“Kai, pray wait for me in my outer chamber.” Her father dismissed the one person she’d hoped would be an ally.
“As you wish.” Kai gave her a sympathetic smile before leaving the chamber.
Once the door clicked shut, her father continued. “Circumstances decide the matter, I’m afraid. I won’t risk you on the open road with war gathering and an assassin ready to take your life. You are better protected within Torindan’s walls.”
“But— ”
“Enough!”
She shrank at the harshness of his tone.
He went on more quietly. “I will not lay your death at my door beside your mother’s. I sent her away when I should have kept her close. I will send another messenger to Euryon.”
“Who?”
“Eathnor and Dorann’s father.”
“Will you take him from his wounded son’s side?”
“Few others have the skill to reach Westerland by the shorter route through the wild lands. Euryon may give us help, provided I haven’t left asking until too late.”
Rand walked beside Eathnor along the path at the edge of Torindan’s inner garden. Strongwood branches formed a tunnel above them and water falling from the fountain danced in the light. All creation sang, and his soul joined in. Mara had defended him. He would never have more from her, but she’d given much more than he deserved. He could almost let himself believe she loved him in return. He curbed the foolish thought. He’d come to save Mara, not to claim her for himself. He considered himself honor-bound to obey Elcon’s command to stay away from her.
“You are silent.” Eathnor’s voice recalled him.
“I have much on my mind.”
“I can well imagine.”
“I’m glad Elcon released me into your charge.”
“As am I. You may discover the need of a friend beside you.”
They passed beneath the archway into the outer bailey. The gatehouse stood before them, and the tracker fell silent. Concern for his brother would naturally drive all else from his mind. Rand had once hoped for such closeness with Draeg, but he could only guess what that would be like.
“Weilton!” Eathnor hailed a Kindren with eyes light as his own and garbed in the green and gold of a guardian of Rivenn.
“Eathnor! We’d given you up for dead.”
“I’m happy to prove you wrong. Do you know where my brother lies?”
“You’ll find Dorann two doors beyond your own chamber.”
“How does he fare?”
“For a time he lingered near death, but I am told he rallies.”
Some of the strain went out of Eathnor’s face. “That’s welcome news.”
“The sight of you won’t fail to comfort him.”
Eathnor knocked on the door Weilton had named, but burst into the room before any could answer.
The red-haired Kindren in the bed looked up from a bowl of broth, eyes wide in a pinched face.
Staring at Eathnor as if seeing a specter, an amber-haired beauty dropped the spoon she held to Dorann’s mouth.. “My son!”
Dorann swung his legs out of bed, and the bowl flew, splattering broth.
Eathnor rushed to his brother and gathered him in an embrace. “Watch yourself. You don’t look as able as you seem to think you are. Now lie back and tell me how a shaycat bested you.”
Dorann sank into the tick with a smile on his face. “And I’d like to know why Freaer’s guardians found you sleeping.”
Eathnor laughed. “Your tongue has taken no injury, at least. Mother, this is Rand of Pilaer. My mother, Erinae.”
Rand hid his surprise. Her unlined face and ungrayed hair gave her the appearance of a mere maiden, too young to be Eathnor and Dorann’s mother. She nodded to him, but her eyes were all for Eathnor. “It’s good to have you home, my son.”
“I’m thankful to find you well.” Eathnor embraced his mother, wincing even as he smiled.
Rand looked away, his throat thickening. He had never experienced such a homecoming. He probably never would. His own mother was lost to him, maybe always had been. In a sense, her life had ended before his birth. What part could someone like him take in such a tender scene? He edged toward the door.
Eathnor and his mother broke apart, smiling at one another, but then she plucked at his torn sleeves. “What’s this? Are you injured?”
“It’s nothing.”
She narrowed her eyes. “How came you by this injury?”
“I doubt you’ll want to know, Mother.”
“Maybe not. But Praectal Daelic should look at it.”
“That’s certain. He can tend Rand’s arm, as well.”
Erinae’s gaze, alive with sympathy, swung to Rand. “Wait and I’ll find him.”
Rand perched on a bench beside the bed. He would do as she bid, though weariness was catching up with him. Leaning his head against the wall behind him, he shut his eyes to ease their aching while the brothers carried on a quiet conversation.
The praectal’s arrival roused him from a half-slumber. Dorann drank a healing draught and surrendered to sleep.
Rand endured the torture of the praectal cleaning his arm and packing his wound with a stinging poultice.
Eathnor, a fresh tunic covering his newly-bandaged shoulders, embraced his mother a last time and led them from the chamber. In the long corridor where light streamed from high windows, he turned to Rand. “Hungry? I could eat a bruin.”
“I’ve had little food, but my bed holds greater appeal.”
“Since I’m to watch over you, be good enough to let me visit the hall.”
Rand laughed. “All right, but then I must sleep.”
They settled at a table in the great hall, and servants brought them food and drink.
Dorann broke bread from the loaf before him and offered a piece to him.
Rand savored each bite and gratefully accepted a portion of cheese. Days on end of jerky and dried fish had sustained their travels but could not compare to the delights of this simple meal.
The Lof Shraen and his golden-haired Lof Raelein sat at the table on the dais at one end of the chamber. Mara seemed to have stayed away from table, but then she entered through the main archway, trailed by two guards.
Rand drank in the sight of her.
She kept her eyes averted from him as she passed, the set of her jaw telling him he had offended her.
His appetite vanished, and he put down his crust of bread.
He glanced sideways at Eathnor, haunched over his food. If only the tracker would finish so they could leave. When he’d promised to stay away from Mara, he’d not considered the sweet agony that gazing upon her would become.
Elcon kept a guard around her, but she was still too vulnerable for his liking. If she were his, he’d secret her away until all danger passed. A smile touched his lips. He knew without being told that Mara would object to being thus protected.
Mara took the portion of bread her father offered her but couldn’t quite summon a smile. He didn’t seem to notice. With war at Torindan’s gates, he must have other things to consider than his daughter’s emotional state. She took a bite of bread and tried to chew. Seeing Rand just when she wanted to forget him didn’t help her digestion. She should eat to keep up her strength, however. Having never experienced a siege, she had no idea what lay ahead, but she had no doubt that the fabric of life at Torindan would fray.
Her gaze collided with Rand’s, catching until she wrenched away. The bread stuck in her throat, and she reached for her cup to wash it down with a swallow of cider. She couldn’t help her feelings at how readily he’d agreed to keep away from her.
What else could he have done? He’d been in no position to bargain.
She pushed her errant thoughts away. He could at least have objected. That her line of reasoning was not entirely rational did not escape her, but this wasn’t about logic. Why did there seem nowhere to look save at Rand? She pretended a deep fascination i
n the minstrels’ gallery. Did they play with more fervor than usual? Perhaps news of the coming conflict had spread throughout Torindan. How strange to sit at table making merry as if nothing would change.
30
VISITATION
Wake. A voice breathed across Kai’s mind, wafting away the vapors of sleep. He sat up and stared into the darkness. A diaphanous figure in a shaft of moonlight watched him.
“Shae.” He spoke softly to avoid disturbing others asleep in the gatehouse.
She walked through his chamber door.
He stumbled out of bed and flung open the door.
Shae hastened along the corridor. The torches had burned out, but she shimmered in an unknown light. At the top of the stairs leading outside, she beckoned for him to follow.
Caution restrained him. Something seemed different about her this time. “Why should I go out there with you?”
She gave him an aching look. Kai, don’t you trust me?
“You could be some dark phantom luring me to danger.”
You must listen to the small, still voice of Lof Yuel.
How could he hear anything from Lof Yuel with his mind in turmoil? “Where do you want to take me?”
You wish to find the sallyport.
“How do you know this?”
Please! My strength fades. Her figure dimmed.
“Wait, there.” He returned to his chamber and pulled on his boots with hands that shook. On the way out, he caught up his cloak and sword.
She stood where he had left her, more insubstantial than before.
He followed her down the stairs.
Waiting for him to reach her in the outer bailey, she lit the darkness like a shaft of moonlight. Kai. She smiled and lifted a hand as if to touch his cheek, but her smile faded as she turned away.
“Shae…” He reached for her, his hands passing through air.
She waited beside the archway to the inner bailey.
Kai hesitated, but the temptation to pursue her tugged him too strongly. He had to hurry to catch up.
She stepped off the path and glided beneath silvered strongwoods into deeper shadow.
Confusion assailed him. Whyst could kill evil spirits, but if one came to him disguised as Shae, dispatching it would require more strength of mind than he possessed. However, if he didn’t continue, he’d never know the truth. With both mind and heart committed to his course, he stepped off the path. Winter’s breath lingered at night as yet, and he shivered in the predawn chill despite his cloak.
Movement came from behind him, and he spun to meet the intruder with sword leveled.
“Careful, there!” A voice carried out of the darkness.
“Randolph of Pilaer.” He kept his sword raised. “What brings you creeping behind me?”
“I woke and opened my window to the night air. That’s when I heard voices outside.”
Kai prodded the story for holes and could find none. But that didn’t mean he had no suspicions. “Is the night air the only reason you opened your window?”
“I wasn’t trying to escape, if that’s what you’re wondering. It sounded like someone needed help, so I came out.”
“Noble of you.”
Rand huffed. “Believe me or not, as you choose.”
Kai! Little time remains.
From the turn of Rand’s head, he had heard Shae. “What was that?” he hissed.
“Who was that, you mean.”
“I grew up in Pilaer. I know the voice of a wraith.”
Kai frowned. How well he remembered the wraiths of Pilaer—shadows that ran at him, fed on his fear, gathered power from his efforts to destroy them. He couldn’t imagine growing up in a place infested with them. He started off. “Shae is no wraith.”
“Why do you follow her?” Rand kept pace.
“She knows where the sallyport you mentioned lies.” Branches met overhead, closing him into dense shadow. He emerged into a clearing. The moonbeams straggled down from the sky seemed all the brighter for the darkness he had just left.
Shae hurried down the overgrown path beside the inner curtain wall, so pale she appeared little more than a vapor that might dissipate.
Here. The word brushed Kai’s mind.
Already vanishing, she pointed at the wall.
He rushed to the spot she had stood and bowed his head.
“Who was she?”
Rand’s question brought Kai back from his despair. “One bound by chains of love.”
“Can you free her?”
“That is not mine to do.”
“There is more here than I understand.”
“That is true for me as well.” Kai lead the way toward the wall. “Since you are here, you might as well make yourself useful. Help me search.” He ran his hands over the hewn stone wall. “There must be some sort of lever.”
“I wish she’d shown it to us.”
“She may not have known of it.” Shae had learned of the sallyport when Freaer carried her into it against her will, but there was no need to explain any of that.
An extended search turned up nothing.
Rand rubbed the back of his neck. “Could someone have sealed it shut?”
“That’s doubtful. We’ll have to wait for daylight.” Kai crouched low and explored a gap at the base of the wall. A smooth shape met his fingers. “I found it!” Pushing, and then pulling, didn’t budge the handle. He added more strength, trying again with the same results. “It must have rusted shut.”
“Here, let me try.” Rand shoved against the lever, the muscles of his good arm bulging. He shook his head. “I can’t move it.”
“We’ll have to rouse Craelin. He should know of this.”
“I’d rather not go with you, if it’s all the same.”
After the first guardian’s hostility toward Rand, Kai could understand his reluctance. But he shouldn’t leave Rand, with his loyalty unproven, alone at the sallyport. “I’m sorry, but I must insist.”
“I’d sooner face a pyrek in the desert.” Rand strained against the lever with renewed vigor. He sat back. “It yielded—not much, but it did move.”
“Here, step aside and I’ll take a hand. It pains me to stand by while you struggle with one arm useless at your side. Did Praectal Daelic not tend you?”
“He did, but I didn’t put on my sling before coming out. The voices sounded rather—urgent.”
“You must have heard me talking with the guards. I’d like to know how you thought you could rescue anyone with that injury.”
“It wasn’t a matter of thinking, but I’ve held my own with worse.”
“In between fending off the wraiths of Pilaer? What sort of life have you lived, Randolph of Pilaer?”
“Call me Rand.”
Kai applied himself to the lever. An opening cracked in the wall, and damp air rushed into his face. The crack widened like a gaping mouth. Beyond lay a hidden chamber within the curtain wall, with steps leading downward into the motte
Rand whistled. “Pilaer also has such a weakness in its walls.”
“Really? Craelin will be interested in its location. We should find him at once.”
A roar came from outside the stronghold’s walls, making Kai’s heart pound. A fireball launched into the sky, streaming a flaming tail, so bright it turned night to day. Kai crouched by instinct, shielding his eyes, and Rand did the same. The fireball thumped somewhere in the outer bailey. Dread rippled through Kai. Dragonsfire had ended more than one siege before it began. He grasped Rand’s uninjured arm. “Hurry!”
Another burning orb hurtled upward, its roar swallowing his words. It flamed overhead, but he couldn’t tell where it landed. Screams tore through the air.
The march of booted feet echoed in the sallyport.
Kai spun about, ready to run.
Mara woke in a cold sweat. Something was wrong. She could feel it. Sitting up in bed, she threw back the covers.
Traelein rushed in without knocking. Her candle
flared and guttered in stray drafts. She stared at Mara with wide eyes and parted lips, the very image of terror. “Milady, it’s begun!”
Bright light flared at the edges of the wooden shutters shielding the windows.
Mara clutched her throat, robbed of speech.
Traelein wrung her hands. “Oh, what shall we do? They’ll burn us alive!”
Mara went to Traelein and gripped her shoulders. “We must not panic.” An explosion erupted outside. Mara flinched as agonized screams pulsed in its wake.
Traelein cowered against the wall.
“Help me dress.” She called to her maid. “If I’m to be made a corpse, I’d rather meet my fate wearing more than a chemise.”
“Don’t say such things!” Traelein stared at her with frightened eyes.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to alarm you.” She’d forgotten Traelein’s superstitions, but they had more to fear than the spoken word.
Traelein helped her to dress with clumsy hands. Mara’s thoughts spun in circles. Where was Rand right now? Her father? Arillia? Kai? Each face flashed before her as she mentally recited their names. If even one life precious to her ended she could not bear it. She would not let herself dwell on the possibility of losing her own.
Torindan’s catapaults responded, the clunk they made as they recoiled bringing the comforting knowledge that Torindan was fighting back.
A lull in the fighting stretched her nerves to breaking point, and she rushed to open the shutters.
“No!” Traelein gripped her arm with the strength of panic, but then fell back. “Forgive my boldness, Lof Raena, but I feared for your safety. A stray missile could strike you.”
Mara gripped her maid by the shoulders. “Perhaps you should leave the chamber.” She spoke in a gentle but firm voice.
Traelein’s forehead creased. “I’ll not leave you. Please don’t ask it of me.”
“Your loyalty speaks well of you. All right, then. I’ll be quick as I can, but you must let me look out. I’ll go mad if I can’t see what is happening.” She cracked the shutter only enough to show her the horrifying scene outside. Flames consumed one of the kitchens and another fire raged across the sward toward the inner garden. “How can green grass burn so readily?”
“It’s dragonsfire, milady.” Traelein said in an awed voice from beside her.
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