Black dawn (25 page)

"He's bright
much smarter than you give him
credit for. And these old castles have spy-holes and
listening tubes built in; I remember. It's a stupid
prince who doesn't make use of them."

He remembers, Maggie thought, for a moment too full of wonder to be scared. He remembers the
days when castles were built, he means. He's really
been alive that long.

She studied the handsome face under the
blood
red
hair, the aristocratic cheekbones, the mobile
mouth-and the quick flashing eyes. This was the
sort of man who could fascinate people, she de
cided. Like
Delos
, there was a sort of leashed ten
sion about him, a reserve of power and intelligence
that made an ordinary person feel awed. He was a leader, a commander.

And a hunter, Maggie thought. All these people
are hunters, but he's
the
Hunter, the epitome of
what they are. His name says it all.

But Sylvia was talking again. "What is it that he's
not supposed to know?"

"I've had a message from Outside. Don't ask how,
I have my ways."

"You have your little bats," Sylvia said demurely.
"I've seen them."

There was a pause, then Hunter said, "You'd bet
ter watch yourself, girl. That mouth's going to get
you in trouble."

Sylvia had her face turned away from him, but
Maggie saw her swallow. "I'm sorry. I didn't know
it was a secret. But what's happened?"

"The biggest news in your short life."
Hunter
Redfern
laughed once and added with apparent
good humor restored, "And maybe in mine. The
witches have seceded from the Night World."

Maggie blinked. It sounded impressive the way
he said it
but more impressive was the way Sylvia
froze and then whirled breathlessly.

"What?"

"It's happened. They've been threatening for a
month, but most people didn't believe they'd really
do it."

Sylvia put a hand to her middle, pressed flat
against her stomach as if to hold something in.
Then she sat on the fur-covered bed.

"They've left the Council," she said. She wasn't
looking at Hunter
Redfern
.

"They've left the Council and everything else."
"All of them?"

Hunter
Redfern's
fine red eyebrows went up.

"What did you expect? Oh, a few of the blackest
practitioners from Circle Midnight are arguing, but
most of them agree with the liberals in Circle Twi
light. They want to save the humans. Avert the
coming darkness." He said it exactly the way Mag
gie had heard lumberjacks say, "Save the spotted owls. Ha!"

"So it's really beginning," Sylvia murmured. She
was still looking at the stone floor. "I mean, there's
no going back, now, is there? The Night World is
split forever."

"And the millennium is upon us," Hunter said,
almost cheerfully. He looked young and
...
person
able, Maggie thought. Somebody you'd vote for.

"Which brings me to the question," he said smoothly, looking at Sylvia, "of when you're going
to find her."

What her? Maggie's stomach tightened.

Sylvia's face was equally tight. She looked up and

said
levelly, "I told you I'd find her and I will."
"But
when?
You do understand how important

this
is?"

"Of course I understand!" Sylvia flared up. Her
chest was heaving. "That's why I was trying to send
her to you in the first place-"

Hunter was talking
as
if he didn't hear her. "If it
gets out that
Aradia
, the Maiden of all the witches,
is here in the valley-'

Ili
know
!"

"And that you
had
her and let her slip through
your fingers-"

"I was trying to bring her to
you.
I thought
that
was important," Sylvia said. She was bristling and

distraught
.
Which was exactly what Hunter wanted
her to be, Maggie thought dazedly.
He really knows
how to play people.

But the analysis was
faraway
, in the shallowest
part of her mind. Most of her consciousness was
simply stricken into paralyzed amazement.

Aradia
.

The Maiden of all the witches.

So it wasn't
Arcadia
at all, Maggie thought. She might have mentioned
that,
after I've been calling
her Cady for days. But then she hasn't been con
scious much, and when she was we had more ur
gent things to talk about.

Aradia
.
Aradia
.
That's really pretty.

The name had started an odd resonance in her
mind, maybe bringing up some long-forgotten my
thology lesson.
Aradia
was a goddess, she thought.
Of
... um, sylvan glades or something.
The woods.
Like Diana.

And what Maiden of all the witches was, she had
no idea, but it was obviously something important.
And not evil, either.
From what Hunter was saying,
it was clear that witches weren't like other Night
People.

She was the maiden
Bern
and Gavin were talking
about, Maggie realized. The one they were sup
posed to deliver. So Sylvia was bringing her to
Hunter
Redfern
. But Cady herself told me-I mean,
Aradia
told me-
that
she was already coming to
this valley for a reason.

Before she could even properly phrase the ques
tion, her mind had the answer.

Delos
.

In a coincidence that lifted the hair on Maggie's
arms, Sylvia said, "She won't get to
Delos
."

"She'd better not," Hunter said. "Maybe you don't realize how persuasive she can be. An ambassador
from all the witches, coming to plead her case ... she just might sway him. He has a despicable soft
spot-a conscience, you might call it. And we know
he's been in contact with the human girl who es
caped with her. Who knows what messages the lit
tle vermin was carrying from her?"

No messages, Maggie thought grimly. Not with
this vermin anyway. But I would have carried them
if I'd known.

"Gavin said
Aradia
was still unconscious from
the truth potion-that she was practically dead,"
Sylvia said. "I don t think she could have given any messages. I'd swear that
Delos
doesn't know she's
in the valley at all."

Hunter was still brooding. "The witches have one
Wild Power on their side already."

"But they won't get another," Sylvia said dog
gedly. "I've got people looking for her. All the nobles are on our side. They won't let her get to
Delos
."

"She should have been killed in the beginning,"
Hunter mused. "But maybe
you
have a soft spot
for her-like you do for that human boy."

Behind the linen curtains, Maggie stiffened.

Like you
do.
Not like you
did.
And who else could
the human boy be?