Wintercraft (9 page)
Kate did not know what was happening. Icy cold surrounded her hands, chilling them until they were so cold that it felt as if her bones might snap. She tried to stand up, but she could not move. She tried to speak, but her throat made no sound. She could only sit staring at the same point on the black wall, eyes fixed in silent terror as her body refused to obey her.
Her first thought was that she had been poisoned, but Silas had not given her anything to eat or drink. She had not felt the prick of a needle or smelled gas in the air. The cold spread along her arms, numbing them completely as a thin layer of frost traced across her fingers. After that, all she saw was darkness. Deep blackness, more complete than any darkness she had ever known. She felt lost within it. Held tightly in one place. Unable to move or speak or scream. All she had was the pulse of her blood racing through her veins to let her know she was alive, but even that was slowing down. Becoming fainter. Weaker.
Silas’s voice spoke close by. ‘All Skilled have the ability to see into the veil,’ he said. ‘The boundary between this world and the next is opening around you. Let it happen. It will become as easy as breathing, given time.’
Kate could not have stopped it if she tried. The cold was so intense that she became numb to it. Then the vision returned and this time she was glad of it. Anything to force the terrifying darkness away.
She was back inside the carriage travelling swiftly beneath the quarter arch. She tried to look around, but her view was fixed upon the window as the dark stones that made up the archway blackened the glass, forming a mirror-like reflection within it. Kate focused upon it and found herself looking at a face. A woman’s face that was not her own.
Then everything stopped.
The vision froze around her and everything was still except for the face: the face of a woman who had sensed something other than herself inside that carriage. The cold eyes within the glass began to smile and the finely painted mouth whispered a word. ‘Kate.’
The shock of hearing her own name made Kate heave in a sudden breath. The vision broke and she was back in the boarding house with Silas standing right beside her. The frost melted quickly on her warming skin and she stared as her hands slowly regained their colour, still shivering with cold.
‘She’s coming,’ she said, as soon as she was able to say the words. ‘I think I saw her. She said my name. What … What happened?’
‘You used the veil to see through the spirit of another,’ said Silas. For a moment, he sounded surprised, but his cold eyes gave nothing away. ‘She is the hunter and you are her prey. Given the right conditions, the veil can link two Skilled minds if they are focused enough upon each other, but it normally takes a tremendous strength of will to make such a connection possible. What did you do?’
‘Nothing!’ said Kate, tugging on her wrist cuff in frustration. ‘I was just sitting here, trying to get this thing off.’
‘For her to know your name, she must have been aware of the link between you,’ said Silas. ‘When two minds join within the veil, it is possible for them to share memories. You will not let it happen again. I am surprised the Skilled did not find you long before I did. Your potential is even greater than I expected. How long have you been one of them?’
‘I’m not one of them.’
‘Who taught you the ways of
Wintercraft
?’
Wintercraft
?’
‘Winter-what?’
‘Where is the book being kept? Did you read from it yourself?’
‘What book? I don’t know anything about any of this!’ Kate was tired, confused and angry. Her head still hurt from whatever had just happened, but already logic was starting to take over. There was no way she could have actually seen that woman in the carriage. She couldn’t have been real. Her imagination could have created her by piecing together what had already happened that day with what Silas had told her. And as for the frost on her hands … there wasn’t even a trace of it left now. Perhaps it had never even been there at all.
‘Da’ru will arrive soon,’ said Silas. ‘She must not find out that you are up here. Do you understand?’
Da’ru? Kate remembered the name. Kalen had called Edgar ‘Da’ru’s boy’, but she was sure she had also heard it somewhere else before. ‘Why is she looking for me?’ she asked.
‘The Skilled are a dying breed,’ said Silas. ‘She has her plans for you. I have mine. You are going to help me find the book of
Wintercraft
and with it you will help me do something that most people believe to be impossible. That is all you need to know for now.’
Wintercraft
and with it you will help me do something that most people believe to be impossible. That is all you need to know for now.’
‘This is wrong,’ said Kate. ‘I don’t know anything about the Skilled. I don’t know why this is happening!’
‘Few people are able to choose their own fate,’ Silas said coolly. ‘Even fewer learn to accept the path that they are given.’ He returned to the window and looked down on to the street.
‘She is here,’ he said, as the rattle of carriage wheels carried up from below. ‘Stay quiet and do nothing. If you are found here with me, there will be consequences for both of us. You will not leave this room.’
Silas stepped out on to the landing and closed the door. Kate waited until his footsteps were far enough away before sneaking over to it, letting her chain snake silently across the floor behind her. The metal handle clicked dully in her hand. Locked. She bent down to look through the keyhole and saw something dark sitting in the lock. The key was still there.
Kate crossed the room as quietly as she could and creaked open some of the desk drawers, hunting through them for something long and thin to push the key out. The few ink pens she found were too wide to fit in the lock. All that was left was a few loose sheets of paper. They would have to do.
Kate grabbed two pieces, tore one of them in half and rolled it tightly into a narrow strip that was thin enough to reach the key but strong enough not to bend against it. She returned to the door, knelt down and pushed the second piece under it to catch the key when it fell. Then she slid the rolled strip carefully into the lock, pushing the key gently, hoping it would not make too much noise when it hit the floor.
Gradually, the key worked loose. Kate tensed when it dropped, and the metal rang out hard against the wooden boards. She froze, waiting for someone to come up to investigate the sound. No one came. Once she was sure it was safe, she pulled the slice of paper back into the room with her fingertips, with the weight of the door key balanced precariously on one of the corners. She snatched it up as soon as it was in sight and dug it into the lock. The handle clicked and the door creaked open.
The length of her chain gave Kate just enough room to allow her to step out on to the landing, where she could hear distant voices talking at the bottom of the stairs. There was a woman’s voice and a louder one belonging to the boarding-house owner, but she could only make out his half of the conversation.
‘There has been no talk of the Skilled in this town for ten years or more,’ she heard him say as she edged closer to the top of the staircase. ‘If there was a Skilled girl, she has not come this way. The people here have been more careful than in the south. No. No meetings. If any of them had passed through this town, you can be sure I would know.’
‘Very well,’ came the woman’s voice, clearer now as Kate leaned out over the steps.
‘We will call you if we require you again,’ said Silas. ‘Leave us.’
Kate heard shuffling steps as the boarding-house owner walked away and a door closed somewhere down below.
‘These people are hiding something,’ said Da’ru. ‘What news do you have about the girl? Do we have her yet?’
‘It appears Kalen’s information was incorrect,’ said Silas. ‘The only Winters we found here was a bookseller with no family. He is already in custody and shows no aptitude for the Skill. This could all have been merely a futile effort in the hope of regaining your trust. Kalen is known to be a desperate man, but the harvest is proceeding well nonetheless. Our presence here may yet prove worthwhile.’
‘No. There is someone in this town,’ said Da’ru. ‘A girl. I have sensed her.’
‘If so, then you can be sure she will be found,’ said Silas. ‘My men are scouring every street and the town gates are locked. No one will get out.’
Da’ru’s voice fell quiet, and Kate had to strain to hear her words. ‘This is the closest we have ever been, Silas,’ she said, her words dark and dangerous. ‘I am certain the book is hidden somewhere in Fume. We will find it soon and with a Winters to use it … I do not have to tell you what that would mean. The book is
mine
. That girl’s family stole it from me and if it takes the rest of my life, I will discover its secrets. Do not leave this town until your men are certain there are no Skilled left. Check empty houses, cellars, everything. I want that girl, Silas. Find her for me.’
mine
. That girl’s family stole it from me and if it takes the rest of my life, I will discover its secrets. Do not leave this town until your men are certain there are no Skilled left. Check empty houses, cellars, everything. I want that girl, Silas. Find her for me.’
Kate backed slowly into the attic room, lifting up the silver chain so it did not scrape across the floor. Even if she could remove it somehow, Silas was right, there was nowhere to go - and as much as she feared him, instinct told her that she should fear that woman even more.
Kate locked herself in the attic room and pushed the key back under the door where Silas would find it. There was nothing she could do to help herself, not with so many people in the house. She stood in the shadows at the side of the attic window, forcing herself to concentrate upon anything other than the woman downstairs. From her viewpoint just above the rooftops, Morvane looked large enough to hide anyone. Anyone except her. She had been careless. After everything Artemis had taught her, she had allowed herself to get caught.
Thin pillars of smoke rose up from faraway buildings that had fallen prey to the wardens’ flames, and somewhere in the distance a crow was circling in the grey, snow-filled sky.
‘Edgar,’ she whispered. ‘Where are you?’
Two streets to the south of the boarding house, Edgar was lost. He had seen the carriage pass outside his hiding place and, just like the crow, he too had recognised it at once. Da’ru was in town. And if she was there, so was someone else who might be able to help both him and Kate.
He trudged through the snow, checking every street sign and house name, wearing a pair of stolen gloves and a stolen hat to keep him warm. Three years of living in Morvane had taught him enough to stay away from the Western Quarter. But with news of the wardens’ arrival travelling fast, the streets were empty, and there was no one around to ask for directions.
The Black Fox Boarding House. He knew the name well enough. The owner was known to be a whisperer - an information monger - willing to share any secret for a price. Most whisperers were loyal to their towns and refused to have dealings with wardens and their kind, but this one was known to be both reliable and indiscriminate in his choice of contacts, some of whom came from as far away as Fume. If anything important was happening in Morvane, the owner of the Black Fox knew about it. Da’ru was sure to stop there for information, if she had not been and gone already. But where was it?
At last, he spotted something familiar.
A gap between the houses gave Edgar a glimpse of a tall building with a circular window on its top floor. He squeezed down a narrow path and ran straight out in front of two grey carriage horses standing in the middle of the street.
He had found it.
He ducked back so the driver did not see him and spotted a boy a few years younger than him sitting alone on the boarding-house step, hugging himself against the wind with a holey blanket pulled tight around his shoulders. Edgar crept up to him. ‘Tom!’ he whispered.
The boy looked up, his face brightening at once. ‘Ed?’
Edgar dared to take a few steps closer.
‘Ed! What are you doing here?’ The boy scrabbled to his feet, still clutching his freezing hands beneath the blanket.
‘Shh!’ Edgar ran the short distance left between them and clutched the younger boy’s shoulders tight. He checked him over quickly, making sure he was in good health, then he scuffed his hair as both of their faces widened into matching grins.
‘Where is Da’ru?’ asked Edgar.
Tom pointed back at the boarding house. ‘If she sees you here, she’ll put the knife in you,’ he said. ‘She hasn’t forgotten what you did.’
‘I don’t care about that. It’s you I need, Tom. I need some information.’ Edgar quickly told him what had happened to Kate, but Tom just kept shivering and looking back at the boarding-house door, cringing whenever his voice raised above a whisper.
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