“Keep away from me.”
“Rabbit!” Jeff said. “What are you doing?”
I turned my snarl on him. “Shut the effing hell up—’
“You saw a goddess?” Dyfrig asked.
I blinked, my mouth open midcurse. Aware of a weight, I looked down and saw that I held my sword, the naked blade gleaming in the light from the bedroom window. I did not even remember picking it up, let alone drawing it from its scabbard. It blew like a cold breath of air across my hind parts that not only had I been ready to skewer Laurel and Wyln, but also Jeff and anybody else who got in my way.
“You saw a goddess?” Dyfrig asked again, apparently seeing nothing wrong with me pulling my sword on my teachers in the talent. Not because he wanted to see me attack them—probably—but because other things were occupying his mind. Like a baptized and catechized son of the Church being tapped by some pagan deity.
My heart thumping triple-time, I lowered my sword and gently slid it back into the scabbard, then I opened my footlocker and carefully placed the sword belt inside. I shut the trunk lid, nodding as I did so. “Yes, Your Reverence.”
“What goddess?” Dyfrig asked.
I looked up at the doyen and saw the air sphere hovering over his shoulder. Though not speaking to me, apparently the aspect had no problem spilling secrets to him. Including the fact that a goddess had dropped by for a chat.
“What goddess?”
“The Lady Gaia, Your Reverence,” I said. “She who governs earth. I didn’t actually see Her—”
“What then did you see?” Laurel whispered, his eyes wide, his ears now pushed forward.
I stared at my rune. The pain had receded just as fast as it had flared up, leaving behind a deep itch. “A forest. The one that surrounds my parents’ farm.”
“And?” Laurel prodded.
“She spoke to me—”
“And you listened?” Dyfrig asked.
“They all speak to me, Your Reverence. At least air and water did. Fire hasn’t, but the way it’s been acting I figure it’s only a matter of time—” I stopped as the flames in the fireplace leapt up the chimney with a whoosh. “Though maybe it has been speaking and I’ve just not been listening,” I finished.
“Perhaps,” Wyln said, his face unreadable.
I hunched my shoulder. “Yeah, well, I suppose it’s not surprising that earth would speak too.”
“It’s not the first time She has come to you, Rabbit,” Laurel pointed out.
I stifled a sigh, thinking that was the last thing Dyfrig needed to hear, even though it was true. I had received my ashwood staff in a vision, also about my parents’ farm. I now glanced at the staff propped against the wall, wondering why I had gone for my sword in a fight against two talent-masters.
“Not the first time?” Dyfrig began, his voice tight with anger, but Laurel held up his paw, the truth rune still shining, and the doyen shut his mouth with a snap, his face turning wary.
“What did the Lady say, Rabbit?” Laurel asked.
“She called me foolish and told me to take the quarrel out. And when I did, the pain stopped.”
“Told you to take it out,” Wyln repeated.
“Yes, honored Cyhn,” I said.
Wyln considered the bolt for a moment. Then he moved swiftly towards me and I yelled, doing my best to climb the clothespress. I reached for the dagger I wore in the small of my back, but before I could draw it, the enchanter was on me. He laid the quarrel against my bare shoulder and I damn near shrieked, everything whiting out. And in the middle of the blinding whiteness green eyes glittered like emeralds. Bloodred lips smiled.
There you are.
“—are you doing to our cousin!” Jusson shouted.
Gasping, I blinked and Wyln’s face swam back into focus. Beyond him I could see the king, Thadro, Chadde, several aristos, town elders, royal guardsmen and Finn.I struggled and Wyln let me go, only to catch me again to keep me from falling down. I held on for dear life while I practiced breathing, shivers coursing through me, my skin covered in goose bumps.
“Answer His Majesty, elf!” Beollan snarled.
“For a moment there he was freezing cold,” Wyln said, ignoring Beollan. He must’ve handed the quarrel off to Laurel for I could see the Faena place it on the table. Then Wyln lifted my face and flames filled my vision. I leaned into their warmth.
“I also saw something looking back at me,” the enchanter said. His brows pulled together. “It’s gone now.”
There was the sound of swords being drawn.
“Stop!” Jusson ordered.
There was the sound of swords being resheathed.
“You saw this something in Rabbit?” Jusson asked.I heard footsteps and the king’s face joined Wyln’s, one gaze gold, the other bright fire. They were both hard to sustain and I dropped my forehead to Wyln’s shoulder as the last of the shivering eased.
“No,” Wyln said. “Not in him. But close. Very close.”
At that moment my stomach decided to give a loud growl.
There were more footsteps and Thadro’s face joined Wyln’s on the other side, Chadde standing behind the Lord Commander. “He ate enough for three men downstairs, and he’s hungry again?” Thadro asked.
“Something is engaging his talent,” Laurel said, “and it’s draining him.”
“Is this the same something that is lurking about him?” Jusson asked.
The image of a huge beast arose in my mind, prowling around the boundaries of my self as it sought a way in, and I once again felt a touch of cold in the quarrel scratch, as if someone reached an icy finger towards it. I clamped my hand to my side, pressing the heat of my rune against the wound. The cold retreated.
“There,” Wyln said, his voice soft. “Did you feel that?”
“Pox rot it, yes,” Jusson said.
“So subtle,” Wyln murmured. “Like the brush of a snowflake.”
“Lord Wyln?” Jeff asked. “This something you saw. Did it look like Slevoic?”
There was a creaking thump and I lifted my head to see that Arlis had dropped back onto the trundle bed.
“No,” Wyln said, interested. “It did not, Corbin’son. Why do you ask?”
“Because for a moment, just before you gutted him, Rodolfo looked just like Slevoic,” Jeff said. “Blue eyes and all.”
The silence roared—and, at the window, Dyfrig turned to stare down into the street.
“You weren’t going to tell us, cousin?” Jusson asked, as many blessed themselves against the Vicious returned from the dead.
“Other events drove it out of my mind, sire,” I said, trying to move away from Wyln. I staggered, though, and the enchanter again took hold of me.
“It has been a rather crowded couple of days,” Jusson agreed. He went over to the table and picked up the quarrel, examining it. “Is there anything else that you’d like to mention? Other sightings? Visions, perhaps? Dreams?”
Figuring that my vision of the Lady Gaia would go over just as well with my new audience as it had with Dyfrig, I started to shake my head, but stopped. There were dreams. Dreams that had me waking covered in sweat. Dreams that had me divesting myself of whatever protections I had. Dreams that were seeping into my waking hours.
Nightmares that even now hovered only a blink away.
There you are.
“I have been dreaming, Your Majesty,” I admitted.
“Oh?” Jusson asked. “What kind of dreams?”
“I think—” I took a deep breath, the sound of it rasping in my throat. “I think I’m being stalked, Your Majesty.”
Jusson stared at me, then looked down at the bolt he held in his hand. He dropped it back on the table, wiping his hands on his trousers. “Stalked by what?” Jusson asked.