Green Rider (9 page)

Evergreens wheeled, merged, and spun like a kaleidoscope in the eyepiece. Fragments of an image fell into place and created a picture of the all too familiar woods of the Green Cloak and the desolate stretches of the North Road. A red squirrel paused in the road, then scurried across and into the undergrowth and shadows of the woods. A raven alighted at the top of a spruce, the bough bending under its weight. It squawked once and flapped its wings, watchful. All else was still.

Although Karigan couldn't place the section of road, it looked familiar. But then, there wasn't much to distinguish one part of the endless stretch of the Green Cloak and the monotonous miles of curving road from another.

Movement caught the corner of her eye, and the telescope obligingly zoomed in at a dizzying rate only to reveal herself. She watched herself lead The Horse away from F'ryan Coblebay's body. The Horse plodded dispiritedly behind her, his head bowed, while she walked on seemingly deep in thought.

I remember this.

As they rounded a curve in the road, something behind them caught The Horse's attention. The Karigan within the vision looked behind, too, just as she had done that day, but saw nothing. The Karigan who observed through the telescope, however, saw a shadowy figure following behind, bent and in green, with two arrows protruding from his back.

Before she had time to consider it, the vision dissolved as if flushed with water, only to reveal another. Bright sunlight washed the new scene, but she couldn't determine anything else about the setting. The soldiers Sarge and Thursgad had their backs to her and obscured her view. The telescope moved in slowly, allowing her to peer over their shoulders.

Captain Immerez sat on the ground soaked in blood which gushed from his wrist. His severed hand lay on the bloodied ground, stark white, and with the fingers still curled around the handle of his whip.

Revolted, Karigan tried to jerk away from the eyepiece, but she was held fast.

I will kill that Greenie
. Immerez's whisper came breathy and close into her ear.

Like the turning of a page, the scene changed. Darkness flooded Karigan's eyes like puddles of black ink. Then Immerez's face appeared, a glowing orb, his features chiseled by shadows and flickering light, as from a candle or fire. He moved his face close to hers, rotating his head sideways to gaze at her with his one eye. The shadows shifted across his features and darkened half his face. He smiled.

A sticky wetness dripped into her eyes and Immerez turned into a luminescent blur. She blinked rapidly and the contours of his face sharpened. He pulled back and was surrounded again by the blackness. He thrust his handless stump in front of her face, the wrist now equipped with a metal hook. He turned it carefully and slowly so she might see it from all angles. It gleamed in the unknown light source.

Immerez then pressed the hook into the flesh just below her eye. She gasped at the sharp, cold pain.

Well met, Greenie
, he said.

Pain ripped just below her eye. She made a strangled noise of terror, wanting to scream, but her voice was muffled and it was difficult to breathe. She wanted to paw at her cheek, but as if her hands were bound, she was unable to move them. Her breath rasped raggedly and quickly in her ears. The pain…

Then Immerez's face folded in on itself, and the pain ceased.

The next scene blossomed sky blue, with slow moving clouds trailing along in a chill spring breeze. Karigan stood amidst the green of the practice field at Selium. It was pocked with worn, dirt-floored practice rings. A crowd thronged around her. She held the point of her wooden practice sword at the back of Timas Mirwell's neck as he lay prone on the ground before her.

You are dead
, she said.

Timas spat dirt. The roar of the onlookers subsided to painful silence.
G'ladheon
, he said,
that was dirty sword-play
—
against the rules
! He climbed to his feet wiping dirt and spittle from his mouth. He was a small young man and had to look up at her.

I dunno, Timas
, an onlooker said.
Whether it was against the rules or not, she got kill point
. There was a murmur of agreement from the crowd.

Karigan, the watcher, struggled to release herself from the eyepiece, but still she could not move.
Must I relive this
? As if in answer, the scene continued uninterrupted.

It wasn't fair
! Timas cried.

You just haven't learned that kind of swordplay yet
, said someone else, and many in the crowd laughed.
At the top of your class indeed
.

Timas sputtered in anger. Karigan flashed a grin at her audience and dipped into a low, self-mocking bow. Timas sprang upon her unguarded back and swatted the wooden sword across her shoulders. Stunned, she fell to her hands and knees. Sharp pain flared across her back. The crowd watched in silence, unable to react.

What's happening here?

The crowd gave way to a stocky man with steel gray hair. Arms Master Rendle grabbed Timas around the chest and pressed on his wrist to force him to drop the practice sword. He let go only after Timas stopped struggling and kicking.

Then he clasped Karigan's hand and hauled her to her feet.
You all right
? he asked gruffly.

Karigan watched the rest, how Master Rendle humiliated Timas for his unwarranted attack by assigning him a month of drudge chores; how the arms master remarked on her abilities with a sword and offered to take her on as a private student. Yes, it was all familiar to her, but what she hadn't seen before, what she hadn't noticed, was Timas Mirwell watching from a distance as she and the Arms Master conversed, his expression one of unadulterated hatred.

Karigan shivered. Timas had gotten his revenge by taking his case to his relatives of status who lived in the city who, in turn, took his case to the dean and the trustees. Karigan had initiated the fight. She was the one to blame.

The scene faded out, Rendle talking to her softly, and Timas' glare radiating across the practice field to her like a flare of pure hate.

Karigan fought to pull away from the terrible visions, but the telescope wasn't done with her yet.

The brightness of day darkened to night. Little could be seen except a rider, cloaked and hooded in gray, mounted on a shadowy horse. She felt unexplained attraction, coupled with fear, toward the rider. She was drawn inexorably closer to him. He twisted toward her. Though she couldn't see his features beneath his hood, she felt his cold gaze as if he could see her where she stood in the library. Icy daggers of fear pierced her heart.

Who are you
? he demanded.
Who watches
?

She felt unseen eyes search for her, and felt his smile.
The mirror goes both
ways, he said.

Karigan's mind screamed in fear.

The telescope, or maybe it was her own will this time, wrenched her out of that scene. But no sooner was she out than she was plunged into another. A tall man with almond-shaped brown eyes gazed at her sadly. She couldn't make out his surroundings, but she had an impression of a room of stone walls like a keep or a prison.

Kari
, the man said,
I need you. I need you here. Please don't accept that mission. It's dangerous and I can't bear the thought of losing you
.

This man needed her? Who was he that he should speak to her so? She tried to call out to him, to reach for him, but she could not move or speak.
What mission
? she wanted to ask.
What danger
?

His image shimmered, then vanished, and she felt inexplicably bereft and alone. Stars filled the eyepiece once again. Released from the spell of the telescope, Karigan fell to her knees weak and breathless, her whole body shaking and drenched with sweat, her head throbbing.

She cupped the crystal in her hand and staggered over to an overstuffed chair by the unending fire. She curled up and heaved a sigh as the warmth of the crystal wrapped around her.

INTRIGUE

Karigan had not realized she'd fallen asleep in the big chair until she awakened to find Miss Bunchberry gently shaking her wrist. "Supper, dear child. Letitia has outdone herself."

Karigan stretched and yawned, and nearly walked out of the room with the crystal cupped in her hand, before she remembered it and replaced it on Professor Berry's table of oddities. Of all the objects in the library, the crystal seemed to be a source of light and warmth, and possessed no twisted qualities like the telescope. The silver light extinguished as her fingers released it. The room grew dark and uninviting without its radiance.

"I daresay," Miss Bunch said as she led Karigan out of the room, "it's been a long time since I've seen the moonstone aglow. It will not work for Bay or me."

"Moonstone?"

"Oh, yes. It holds a silver moonbeam."

Hairs prickled on the back of Karigan's neck. "You aren't telling me it's really—"

"Of course I am. It was given to Father by an Eletian years ago." Miss Bunchberry smiled, and her eyes became dreamy. "I rather fancy the story of Laurelyn the Moon-dreamer and how she built a castle of silver moonbeams, don't you? Silvermind it was called. My father wanted to go find it, but other projects diverted his attention, and before he knew it, he was too old for adventuring."

Laurelyn the Moondreamer. Karigan had heard the story as a tiny child, and had forgotten it long since. In her memory, she could hear the words as she sat wrapped in her mother's protective arms. "Tell me 'bout Laur'lyn, Momma. Tell me again." Her request was met with a warm chuckle. "Maybe you will build your own castle of moonbeams one day, Kari." And the story would be repeated till she fell asleep.

"Have I made you sad?" A startled expression crossed Miss Bunchberry's face. "Are you in pain?"

Karigan wiped away a tear.
Yes, and yes
. Aloud she said, "I'm fine."

Aromas of roast goose and baked bread drifted through the house, reminding her of Midwinter Festival: loud music, wild dancing, and plenty of imbibing. Her father always invited the cargo master and crew, and all the closest kin of Clan G'ladheon. Her mother used to preside over the affair, an element of calm and dignity amidst the frenzy of merrymaking. Her mother, with her high forehead and rich brown hair, the one parent everyone saw when they looked at Karigan.

The tears brimmed in her eyes again, but her solemn thoughts were dashed when she saw Miss Bayberry sitting primly at the head of a ridiculously long table that rivaled, in length, any in the dining hall at Selium. The silver was in use again, and the table was positively heaped with food. Karigan wondered exactly what clan had been invited to feast with them.

"Please be seated," Miss Bayberry said.

Fortunately, the three settings had been placed at one end of the table, rather than at opposite ends. Otherwise they would have had to shout to one another to carry on a conversation.