"We'll have time for this kind of fighting when the Black King is vanquished. Not before." The Cap shoved Gift back. Gift stumbled, then caught himself. "Now, the three of us will go up the mountain. Coulter will remain here. Got that?"
Gift brushed himself off. He hated being pushed around, especially by a Red Cap. "I don't see why we have to listen to him."
"He has more magick than the rest of us," the Cap said.
"Except maybe you," Leen said to Gift. She peered at him hopefully. "Have you had a Vision about this?"
He stared up at the black spot on the mountainside. It seemed to pulse. "I don't think so."
"You don't think so?" the Cap asked. "Either you've had one or you haven't."
Gift clenched his fists. He was beginning to really dislike that little Red Cap. "I don't think so," he said. "I won't know until I get there. Sometimes I only get fragments of things. I may recognize a fragment when I get closer."
He almost added, I don't expect you to understand, but he didn't. No sense in antagonizing the Cap farther.
"Well, then," the Cap said as if Gift hadn't spoken. "If you haven't had a Vision about it, we do as Coulter says."
Coulter was watching all of this, his blue eyes hooded. He had his arms crossed. He looked calm, but Gift got a sense that Coulter was as scared as the rest of them. He just wasn't admitting it.
For a moment, Gift got the feeling he'd had when they were friends. A brush of concern, a slight worry, then he suppressed it. Coulter didn't need Gift's concern. Coulter could take care of himself.
"I don't want to go up the mountain without Adrian," Gift said.
"I don't care what you want," the Cap said. "You're going. And Adrian would be the first to admit this is the right path."
Gift ducked back into the pillars. The small camp had seemed like home for a brief time. He would gather his things. He would go. But he wouldn't like it.
At least he'd be free of Coulter for a while.
He sighed, sat down, and put his head in his hands. Up until a few weeks ago, he'd had a life. He'd known what was going to happen from day to day. He had his friends, his adopted family, and his escape — Sebastian. He'd known how to be and who he was, within that context.
Now, the Cap wanted to train him to be the Black King's equal, as if a magickless Red Cap would know how to do that. Now Gift didn't know where he'd sleep from night to night. He had no place to run, and he had no say in where he was.
He didn't want to be the Black King's equal. He didn't ask to have these Visions or to be of Black Blood. He had liked his quiet life. He wanted to go back to it.
Only there was no life to return to.
And that made him deeply sad. He knew, in some, such loss brought a killing rage, but not in him. In him it brought rage, yes, but not of the kind that allowed him to become like his great-grandfather. Gift didn't want to be a man who slaughtered innocents because their parents made a mistake.
Gift didn't know how the Cap's training could change something that fundamental.
He wasn't sure they should even try.
Leen poked her head in between the pillars. "Scavenger wants to go right away."
"We have a few things to pack up," Gift said.
"Leave some for Coulter and Adrian."
Gift nodded.
"How far do you think that place is?" she asked. "That place only you two can see?"
"Not far," Gift said. He could feel its pulsing now, even inside the pillars. It was as if acknowledging its presence made it even stronger. He glanced up, again, involuntarily, even though he knew he couldn't see it. Something was waiting for him up there. Something he wanted to see. He had learned to follow these hunches over the years.
But that didn't stop him from feeling nervous.
"Is it going to be all right?" Leen asked.
He wasn't sure if she meant the trip, leaving Adrian and Coulter behind, or the future itself.
"I don't know," he said, and wished, for the first time in his life, that he could conjure Visions at will.
At least he would have answers then.
Even if they were answers that he didn't like.
TWENTY-THREE
Marly stood near the table, her arms crossed. She was watching Matthias pull tak from the containers, and put it into a small pack. Tri was holding a vial of holy water.
Matthias could feel her disapproval from across the room.
"Ye canna go searchin," she said. "I'll get Denl n Jakib ta go."
"They don't know what they're looking for," Matthias said.
"They know Fey jus as well as ye do," Marly said.
"Not nearly as well," Matthias said. "I've fought them for years. I've won."
"And ye nearly lost that night near the river," Marly said.
He raised his head. "Are you saying you're worried about me?"
"Aye, Holy Sir," she said, putting an emphasis on the last two words.
He flushed. It felt painful beneath his battered skin. He had thought, perhaps, that she was worried about him, not about what he knew.
"She has a point," Tri said. "If there are Fey, I may not be able to protect you."
"Tis na jus' protection I mean," she said. "He was serious wounded."
"And I managed to walk here," he said.
"Aye, with help."
Matthias shrugged. He didn't want the lecture.
"If what you say about the Rocaan is true," Tri said, "you're the only one with the Secrets."
That did matter. Matthias knew it did. He sighed. "Then get Denl and Jakib," he said. "We'll travel in a group."
"Yer na well enough to travel," Marly said.
"I'm well enough."
"No, yer na," she said. "The walk from Jahn, twas a strain on yer body n yer wounds. Ye act like yer made of stone, but yer na. Ye survived and twas a miracle. A man, even a man like ye, shouldna take miracles fer granted."
He shoved a water bladder still full from their trip into the pack. He didn't need lectures. There might be Fey here, and he had to see for himself. He couldn't hide in his house much longer.
"I'll take my own risks," he said.
"Aye," she said. "N leave the rest a us ta fend fer ourselves."
"You did fine before I showed up," he said.
"There were na thousands a Fey on the Isle then," she said softly.
"Matthias," Tri said, "she is right. You have some serious wounds. Maybe this can wait."
"It cannot wait," he snapped. He tied the pack closed, then tied it around his waist.
"It was my idea," Tri said. "I can warn them myself."
"You can't find them without me." Matthias stood completely upright and adjusted the pack. "Get Denl and Jakib. We'll go as a group. And that's the end of it, Marly. I won't have you arguing with me any more."
"N I will make me choices as ta if I'm gonna help ye when ye return, all tired and bloody and bruised," she said.
"You think that's how I'll come back?" he asked.
"Yer wounds are na healed yet," she said. "Ye'll be bloody na matter what happens."
"I haven't been yet," he said. "You've taken care of the wounds nicely."
"Tis na right," she said, "you goin off after more Fey. They near ta killed ye last time."
"I beg your pardon, ma'am," Tri said. "But I never said they were Fey."
"Ye said they were tall. Fey are tall. N he's only going with you because he believes they're Fey." She was frowning at Tri. Her humor had been good since they arrived. Matthias was a bit startled by the change.
"Actually," Tri said, "Matthias is tall. It could simply be … outsiders, like him."
"N ye paused afore the word 'outsider' because why?"
Sharp woman. Matthias wished he could smile, but it wasn't worth the pain.
Tri glanced at Matthias.
"I dunna know how a man born in a place is an outsider," she said.
"You haven't been in Constant long enough," Tri said. "Matthias is lucky to be alive and so,
I would wager, are you."
She frowned. "Ye told him?"
"That your family came from here?" Matthias asked. "I didn't have to. It's obvious in your coloring and height. You're unusual, Marly. You'll stand out."
"Like those tall ones yer hunting."
"Yes," he said. He didn't want to tell her the rest, didn't want her to know what life here was like. But he would. He had to.
He cleared his throat, then sighed. "Marly, it could just as easily be you and me that the locals are afraid of. We're tall enough to scare them. It doesn't matter if we're Fey or not. It doesn't matter if we were born here or not. They're terrified of people like us."
"Then why'd ye come here?" she asked.
"Because the Secrets were born here," he said.
"Secrets?" she asked. "Of the Tabernacle?"
He nodded. Tri was watching him with an intensity Matthias had never seen before.
"What do ye mean 'born' here?" she asked.
"They're recipes, most of them," he said, lying only a little. "The ingredients come from here."
"N this is important why?"
"Because one Secret, holy water, killed Fey. The others might, too."
She took a step toward him. "Yer telling me that our God gave us weapons agin the Fey?"
"Yes," he said.
"A loving n just God?"
"That's Tabernacle crap," Tri said, then turned to Matthias. "Sorry."
Matthias shrugged. It meant nothing to him. The Tabernacle had distorted the Words to its own end from the day it was built. It was gone now. Although he missed it, he didn't mourn it. There was a difference.
"N ye see yerself as some sort of general in some sort of holy war?" she asked.
"No," Matthias said. "But I do believe we should fight with whatever tools we have."
"It seems odd ta me," she said. "Ta worship with the tools a war."
"We've done it from the beginning," Tri said. "The sword is a tool of war, and the center of Rocaanism."
"Ye sound as if ye know of this stuff," she said to him. Matthias had been thinking the same thing. Had Tri learned more than the location of varin in his days as a Wise One?
He merely smiled. "You'll find the beliefs about the Tabernacle are different here," he said.
"All beliefs seem ta be different here," she said. She smoothed her hair back, leaving one arm crossed over her stomach."What'll ye do with these 'tall ones' if they're na Fey?"
Matthias had some ideas. Perhaps they would recruit them, bring them back to the house. Or perhaps he would do nothing. He hadn't decided. "We'll see when we get there," he said.
She sighed, as if she knew he were holding back from her. "I'll get Denl and Jakib fer ye," she said and left the room.
"Difficult woman," Tri said.
Matthias shook his head. "She's strong and smart. She worries, that's all."
"I think she feels something for you," Tri said.
"Pity." Matthias twisted the pack around his waist until he was comfortable. "Do you think the tall ones are still here?"
"I have no doubt. Where would they go? Besides, the rumors say they have friends working in the quarry."
Matthias tightened the strings. The pack rubbed against his back. "This gets stranger all the time."
"Only if you think they're Fey. What if they're like your people? A few tall ones and the rest normal?"
Matthias winced at the word choice. He was beginning to like Tri up to that point. "You think I'm abnormal?"
"It's a fact of Constant," Tri said. "Anyone taller than me is abnormal. Anyone who's taller than me and survived his exile to the mountain is even stranger."
"They're still doing that here, aren't they?" Matthias asked.
"I was hoping to stop it," Tri said, "before circumstances made me leave the Wise Ones."
Then Denl stepped into the room. His round face was lined, his blond hair messed. He had been exhausted since before they arrived. Matthias attributed it to fear: Denl had been terrified since the Fey invaded. He had tried to hide it, but hadn't completely succeeded. It was only after they had been on the road for a few days that Matthias had learned about Denl. His entire family had been slaughtered in the first Fey invasion. He was taken in by some Auds and raised in Rocaanism. It was only his birth position, as the fifth in a family of six, that had kept him from becoming an Aud.
The Tabernacle had been strict about taking only second sons.
"If this trip is about murder, ye'll na have my help," Denl said, but he directed his comments to Tri, not to Matthias. Denl still saw Matthias as the Rocaan, and no amount of talking that Matthias would do could change Denl's mind.
A man canna stop bein Beloved a God, Denl would say.
"I simply want to talk to them," Tri said.
"N if they're Fey?" Denl asked.
Tri looked at Matthias. "I'll probably defer to Matthias's greater knowledge."
Matthias met his gaze. Did Tri know him well enough to understand that Matthias would kill a Fey on sight?
"I dunna understand why ye must go, Holy Sir," Denl said.
"These could be Fey," Matthias said. "I need to know."
"Why? It dinna make a difference to us. They're all over the Isle."
"It makes a difference to me," Matthias said. "I killed the woman whom they considered second only to their Black King."
"I thought God killed her," Denl said.
"Under my watch," Matthias said. And with his help. Only the strictest interpretations of the Words would allow anyone to believe that God killed Jewel. Matthias had put the holy water on the cloth. Matthias had put the cloth on Jewel's head.
She had survived a religious ceremony in the past — the joint wedding ceremony, performed by Matthias and the Fey's Shaman. God did not strike her down then. But then, God had not allowed the cloth Matthias had used to be stored with the holy water on that day.
"They've been after me ever since," Matthias said.
"I will na go if murder is the point," Denl said.
"Information is the point," Matthias said. "You can stay if you want. Marly wanted you along to protect me. I don't need protection."'
"Aye, ye do," Marly spoke from behind Denl. Her brother Jakib stood beside her. Jakib, at least, didn't have the rumpled look that Denl did. If anything, he seemed stronger. He was definitely cleaner, having used some of the well water to wash. His hair, now that it was clean, was the same copper red that Marly's was. "N that's why yer na goin without these men."
"Since when do you order us about?" Matthias asked with a bit of humor.
"Since now. We canna lose ye, na now."
Jakib shrugged. "She's me sister. I canna fight it."
"But I can," Denl said. He turned.
Marly put a hand on his chest, stopping him. "Ye claim ta have faith," she said. "Ye claim a purity na offered the rest a us. If ye have it, then ye'll protect the Holy Sir."
"He says he's na the Holy Sir," Denl said.
"N ye say he is. Ye canna have it both ways, Denl. Either he is or he's na, but tis something ye must know in yer heart and na yer head."
Denl sighed. He ran a hand through his hair, then shook his shoulders as if easing tension out of them. Finally he looked over his shoulder at Matthias.
"Ye have enough snacks fer all a us in there or do we ha ta fix our own?"
"I have enough," he said. "I doubt this will take long."
"It may take the rest a our lives," Denl said under his breath.
Marly shoved him slightly. "It'd better na. I dunna want ta go through life witha the three a ye."
Matthias's heart rose at the fact that she included him.
She glared at Tri. "N ye," she said. "Ye see ta it that they come back."
"I will, ma'am," he said.
"I'll be holdin ye ta it," she said.
"You don't need to worry," Matthias said. "We'll be back."
She peered at him. Her look made him uncomfortable. It was as if she could see through him.
"I hope yer right," she said. "I hope yer right."
TWENTY-FOUR
Someone had recently traveled this tunnel. Tuft stopped and landed on the floor. It was made of stone, as most of the tunnels were, but the stone was old. The mortar from above had crumbled and fallen. Some of the chunks were the size of boulders.
He knew, though, that was a reflection of his small size. If he grew to his full height, he wouldn't be able to walk upright in this tunnel. If he tried to crawl, his wings would catch on the rough ceiling and their thin membranes would rip.
The floor was also covered with moss, and so were the walls. The mortar had been brushed aside in the center of the floor and the moss was recently trampled. Someone had crawled through here.
A lot of someones had done so once. Tuft figured that was how the Black Robes had found their cavern. This narrow tunnel had to be built through the old stone bridges that crossed the Cardidas River. He could smell the tang of river water, feel the dampness in the stone. If he listened hard, he could almost hear the water moving below him.
This tunnel would lead him to the Black King's great-grandson, he knew it.
He got off the floor and flew again, relieved that so many someones had gone through this before him. He had hated the dirt and cobwebs he'd faced that morning. The unease he had felt then was still with him Some of that too had to be from seeing the Black King. Tuft had had perfunctory audiences before, usually with the other Wisps on this mission. In the past, Flurry had been Rugad's favorite. Whenever Rugad needed a Wisp to investigate something, he had sent Flurry. The gossip among the Wisps was that Flurry saw things others missed.
But Flurry hadn't returned from his mission to find the Black King's great-grandson two weeks before. Neither had Cinder. They had been hunting for him together.
Some suspected that the great-grandson had found them and murdered them to stay away from the Black King. Others speculated that the Islanders had found a new kind of poison, one that killed small Fey.
A badly burned Infantry man claimed that Flurry had found the great-grandson and that an Islander sent a fire spell into a corn field to kill all the Fey.
The Resistance: The Fourth Book of the Fey (Fey Series) Page 16