A rustle and a thump as Tayse dropped to the ground. “Then change me, and let’s be off.”
Senneth didn’t really get a good view of that alteration, for Donnal held her and stroked her back until it was over. But a few minutes later he set her on the ground face-to-face with a sleek black mouse with bristling white whiskers and inquisitive black eyes. Tayse. He took a few tentative steps forward, lifted his feet one at a time as if to gauge how they worked, then came close enough to touch Senneth’s nose with his own.
It was so strange. It was Tayse. She could almost see his mind working, hear him assessing how he felt, what his strengths and weaknesses might be in this particular form. He didn’t seem nearly as disconcerted as she felt. Indeed, after only a moment of self-exploration he whipped around in a circle so tight that his long tail almost snapped across Senneth’s face. He was looking at Kirra, and his stance plainly communicated his message: No more wasting time. Let us leave now.
Kirra laughed and looked over at Donnal. “Successful so far,” she said. “Do you want to be responsible for the Rider or the mystic?”
“I’ll take Tayse,” he said. “Let’s be on our way.”
Senneth had to fight back a moment of abject terror when Kirra and Donnal, suddenly, became two great hawks stalking majestically through the grass. Kirra and Donnal, she reminded herself. Kirra and Donnal. But the hawks looked ferocious, sharp-beaked, and evil. Her little heart was hammering inside her tiny chest.
And, oh, didn’t that get suddenly worse when the nearest one closed its talons around her round brown body and carried her off into the fathomless air.
Senneth shuddered in Kirra’s careful grip, trying not to shake too much for fear the claws would open and send her tumbling to the ground. For the first ten minutes of the flight, Senneth couldn’t even bear to look down. She just concentrated on calming her terror and reminding herself who she was. When she did finally try to peer through the talons to the ground below, she felt another surge of fright. There was nothing-just patches of white that must be bits of cloud, and a blur of dark so far away it had no distinguishing features. They could not possibly be so high in the air; this foolish little creature must simply have eyesight that could not see very far.
Senneth did not know whether to be sorry or grateful.
They flew for what seemed like forever. Once her fear faded, and she realized she couldn’t even entertain herself by watching the landscape, Senneth started to get bored. Two days of this? No conversation, no distraction, nothing but wind and existence? How in the world would she endure? The only real option was sleep, and that was easy enough to achieve, despite the truly extraordinary circumstances. She closed her eyes and let herself be lulled by motion.
Twice during that day, Kirra and Donnal landed and let them attend to their needs. Food was sparse, but they were in agricultural country, so there were seeds to nibble on and water was easy to find. At each stop, Tayse scurried over to nuzzle at Senneth’s ear, checking that she was still whole. At each stop, Kirra conserved her energy by staying a hawk, but Donnal shifted into human shape and asked if either of them wished to be changed back.
Neither of them found that necessary.
They flew on until nightfall, then made a neat landing and a rough camp. Both Kirra and Donnal took human form to lay out bedrolls and hunt for water.
“Feels like it’s going to be a cold night. I think I’ll have Donnal start a fire when he gets back,” Kirra told the mice when Donnal had gone off foraging. “Should be safe enough-I haven’t seen a homestead or another traveler for miles.”
Senneth wrinkled her nose and picked her way off the smooth boulder where Kirra and Donnal had deposited her and Tayse. She used her tiny hands to gather a handful of twigs and pile them together. Could she do this with such an unfamiliar body? Wasn’t the magic an intrinsic part of her? Surely it could not have been changed, actually erased?
“I don’t believe this,” Kirra said and settled on the ground nearby. Tayse had jumped off the boulder and come over to watch, his dark eyes curious. “Even you-”
Senneth patted the kindling with her small, nervous fingers. Her body heat was so high already when she wore this shape; how hard could it be to summon fever, summon sparks? She tapped the twigs again.
A yellow flame licked through the scraps of wood. Senneth backed up on quick legs to get far enough away and then teased the flame higher, hotter. It was hard to gauge from this unfamiliar size. Was that a normal campfire, or too big? Too small?
Kirra was laughing. “How is that possible? Gods, no wonder people hate mystics. The little mouse who could set fire to a house! Who wouldn’t be afraid of such a creature? Senneth, you’re amazing.”
Donnal was back a few moments later, water in one hand and a dead rabbit in the other. He looked at the fire a moment before glancing at Senneth and then over at Kirra. “Did you build it or did she?” he asked.
Kirra was still laughing. “She did! And I assume it will burn all night, no other fuel required!”
Donnal grinned. “Well, then. Let’s cook dinner.”
THE second day was much easier than the first. The fear was completely gone, and all that was left was impatience. On the other hand, Senneth was actually enjoying the chance to simply sleep the day away. She couldn’t remember the last time she had ever been so idle.
“If we continue after dark, we can make Ghosenhall tonight,” Donnal informed them as they took a break in the afternoon. “Do you want to be human before you return or shall we take you straight to your own cottage and change you there?”
Kirra-the-hawk uttered a sharp cry and danced on her thin legs, but no one could understand her. It was important enough to her that she spent the energy to transform herself to human. “We’ll take them to Justin’s cottage,” she said, her face alight with mischief. “Don’t you think Justin would love to see Senneth and Tayse as mice?”
“Cammon’s the one who would make this interesting,” Donnal said.
Kirra actually clapped her hands together. “Yes! We won’t change them till Cammon has seen them! Will he recognize them, do you think?”
“He always recognizes us.”
“Surely this is different. Oh, I hope it won’t take us too long to find Cammon once we get back.”
Donnal was grinning and shaking his head. “You know he knows we’re on the way. He’ll probably be at Justin’s place, waiting for us to touch down.”
“Then let’s go! No more time to waste!”
Kirra and Donnal each took owl shape so they could see well enough for the nighttime flight. It was full dark and then some when they finally made it to Ghosenhall. Senneth was awake now, and once again trying to see through the prison of Kirra’s talons. They were close enough to the ground that she could make out buildings and spires-unbelievably huge structures-everything half-lit with exterior torches or interior candles. They glided across the guarded walls, and no Rider thought to halt them. They dipped even lower, wingtips almost brushing the rooftop of a long building that had to be the barracks. Lower-silently banking-and toward a boxlike structure that had to be a cottage. Kirra settled to the ground and released her burden, and Senneth came tumbling out into a familiar and utterly alien world. One very large man was just now bursting through the door; two other shapes hurtled after him. Cammon, followed by Justin and Ellynor.
“Look!” Cammon cried. “Kirra and Donnal are back, and they’ve brought Tayse and Senneth!”
CHAPTER 26
CAMMON had actually been a little glad that Senneth would be gone for nearly two weeks. Her absence, he’d hoped, would make it easier for him to steal time alone with Amalie. But he had reckoned without Valri, who became more watchful than ever during the time that Senneth was gone. It was as if Valri knew about the kiss.