FORBIDDEN TALENTS (9 page)

And the Dark Elves will be worse
.

“
PLEASE, I CAN cook and mend and be of other help to you.
”
Saeun clasped her hands together to keep from clutching Arten’s arm. Merchants selling food and wares, entertainers, and customers enjoying the clear, crisp winter day crowed the courtyard. Saeun stood close to Gert in the bailey of the castle trying to persuade the pupeteer to take them with him when he left in the morning.

Arten was between shows. He looked up from the Loki figure he was mending, spearing Saeun with a doubtful look from under his long tufted brows.
“
You look as like you’d be more use wipin’ some lady’s nose than any help to me.
”

Saeun bit her lip. One of the Daughters of Freya had sent word of an enclave of women living on Lady Solveig’s lands. All she and Gert had to do was get there. The Daughters of Freya would give her sanctuary. Since a lone woman and her maid would draw attention on the road, she’d hoped to travel part of the way with a group of merchants.

Most of those selling wares on market day were local, traveling no further from Quartzholm than their farms or nearby villages. This man traveled with a group of merchants who made a circuit of the larger towns, buying and selling along the way. The puppeteer and his group had been here for a tenday. They should be packing up tonight and moving on in the morning. It was a risk to stay another night in Quartzholm, but if whoever had taken her tools meant to arrest her immediately, she’d already be in irons. It was a beggar’s choice. Traveling alone would also pose a danger.

Arten was shaking his head. Saeun decided a half-truth was better than a lie. She let her voice tremble with a touch of fear. It wasn’t hard.
“
You’re right. I am a lady’s maid.
”
The puppeteer stopped his work and looked at her. She took that as a good sign and took a deep, trembling breath.
“
You’ve guessed the truth. I’m running away.
”
The man nodded.
Now for the lying half
.
“
Her lord husband is after me.
”

Arten frowned and rolled his eyes.
“
So? Give him a tumble an’ he’ll move on. Or not. That’s no reason to run from your duty, miss.
”

Saeun affected affront to hide her dismay.
“
Of course not! I endured his attentions, but then he—
”
What would be bad enough to persuade Arten?
“
He traded my, my
favors
for a gambling debt.
”

The merchant frowned again, but didn’t comment. Saeun decided to push harder.
“
He gambles and loses often. The last time he traded me to a brute who gave me to his thrall while he watched.
”
Gert choked and covered it with a cough. Saeun spared her a glance. Was she troweling the story on too thick?
It’s too late to pull back now
.
“
When I complained, he said my aunt could assume my duties if I was too nice to carry them out. Please, let us come with you.
”
At least the pleading in her voice was honest.

Arten rubbed his face with a callused hand.
“
I’ll not be party to robbing a man,
”
he warned.

Saeun understood and let pride stiffen her manner.
“
I’m a free woman.
”

Arten scowled.
“
I’ve heard of such goings on amongst the lords, but I never
…
. Aye, you can come with me, when we go.
”

“
When you go? Aren’t you leaving tomorrow? You’ve been here a tenday already.
”

“
Aye, but there’s no sense in leaving when those Tewas have just arrived. They might want a bit of fine Nuvinland goods to take back with them, or some entertainment,
”
he said, patting the side of his puppet stage.
“
And if not them, the local folks comin’ in to get an eyeful of these drylanders will.
”

This was awful—and made perfect sense.
I should have anticipated this
.
“
How much longer will you be staying?
”
She couldn’t dally; whoever had taken her divining tools might descend on her at any moment.

“
Till after Winterfest, most like. Depends on the trade.
”
Saeun must have looked as fearful as she felt, because Arten added gruffly,
“
Bear up, girl. You’ve stood it this long—another night or three won’t harm you any. Check back in a few days. And be ready; I’ll not wait. Now go on with you.
”

As he turned away he muttered,
“
Thank Freya my girl is safely wed to a farmer.
”

Saeun drew Gert some distance away and stopped, not sure what to do next.

“
We dare not wait for Arten to leave, my lady.
”
Gert spoke the obvious truth, her forehead creased with worry.

“
I know. But to go alone
…
”

Saeun pulled the older woman closer as if to confer about the cheap jewelry in the booth where they stood. She felt exposed, despite the crowds milling through the aisles of wares on display. There were any number of windows from which people could be looking down into the courtyard market searching for her, not to mention the arched bridge between the north and west towers. And the crowd itself could easily conceal someone following them.

Saeun came to a decision.
“
We’ll slip out when the local merchants leave,
”
she said in a low voice.

Gert nodded, then gave her a sharp look.
“
Did you tell Lady Celia not to expect you at the lesson?
”

Lady Celia had been teaching her and a few other women the defensive skills she’d learned in Midgard.

“
I expect she canceled the lesson when the Tewakwe arrived.
”

“
Still, you can’t be sure,
”
Gert said.
“
We wouldn’t want her asking questions and starting a search for you before it must. I’ll arrange for a message to get to her through Thora. I’ll say the same as I said to Lady Kaidlin, that you aren’t well. No, wait—Thora’s been assigned to that Tewa woman. It’ll have to be Halla. Meet me by that booth selling honey-bread, dear. I’ll be back, quick as Sleipnir.
”

*

Ragni called Baldur’s blessing down upon Odin’s gift as Sangor spread the leather inscribed with the circle of the futhark. The meeting with the Tewakwe had concluded mid-afternoon. Neven had immediately summoned the skald. They needed knowledge and wisdom only the gods could provide.

“
Friends fear and bear warning. Which path leads to peace?
”
Neven intoned the question as Sangor shook the stones.

It was never easy to petition the gods through the runes; they didn’t respond well to demands for information. Queries must be oblique and had to be phrased carefully to avoid opaque or misleading answers.

Sangor upended his pouch over the leather. Five stones landed face up. Not an auspicious number.

The skald paused, considering Odin’s gift, then began to speak.
“
A journey now may leave Quartzholm vulnerable to disruption, but the valiant will overcome adversity. There is much coming that is unclear; the Norns’ weaving is not yet cast. Battle may come, but for now the stones warn that a proposed course should be put off until after the time of ice.
”

Dahl made a surprised noise and said,
“
That seems clear enough.
”

Ragni could almost laugh. His brother had little faith in the usefulness of the runestones. This augury, however, seemed quite understandable—especially since it said what Dahl wanted to hear. He didn’t laugh, though. As a prism could shatter light, a clear augury could shatter truth.

“
Too clear, perhaps,
”
Ragni said.

Neven’s eyebrow lifted as he shot a sharp glance at his younger son.

Sangor drew his portly frame up straight. His dark beard jutted out over his chest.
“
My augury was as true as the blessing, my Lord. I can’t—I
won’t
—speak more or less than the gods see fit to reveal.
”

Neven clapped a hand to Sangor’s shoulder.
“
Nor do we ask it of you.
”

Ragni reined in a sharp retort to Sangor’s near insult. He could feel the skald’s flare of insecurity. Given the ignominy of his predecessor, the skald’s sensitivity to doubt was understandable.

“
It seems obvious,
”
Dahl said.
“
A journey now will leave Quartzholm vulnerable. It should be delayed until spring. We can spend the winter preparing for battle should it come to us. Or perhaps when the passes open, we should take the fight to the clans who threaten us and our allies.
”

Sangor looked somewhat mollified as he bent to gather the runes back into his black pouch. Neven honored him further by walking him personally to the door.

As the door closed on the skald, Dahl turned to Ragni.
“
That’s the first comprehensible augury I’ve ever heard. What fault do you find in it?
”

“
Che’veyo seemed quite positive of his gods’ will, while ours contradict.
”

“
Since when do you listen to Tewakwe gods?
”

Beneath Dahl’s sharp words lay an unease bordering on fear.
Dahl afraid
?
Of what
?
Ragni shook his head and spoke in a deliberately mild voice.
“
You said yourself this was an unusual augury.
”

“
Do you suspect Sangor is as false as Eirik?
”
Neven asked, pinning Ragni with another penetrating glance.

“
Not at all. He read the stones truly. But the gods delight in testing us and reward the clever; thus, the stones speak in riddles.
”
Ragni looked Dahl in the eye.
“
And there is more than one kind of puzzle.
”

“
The obvious should not be trusted?
”
Neven mused, stroking one braid of his beard.

Dahl snorted in disgust.
“
We can’t understand the runes when they speak in riddles, and we can’t trust them when they don’t. What good are they? And what assurance do we have that Che’veyo’s gods speak any more clearly than ours?
”

“
And yet he seemed quite positive,
”
Neven added.

“
A priest of any religion must speak with certainty,
”
Ragni said, a half smile playing on his lips.
“
The gods are not required to. And remember, Mother said Nai’awika admitted their shamans were in disagreement over the cause of these disappearances.
”

“
There’s little doubt the Elves are involved,
”
Neven said.

Again a surge of unease came from Dahl. He’d confessed his encounter with the Elves to Ragni months ago, wondering if he should step aside as heir now that he was Fey-marked. Ragni hadn’t hesitated. His brother was as fit to become Jarl now as he had ever been.

“
No,
”
Dahl said.
“
No doubt at all.
”

Dahl and he had agreed Neven shouldn’t be told about Dahl’s encounter with the Elves. The other Jarls, not to mention the people of Quartzholm, would never accept Dahl as Jarl if they knew he was Fey-marked. With Neven ignorant, a Truth Sayer Talent would find no deception in him. For a moment Ragni wondered if he’d made the right decision, but reason quickly reasserted itself. Dahl was an excellent warrior and thoughtful leader. He would make a fine Jarl. Fey-marking hadn’t changed that.

“
Now the only question is: what are we going to do?
”
Dahl asked.

“
Yes, that is the question,
”
Neven said.
“
But even if I do agree to this quest of the Tewakwe,
you
won’t be going. I won’t risk you being Fey-marked.
”