Silver Eve (17 page)

The Rider nodded. “Life with Earth, Dark with Air, Light with Fire, and Death with Water. Nature is the way to commune with the intangible.”

“And so the Guardians—we too are tied. Lark in the gardens, my love for swimming—”

“Swimming.” He laughed. “Proclivity for certain talents is not what binds you.”

“Nay, but it's here.” My hand was on my chest as if I could pull out what I meant. “That
something
—Life or Dark, or Water or Fire—it's primal to us as well. You said that Guardians are awakened to seek their amulets. But the forces that we champion, they were always inside of us—what we would be drawn to, awakened or not.”

There was quiet. My heart was beating against my palm, slow, steady. Then the Rider spoke. “It is your truth.”

He said it not to me, but to the moon and to the wide sky, as if he meant that truth for all of us. It made me strangely happy that he understood.

And it seemed, too, a good opportunity. I asked, hopeful: “The shell's song. How do I find it?”

Laurent glanced over and smiled. “How many questions, my lady, before you are sated?”

A flush. He'd drawn it from me again. I said, as lightly as I could, “As many as you have answers.”

He nodded. “Well, then. I will say the amulets are for Balance, no more. It is something to your Guardianship, to your story, that asks of a song.”

“How so?”

“Guardians' stories do not repeat. Only the amulets are constant. Each awakening will pose unique challenges—different people in a different time. The verse is how we found you, proved you as Guardian, no one else. So it is for you to discover.”

“But surely—”

“Look,” Laurent interrupted smoothly, pointing down far to our left. “Night fishing.”

Pressing the Rider would yield nothing more. I leaned over to see. There were men lowering lanterns into the lake—fat globes of glass, lit with candles, descending slowly on contraptions of poles and ropes as thin as reeds. Some globes already bobbed gently on the water, casting a blue-green halo in the deep.

“The nets are cast,” the Rider said softly. “The light is bait; 'twill draw in the curious barrow fish.”

It drew me in. 'Twas like a dance, lyrical and fluid, those lanterns. I watched. I forgot about the too-quiet space.

“How lovely,” I whispered, “the way they glow on the water. It's as if the moon was captured in each.”

“You've captured a bit of the moon,” he murmured. I looked up at him. “Your hair. Like strands of moonbeam.”

His voice was so rich it took my own from me. Below us the men began singing, music floating up, faint and melancholic. Laurent reached a hand and lifted a loose piece, tucked it behind my ear. The whisper of a touch.

Now I barely breathed, frozen by this act. Like an arrow, desire pierced deep, fast and foreign, and I did not know what to do with it. Laurent pulled his hand back as I tensed, and then shifted to give me more space. “My apologies.”

“For—for what?” I swallowed.
What is it that you hold so tightly?
he'd asked once. If he asked again…

But Laurent only said, “I disturbed you.”

“How?”

The smallest hitch of breath. “There is another who claims your feelings. Please know that I do not presume his place.”

He spoke of Raif; he did not presume. 'Twas another sharp and sudden hurt—memory and desire all crushed together by this Rider. I said hoarsely, “What you presume is that your tucking my hair reminded me of him.”

Laurent was quiet. Then he nodded, pushed himself from the rock to stand silhouetted against the moon. I looked away.

“We should take your news to Eudin now,” he said.

I nodded, relieved…and yet not. I got up far slower, regretting our talk was done and the “we” separating. “I hope the captain recognizes what I describe.”

“Eudin knows the quarry. He'll guide us well. We can leave on the morrow.”

Laurent held out his hand, friendly enough, and so I reached for it, glad to feel it close warm and strong around mine.

With his other hand he held up the curtain of birch leaves for me to duck under. I passed near enough to inhale the faint sandalwood of his skin.

“HOODED FALLS!”

The shout flung me awake. It took a moment to remember where I was; the soft pillow, the quilt…I thought,
Merith!
but then the light resolved and I recognized the hewn walls of Gren Fort and the bright face of Lill.

I blinked at her, and she said it again eagerly: “That sea-shell you want is to be found in Hooded Falls!”

I pushed onto my elbows. “That's what Eudin said. The cave that glitters, the mustard algae—”

“And the blood!” Lill nodded brightly, setting down my tray of bread and tea. “ 'Tis what's
most
whispered, the blood on the walls. That is the legend of Hooded Falls, you know, that it weeps blood.”

“More algae,” I told her. I brushed my hair from my face and scooted to the end of the bed for the tray. “It only stains to look like blood.”

She dismissed that. “Those who go in do not come out. It is
their
blood.”

I grinned, morbid as it was. “You are glad 'tis the most treacherous choice. I think you wish you could join us.”

“I
do
join you!” She bounced a little. “I volunteered to lead you to the falls. I know where it is and I am quick.”

“Lill!” The tea sloshed, scalding my fingers. “ 'Tis too dangerous for one so young!” Not the paths, I was thinking, but what if Breeders were watching?

“Young!” Lill tossed me a towel, scoffing. “I am hardly younger than you, and I know my way around this quarry as good as any founding family. Besides,” she said with a sigh, “I lead only. I do not travel into the falls; that is for you.” Then she was brightly eager again. “So we say goodbye today, for you will not return!”

“Well,” I took a piece of her dry bread and slathered on extra jam. “I can hardly imagine I won't come out—what would be the point of finding my shell?”

“
Your
shell! If it's your shell, how did it get so lost?” She watched me eat for a moment. “You don't scare easily, all my talk of blood and dead ends?”

I shook my head. “But I think it scares you.”

“Hah! I am wily. I am fast. I am a survivor.” She listed these as attributes, things she'd been told, obviously, and she was proud of them.

“I imagine you are. I heard you escaped the slavers from Tyre.”

“Yes! We were being taken for the mines. But I got away.”

Not quite as Laurent had described, but then, he'd not been there. “I was faster than my sister,” she added. “She was not saved.”

“Is she in the mines?” The bread stuck in my throat. I could not imagine being a slave.

“That's where they all go.” Lill's voice was hushed now, and her eyes gleamed with her story. “But the Riders brought me here.”

“Would you save her? Can you save her?”

“She's probably dead, since the mines are killing places. 'Tis like Hooded Falls, the mines of Tyre. If you go in, you won't come out. But mayhap I'll seek revenge someday.” She twirled in the center of the room, suddenly, and wielded an imaginary weapon. “Mayhap the Rider will teach me how to use his sword.” And she thrust forward as if to spit me on its tip, grinning. “Smite the enemy, leave no prisoners. Revenge for the wrongs done.”

I felt the stab. “Be careful,” I said. “I've been told your passions can be turned against you.”

She shrugged. “Or make you fierce.” She dropped her arm. “The mines yield the most
beautiful
of gems. People kill for them. Sometimes—only
sometimes
—one or two are smuggled from the city. I will take a few of those as well when I avenge my sister.” She spun around, showing off an imaginary bejeweled gown. “Wouldn't you want to be drenched in such color?”

I laughed. “Flowers are just as pretty and they're freely harvested.”

“Maybe.” Lill stopped spinning, then sniffed. “But flowers die.”

So do slaves.
I worked at the bread, watching her. Lill was restless, picking my clothes from where I'd laid them last night and waiting for me to finish, so I dropped the piece of bread on the plate with a clatter and swallowed the last of the tea. I drew my hair quickly into a braid, thinking about what Eudin had told us the night before when Laurent and I returned to the Great Room.

“Hooded Falls,” he'd announced gravely when I described where I'd seen the shell. “Not part of Gren Fort, exactly, but a day's hike from here at the northernmost tip of the quarry. One of us will guide you to it. I fear if we send more it shall spark interest. Grackles have been spying on the plains above.”

“Do you know how we might navigate the falls?” I'd asked. “I've heard that those who go in do not return.”

The large man had nodded and handed me another cup of cider. “That is the rumor. I hope you prove it untrue. I can't say I've met any survivors.” He'd turned then. “How's
that
for a challenge, Rider?”

Laurent had snorted. “You leave much to hope, Captain.”

But Eudin had grinned and said generously, “My friend, know this: Hooded Falls is beyond our regular patrol, but should you need help, we will come—”

“Evie!”
Lill waved her hand before my face. “ 'Tis time we moved.”

I nodded and stood. She held out my frock, gave it a final shake, and handed it to me. The daisy—Lill's daisy—that Laurent had passed to me fell out of the pocket.

There was silence. Lill looked at it, then at me. Her face darkened. “You told me it would work.”

“I didn't,” I protested. “Daisies can enhance feelings if they already exist, but you cannot make someone love you. You should not want to.”

“But he noticed me! If—” Her voice had a sharp little edge before she shut her mouth.

Piqued, I returned as harshly: “Lill, he must be five and twenty! Ten years your senior at least!”

“And you? He's much older than you as well,” she retorted.

“Me? This has nothing to do with me!”

“No? What magic trick did you save for yourself?” Lill muttered. She scooped the wilted stem from the ground, crushed it in her fist, and threw it out the window. “Never mind. We'd best be going, Healer.” She hit the word with such venom she might as well have called me Breeder.

No one watched us go. Lill led the way up the narrow path; I followed, and then Laurent. The rasping of footsteps on rock, a sharp call of a bird…There was little noise to entertain. There was no conversation. Lill was angry with me about the daisy. I concentrated on my footing, ignoring Laurent for Lill's sake. Laurent was studying the skies.

'Twas a steep climb. Insects droned, the sun burned hot—more so than usual, for I felt a grimness seeping in, which had less to do with Lill and the supposedly impossible task than my own temper. I tugged my braid off my neck, reshouldered my satchel where it stuck to my damp skin. More than once we paused by a waterfall to cool off; I stepped right under the streams to soak, the sun quickly drying after each reprieve, but it did not make me feel better. Once, I stumbled, and Laurent's hand shot out to catch my waist. “Careful,” he murmured.

“I am being very careful,” I gritted.

“I'd rather not lose you over the edge.”

I bit out, “Breeders have not got me yet, so you can hardly think the drop is a challenge.”

Laurent released me without another word.

From her farther position Lill sniffed and said, “We'll not make it in time if you dally. We'll lose the light.”

“Better than we don't make it at all,” Laurent returned easily enough, which seemed to mollify her. But she did not turn around. My head ached.

We reached the height of the quarry just past the sun's midpoint. “It's straight from here on,” Lill said, “except…”

I looked to where she pointed. There, just ahead, were some of the slingbridges that Laurent had mentioned. They spanned a series of splits in the ground. Gren Fort truly was impenetrable—unreachable from the bottom
and
from the top, if bridges were downed. And they were easily downed. These were rope bridges, for foot traffic only, suspended over the deep fissures and swaying in the breeze.

“One by one,” Lill announced, and then practically skipped across the first. I held on to both sides and stepped carefully from sling to sling, while the breeze buffeted the bridge and rocked me, even though Laurent and Lill tugged the ropes at both ends to hold it steady. I got over safely enough, and I think Lill was peeved that I didn't panic. Together we pulled on the ropes as Laurent traveled over. It was only then that I swallowed hard, for I could see how the bridge sank and stretched beneath his weight.

Laurent arrived on our side. He shielded his eyes with his hand and looked up—to judge the sun's position, I thought—then gave us a grin. “How many more?” he asked Lill.

There were four bridges, all told. We crossed them without incident. Twice more, Laurent took a position of the sun. “You waste time by judging it,” I said crossly while he squinted at the sky. “We'll need to camp at the falls tonight before attempting.”

“I say we try today,” he said. Then, “How long, Lill?”

“Not far.” She beamed at him. “Straight on this path.” She started off again with a flounce of skirt. I wiped my face with my sleeve and followed, feeling a hundred years older.

Any trace of the fort disappeared behind us. The path was wider hereon; the insects more shrill. Laurent walked at my side. I looked over at him and pointed. “Your hand is on your sword.”

He only nodded, and so I said, “You can hardly think there is something waiting to attack.” I swung my arm at the flat, broiling trail. “Not even a tree to hide behind.”

“You acknowledged something back there,” Laurent said, refusing to quarrel. “Something that troubles me. The Breeders know who you are, and we are nearing their hiding place for the amulet. Why did they bother with wisps and such in the marsh if they do nothing else to stop you?”

“Because I give them no opportunity.” I didn't know why I was so contrary. I wiped my forehead again as if that would clear away my anger, or at least the droning of insects. Laurent did not snort as I anticipated, but it was hardly out of respect for my prowess. So I added, “You were the one who said Gren Fort was well hidden.”

“We are beyond Gren Fort.”

He looked to the sky again, and I left him there and stalked on. I thought I could see some sort of rock formation ahead, past Lill's lithe silhouette. It would be good to arrive, to stand under water again and soothe my aching head. I should even take time to be worried, maybe, of what lay behind Hooded Falls—I'd hardly given thought to it all the way here, letting peevishness claim everything. I was worse than Lill.

I set my jaw and tried to storm through the irritation by quickening my pace.

But I got no farther. “Something's wrong,” I gasped. 'Twas as if I'd smacked into a wall. A whine—a hundred scythes honing on whetstones—filled my head, sinking me to my knees. “Swifts…” My hands dug into my ears; I slammed my head on the stone to shut out the pain. I heard Laurent shouting my name, running up from behind, heard Lill screaming only a moment later, “What are those?” And then Laurent was yelling at her, “Run!” He'd scooped me up and was running too.

I went limp, bouncing like a doll in the Rider's arms. The whine was louder, unbearable, and Laurent was pounding forward on the hard ground so my teeth chattered. Somewhere farther Lill was still shrieking, and Laurent shouting, “Get under the rock!
Under!
” A shadow passed over my face and I thought we'd reached protection, but then there was an enormous explosion, heat, dust spewing up—and I was flung to the earth.

The whine would eat through my head.

Hands grabbed and dragged. Laurent's voice was hard, commanding Lill to push under the rocks as far back as she could, and I was pushed too, painfully so. Another explosion, and another, and something garbled. Laurent was saying, “They touch earth on purpose—” and there was a roaring sound coming closer, and Lill was screaming Laurent's name, and somehow that sounded soothing against the fierce-pitched whine, and then I heard nothing at all.