disappeared in the trees and unsure exactly where to go, he stopped, refusing to go any farther. “What the hell is going on, Jade? Where is this place? Why are all of you blue? And what’s with the fangs and pointy ears? I refuse to go any farther until
someone
explains
something
to me!” He stared around wildly at his surroundings. “There are things blooming here! It’s December. What is this place?”

Behind him, he heard Merlyn’s low laughter. “Jade, I figured he would be too stubborn to go, unless we explained everything first.” He led his brother and Jade back to the stone bench near the calm pool in the clearing. “Bish, there’s no way to explain everything in a few minutes but I’ll give you the quick, short version because we need to take care of Traveller. First of all, you’ve arrived in Mystic Valley. Our village, Lost Market, is located over in that direction, past that belt of trees.” He pointed toward a towering spire of rock off in the distance as he watched Bish with deep interest. “You’re doing that goldfish thing again.”

“But—”

“I do vividly remember how we felt when we first arrived but trust me, you’re going to have to accept some things until we have time to give you fuller explanations. Now! Where was I?” he asked Jade. “Oh, yes! There is no way out of this valley—that we’ve been able to locate. A very few people, less that three hundred in the last thousand years, have come through that cave we found you in or one of the other pledging circles. Most of those have been in the last fifty years.”

Bish started to say something and then thought better of it. Merlyn nodded. “Wise choice. Hmm. Dancer came through the passage at pledging circle three about a month ago and he is bonded with our daughter, Eppie. Jade and I have fourteen children, so you’re an uncle several times over. There are about fifteen hundred people in the valley, mostly in small family clans.” His eyes took on an unfocused look and he stopped talking.

“What? What’s going on?” Bishop demanded sharply.

Merlyn sighed. “Trouble. I had hoped to delay it for a while but Wrenna inadvertently spilled the beans.”

Jade covered her mouth with one hand and moaned. “Oh, no. I didn’t even think to tell her not to mention Bishop.”

“Well,” Merlyn said grimly, “she did, so now Dancer’s enraged. You go with Bishop and Traveller back to the village. Llyon, you take care of Traveller. Tyger, see to your mama. Dai and I will go see Dancer and Eppie. Perhaps we can salvage the situation.”

Minutes later, Bishop found himself leading Jade along the path in the wake of the jury-rigged stretcher bearing Traveller. “Why is it a problem for Dancer to know I’m here?” he asked curiously.

“You’re not the problem,” Jade explained patiently. “We are. He doesn’t know that we’re Llewellyns. He’s so angry, and rightfully so, with Fremont that he feels hatred toward all of us. He doesn’t trust anyone related to Free.”

* * * * *

The early morning light barely lit the dark rocky path through the woods to Stonehollow where Eppie and Dancer were spending their seclusion. Wrenna wrapped her shawl close around her shoulders and shivered in the cool air as she hurried along the trail with Harmony keeping pace with her.

“What do you suppose Dancer will think?” Wrenna mused. “I bet they aren’t even awake yet.”

They are awake
, Harmony replied with dry amusement.
But they
’
re still in bed so you may want to be prepared for a wait
.

“I’m not waiting very long,” Wrenna retorted. “Traveller is in a lot of pain. I want to be there where I can help.”

Why not link with him from here
?
You can certainly do that
,
you know
.
You don
’
t have to be touching him
.
Harmony’s tart reminder startled Wrenna.
If you had bothered to link with him before
,
you would have known there was a problem much earlier
!

Shamed by Harmony’s censure, Wrenna immediately established a mental link with Trav, reassuring him that he was safe. She wasn’t sure how coherent he was but she felt the instant lessening of mental tension. Holding the link firm and continuing to comfort him as best she could, she trusted Harmony to safely lead the way to Stonehollow.

When they reached the tiny stone cottage centered in the small circular clearing in the woods, Wrenna was jarred just for a moment. The little square building looked strange to eyes used to the round adobe domed homes in Lost Market. She always had exactly the same feeling when she visited Eppie’s log cabin. Mounting the steps to the narrow porch, she knocked on the door with a firm hand.

Moments later, Dancer, dressed in just his sharda, flung open the door with an impatient frown. “What!”

Wrenna flinched, then straightened her spine and tilted her head back so she could look him in the eye. “Traveller is in the valley. He’s badly hurt. My Uncle Bishop brought him through a tunnel into the cave at circle five. Papa and the others are carrying him to our house in the village.”

“Uncle Bishop?” Dancer queried softly.

Wrenna glanced over his shoulder at Eppie who stood behind him wrapped in just a rumpled sheet before staring at him in confusion. Why did he ignore her news about Trav? Who cared about this strange uncle? “Did you hear me, Dancer? Trav is hurt! They are taking him to our house!”

“I heard you,” he replied coldly. “But it occurs to me that I’ve never known your last name. It wouldn’t just happen to be Llewellyn, would it?”

“And? So what?” Wrenna yelled before hurrying back down the steps. “I can’t stay here and talk. Mama thought you might want to come to the village and see Trav. Personally I don’t care one way or the other!”

She heard the door slam before she reached the edge of the woods. With Harmony trailing after her, she trotted down the path to Lost Market, intent on reaching Traveller.

* * * * *

Dai and Merlyn made the mistake of traveling through the village. Anxious villagers waylaid them, seeking reassurance that the visitors weren’t a danger to the valley. The warriors assigned to guard the village had hastily assembled in the center green, setting the emergency plans into motion. Younger warriors-in-training were going from home to home, alerting the occupants.

Merlyn assured the villagers that they were in no danger but by then Bishop and the others reached the village limits and the villagers descended on them with offers of help and assistance. Dai and Merlyn made their escape, hastening down the path toward Stonehollow. They noted Wrenna and Harmony trotting toward home on the other side of the village green past the communal garden but rather than exchange information with her, they decided to go directly to the bonding cottage.

Just outside the village, they encountered Micah Jollye, the blacksmith, lying on the trail with his leg twisted at an unnatural angle. Dai promptly dropped to his knees and began to block the pain while Merlyn summoned Micah’s son, Hoel, and sent him for assistance from the village. By the time help arrived and Micah’s leg was straightened and set, Merlyn’s and Dai’s uneasiness had sharply intensified. With so much time passed, they had expected to encounter Dancer on the trail. When he didn’t appear, their concern for Eppie escalated.

Together, they hurried through the thick woods, oblivious to the chatter of squirrels and birds twittering sleepily. “Have you reached him?” Merlyn demanded worriedly.

“No. He’s blocked me out,” Dai admitted reluctantly. “I’m surprised that he’s capable of that. He’s stronger than I thought, Merlyn.”

“Maybe, he’s blocking you out because they’re talking,” Merlyn said hopefully.

“Right. Talking.” Dai’s dry agreement told Merlyn exactly what he thought about that possibility. “More likely one of them has killed the other one and they’re contemplating where to bury the body.”

Merlyn stopped dead on the path. “Don’t say something like that!”

“Why?” Dai nudged him to get moving. “They’re both strong-willed, stubborn, hardheaded people. I expect that Eppie is giving as good as she’s getting. You’ll see, we’ll be meeting up with them before we reach Stonehollow.” He smiled suddenly. “Of course, they could be in bed. Since I met you and Jade, I don’t recall another couple that is so shamelessly sexual. All they have to do is look at each other and they end up
garzhinka
!”