The Seeker (35 page)

The boy proved not only to be a powerful farseeker, which we had known already, but also a strong empath, which explained how he had sensed my presence when I was shielded. The joint ability was unusual. There were only two other farseekers among us with weak empath Talent. To my regret, the boy chose the Empath guild—little wonder, since Dameon had taken him gently in hand from the start. Within days, he had developed the empaths’ traditional adoration for their gentle leader.

His name was Jik.

The expedition was due to depart in only a week when I met with Rushton to discuss the final plan. Discovering my name on the list of those to go, Rushton had exploded. He was furious to hear of my agreement with the black horse and even angrier that I had not spoken of it to him sooner.

“I won’t be threatened,” he said.

“It is an agreement,” I said calmly. “We really don’t have any choice. We need the horses. And I am the strongest farseeker and a perfectly good candidate for this expedition.”

Rushton shook his head. “I will agree to this test in principle, but you won’t be the one riding the black horse. I won’t risk a guildleader on an expedition.”

Using Alad as translator, Rushton argued with the black horse, but it was useless. “He asks why the equines should risk their leader if the funaga will not,” Alad explained. “He says a test should involve leaders.”

“Then offer
me
as his rider,” Rushton said grimly.

The horse agreed this would be a fair exchange, but
guildmerge outvoted Rushton, saying he was more valuable than any other at Obernewtyn, being the legal master. Incensed, Rushton found his own rule, permitting a unanimous guildmerge to outweight his lone vote, used against him.

I was taken aback at his reaction. I understood his reluctance to risk a guildleader, but to offer himself as a replacement was senseless. Even he must see he was more important to Obernewtyn than I.

Ceirwan, along with two other farseekers, was to run the Farseeker guild in my absence, since Matthew had also been appointed to the expedition. Unspoken was the knowledge that Ceirwan would become guildmaster if I failed to return.

Rounding out the final list were Pavo, Kella, and Louis Larkin, with the Coercer ward Domick as Rushton’s choice for our spy in Sutrium. The expedition was to be disguised as a gypsy troupe. The carts had been built by the Teknoguild.

The black horse snorted his loathing at the sight of the gypsy rig. He had appointed two older horses to draw the carts. “Finer horses will encourage robbers,” he sent in terse explanation.

“What about you?” I asked.

The horse pricked his ears forward. “They will not find me desirable,” he sent cryptically.

The night before we were to leave, Rushton came to my turret chamber, which had been his own room in his time as farm overseer. He had collected our false Normalcy Certificates. Written on old discolored parchment, they were good forgeries, but I hoped we would not need them.

“It’s done, then,” Rushton said. He stared into the fire. There was a drawn-out silence, and the fire crackled as if the lack of sound made it uneasy.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Are you afraid?” he asked unexpectedly. I had a sudden vivid memory of him asking me the same question in that room when it had been his.

This time, I nodded soberly. “It will be dangerous, despite bypassing Sutrium and the main ways.”

Rushton turned to face me, his green eyes troubled. “Don’t … risk too much for this Talent,” he said. “Whoever it is might not even want to join us. You … are perceptive, but you don’t always see what is in front of your eyes.”

I had the notion he had meant to say something else and shifted uncomfortably. I had never felt really at ease with him since the awkward intimacy of being forced into a mindbond with him two years earlier.

Rushton stood abruptly, shook his head, and walked across to open the window shutters, breathing deeply as if the air in the turret room were too thin. He turned, leaning back against the open window, his face in shadow. “You … are important to Obernewtyn. We can’t afford to lose a guildmistress. Even now it is not too late to change your mind.…”

I shook my head. “I want to go. Besides, I promised.”

“You belong here,” Rushton said sternly.

I wished he would come back into the room so I could see his face. There was an odd note in his voice that puzzled me.

“Have you been so unhappy here?” he asked.

I laughed. “I’ve never been more content in my life. But I am glad to go away for a while. It’s as if I’m too safe and comfortable—like an old house cat. As Maruman would put it, I’m being tamed by comfort.”

“And look at
him
,” Rushton said darkly. “Someday you will have to come out of your ivory tower.”

I shrugged, not understanding the reference. “Alad said Maruman is recovering, though he still sleeps.”

Rushton nodded. “He will miss you.”

Before I could answer, there was a knock at the door.

I was surprised to find Dameon and Maryon outside. Their eyes went beyond me to Rushton.

“What is it?” he asked brusquely.

“I have futuretold th’ expedition,” the Futuretell guildmistress announced in her soft highland accent.

“What have you seen?” Rushton demanded. “Will it be a success? Will those who travel return?”

I held my breath.

Maryon merely want on, looking grave and serene. “I have seen that th’ boy Jik mun travel with th’ expedition. If he does nowt go, many, perhaps all th’ rest, will nowt return.”

“Surely another, more experienced empath?” Rushton said.

Maryon shook her head. “The prediction deals specifically wi’ th’ boy, but it is unclear. I dinna see any direct action on his part. It is my belief that he matters in some obscure manner—perhaps something he will do or say will offer a turning point for the journey.”

“That settles it; the expedition will have to be put off until Maryon can clarify the prediction,” Rushton said.

Again the Futuretell guildmistress shook her head. “The boy was only part of the foreseeing. Th’ fate of Obernewtyn hangs in th’ balance of this journey, an’ it mun proceed as planned. The expedition mun return to th’ mountains wi’ their prizes before winter freezes th’ pass, else we will fall to our enemies.”

Rushton shook his head. “I don’t know what to make of this.”

“You need not fear Jik will betray us,” Dameon said.

Rushton looked taken aback. “I don’t doubt his loyalty if
you vouch for him. But he’s a boy! It’s bad enough …” His eyes darted momentarily in my direction.

“I don’t think we have any choice,” Dameon said. “For some reason or other, Jik has to go on the expedition. There is no time to wait for clarification.”

“Which might never come,” Maryon added.

Rushton ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I felt it was time to end our isolation, but I little thought what that would cost.” He turned and nodded at the stack of Normalcy papers. “Jik will have to use the blank one I had made for the Talent you hope to find. It’s too late to make another.”

When they were gone, I went to the window and breathed in the cool night air, thinking how strangely things came about. A fortnight before, Jik had been a Herder novice. Now, suddenly, he was vital to Obernewtyn’s future. If Zarak had not disobeyed me …

I shook my head. One could go mad thinking of alternate possibilities. Kella was right. The present was enough to deal with.

6

T
HE DAY OF
the departure dawned, grim and unseasonably cold.

Gray clouds scudded across a metallic autumn sky. Wind blustered and rain fell in short, violent flurries.

I shivered, staring out over the gardens from my window. In that moment, I could imagine vividly the mountain valley blanketed in ice and snow, the mournful sound of wolves echoing across the frozen wastes. The lowlands would be much warmer than the mountains, even in wintertime. Perhaps at last the scars on my feet would have the chance to heal completely. I had avoided speaking to Roland about my feet for fear Rushton would hear of it and use them as reason to ban me from the expedition. Fortunately, Kella understood and had been treating me without telling Roland.

Thinking of the healer made me remember Maruman. I had gone to see him before firstmeal, but, though conscious, he was still dazed and barely coherent. I had wanted desperately to talk to him about the vision I had seen in his unconscious mind, but it was impossible.

As with all expeditions, no amount of forethought could avoid the last-minute rush as remembered necessities were rounded up. Feeling harassed with preparations, I looked up with relief to see Ceirwan and Matthew approach.

“See, I’ve been practicin’,” Matthew sent on a tightly shielded probe. The momentary mischief in his eyes faded as he looked around.

“Until today, it hardly seemed such an important thing to be doin’,” he said pensively.

Those who were part of the expedition knew we carried the fate of Obernewtyn on our backs, though the general population of Obernewtyn knew nothing of Maryon’s prophecy. And Dameon had requested I tell no one, including Jik, of the part of the prophecy that concerned Jik. “It would not be fair to the boy,” he insisted.

Jik was even younger than Lina and Zarak but was more serious and quieter of nature. He seemed bemused by the news that he was to be part of the expedition, though it seemed he would prove useful, for he had been to Sutrium more recently than any of us and would give Domick some idea of the present shape and disposition of the town as we traveled.

Jik had insisted that his companion, Darga, accompany us as well. A nondescript short-haired dog with a ferociously ugly face, he was one of a breed used by the Herders to guard the cloisters. Darga had been a miscolored runt in his litter, expected to die when Jik had volunteered to nurse him. No one had any objections to the dog’s inclusion.

Zarak and Lina stood beside Jik, their faces openly envious.

The three horses to travel with us had been supplemented by another. I would ride the stallion, who had told Alad haughtily that he would answer to the title Gahltha, meaning leader. Domick would ride a newcomer, a small, wheat-colored mountain pony with doelike eyes. Named Avra, she had been brought wild to Obernewtyn the previous wintertime, having injured herself in a fall. Alad told me she was
the black stallion’s chosen mate. The two mares to pull the carts were Mira and Lo.

The horses stood together as Alad harnessed and installed the hated bit and bridles. Privately, Alad had warned me Gahltha had chosen horses that were completely loyal to him. It was clear where their allegiance would lie if it came to a choice between equine and funaga aims. They would follow me as leader of the expedition only under instructions from the black horse.

None of the equines seemed inclined to closer acquaintance, and I hoped I had not made a mistake in choosing Louis over a full Beastspeaking guilder. I could beastspeak, of course, but the animals were more receptive to those of the Beastspeaking guild.

With Kella, Jik, and Darga in one cart and Matthew, Pavo, and Louis in the other, the caravans were authentically crowded. Gypsies traveled traditionally in extended family groups, singing and dancing for money and providing amusing and impromptu plays. The descendants of those who had originally refused Council affiliation, they were little liked or trusted for all their variety of skills. In some ways, it was a dangerous disguise, but it was one of the few ways a number of us could travel about without drawing attention. Travel was not undertaken lightly, for people everywhere were suspicious of strangers in their midst.

To complete our disguise, we were unnaturally tanned and wore the layers of colored clothing favored by gypsies. The dark skin was the result of a powerful berry-based dye. I doubted anyone would have the slightest suspicion we were anything but a motley gypsy troupe.

Rushton stressed the need to maintain our disguise at all costs. We had all set up coercive blocks that would erase our
memories in an emergency. These were Obernewtyn’s safeguard in case one of us was caught and tortured. Only Jik had been unable to prepare a block, being too untrained. Domick or I could wipe his memory should it come to that.