Rebel's Cage (Book 4) (7 page)

‘He was going to use the Word of Destruction to kill Nash, wasn’t he?’

Suddenly wary, Finnlay said, ‘Yes.’

Hesitant blue eyes darted to his and then away. ‘Why … why did Mother stop him?’

Finnlay blinked in surprise. Hadn’t Jenn explained enough to assuage his curiosity?

Obviously not.

Not waiting for an answer, or perhaps afraid of it, Andrew hurried on, his voice a sharp whisper, ‘So Nash is still alive, which means Duke Robert still has to kill him – and that’s what he’s planning now, isn’t it? Another war? Because he still has to kill Nash. Isn’t it?’

‘Have you been talking to Murdoch? What has he said?’

‘Was I not supposed to? I’m sorry if I wasn’t meant to know or something but … I just … well, I was curious and … Murdoch didn’t say anything about a war. I just thought that might be what—’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Finnlay held up his hand. ‘I take it you don’t mention any of this to your mother.’

‘No.’ Andrew’s voice came out short; there was tension beneath the surface. ‘Why did she stop them? Didn’t she believe in Duke Robert?’

By the gods, that was too much! How could she have told the boy so much and yet left him understanding nothing of her relationship with Robert? Quietly, Finnlay turned his full gaze on Andrew then, deliberately looking for the tiny signs of his father in the face that resembled Jenn’s so much. ‘Have you asked her?’

A shrug was the only answer he got.

‘Do you think perhaps that if she wanted you to know, she would have told you already?’

‘I don’t know. It just seems like …’

‘What?’

‘Like she betrayed him in some way.’ Andrew looked at Finnlay then, a little fearfully, as though he knew he’d said something he shouldn’t.

Finnlay couldn’t tell him the truth. It wasn’t his story to tell. It had to come from Jenn, if anyone – and she could be a tyrant when it came to what her son was told and what he wasn’t.

And she had held him to his promise never to tell Robert that Andrew was his son, a promise he had never stopped regretting.

He could, however, give the boy something to lean on. ‘You know about the Prophecy, don’t you? You know that the roles played by my brother, your mother and Nash were written down centuries ago?’

For a moment, Andrew didn’t answer. Instead, his gaze drifted, floating to nothing in particular, leaving Finnlay with a perfect image of Robert doing exactly the same thing when he Sensed someone approaching. He waited until Andrew turned to him again, blinking a little as though nothing had happened.

Finnlay had to ask. ‘What’s wrong?’

Andrew shook his head a little, apparently unaware of what he’d just done. ‘Nothing. You were saying about the Prophecy?’

Unsure how to interpret what he’d just seen, Finnlay decided it was best ignored for the moment. He couldn’t get carried away with the hope that Andrew was finally developing Senses. It might be nothing at all. ‘Well, it’s just that you should be able to see whatever happens between them is going to be complicated. More complicated than either you or I can understand from the outside. I do know what she told me: that the Key had insisted that Shan Moss was not the right time for Robert and Nash to fight. Perhaps leaving it for another day meant Robert would have more weapons at his disposal, or more information. Anything beyond that is a guess – but I do know she had good reasons. Do you honestly think she would act in any other manner?’

‘No!’ Andrew’s eyes were wide with horror at the mere
suggestion. ‘I just wanted to understand and she won’t really talk to me about it.’

‘Well, perhaps she will one day, when you’re a little older.’

‘Maybe,’ Andrew drew in a breath, ‘maybe she’s waiting until I develop powers.’

‘Perhaps.’

‘And … and what if I don’t?’ Andrew bit his bottom lip. ‘My father didn’t have any. I don’t even have a House Mark, like you and my mother. Why should I have any powers?’

More questions Finnlay couldn’t answer with total honesty. ‘There’s no proof that having a House Mark is directly related to sorcery – that’s only a guess. But just because Eachern didn’t have powers doesn’t mean you can’t. Your mother’s blood is powerful enough.’ Finnlay then allowed himself a smile. ‘Just think how powerful you’d be if
both
your parents were sorcerers.’

That brought a shy smile to the boy’s face then, easing away the worry.

Finnlay gave Andrew’s shoulder a squeeze. ‘Just sit still a moment while I do another scan.’

‘Of course.’

Once more Finnlay closed his eyes, breathing deeply, sending his Senses out into the forest to Seek for any danger approaching. He found nothing in the immediate area, so he extended himself further, looking and Sensing and feeling and leaving those awkward questions, and even more awkward answers behind. On the last edge of his sweep, however, he paused.

Something. Something that shouldn’t be there. Ten, perhaps twenty men, on horseback. Drawing further into the forest. Heading in this direction!

His eyes snapped open and he surged to his feet. Andrew stood quickly, his face already pale with fear. ‘Go, wake your mother and Arlie. Now! We have to get moving!’

‘We need to get closer. I can’t see anything from here.’ Finnlay frowned into the darkness, then glanced over his shoulder to where the others stood with the horses. He could see nothing in the way of faces, but the very stillness of the children, the restlessness of the animals, told him all he needed to know.

Jenn shifted beside him, pulling in closer to the shadows. The bright moonlight left the field before them open and bright, giving them cover within the forest.

‘But what are they doing here? I’ve never seen Guilde soldiers venture more than fifty yards into the forest.’

‘That’s a search pattern,’ Finnlay said, making out movement along the edge of the field: horses, men, somebody obviously in command, the familiar flash of Guilde yellow. On the opposite side, masked by younger, smaller trees, lay the Trade Road, the major route between Lusara and Mayenne which skirted the northern perimeter of Shan Moss. ‘They’re looking for someone.’

‘Or something?’

There were two answers to that question, and Finnlay liked neither of them. He pulled in a breath. ‘Well, we need to move. If we stand here all night they’re bound to find us. We can try a mask, but the moment the horses move, we’ll be given away and we don’t have the firepower between us to fight off an attack from twenty or more soldiers.’

‘Nor do we want to attract that kind of attention. If they search the children, they’ll find
ayarns,
and that’s a death sentence.’

‘Oh, I do love being an outlaw.’

Jenn sighed, still watching the field. ‘What do you suggest?’

‘You and Arlie take the children east, but don’t go too far into the forest. Sandy Gorge is too close and if they come after you, you’ll get trapped. If we’re clear of them by morning, we
can skirt around the gorge and go far enough into the forest they won’t dare follow. After that, we head straight back to the Enclave.’

‘I agree.’ Jenn paused, then added, ‘They can’t be looking for
us
, can they?’

His stomach gave an uncomfortable clench at the idea, then he shook his head. ‘I don’t see how that’s possible.’

‘Very well. And what are you going to do?’

Finnlay turned back. ‘I’m going to get a little closer to the soldiers. We need to know what’s got them so fired up. I’ll take Andrew with me.’

‘No.’

Finnlay would have had to be deaf not to have heard the determination – and the fear – in her voice. ‘Jenn,’ he whispered, ‘you can’t protect him like this. He has to do these things, for his own good. You have to let him take the risks.’

‘No!’ Jenn grabbed his arm, a sliver of moonlight making her eyes glint. ‘He’s not ready.’

‘But this is how we make him ready.’

‘I won’t have him taking risks without even a shred of power to protect him!’

‘You honestly think I would allow anything to happen to my own nephew?’ Finnlay stepped closer, desperate to make sure nobody either saw or heard them. ‘Jenn, you have to get used to the idea that Andrew may never develop any powers at all. Robert had his when he was nine—’

‘And mine didn’t come until I was seventeen. We need to give him at least that long.’

‘And what if the decision isn’t ours, eh?’

She froze at that, then shook off his hand. ‘Take Liam, not Andrew. We’ll discuss the rest of it when we get home.’

Finnlay groaned, but there was no point pursuing it further. Shaking his head, he headed back to the horses.

Discuss it when they got home? Like they
hadn’t
discussed it for the last eight years? What the hell was she trying to do, trying to hide?

He didn’t know much about what she was thinking, what
she was planning any more, but he knew one thing: there would be no discussion once they got home.

*

It only took an hour for Andrew to develop a headache, trying to keep his horse quiet, listening so hard for noises that might mean soldiers were coming after them, peering into the inky shadows for pitfalls and signs of the ridge they were following. It was futile, of course. He didn’t have Senses that would help him do something like that, and Arlie was a strong Seeker, even if his mother wasn’t. And of course, all the others were doing what they could and would undoubtedly talk about it later, at great length, even knowing how inadequate it made him feel.

That didn’t stop him trying, though. Didn’t stop him wanting to succeed, to finally be able to show his mother that all her efforts hadn’t been in vain, that something of what she and Finnlay had been trying to teach him had sunk in.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him. Wished he did.

But he
could
feel something, though it was certainly nothing like what Finnlay had described. This was something else, something he knew, something that drifted on the edge of his awareness every now and then, perhaps once every five or six months. It wasn’t a
thing
exactly, but more a …

What?

‘Why hasn’t Father come back yet?’

The fearful whisper to his left made him reach out until he could touch Helen’s hand. She rode beside him, almost invisible in the darkness. ‘I don’t know, but I’m sure he’s fine.’

‘You can’t know that,’ Neil hissed from behind, but Andrew ignored him.

Zea was riding in front, her voice disembodied in the night. ‘I don’t understand why we’re running. We’ve done nothing wrong.’

‘We’re Salti,’ Guy replied. ‘Isn’t that enough?’

‘But they can’t know that, not just by looking at us. They won’t be looking for us.’

‘No,’ Andrew shook his head, ‘but
they
won’t know that, will they?’

Zea turned to say something more, but her comments were silenced with a word from Arlie. Andrew returned to listening.

There
was
something out there, that something familiar he’d known for years – but he couldn’t pinpoint it and he was no nearer to working out what it was than he’d ever been.

*

‘Damn it, where have they all come from?’ And what were they looking for? Finnlay held his tongue against further curses that might be heard and carefully steered his horse between the trunks of two dead trees. Silent in his fear, Liam followed, staying close, his eyes wide, his left hand keeping hold of his
ayarn
as though it were a lifeline.

Well, perhaps it was – though against an organised group such as this, it would not get him far.

With a frown, Finnlay twisted in his saddle and cast his Senses back the way they’d come. It had taken them long, dangerous minutes to circle around the soldiers, to sneak up on them from behind, just so he could listen in. He could only hope that Jenn would keep moving, taking the children away from this area.

For the moment, they were safe in these shadows. With a nod to himself, he swung down from his saddle and, not for the first time, wished he had the power to do one of those dimensional shifts Robert was so skilled at. Making himself invisible at this point would be useful indeed.

He handed his reins to Liam. ‘Stay here. Count to five hundred. If I’m not back by then, leave my horse and go.’

Liam nodded, his fear held carefully at bay. ‘How are you going to get closer? Can you do a shift?’

Finnlay had to bite his lip to stop himself from snapping, ‘No, I’m not! And I wouldn’t even if I could. I’ve told you a hundred times the dangers of using the forbidden side of our powers. Now do as I say and keep quiet.’

The boy opened his mouth to protest, but Finnlay didn’t wait. He turned and strode into the forest.

Using every ounce of skill he had, he crept towards the soldiers, pausing when they paused, listening with his ears,
extending his Senses to absorb everything he could. Only when he could hear actual voices did he halt his advance. The words themselves, however, almost made his heart stop.

Quickly he turned and made his way back. Liam smiled his relief and moments later they were on their way.

*

‘This isn’t supposed to be here!’ Jenn jumped down from her horse and took two short steps to the edge of Sandy Gorge. The moon had moved, but there was still enough light to show the sharp drop, the flat ground below. The gorge stretched out left and right, carving a slice out of the forest, leaving them without a place to hide. Could she get nothing right? Even when lives depended on her, she made simple mistakes like this, in a place she was supposed to know better than anyone else. ‘I must have turned in too soon.’

Arlie came up beside her, frowning down, then lifting his gaze to the other side, so close, and yet not close enough. ‘We must have, but it looked right to me, too. Finnlay said there’s no path down here.’

‘So we either go back to where we turned off and keep going, or try to skirt around it from here.’ Taking a deep breath, Jenn faced the others, gauging their reactions, how well they were holding up. So far, only Helen looked worried, but as her father hadn’t returned yet—

Vibrations at her feet made her turn swiftly. Signalling the others to mount up, she moved forward, her hand flexing, ready to release whatever power was necessary to protect—