He nodded. ‘My father will perform the ceremony.’
‘I am to be their witness,’ Aras announced with grave pride, and I marvelled at how far they had come from the timid girl too shy to realise her own brightness, and the resentful, envious, beastspeaker boy who had begged to be allowed to change to the Farseekers. They were firm friends now and capable of arguing against one another without rancour. It warmed my heart to see the fond glance Zarak gave her.
‘They’re nowt bairns anymore,’ Ceirwan said reflectively when the pair had been dismissed and we were crossing Obernewtyn to visit the Healing Hall.
‘It seems but a moment ago that we were children,’ I said.
The guilden frowned. ‘Ye sound a wee bit hoarse, Guildmistress.’
‘It was getting wet yesterday. It is nothing to be concerned about,’ I said dismissively. ‘I had a herb drink in my chamber just now.’
‘Like as nowt Roland’ll tell ye to gan to bed,’ Ceirwan predicted.
‘I might not need too much telling,’ I admitted, which caused the guilden to give me such a sharply speculative look that I wished I had kept quiet. But when he spoke again it was only to remind me that I would need to go and be fitted for the expedition at some point.
‘I have a new coat and boots already,’ I said. ‘Maryon presented me with them when I last visited her. In fact I wore them yesterday to ride down to see Iriny. Naturally they fit beautifully and were completely waterproof, though I doubt I will have much use for either aboard a ship or in the Red Land.’
‘Maryon must have seen somethin’ that made her give ye heavy clothes,’ Ceirwan said lightly, and I reflected that my successor was likely to have a good deal less difficulty in dealing with the Futuretellers than I had. He went on. ‘Did she ever say what you an’ Dragon were doin’ in th’ Red Land when she saw ye?’
I shrugged. ‘I didn’t think to ask that, but I will.’
‘What about Iriny?’ Ceirwan asked. There was curiosity in his voice, for I had not explained to him why I had wanted to see her.
‘I think she might be interested in the chieftain of Halfmoon Bay, but I forgot to tell her that he will be here for the moon fair. Fortunately she will remain in the highlands and her brother will be up any time so I will make a point of mentioning to him that she is camped in the White Valley.’
Ceirwan stopped suddenly and turned to face me. ‘Here, you have just reminded me! One of the jacks that just came mentioned ridin’ past a large troupe of Twentyfamilies gypsies headed up to th’ White Valley.’
‘They are to hold a ceremony there,’ I said. ‘That is why Darius came up.’
I wished I could ride down at once to find out if Swallow had anything to say about my intention to travel with the four ships to the Red Land and to discover what he knew about the journey his own ancestors had made from that distant land. But given what Iriny had said, I decided it would be politic to wait till after he had chosen the child who would be his heir. I wondered if the knowledge that he might bear no son or daughter had saddened him. He had always seemed so ready to accept the things predicted for him that I found it hard to imagine him reacting with disappointment. Would he not simply accept his childlessness, or was it different when the predicted future was not connected to the ancient promises?
I saw Ceirwan’s expression slacken and realised someone was communicating with him. ‘That was Zarak. He was eating firstmeal when Gevan brought Reuvan into the kitchens. He had ridden up earlier with a message from Dardelan for Brydda and Rushton. According to Zarak, the gist of it seems to be that the high chieftain will not now arrive until the afternoon of darkmoon.’
‘That is cutting it rather fine,’ I said.
‘It seems Dardelan’s spy in Sawlney sent word to him that a meeting is to take place between th’ leaders of th’ various robber bands to talk of merging into a renegade army. It sounds mad, but when ye ken that some of them were soldierguards or Hedra, it dinna sound quite so farfetched.’
‘What has this to do with Dardelan coming up late for the moon fair?’ I asked.
‘The meetin’ is to take place at mid morning on darkmoon, an’ Dardelan sees it as the perfect opportunity to swoop in and nab all of the ringleaders.’
‘No doubt it was arranged deliberately to happen after his departure for the highlands and the moon fair,’ I muttered. ‘Jude would know that Brydda is already up here, and no doubt he is well enough informed to know that Rolf, Khuria and Elii are coming up as well. Indeed, all Misfits who can make the journey as well as those who sympathise with us will be here or on their way up. Leaving the way clear. Ye gods, maybe they plan some sort of coup!’
Ceirwan nodded. ‘Dardelan thinks they will stage some sort of demonstration to make a point connected to the moon fair, but the meetin’ is to happen first, in Sawlney. Zarak said our high chieftain means to ride out from Sutrium afore dawn on darkmoon as if he is headed up here as planned. But in reality he will ride as far as Saithwold, then turn an’ ride back to Sawlney with a host of armsmen at his back. Reuvan told Zarak that Dardelan bade him ask Gevan to send down some of his own people to take part in the attack, an’ any of the coercer-knights that can be spared. They and a good many of the men an’ women now on road patrol will rendezvous at his father’s property.’
‘I just hope that Dardelan arrives here intact and in time for the opening of the moon fair,’ I said. ‘It would seem an ill omen if, after his insistence on holding the ceremonies that will turn Obernewtyn into a shire and Rushton into a chieftain, Dardelan did not appear to play his part. Did Reuvan mention Analivia at all?’
‘Zarak dinna say but he did have one bit of news from Reuvan that will make ye happy,’ Ceirwan said. ‘Dameon is on his way back from Oldhaven.’ My heart lifted, but Ceirwan’s expression remained serious as he went on. ‘But Elspeth, ye ought to ken that Dragon is nowt with him.’
My heart sank, and yet a part of me was not surprised. Somehow it had always seemed too easy and too neat a solution to the girl’s disappearance that Dameon would find her. I mastered my disappointment by reminding myself that tonight I would have the opportunity to ask Atthis where she was. And despite all this, my spirit lifted at the news that Dameon was on his way home.
But as I mounted the few wide steps leading up to the main Healing Hall a few minutes later, it struck me that Dameon would arrive in time for me to say a final farewell to him.
It was almost a relief to see Kella coming along the large chamber towards me. She had not yet noticed me as she walked slowly, hands clasped behind her back, head bowed in thought. Then she lifted her head and saw me. I was shocked to see how haggard she looked.
‘What has happened to the twins?’ I asked.
She blinked at me out of red-rimmed eyes and said with fretful irritation, ‘Nothing has happened. They are both dying and I cannot help them. Gevan is a strong coercer and Kader helped us and we used Sover’s techniques. We worked so hard and for so long, but we could not reach their minds. This is my fault for not coming up to Obernewtyn sooner.’
I was taken aback by the despair and bitterness in her voice and despite my ambivalence towards her over Domick, I said, ‘What is happening to the twins began long ago with Malik’s betrayal in the White Valley. You were not responsible for that or for their decline now. Nor can you be sure that you would have had any more success at reaching them if you had come up sooner. Indeed, you were here when Angina was first ill and you were no more able to help him then than any other healer. No one can blame you for what is happening to him and Miky now.’
Kella’s eyes were suddenly swimming with tears. ‘But you blame me for not loving Domick enough, don’t you?’
I did not know how to respond. Finally I said carefully, keeping my tone plain, ‘I wish you had cared enough to come to see him before he died. Or to speak a few words at his graveside.’
Her eyes widened in shock and she said urgently, indignantly, ‘But I would have, of course I would, if on
ly I had heard in time that he was ill. But I left Sutrium before Iriny came over with the news that he was the plague carrier. I knew nothing of that or of his death until days and days later when Iriny came to the Brown Haw Rises where the gypsies were camped. That was after you had left by ship for Norseland and Sador and Domick had already been buried. I went, later, to see his grave and to lay flowers on it.’ Tears were now spilling down her cheeks.
‘I did not realise …’ I said, shattered by her obvious grief and regret, and full of remorse at the injustice I had done her. ‘I am sorry …’
‘Don’t,’ Kella said sharply. ‘I have been putting off coming back to Obernewtyn because I feared to face your disgust.’
I was taken aback. ‘You have just explained that you did not know what was happening to Domick, so why would I be disgusted?’
She looked searchingly at me through her tears. ‘You don’t know do you?’
‘Know what?’ I asked, bewildered.
She heaved a long breath and said in a low voice, ‘We should sit instead of standing in the hall like this. Gevan has let us have a chamber here, not that either of us has used it.’ She turned on her heel and led me into a small sleeping chamber with two low couches drawn up before a fireplace and a made-up bed against the wall. The shawl she had been wearing upon her arrival lay on the couch.
I sat on the other couch but Kella remained standing and wrung her hands a little before saying,’ ‘Elspeth, there are those for whom one great love comes, which will last unto and even beyond death. I think you have that love for Rushton and he for you, but not everyone is like that. I loved Domick truly and he loved me and if nought had gone awry I believe we would have remained in love. But when he sent me away, I went. If I had loved him more, I think I would not have listened to him. Perhaps it will sound harsh to you, but I think it was the same for him. If his love for me had been deeper and more enduring, he could not have borne to send me away. He would have let me help him when his mind began to crumble under the strain of the things he had seen and done as a spy.’
‘It may be so,’ I said, still puzzled.
She sighed. ‘To begin with I felt I would never get over my sorrow at having been spurned by him, but in the end what tormented me most was the knowledge that I had failed him as a healer. Ironically, if I had loved him less, I would have seen sooner what was happening, and I might have been able to help him. But I only loved him well enough to make me fail him as a healer. When I left here to go to Sutrium last year, my main motivation was to find Domick and help him to get better. But then he vanished and so I waited in Sutrium, working in the Healing Centre.’
‘You do not need to explain yourself to me, Kella,’ I said.
‘Don’t I?’ she asked coolly, and then she sighed. ‘I am sorry. I did not know until I saw you that I was angry with you for judging me. I thought only that you were angry with me.’
‘I was with Domick and his death was hard and sad,’ I said. ‘It was dreadful not to be able to do anything to help him, and difficult to think you had been so callous. I am sorry for thinking that of you. I truly should have known better.’
‘Do not apologise until I finish my story,’ she said. ‘It nearly drove me mad hearing what Ariel had done to Domick, and what he was made to do to Rushton.’ She gave me a look in which pity and compassion mingled with admiration. ‘It was Rushton who told me that you found Domick in time to stop him destroying thousands of lives, that you helped him to find himself before the end. You healed his spirit and Darius says that is the greatest healing. For that I truly thank you.’
For some reason her words made me think of the black power coiled in the darkest corner of my mind and I thought bleakly that if saving a spirit was the greatest power, then the ability to kill must be the darkest, for was it not the opposite? The severing of the silver link that binds spirit to flesh?
And then, just like that, it came to me how I could give the help I had been asked to give.
‘Elspeth?’ Kella said. ‘Are you ill?’
I shook my head, and prevaricated. ‘I took a slight chill when I was caught in the rain last night on the way to the farms, and between that and everything happening, I seem unable to concentrate on anything.’ Nothing would do then but that Kella prepare a potion for me. I let her do what she liked for I was beginning to feel light-headed. When I was sipping at the honeyed liquid she had concocted, she sat by me and resumed her story.
‘More than anything else, after Rushton told me what had happened to Domick, I felt a terrible guilt, because while he had been suffering and dying, I had been realising that I had fallen in love with someone else. That is why I left Sutrium when I did and why I was not there to hear what had happened to Domick. I had to go after him and tell him.’
I stared at her. ‘Tell who?’
A lovely colour bloomed in Kella’s pale cheeks and she said, almost tenderly, ‘Elspeth you were ever blind to such things, but I cannot believe that even you have not guessed it by now. It is Darius that I love. I have never met anyone more wise and kind and sweet-hearted. It was because of those qualities that I told him everything about Domick when we were travelling down to Sutrium last year. I swore I could never love anyone else, for so it seemed to me. Then Darius went with you to Saithwold and Dragon and I went on to Sutrium. It was not until Dardelan brought Vos and Malik down to Sutrium that I learned Darius had fallen terribly ill in Saithwold. I went to see him when I heard he had been brought to the gypsy camp on one of the greens and he was truly in an awful state. I wanted to help but my being there seemed to make him worse. That mortified me but I went to the Healing Centre, yet I could not stop worrying about him.’
She sighed. ‘Then one night, I woke from a nightmare to the memory of myself pouring my heart out to Darius. I remembered a look of pain that had crossed his face when I told him I could never love anyone but Domick and I realised he had not looked like that because of the pain in his limbs, as I had supposed at the time, but because of what I had said. And I knew he would not feel pain at my words unless he cared for me.’
She got up in an echo of remembered agitation. ‘All at once it was clear to me that I loved him and had loved him for some time without being aware of it. I leapt up at once with a cry that woke Dragon. She must have thought I was mad for it was the middle of the night, but I was determined to go to the gypsy camp at once, and declare myself to Darius then and there. Dragon would not be left behind so I took her with me. It was madness to go without telling anyone but it was night and the whole city was upside-down with the plan to lure the soldierguards over the Suggredoon. I should have waited, of course, but Darius had been so ill when I last saw him that I felt as if everything was endangered and uncertain and I had to act at once.’
‘So you told him?’
‘I couldn’t. I found out when I got to the gypsy green that he had been taken when most of the other gypsies had set off for a camp in the lower highlands. But Swallow was there. I suppose he was waiting for Iriny, for she had yet to return. At first he would not tell me where Darius was but I simply blurted out what I wanted to say to him, and suddenly he gave me a wicked smile and said he would send me with his mother who was about to go up and join the others. But I would have to go at once. It was madness and utterly inconsiderate but I said I would go and that Dragon would go with me. But she refused. She thought I wanted to bring her to Obernewtyn and she … well she did not want that. Finally Swallow said he would take her back to the Healing Centre. I asked if she would go with him and she agreed.’
‘That is the last time you saw her?’ I broke in.
She nodded. ‘I feel awful about her disappearance, of course. No one raised any alarm or worried about her at first because it was thought that she was with me. Then I sent word to the Healing Centre to say I was well and would soon return and I asked about Dragon. That was when we realised no one had seen her since we had left together. Yet Swallow had promised to take her to the Healing Centre and
he is not a man who would do other than he swore to do.’
‘You judge his character well,’ I murmured, and bade her go on with her story, knowing I would be able to question Swallow myself in a day or so.
Kella shrugged. ‘There is little enough left to tell beyond what I have told. I went up in the wagon with Maire to the camp, which was in the Brown Haw Rises, found Darius and told him that I loved him. He was no longer so ill, but he was terribly thin and pale. When he heard my words, he smiled and it was …’ She shook her head, unable to find words radiant enough for her joy. Then she sobered. ‘Later when I heard about Domick, it sickened me to realise that perhaps at the very moment I had been telling Darius I loved him, Domick had been dying. I did not cease to love Darius, of course, but it was hard to think of it, and later, well, I felt you must loathe me when you knew. Then there was Dragon’s disappearance. I ought to have made her come with me or at least made sure she was with someone who would watch over her.’
‘I don’t loathe you for falling in love with Darius nor would Domick,’ I said firmly. ‘He would be glad that you have found love again and so am I.’ I reached out and took her hands and though she looked startled, she did not pull away from me. ‘As for Dragon, you said yourself that you tried to take her with you and she refused to go. You were not to know she would take it into her head to run off, for I’m sure Swallow would have done what he said he would do, and taken her back to the Healing Centre. Which means she left after he had gone.’
The healer brushed away a scatter of tears with a trembling hand. ‘It is just such a relief to know that you don’t hate me, Elspeth. I thought coming up here that if I could help Miky and Angina you might forgive me, and then last night, no matter what we did, I could not help them.’
I reached out impulsively to hug her and at first she was so startled that she stiffened, but then she softened and rested her head against my shoulder and we sat like that for a long while. But when I felt her empathy tickling at my senses I drew back hastily, saying I wanted to look at the twins and asking if she would come too.
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