The Rival (45 page)

"I dinna care what ye want!"

Matthias tilted his head so that he could see Yasep clearly in the torch light.  "First you're jealous of me leading your people, then you try to force me to do it?  Make up your mind, Yasep."

But Yasep didn't look at him.  He stopped beside Ubur instead.  "Tis true, bout the Fey?  They be all over Jahn, killin n burnin?"

"Aye," Ubur said.  He appeared to be watching this interaction with great interest.

"N ye think they'll stop?"

"Not till nothin's left."

"Nicholas wouldn't let them do that," Matthias said.  Whatever he thought of Nicholas, the boy wouldn't allow his city to burn away.

"I dinna see our guards," Ubur said.

"Nicholas," Denl breathed.  "Ye mean King Nicholas?"

Matthias shrugged.  "If that's how you want to call him."

"Ye dinna believe he should be king?"

"He's got the legal right to the title," Matthias said.  "I just wonder where his loyalties are."

Jakib smiled and crouched beside Matthias.  "I knew twas fated I save ye.  Tis as we believe.  No Fey lovers."

"Jakib!" Marly snapped.

"It's all right," Matthias said.  "I'm not a Fey lover, and I certainly opposed Nicholas with his marriage to that Fey from the beginning.  He didn't listen to me, which ultimately caused my exile here."

"I canna do this," Yasep said.  He sat down heavily.

"Do what?" Marly asked.

"Give up me post ta this man."

"Then don't," Matthias said.  "I don't want to lead anyone.  I'm not good at it."

"See?" Marly asked.

"But ye dinna ken," Yasep said to Matthias, finally talking to him on an equal basis.  "I dinna unnerstand Fey.  I wouldna ha checked Ubur and Dalis if"n ye hadna reminded me.  I wouldna ha thought anyone would come down here who dinna belong.  If I lead, I'll kill us all."

"And that's where your jealousy came from?  This fear?"

"Aye," Yasep said softly.  "Ye know.  Ye know what ta do ta the Fey."

"I suppose," Matthias said, "but not in this instance.  In this instance you're right.  Hide.  It sounds as if there's too many of them to fight."

"Aye," said Dalis.  He wiped his hand over his sooty face.  It only smeared the soot.  "I never seen so many Fey.  More'n the people a Jahn seemed ta me."

"So do it tagether like he said," Marly said, exasperation in her voice.  "Ye give orders well n fine, Yasep.  Let the Holy Sir have the ideas."

"I'm not the Holy Sir," Matthias said.

"Twould be that best.  He knows what ta do, n ye know us.  Twould work out fine," Jakib said.

"And you know the tunnels and the amounts of food and holy water that you have," Matthias said.  "Besides, I'm too weak to do much leading."

Yasep nodded, once.  "I willna talk a this again," he said to Matthias.

"Good," Matthias said.  "I find it wearying."

He took another sip of the water, then bit some more tak.  The nourishment was helping him feel a little better.  Now with this leadership matter clearly decided, he might be able to get a bit more rest.

Denl held up a hand.  "Hear that?" he whispered, his voice almost inaudible.

"No," Jakib said.

"Shhh," Denl said.  The entire troop leaned forward.  Matthias stopped chewing.

A slithery sound.

A footstep.

A curse.

"Tis Fey!" Ubur whispered.  "They followed us."

"We don't know that," Matthias whispered.  "Others might know of this place."

"N our food," Dalis whispered.

Yasep put a hand to his lips.  He nodded at Jakib and Latse.  They hurried to the side of the tunnel.  Then he nodded at Ubur and Dalis.  Dalis pulled his knife.  Ubur's was still out.  They went to the other side of the tunnel.  The rest of the men blended into the darkness of the walls.  Yasep put a hand on Marly's shoulder, forcing her on the blanket beside Matthias.

"No," she whispered.

"Tis best," Yasep whispered back.

"I agree," Matthias whispered.  He understood the plan.  Leave Marly and Matthias among the supplies as if this were their hiding place, a couple escaping the Fey, and then attack if need be.  "But give me a knife."

Yasep studied him for a moment, then pulled a knife from his boot.  "Only if tis Fey."

Marly crawled across the floor, grabbed the vial of holy water, and grinned.  "Nay.  If tis Fey, we'll use this."

Yasep disappeared into the darkness.  Matthias took Marly's hand.  He didn't have the heart to tell her that if their intruder was Fey, they would have to use the holy water, the knife, and anything else they could find.

And even then, they might not survive.

FORTY-NINE

"Come on," Coulter said.  He took Gift's hand and tugged.  Gift didn't move.  He felt disoriented, alone, more alone than he'd ever been.  It was as if his body were a house, and someone had just removed all the furniture.  He echoed in there.

Alone.

Adrian was watching him.  The Red Cap had his little arms crossed, a frown on his square face.  He didn't trust Gift anymore, if he ever had. The taint of his great-grandfather was too much.  The Red Cap had killed once before, Coulter had told him that a long time ago.  Maybe the Red Cap would kill again.

Leen's skin was ashen.  The anger seemed to have drained out of her.  Gift had never seen her like that before.

And Adrian's son stood to the side, as if he didn't want to get close to any real Fey.

"Where are we going to go?" Gift asked.  "If he could find me here, he can find me anywhere."

Coulter shook his head.  "I shut him out.  He won't be able to find you again.  But we don't know what he's seen.  We don't know how soon he'll find us.  We have to go somewhere else."

"There is nowhere," Gift said.  His great-grandfather had already been inside Shadowlands, and was probably in Jahn now. 

"There are a lot of places on the Isle," Adrian said.  "There are mountain caves near the Slides of Death."

"The villages to the north are very remote," Adrian's son said.  "No one would find you there."

"You could build a Shadowlands of your own," Leen said.

The sun had come up completely now.  The dew had dried, and the heat was rising.  It was truly summer, a season that Gift usually liked.

That Coulter usually liked.

A season that Sebastian loved.

Suddenly Gift felt a little frisson of fear.  He went back inside himself, slid toward his oldest and most favorite Link —

 —  and slammed into a door.  His consciousness staggered and nearly winked out but he forced himself to remain present. The door was covered with light.  The light Coulter had wrapped around it.

Gift touched the light and felt a shivery charge run through him, a charge that went from his consciousness to his real body.  The door was locked, inside and out.  He reached again, stuck his imaginary hand in as far as it would go, but the charge grew too great.

His Link was closed.  He was cut off from Sebastian, and Sebastian needed him.

Sebastian might face the Black King and he might have to do so alone.  Gift wouldn't allow that.

He raced back to his own eyes, and felt as if he nearly burst through them, as an angry child would run through a room.

Adrian took a startled step backwards.  Even Leen looked surprised.  Gift wondered idly how long he'd been gone.

"You cut my Links," he said to Coulter.

"I didn't cut them.  I just closed them."

"Open them," Gift said.

"If I do, your great-grandfather can use them to find you.  He didn't come directly the first time.  He came through Shadowlands."

"Open my Links."

Coulter held out his hands.  "They're not all closed.  Our Link is still open."

"Can't my great-grandfather use that one too?" Gift's voice was mocking.  "Or can he only use the ones that threaten you?"

"It's not that way, Gift."  Coulter's voice sounded too smooth, too confident.

"Open my Link to Sebastian."

"No," Coulter said.

"Open it."

"Why don't you do it yourself?" Adrian asked, his voice soft, as if he didn't really want to be in this fight but felt no way around it.

"I tried.  Coulter locked me out."

"Coulter?"

Coulter shrugged.  "Sebastian is hollow.  It would be easy for the Black King to fill him and then get you."

"Sebastian is not hollow," Gift said.  "He's part of me.  And he'll die without me."

"Like you'll die without me?" Coulter asked.

The words hung between them.  Coulter had rescued Gift.  He had saved Gift's life when they were boys.  Gift owed him for that. Gift would always owe him for that.

"No," Gift said softly.  "Sebastian needs me to survive."

"There's a difference between Linking and Binding," Coulter said.

"I know that," Gift said.  "But Sebastian relies on me.  That Vision  —  without me, he won't survive."

"Do you know that for sure?" Coulter asked.  "Do you really know that?"

Gift swallowed.  He didn't know it.  He didn't know if anyone did.  But he wasn't going to risk Sebastian's life to find out.  "Open it.  I won't let him die."

"He's not really alive anyway."

"I came to you to help me save him!" Gift said.  "That's why I'm here, for Sebastian."

"No," Coulter said.  "You're here so that I can protect you from the Black King.  He's already murdered your adoptive family.  What do you think he'll do to you?"

"He can't kill me," Gift said.  "He's come for me.  You know that.  Don't make something up to justify what you did."

"I'm saving you from him."

"Open that Link," Gift said.

"No."  Coulter crossed his arms.

"Open it." Gift said.

"No.  He'll find you through the Link.  Don't you know that?  Maybe that's what your Vision means.  That he'll find you and shatter Sebastian as he does so."

"Visions are never metaphors," Gift said.  "They're always pieces of the actual happening."

"I don't think we should stand here arguing any more," Adrian said.  "If the Black King knows where Gift is, then Gift should move."

"And we might want to leave too," Adrian's son said.

They looked at each other across the Red Cap's head. 

"He can't harm us unless we let him," Gift said.

"It seems to me that he can do a lot of harm," Leen said.

"If he gets close, I'll make a Shadowlands," Gift said. 

"He'll be able to come in," Coulter said.  "He's got the magick."

"If he can find the Shadowlands," Gift said.

"It shouldn't be hard," Coulter said.

Gift smiled. "Most Shadowlands are not as big as the one my grandfather made.  Most Shadowlands are designed to hide small groups."

"Can you do that?" Leen asked.

Gift didn't answer her.  He kept his gaze on Coulter's face.  Coulter's blue eyes were pale, paler than any other blue eyes that Gift had seen.  "I don't need you," Gift said.

"I just saved your life," Coulter said.

"Did you?" Gift asked.  "Or did you just sentence someone I love to death?"

"Sebastian isn't a living being."

"Sebastian is alive," Gift said.

"He's a magickal creation, not a real one," Coulter said.

"Tell me the difference."  Gift crossed his arms.  "Sebastian thinks.  He feels.  He eats and sleeps and breathes like the rest of us.  Tell me the difference."

"He has no soul."

Gift started.  He had never heard Coulter use that word before.  "Yes, he does.  I've seen it.  I've spoken to it."

"That's a part of yourself," Coulter said.

"That's Sebastian.  Open the Link."

"No."

Gift swallowed, remembering the odd pain he had felt when he tried.  Somehow Coulter had made a lock that affected his consciousness as well as his body.  Coulter's powerful magick, which Gift had always taken for granted, was finally turning against him.

"Then tell me how," Gift said.  "I want the Link open with Sebastian."

"You can't open it," Coulter said.  "I control your Links.  I have since that day your mother died."

"Liar."

Coulter shrugged.  "It's true.  How else did I keep you alive?"

Gift didn't know the answer to that.  He really didn't know how Coulter had kept him alive, only that Coulter had done it, and that they had been close ever since.

"You won't help, then," Gift said.

"I believe you need the Link closed.  Otherwise the Black King can find you.  I'm protecting you, Gift."

"I won't let you," Gift said, "Not at the price of Sebastian's life."

"Then that's why I'm protecting you," Coulter said.  "Because I know what's best."

That was the final blow.  Gift couldn't take any more.  He had lost his adoptive parents, his friends, and everything he knew.  He had come to Coulter for help, and got cut off from the one other person he considered family.

"You don't know what's best," Gift said.

"In this case I do."

Gift looked at Leen.  She had bitten her lower lip so hard that blood was running down her chin.  Gift wiped the blood away with the thumb of his left hand.  Then, with his other hand, he smoothed her hair back.

"I'm going to Jahn," he said to her.  "Will you come with me?"

She wiped her lip with the back of her sleeve.  Her hand was shaking.  She had never experienced this kind of loss either.  "Why?" she asked.

"Because," he said, "I need you beside me."

"The Fey won't harm you," she said.  "They can't."

"But the Islanders might try.  Will you come?"

She tried to smile, but winced as her lip stretched.  "I have nowhere else to go."

"Don't go to Jahn," Coulter said.  "That's where the Fey soldiers will be searching."

"I thought you said they'd be coming here," Gift said.

"And here."

Gift shrugged.  "Open my Link, and I'll do whatever you want."

"And if I don't?"

"I'll go to Jahn, and protect Sebastian by myself."

"You'd risk everything for a hunk of stone?"

"I'd risk everything for Sebastian," Gift said.  "Just like I would have risked everything for you."