Read Dark Moon Defender (Twelve Houses) Online
Authors: Sharon Shinn
Dark Moon Defender (Twelve Houses) (61 page)
BOOK: Dark Moon Defender (Twelve Houses)
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“I don’t know,” she said, her voice growing a little ragged. “But he’ll be a dead one soon if we don’t go after him now.”
Faeber’s lined face softened as he looked at her. “Young lady, if he was close to death when you left him, there’s no chance he’s still alive now.”
“Yes, he
is
,” she said fiercely. “I swear to you—I know for certain—he will survive till dawn. But after that—if you don’t help me—he will die. Or more soldiers from the convent will find him. Surely they’ll come looking by daybreak. Please, please, help me bring him to safety.”
is
,” she said fiercely. “I swear to you—I know for certain—he will survive till dawn. But after that—if you don’t help me—he will die. Or more soldiers from the convent will find him. Surely they’ll come looking by daybreak. Please, please, help me bring him to safety.”
He nodded. “I’ve got a cart small enough to fit down that forest road behind a tandem team. But we’ll need guards of our own in case we run into trouble.”
“No,” she said. “I don’t want—if anyone knows where Justin is, more soldiers will come for him. He won’t be safe.”
“We can trust these guards,” Faeber said. “They’re my sons. Come on.”
He turned from the tavern and began striding purposefully down the street. Ellynor snatched up the reins of her horse and followed. She was flooded with relief—she had secured aid, she was no longer alone in this desperate misadventure—but at the same time her body was strung with tension. They were still so far away from Justin, and the minutes were skipping by so rapidly. They had to leave
now
, they should have been on the road ten minutes ago, how could they spare time to harness horses and gather up reinforcements?
now
, they should have been on the road ten minutes ago, how could they spare time to harness horses and gather up reinforcements?
It was as if Faeber could read her thoughts. “It won’t take long,” he said in a soothing voice. “Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty, you’ll see. We’ll be back on the road. Now, when we get to my house, I want you to go in while I’m fetching the cart. I want you to eat something. My wife will still be awake, she’ll feed you. I want you to clean up your face, maybe change your clothes. Marney will find you something to wear. You’ve had a long night and it’s going to get longer. Don’t be stupid. Take care of yourself if you’re going to take care of that young man.”
Finally they arrived at Faeber’s house, a rambling two-story building that radiated the same comfort and strength that Faeber himself did. More quickly than Ellynor really expected, he had called for his sons, sent them out to hitch the wagon, given Marney a brief synopsis of the night’s challenge, and gone off to get his own overcoat. Marney, a large, clear-eyed, capable-looking woman, handed Ellynor a plate of food and disappeared to rummage through her closets. In just about the time Faeber had predicted, Ellynor had been fed and cleaned up, the wagon was ready, and his two sons waited outside the door, mounted on horseback.
“I figure you can ride in the wagon with me on the way out, since you’ll probably be riding with Justin on the way back,” Faeber said, helping Ellynor onto the bench beside the driver’s place. The wagon was so narrow that they were sitting shoulder to shoulder. “We put your horse in the barn. Don’t imagine anyone will find it unless they go looking pretty hard. Ready, boys? Let’s be on our way.”
This half of the journey seemed to take forever; there was no way a cart, even pulled by a team, could make the same kind of time as a single rider. Ellynor felt her muscles cramp with apprehension. Her lip bled because she bit it so hard to keep from crying out for greater speed.
She must trust the goddess. The Black Mother would not abandon Justin, not now. Look, it was still dark, only a short time past midnight. The goddess had promised to stay till dawn.
Their pace slowed as they entered the forest, for even this small cart was a little too wide to navigate the twists and turns of the woodland trail. Ellynor thought she would scream from impatience as Faeber carefully guided the team through a sharp angle in the road. She wanted to beg him to stop the cart, let her take one of the horses and ride on ahead. She would meet them at the place in the road where the bodies lay in a pile.
But she knew they would never find that place if she was not with them. The goddess would conceal it from everyone except Ellynor herself.
At last, at last, a dip in the road, a turn into shadows, and they came upon the site of the battle. Six corpses still lay in the road, clear to Ellynor’s eyes, although Faeber’s sons practically rode right over them.
“Stop! Stop! Here we are,” Ellynor exclaimed, scrambling from the cart while it was still in motion. She could sense the confusion from Faeber’s sons, hear one of them say, “What? Here?” as he pulled back hard on the reins. She didn’t pay attention. She lit out at a flat run for the patch of ground a few yards away where a fair-haired man lay motionless on the bloody soil. She practically collapsed at his side, her hands outstretched to touch him before she had even fully come to rest.
Heart beating. Breath warm at the corners of his mouth. Alive, alive.
She heard the commotion around her as Faeber drew his team to a halt and the three men tossed each other questions. “Where’d she go? I don’t see her, do you? If that isn’t the strangest thing!”
“I can’t see a damn thing on this road—it’s like there’s a mist, or something—but that’s not it. It’s just purely impossible to see.”
They probably would be glad they couldn’t see if they knew what was hiding under the Black Mother’s cloak of darkness. The raelynx, lying against Justin’s body across from where Ellynor knelt, now pushed himself to a seated position. He yawned, showing his splendid sharp teeth, and gazed about him as if wondering what other interesting sights this territory might hold. Then, so quickly that Ellynor did not see him move, he bunched his muscles and sprang away into the forest. She didn’t even hear the slightest sounds from his passage.
One night visitor remained behind. Ellynor could sense the presence of the Black Mother still crouched near Justin’s head. She was nothing more than a coil of darkness, a suggestion of weight in the formless air.
“Thank you,” Ellynor whispered. “Thank you. All I ask now is that you give me the strength to do the rest. To heal him. To make him whole. And lift your magic from this place now, for these others are here to help me. I cannot tell you what is in my heart. All I know is that I will love you forever.”
The shadow grew denser for a moment, and Ellynor felt the distinct shape of a kiss pressed against her forehead. A pulse of fire surged through her; she felt her blood run with heat. Momentarily, she was blinded, even her preternatural vision failing. And then suddenly the darkness lifted as if a sullen fog had evaporated in an instant. She heard one of Faeber’s sons gasp and one of them curse.
“There she is,” Faeber said. “And great holy goddess, there are the bodies. I didn’t think it could be true.”
“There’re six dead men here!” one of his sons exclaimed. “And you’re saying this fellow killed five of them?”
“Doesn’t seem possible,” Faeber said, “but I think it’s so. Let’s get him in the wagon, boys. Daybreak can’t be more than a few hours away, and we need to be on the road quick as we can.”
“I see horses back through the trees,” one of the sons called as Faeber came to his knees beside Ellynor. “Do we leave them behind?”
“No. Rope them together and we’ll lead them into town,” Faeber said over his shoulder. Then he turned his head and gazed down at Justin’s face. “And he’s really still alive?” he asked, quietly enough that only Ellynor could hear. “You must possess a powerful bond with that Silver Lady of yours. I can’t imagine anything but a goddess’s touch keeping a man breathing when he’s in a state like this.”
No time to go into it all right now! “The goddess has been good to me,” was all Ellynor said. “Let’s get him in the wagon and go.”
Dawn was uncurling over the horizon as they pulled wearily into Neft. The sky was actually light as Faeber and his sons carried Justin into the house and up a wide set of stairs. Marney had prepared a room for him—a soft bed, a roaring fire, a selection of clean bandages, and three basins full of water. As soon as the men had settled Justin into his bed, Marney shooed them all out the door.
“Ellynor and I will clean him up now. You three go rest.”
“Ellynor needs some rest herself, I’m thinking,” Faeber said.
Marney cast Ellynor one quick, appraising look. “I expect Ellynor will want to spend a little more time getting our patient settled,” she said. “Now you go on to your rooms.” She paused long enough to kiss her husband, and then shut the door.
“Let’s get this young man taken care of,” she said.
They worked together nearly an hour, cleaning and rebinding Justin’s wounds, washing his face and hands, wiping away as much of the blood as they could. Marney matter-of-factly stripped him naked and redressed him in loose clothes that probably belonged to one of her sons, handling him so gently he barely grunted with the pain. Ellynor couldn’t help but notice all the old scars that crisscrossed Justin’s chest and arms and legs. Some of them were from clean wounds that had probably been made by a sword and had obviously been well tended. Some were still red, ragged marks across his flesh that looked as if they had been acquired in a street fight and left to fester.
“There’s quite a story to this boy’s life,” Marney remarked as she settled him back on the pillow. “Do you know it all?”
Ellynor shook her head slowly. “Almost none of it.”
“But he’s worth something to you.”
“I love him.”
“Worth everything then.” Marney hesitated. She was still perched on one side of the bed, but her hands were in her lap; she’d done what she could. Ellynor sat on the other side, patting Justin’s face, his hands, the newly wrapped bandages. Checking, just checking, to make sure everything was secure, that he was still breathing, that his heart was still beating. “I’ll watch him for a few hours. There’s a room right next door, and I’ve made up that bed, too. You get some sleep and I’ll take care of him.”
Ellynor didn’t even look up as she shook her head. “No. I’ll stay with him.”
“I thought you’d say that. But you’ve had a hard night already and you must be at your very limit. I promise I won’t leave him.”
Ellynor gave the other woman one quick, fierce look. “If I leave him, he will die.”
“I can’t believe he’s not dead as it is,” Marney said, her voice compassionate. “I don’t want to lie to you. I think every breath will be his last.”
Ellynor nodded. “I know. He should be dead. But he’s not, and I won’t let him die. That’s why I have to be the one to stay with him.”
“You think you’re some kind of mystic, who can heal a man with her touch?”
“Yes,” Ellynor said slowly, “that’s exactly what I think I am.”
A startled little silence for that. Marney was clearly remembering that Ellynor had arrived at her house wearing the white robes of a novice from the convent. Not the place you would expect to find a mystic. She obviously decided not to ask, for she came to her feet and said, “Let me know if there’s anything you want.”
“There is,” Ellynor said. “I need food—lots of it. Milk and meat and bread and potatoes. Cheese. More than you’d think one person could eat. I’ll go through it all. Blankets. And enough fuel to keep the fire going all day.”
BOOK: Dark Moon Defender (Twelve Houses)
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