WinterMaejic (15 page)

Xyla trumpeted. Then again. And yet again. The sound echoed off the walls of the cave and tore through my head.

Two mages came running in. I watched as they raced to the three figures below me. One went to Oleeda and stooped over her; the other stood looking back and forth from my upright body to Yallick’s crumpled form. Yallick stirred just as the mage reached toward me.

“No,” Yallick moaned, but it was too late. The mage touched my arm, and my body crashed to the floor.

My son sits poised like a spider on its web. The fly is wary, sensing the predator nearby, but not yet grasping that it is trapped. Soon, soon it will discover the truth.

All that is left is to spring the trap at just the right moment, when the prey thinks himself strong yet is indeed most vulnerable.

Patience. The final play will come soon, but not quite yet.

Someone was moving me, and I wished they wouldn’t. My brain whirled inside my skull, and if it didn’t stop soon, I would vomit.

Then, stillness. Furs were placed over me and tucked in.

“Is she . . . ?” a woman’s shaky voice whispered.

“She breathes. She lives.” A gravelly male voice drained of any vitality.

A gentle hand on my forehead. A voice I couldn’t place murmuring soft words. I fell into a deep sleep.

I lay there, lethargic, unmoving, and barely conscious for I don’t know how long. I felt no pain, and for that I was thankful, but neither did I feel anything else. It was as if I were paralyzed, mind, body, and spirit.

Eventually, I remembered who I was. Soon after that, I remembered where I was and some vague ideas about how I’d gotten here. But somehow, none of it mattered. All I cared about was never, ever, moving again.

Sometimes, I caught snippets of conversation.

“Stop blaming yourself, Yallick.” A snort. “This bout of self-pity is not doing Donavah any good. Or you.”

“We should not have rushed. We did not know what we were dealing with. She might never . . .” He broke off, and the anguish in his voice almost brought a tear to my eye. Almost.

“When she is stronger, we will try again. We will just go more carefully.”

Yallick sighed. “I only wish we knew what happened, what we are up against, what we need to do.”

“Me, too,” Oleeda said.

I thought to open my eyes, but couldn’t be bothered just then.

A cool hand took up one of mine. It felt good.

“Donavah.” It was Yallick. “Donavah. Wherever you are, come back to us. We need you. We want you back.”

Need me? Want me? What did I need? What did I want? I needed a drink, and I wanted to stay warm. Safe. Protected.

I opened my eyes.

“Donavah!” Yallick leaned over me. His face was haggard and grey, with dark circles under eyes that were too tired to shine with their usual brilliance. He looked older than I’d ever seen him, almost his real age.

“Oleeda!” He almost hissed her name. “She stirs!”

Sounds of movement, then Oleeda’s face came into view, looking almost as bad as Yallick’s. She gently stroked my hair, a tender smile on her lips.

“How are you, dear?”

No way to say anything. No desire to, either. I just lay there, content with things as they were.

Oleeda lifted a cup and tried to get me to drink. A few drops spilled onto my tongue. A healing infusion of thyme, hyssop, wild lavender, and more. How did I know that? Everything was too confusing. I swallowed, closed my eyes, and fell back to sleep.

Vague memories of Oleeda and Yallick trying to coax me into swallowing more of their remedies. Sometimes I cooperated, other times I didn’t. Still nothing made sense. My concept of myself kept slipping in and out of focus.

I opened my eyes to find Traz staring at me. He gave me an impudent grin.

“You’re awake! Yallick and Oleeda left me to watch. They said you wouldn’t wake up, but I knew you would if I could just get the words right.”

I felt him lift something that had been lying across my chest. His staff.

“So, I know you can’t tell me about your adventures, but if you want, I can tell you about ours. I mean, after that night of the attack.”

He took my non-response as affirmative and plunged into his tale.

“So first there was that lightning. It was everywhere. I got blinded by it, and I couldn’t find you. In all the confusion, I managed to make my way to Yallick. I thought you would, too.” A long pause. He touched my cheek. “I wish you had.” And there was nothing I could say.

“Anyway, it was total chaos. People getting struck and killed by lightning, everyone scattering. The next morning, we regrouped, found out just how bad it was. About half the mages were either dead or missing, and a lot were hurt, too.” He paused again, and I could tell he was struggling with tears. Finally he swallowed the lump in his throat, blinked his eyes, and went on.

“Some of the mages wanted to move on right away, but Yallick said we had to stay there for at least a few days. Because of the injured people, you know. And also in case anyone missing tried to find us. He said once we’d gone, they’d be on their own.

“The mages who were left cast these spells to keep us hidden, and I guess it worked, because we didn’t get attacked again.”

Something fell into place. The dragonmasters had always known where the group was when Anazian was part of it.
He
must be the one who . . . but what connection could he possibly have with the dragonmasters?

“After a few days, Yallick finally decided that we’d best be on our way. It was slow going, with so many people still hurt. A few even had to be carried on litters. It was dismal. No one talked, and we had to eat our food cold. At night we had fires, but that meant extra mages had to keep watch to maintain the hiding spells. And everyone was tired and exhausted all the time.

“We made our way to the mountains, slowly but surely. Yallick was getting birds from Xyla, so he knew exactly where to go. But he was worried sick, Donavah. For everyone, of course, but mostly for you.

“Then we got here. This place is great! Just wait ’til you see. There are caves all around this valley. I don’t know how Xyla found it, but it’s perfect. Everyone divided up into small groups. Yallick made me stay with him.” I almost smiled when Traz curled his lip at that. “Every day, Yallick and I rode out on Xyla trying to find you. And any of the others. That’s how we found Oleeda. She’d heard about what happened and was coming as fast as she could.

“It was just awful when Xyla couldn’t find any trace of you anywhere. Yallick got so irritable that I was half-tempted to run away. Then finally, that raven came back with word that he thought he’d found you. You wouldn’t believe how fast Yallick and Xyla tore out of here. He wouldn’t have remembered his cloak if Oleeda hadn’t . . .” He stopped mid-sentence and looked toward the entrance to the cave. The expression on his face quickly changed, and I guessed that Yallick and Oleeda must have returned.

I felt him slip his staff under the fur, and he whispered, “I’ll get it back soon.” Then he stood up straight.

“She’s waking up. I told you she would.”

I heard Yallick guffaw. Soon Oleeda was at my side administering yet another of her potions. This time, I accepted it readily, and this surprised her. With a tiny pang, I realized that I’d not been a very easy patient. She actually smiled when the last of the drink had safely gone down my throat.

“I think she’s improving,” she said, rising to her feet. Then her face fell, and I wondered what made her so sad. It must be all those people dead and missing that Traz had told me about.