‘She’s real,’ said Loup, grinning. ‘That’s young Aziel, like a bird in a cage. Talk is, Vous planted seed in one of them lady servants, in their silly grey robes, whether or not she wished it, no surprise at all. A hobby of his from way back. The Arch Mage talked Vous out of killing the mother, so the talk goes. He sees far ahead, that one. But only with a man’s eyes, mind, and so not in all directions at once!’
‘That Arch Mage didn’t look like the type to save anyone, to me,’ said Case. ‘Looked worse than those horned things near the door.’
‘Oh aye, he is,’ said Loup earnestly. ‘Worse cos he’s greater than them, but worse yet cos he’s saner than them. Enough magic’s poured through him as would cook any honest mage’s brain, but his brain’s still raw as fish! And rightly said, didn’t save anyone’s life from the goodness of his heart, that one. They got grand plans at that castle, and Aziel may have her part.’
To Case’s surprise, the part Anfen seemed most alarmed by was the mention of Stranger. He questioned Case about her many times — what she wore, how she spoke — but Case didn’t have much more to tell.
‘I felt her all right,’ said Loup in a lowered voice. ‘She’s never far away. Been on us since the fight. Sometimes far back, sometimes a stone’s throw.’
‘Who and what is she?’ Anfen demanded, sitting up and looking quietly furious.
‘Hard to say, but she’s a handy mage,’ said Loup. ‘Making a cup of wine taste better? Well, I can do that kind of thing. I did it to the stew tonight! Creating a cup of wine right there on the spot? See, I never heard of that. Only summoning I ever saw took three mages and nearly a full day’s work, mind you that’s without all the old books and such to guide em. But she’s game enough to do her trick right in front of the castle, too?’ Loup whistled. ‘Can look after herself, I’d reckon. We’d be worried if she meant us harm!’
‘Wouldn’t we?’ said Anfen. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and seemed suddenly to have aged another year or two.
‘If she did, she’s had her chances to get us,’ said Loup.
‘She seemed nice enough to me,’ said Case, a little rankled.
‘Sure she did.’ Loup flashed his gums. ‘Nice of her not to take this old necklace, too. She’d have known it was a good one! Maybe she knows what the other beads do, and doesn’t want to touch it. Maybe she wants to get it as far away’s she can, and is watching to make sure we get rid of it. Nice old girl, but maybe one with a bad temper! Your Stranger must know a thing or two about it.’
‘Is she nearby, now?’ Anfen demanded.
‘Nope,’ said Loup. ‘But she came and had a look at where we set up camp.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me about her?’
‘Oh, I’m watching out for her,’ said Loup, unperturbed by his anger. ‘She never got too close yet. I told Siel to keep an eye out. I don’t care what tricks our Stranger knows, a goodly aimed arrow’ll put a stop to her, if we need to, ’less her skin’s made of rock. I don’t reckon she means us ill. Plenty of patrols she could’ve steered our way. Wouldn’t surprise me if she had a hand in the scrap back at the hilltop, somehow. A few strange turns in that scrap and we come out the other side just fine. She’s handy enough, believe that.’
Anfen lay back down and sighed deeply. ‘If she sees through a spell the Arch Mage of the castle didn’t, handy is an understatement.’
Loup gave his beg to differ smile. ‘No mage is great at everything. It’s why they had five different schools, back in the old days! Doing some kinds of magic don’t let you do the others, though you can get away with some mishmash. Some mages kill good. Some do things with the dead. Some, great with charms, making and using em. That ugly bastard isn’t, by the sound. No matter, a lot else he’s good at. Plenty of dead people to tell you that.’
For another half hour Anfen, Sharfy and Loup asked Case various details of his trip inside the castle. The more Anfen heard, the more troubled he seemed, though he wouldn’t say what bothered him.
Eventually Case’s composure slipped: ‘I told you all I know! Enough questions. And yes, I probably forgot big parts that are important. I can’t remember every word I heard in there, I’m not a tape recorder.’ At their puzzled looks, he sighed. ‘It’s a device, back home … look, forget it.’
‘No matter.’ Loup grinned and held up the charm necklace. ‘Our nice old girl might know some things too. We’ll have to ask her, polite as can be.’
‘Where to, tomorrow?’ said Sharfy as the folk magician laid a blanket across the flames.
‘We stay off road,’ said Anfen. ‘We’re going to have to head towards Faul’s house until things settle. There is more going on here than we know, that’s all I’m sure of.’
‘We’re not going through those woods?’ said Sharfy, incredulous.
Anfen smiled. ‘It’s our safest bet. You know who to thank that the roads aren’t safe.’
‘What’s the matter?’ Eric whispered to Sharfy, surprised at the rare display of fear.
‘Woods’re haunted,’ Sharfy answered. ‘No one who gets in gets out, unless you can speak to the dead.’
‘Loup can,’ Anfen murmured drowsily. ‘So relax.’
25
Eric drifted in and out of sleep, his dreams full of Siel or a woman just like her, running about him fast and ethereal as a ghost, her bright echoing laugh all around him. She was laughing at some private joke at his expense, then fled as a great shadow stretched out before him, while the old-young lord towered behind.
Twice in the night, some of the camp woke to the distant sound of chain mail clinking and heavy boots stomping past in a fast march. Now and then Eric woke and wondered dazedly where the hell he was. Silhouettes of the sleeping band were comforting around him, strangers or not. He remembered being a boy on camp with the Cub Scouts, learning knots, fistfights: memories from a world ago, a world away, suddenly hardly seeming real. That whole time, this place had been here, its own travails and problems just as serious as those of the world next to it. How long had this world really called to him? No memory he could find gave any hint that he would one day spend a night under a completely different sky.
Case slept next to him, but Eric didn’t stir when the old guy got up to empty his bladder. It was still dark, though the night was old. Some way closer to the road was the silhouette of whoever kept watch — one of the women, it appeared. Mindful of the crack of twigs underfoot, hugely loud as they seemed in this gloom, Case went as far to the edge of the group as he dared. Then a glimpse of green caught his eye between trees further into the scrub. Her.
His heart raced, though not with fear. ‘Miss?’ he whispered. ‘Stranger?’
There wasn’t an answer, and he strained his eyes into the darkness ahead. She hadn’t been far away. Then something ripped the air nearby, whoosh! Thock! An arrow striking a tree trunk. Siel was just behind him, her bow in hand, another arrow already nocked and drawn, its string creaking. ‘Go back,’ she said.
‘You shot at her?’ whispered Case, outraged. ‘You shot at my friend?’
‘Your friend should introduce herself. By day.’
‘She introduced herself to me.’
Siel’s mouth hung open and she stared at him, amazed to be chastising someone old enough to be her grandfather. ‘You are not an honoured guest here! You are a newborn again. There’s much to learn. Go back to sleep. Don’t wake the others.’
Case was equally amazed to be chastised by someone young enough to be his granddaughter, so fiercely at that. He was lost for words, so he spluttered for a moment then did what she said.