The Red Queen Read online

  Dameon’s head turned unerringly to me, and his wide, generous mouth curved up at the ends as he made his way directly toward me. Despite everything, I felt myself beginning to smile, too.

  “Them and that mad owl that sits and sleeps on the boy’s shoulder when it is day,” Swallow continued, “though it seems to like this place well enough, for it has not bothered to use the lad as a perch since they arrived.”

  I took two steps forward into Dameon’s open arms and let him enfold me. The hard muscles in his arms surprised me, for he had always been so gentle. But I was glad of the firmness of his hold, for my knees felt decidedly unsteady. For a blessed, lovely moment his empathic warmth flowed into me and around me, but then he put me determinedly away from him.

  “It is very good to see you,” he murmured softly, but with the edge of irony that always tinged words connected to sight, when he used them.

  “I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye,” I said.

  “I know,” he replied. “I know everything.”

  I stared at him. “What do you mean?”

  “I know you go to tryst with a Beforetime computermachine called Sentinel that controls terrible weaponmachines that have the power to destroy all that remains of our poor battered world.”

  I gaped and swallowed, and looked from him to Swallow and Analivia, who were nodding. I felt dizzy as I struggled to drag my scattered wits together, and truly I did not know what to say. I had been bidden to keep my quest a secret all these long years since Atthis had first revealed it to me, and I could not imagine how they had come to know of it, nor what it might mean that they did.

  “What are all of you doing here?” I finally asked.

  “Waiting for you, of course,” Swallow said with a mischievous grin that reminded me discomfitingly of the time he had used a kiss to silence me when soldierguards were hunting us.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “We are to go with you and help you,” said Dameon.

  “Who told you about Sentinel?” I demanded.

  “I did.” It was the yellow-haired Analivia. “I dreamed about Sentinel the first night I came to the Skylake.”

  “It is dreams with us all,” Dameon said. “For my part, last year a voice spoke in my dreams bidding me learn to ride for your sake. The next day Faraf offered to teach me. I decided the dream must have been some sort of true dream, or maybe a foretelling. I did not speak of it to you because the dream voice had warned me sternly to keep it to myself. I felt somewhat absurd until I learned that a voice in a dream had prompted Faraf to teach me to ride. She had been trying to tell me all along, but I was less adept at communicating with her then, for much of the signal speech people use to communicate with animals relies on visual signals. But bit by bit we found ways to replace them with signals that could be felt or heard, and now we understand one another very well, don’t we, my little beauty?” He smiled at Faraf, who lipped at his shoulder lovingly before offering me a shy, reverent greeting.

  I reached out dumbly to stroke her.

  “As for me,” Swallow continued, “I long ago saw that I would stand by you at the end, in the place where the ancient Twentyfamilies promises were first spoken.” Swallow sniffed and frowned, then squatted to stir the contents of a blackened pot suspended over the flames. “Then last year, the voice of my dreams that had sometimes bidden me help you spoke to say that you would travel to Stonehill and that you would need the help of one of the Twentyfamilies. I would have gone there myself but the seers forbade it, so I sent my sister. Then again the voice spoke a two-month past, and I did its bidding, sending Iriny to the White Valley. The voice said that after she had done what you needed her to do, the ancient promises would be taken as fulfilled, as far as the Twentyfamilies were concerned. But I had a further part to play in your quest. Then one day I saw a vision of this valley and the voice told me that I must come here, and it showed me the way.”

  “Iriny told me that you were coming up to the White Valley to choose an heir because your seers had seen that you would never father a child,” I protested.

  “The exact wording was that I would never father a child who would lead the Twentyfamilies,” Swallow said. “The seers feared that this meant that my seed was sterile. That is not uncommon among us, as among ordinary Landfolk, of course. It is one of the things caused by the poisons of the Great White. But the dream voice told me that I would father a child if I left the Land and my people to serve you, though I would never return. I announced to the seers that I would step down, for the Twentyfamilies need not have a ruler any longer. They can settle and live as they choose now. But the seers begged me choose an heir, for even if the ancient promises that had guided and constrained us for so long were fulfilled as I insisted, it would not be easy for the Twentyfamilies to adapt to this new world and life in which they must discover their own purposes. They wanted a symbol to bind them and to cherish. I saw that they were wise and so I visioned and chose a heartchild. The ceremonies that will enable the child to rule were completed ere I left the Land.”

  “How long ago did the voice tell you to come here to this valley?” I asked.

  “Several moons past,” Swallow answered.

  “Several moons,” I echoed, reckoning from this that Atthis would have been alive to communicate her commands to him then, as she had been alive to communicate with Dameon and Faraf. But what of the voice that had spoken to Analivia of Sentinel after her arrival in the Valley of the Skylake?

  “How long have you been here?” I asked Analivia.

  “Three days,” she said.

  “What is it? You are pale as curdled milk,” Swallow said. “You had better sit down before you fall down.”

  I obeyed, sitting on the nearest upturned bit of log, wondering who had spoken to Analivia, since Atthis was dead.

  “Finding us here is clearly a shock to you,” Swallow said. “Though I have to say I am surprised you were not expecting us. Me at least.”

  “I have not had any dreams with voices to advise me that you were coming,” I snapped, and wondered in despair what they would say when I told them that their dream voices had belonged to a futuretelling bird that had died. Seeing Dameon wince, I made an effort to get control of my feelings and said evenly, “It is very hard to speak openly of matters that I have long been sworn never to reveal because to do so would make me fail in my quest.”

  “You have not revealed it,” Swallow said. “It is simply that we were let in on the secret.”

  He was right, but as I looked at them, I wondered why they, of all people, had been chosen to help me. Admittedly Swallow and Analivia had saved my life, and both were skilled in survival. And Analivia had some healing skills, though mostly connected to midwifery. But neither were Talented, and Dameon, though strongly Talented, was blind. And why Gavyn? The beasts made better sense, for they had always known what I was, though their knowledge was more connected to their belief that I was the Innle of beastlegend, supposedly destined to lead all beasts to freedom from humans. A legend I had always felt uncomfortably might have been invented and fostered by Atthis to ensure beasts would protect and serve me when I needed it.

  None of the three had mentioned the beastlegend, which meant that no beast had divulged it. And what did that mean?

  I had instinctively shielded my thoughts, but all at once it struck me that there was no need. None of them had farseeking or coercive Talents. If I wished to farseek them, I would have to form a probe and enter their minds, as I had done with Cinda. I noticed Dameon regarding me with concern and realized that I was leaking emotions.

  “I saw you arriving at Obernewtyn in a dream,” I told him impulsively. “You had just got in and you were in the front entrance. Rushton came to speak to you.” I shook my head. “I thought it was a true dream, but you are here.”

  He frowned. “I did return to Obernewtyn before coming here, and Rushton did meet me at the front entrance. It is odd that you should have true-dreamed of it, because I
thought I felt your presence when he was approaching me. That is impossible, of course. No doubt it was only that Rushton’s thoughts were full of his concern about your disappearance.”

  I had dreamed of seeing him through Rushton’s eyes, but that was too complicated to explain. Besides, I felt such a stab of anguish at the thought of Rushton worrying about me that the empath drew back hastily. I asked if there was water, and the little fuss of activity to produce a mug and fill it gave me time to collect myself. It was Analivia who brought it to me, and I drank deeply. Then I asked with trepidation if it had come from the Skylake. Analivia shook her head, saying they had deemed it safer to drink from a stream flowing into the southern end of the lake, since there were tiny water plants growing there. Even as she spoke, Darga sent to me that the water was not tainted, yet I was glad I was not drinking from it.

  Swallow gave his pot a final stir, then lifted it from the flames, saying we had better eat before the stew burned. In a short time I was devouring a bowl of rich mushroom and herb stew, thick with potatoes and carrots that must have been carried into the mountains. I had not realized how hungry I was, and the food steadied me.

  Between spoonfuls, Dameon went on with his tale.

  “When you were discovered to be missing, Rushton at first assumed that you had ridden down to the White Valley to see Swallow, but by the time I arrived, he had learned otherwise. I knew that you had gone up into the mountains, for when I was on the West Coast, the voice that bade me learn to ride told me you would soon leave Obernewtyn to undertake a perilous quest beyond the Land and the High Mountains and that I must go after you. I wanted to tell Rushton this, for as well as being my friend, he is the master of Obernewtyn, nay chieftain of Obernewtyn Shire now, for that matter was settled ere I arrived. But the voice in the dream warned me again never to speak of your quest or the part I would play in it to anyone who was not also to accompany you. It was hard to keep silent when he was so anxious for you, but I told myself that if you had the courage to leave without a word to those who love you, then so must I.”

  “The voice told you to go to Obernewtyn?” I asked.

  “It did not. I went there because I needed to be sure it was real. I knew it was when Rushton told me you had vanished—”

  Swallow interrupted. “Rushton knew you had not come to me by then, because I visited Obernewtyn before Dameon arrived, at my sister’s urging. Iriny insisted that you wanted to speak to me urgently, and I thought perhaps you meant to ask me to go with you, even though the dream voice had told me that I was to follow you. Of course, when I arrived, you had gone.” He paused, as if organizing his thoughts. “I, too, had been forbidden to speak of you and your quest by the voice in my dreams and by the tenets of the ancient promises, so when Rushton asked if you had been to see me, I said no and only no. It was the truth as far as it went, and yet like Dameon, I found it hard to keep silent when he was so distraught. Before I left, Rushton had made up his mind that you must have gone looking for Dragon, or Ana.”

  I looked at the lowland woman. “That was my doing,” I told her. “Garth said that you had spoken of wanting to deal with Radost and Moss before they could come up to revenge themselves on you and Bergold. I thought you might have taken it into your head to go down to Sawlney to try to flush them out, so I had Brydda send word to Dardelan. He informed his spy there to keep a watch for you. No doubt Ceirwan told Rushton and that is what made him think I had gone there.” I turned back to Dameon as another thought occurred to me. “Rushton intended to appoint you chieftain in his stead while he travels to the Red Land.”

  “Have no fear. He has appointed Gevan to serve as chieftain in his absence. Ceirwan will replace you as guildmaster of the farseekers, of course, and Miky will eventually take her place as guildmistress of the empaths. Until she is well enough, I chose several empaths to work as a team running it. They are young and it will take time for them to feel comfortable playing their new parts, especially given the added complication of Obernewtyn being transformed into a settlement, but they will grow to fill their roles.” He smiled. “Remember how young you were when Rushton took control of Obernewtyn and you became guildmistress of the farseekers? You were the youngest of all the guildleaders, but never did it seem to any of us that you were too young. Only too solemn, maybe.” His smile faded. “Though perhaps that solemnity did not arise from your role as guildmistress but from the knowledge of this quest, for it seems to me you must long have known it.”

  I nodded but was not yet able to speak easily of my quest. Instead, I said slowly, “You told me just now you were forbidden to speak of my quest, so how did you explain appointing Miky to replace you and others to rule your guild until she is recovered?”

  “Straight after Rushton met me in the foyer after my arrival at Obernewtyn, he had Ceirwan use whip links to search for you in the Lowlands, but no one had seen any sign of you. Because there was no sign of Radost or Moss among those taken prisoner in Sawlney, Rushton speculated that you might have been taken prisoner by them or by someone else. It seems Linnet had mentioned that you had told her Miryum was being held prisoner somewhere and no doubt that put it into his mind. It was after this that he went to see Maryon,” Dameon added.

  “What did she tell him?” I asked, my heartbeat sounding loud in my ears.

  “That you had left Obernewtyn because there was something vital you needed to do, concerning the welfare of Obernewtyn and the Land, which no one else could do. She said you would not travel with him to the Red Land with the expedition as had been planned, but that you would be traveling into the High Mountains and that I was to go after you, along with Rasial and Gavyn, for you would have need of us. Rushton said Maryon told him I must ride out toward the High Mountains the very next day so that I could join you. He had already made arrangements for provisions for the journey and he begged my pardon for doing so without first speaking to me but that there was very little time.

  “I was flabbergasted, for here he was apologizing to me for sending me after you, when I had planned to leave exactly as he commanded. He saw my confusion, but I had just been with Miky in the Healing Hall and he attributed it to my concern for her. He said that I must not worry about the Empath guild, for Maryon had said Miky would make a fine guildmistress when she recovered. Then he asked me to arrange a team to lead the guild for the time being. I had been trying to think how to do exactly that without speaking of what I had been commanded to keep secret.” He shook his head, his expression remorseful.

  “I felt deceitful and treacherous as I told Rushton I would do what Maryon had commanded. Later in the day, he came to tell me that he had decided Gevan must take his place as chieftain of Obernewtyn in his absence, for little as he liked it, Maryon had said he must do as he had promised and travel with the ships to the Red Land. The next day, he rose and came with me to the farms to bid Gavyn, Rasial, Faraf, and me a proper farewell. The boy and the dog had already left. Neither Rushton nor I knew what to make of that. I said they must have gone ahead because they were on foot and would move more slowly. It seemed a reasonable guess, but in truth I did not know what to make of their inclusion, for my dream voice had said nothing of them. Yet it had spoken of others who would accompany you.”

  The empath paused to drink from the mug of water Analivia gave him, for his voice had begun to crack. “Before we parted in the morning, Rushton said that Maryon had told him you would never return to the Land. He confessed that he had offered to go with me or in my place but that Maryon had refused him, saying he was not needed there but that he had a vital part to play in freeing the Red Land. Then we embraced and I bade him sail well and he said he would see me again, upon his return and mine. Then he bade me tell you that he loved you more than life and always would, whether you ever saw one another again. There was such deep sorrow in him that I believe Maryon must have told him he would not see you again.”

  Tears welled up in my eyes and this time, I could not prevent them spilling hotly down my cheek
s. I sensed Dameon stiffen at my side, but I could not suppress my sorrow to spare him. It was too huge and unbearable. Suddenly I was sobbing hard, though I had truly thought I had no more tears left in me. It was as if I were letting go of Rushton for a second and final time and the discovery that I had not let go the first time made it all the more devastating, because only now did I see that I had never really believed, until this moment, that I truly would not see him again.

  I was dimly aware that Swallow and Analivia moved to the other side of the fire and begun to occupy themselves; then Dameon gently took the mug from my fingers. He set it aside and took my hands in his. There were tears on his face, too, and that made me weep harder than ever, but gradually I felt the calmness and acceptance he was empathizing. I did not fight or resist his Talent. I let it bring me across a sea of grief to a quiet shore.

  “I am sorry,” I said hoarsely. “I have known for so long that I would have to leave him but it makes no difference.”

  Analivia brought me another bowl of stew, watered into a thick soup.

  “Eat,” Dameon said. “You can be frugal later. It seems we might all have to be frugal soon, if the way ahead is as bare as the way here was.”

  “I don’t understand any of this,” I said, heaving a sigh and cupping the bowl to warm my hands. “I was always told to say nothing of … of what I had to do. Right from the beginning it was a secret. Only Maruman and Gahltha knew.” No one spoke, so I asked Dameon to go on with his story.

  He shrugged. “There is little remaining. Rasial and Gavyn were waiting for me not half an hour from Obernewtyn. Faraf and I had ridden toward the High Mountains as Rushton had bidden, and she scented them and signaled me. When we came to them, she told me that Rasial said the boy would lead me to you. I bade her ask where you were and the dog told her they knew not but that we were supposed to travel to a place in the High Mountains where the sky lay at the bottom of a valley, and you would come to us there. I did not know what this meant but I had no doubt the same voice that bade me learn to ride had summoned the boy. I did not know why a child would be chosen for the task and not someone older who could communicate with ease and protect us—moreover, a child with no horse to carry him nor supplies of food and water. On the other hand, what right had I to question his choosing when I was blind?