But he already understood; hadn’t he said essentially the same thing to Firesong?
He drew his knife, and Hywel tried to shrink back, clearly expecting that he was about to be murdered. But when Darian slit his bonds instead and stood up, he remained seated, staring up at Darian and rubbing his wrists.
“Go!” Darian snapped, gesturing with his knife. “If you want a Wise One for your brother, go now and bring him back here - just you and him, and no one else! We have a hundred eyes in the night, and if you bring anyone else, we will not be here, and your brother will die.”
Hywel’s expression changed, from fearful to hopeful and back again. “Is this true?” he breathed, “Do you mean this?”
“Do you believe in the guidance of your Ghost Cat?” Keisha asked softly. “I am a Wise One.”
That was enough to decide him. He sprang to his feet. “You will never regret this!” he cried. “Never! I will serve you all my days, and my spirit will defend your children and your children’s children after I am ashes!”
With that, he turned and ran off into the dark, running as surely as if his feet had eyes, and the eyes in his head were those of an owl.
Darian looked askance at Keisha. “Did we do the right thing?” he asked, suddenly unsure.
“Oh, yes,” she replied, staring into the darkness after Hywel. “We did the only thing we could all live with.”
“I have an idea,” Kelvren said, a few moments after Hywel had vanished into the darkness. “I hearrr the strream not farrr frrom herrre. Go therre, and wait forrr my rrrreturrn.”
He took to the air, leaving the two of them alone. Da-rian listened for a moment, then moved off to the right, the mage-light bobbing along over his head. Keisha followed him, and within a few moments, heard the sound of the stream herself.
Darian brought them to a spot on the banks of the stream, a larger version of the freshet beside their camp, which tumbled noisily over flat rocks in a series of small waterfalls. Here they found a place where moss made a thick, soft carpet beneath their feet, kept well-nourished by the spray from the stream. Keisha sat down with a sigh, and Darian did the same. “Are you sure you’re up to this?” he asked, worried for her sake. “This isn’t anything like you’ve done before.”
She licked her lips, and stared off into the darkness for a moment, wearing an expression that suggested she was testing her own resolve. “I know. And I’m not sure. But the rest of you can’t do without Nightwind, Gentian, Grenthan, and Nala, and the apprentices aren’t even as far along as I was two years ago. I thought that learning to use my Gift was going to be hard, and it was at first, but only at first. It was a lot like riding; once I knew what to do and what it felt like to do it right, it was just a matter of exercising those muscles until they were strong and didn’t hurt anymore - and I’ve been doing that a lot, as much as I could stand. Plus, I can talk to Jendey, and it’s going to be scary enough for him to be handled by a stranger. It would be worse if they couldn’t even speak to him. If not me, who else?” She made a face, as she thought of the endless wrangling in the Healers’ tent earlier that day. “Besides, the others would want to debate this idea for hours, and all the time this little boy would be getting sicker. I need to stop this fever as early as possible.”
Darian rubbed his tired eyes. “I wish there were some other way, but I can’t think of anything.”
“Neither can I.” She cocked her head to the side, listening intently, as she heard the sound of labored wing beats. “Is that Kel?”
It was, and he carried a clumsily wrapped bundle. “I have prrrovisionsss, a tent, and yourrr herrrb-bag, Keisssha,” he said smugly, once he was down on the ground. “Alssso, bedrrrollsss. You can make a little Healerrr’sss tent might herrre, and bessst of all, no humansss will know that thessse thingssss arrre misssing until you tell them, Darrrian.”
“How?” Darian asked, staring at the bundle. “How did you manage to get all that?”
Kel looked even more smug, if that was possible. “I have my waysss.”
Keisha hugged his neck, much to his pleasure, before seizing the bundle. Darian helped her untie it and get the tent and camp set up. It was a very small tent, barely big enough for two people, but if the weather turned it would keep Keisha and her patient dry and sheltered. It wasn’t long before they had everything set up, with a tiny camp-fire to keep the mage-light company, and there was nothing more to do but sit and wait for Hywel’s return.
“I wish I’d brought handiwork,” Keisha sighed, fidgeting with her medicine-bag, pulling things out, looking at them, and putting them back in again. “Even mending. Something to keep my hands busy.”
“You could ssscrratch my crrresst,” Kel suggested brightly. “It isss verrry lucky to ssscrrratch a grrryphon’sss crrresst.”
“Is that true? We’re going to need plenty of luck,” Keisha replied, as Kel stretched out his head in her direction.
“It isss well known,” Kel assured her, as Darian kept back a laugh at Kelvren’s bare-faced ploy to get a scratch. “A long and trrreasssurrrred trrradition.” Kel’s eyes glazed with pleasure as Keisha’s dexterous fingers rubbed the sensitive skin under his feathers. “Ahhhh,” the gryphon sighed. “Don’t you feel luckierrr alrrrready?”
“We’re going to have a chance to test that tradition,” Darian said, jumping to his feet as Kuari alerted him. “Here comes Hywel with the boy.”
Boy? Closer to a toddler, rather. When Hywel ran up to them, panting with exertion, the little one he carried in his arms could not have been more than five or six years old at the most. Keisha waved Darian away and took the fur-wrapped burden from Hywel herself.
“Don’t come near us,” she warned, before Darian could move to help her. “There’s no point in two of us being exposed.” She laid the boy down on one of the bedrolls. “How long has he been sick?” she asked Hywel.
“A day, no more.” He stroked his brother’s damp forehead with surprising tenderness. “You see, already he is lost in fever, and that is not good. It is those whom the fever takes hard and early - who - die - ” The last three words came out sounding strangled, as Hywel choked back what could have been a sob. He rubbed his eyes fiercely, as Darian stood well off, feeling distinctly awkward and useless.
“Hywel, you stay with me; all I need is an extra pair of hands, and if Jendey wakes up, he’ll be easier with you here.” She looked up from the boy, and shrugged. “You and Kel might as well go back and tell them what I’ve done. I’m sorry to have to leave you that unpleasant chore, but you can always tell them that I did it before you had any idea what I was planning.”
“Oh, and try to lie to Firesong and Starfall? Digging a well with my teeth would be easier, and a lot less painful.” He smiled crookedly. “No, we’re in this together, and I’d better get back and get it over with.”
He wanted to ask if she was going to be all right and knew it was a stupid question. “Remember all ihat luck you just got,” he said instead, feeling horribly helpless.
“I will,” she said, as she put the child down on one of the bedrolls, but it was clear that her mind was on the boy and nothing else, and he was just distracting her.