Asunder (20 page)

            The rain had slowed to a fine drizzle, coating Rhys's skin like ice. He shivered uncontrollably. It would have been nice to have a warm room in which to dry off completely. As it was, he felt as if he would never be warm again. If he'd been wise, he would have stayed in the hayloft with everyone else. It wasn't the warmest place to sleep, but at least it was out of the rain.

            As it was, he was creeping through the town streets in the middle of the night. The windows were all dark now and, short of the occasional hungry dog that wandered up to him with its tail wagging hopefully, everything was still. The guardsman they'd met on the way in was nowhere in evidence, but Rhys still kept to the shadows as much as he could. He didn't need to answer awkward questions, not from the guard and most certainly not from his companions.

            They were asleep, thank the Maker. Adrian had collapsed into a blanket, still wound up from the incident in the tavern and furious at Evangeline, but too drunk to stay awake even so. She would be impossible to live with come morning. Wynne had retired without so much as a word. Evangeline stayed up for almost an hour longer, however, watching for any sign of the townsfolk returning to make trouble.

            Rhys had pretended to sleep, watching out of the corner of his eye until finally she nodded off. He'd been certain the creaking of the old ladder would give him away, but she hadn't stirred. He could thank his lucky stars, for once.

            Now he was beginning to wonder why he'd bothered. The hush of the town was impenetrable, and for all his searching, he was finding only empty alleyways and more shadows. Perhaps he should give up and go back. If someone woke, he could always explain that he'd needed to use the privy.

            Then he caught a glimpse of movement. A silhouette darted into the alley between two dark shops, and Rhys raced toward it. He turned the corner, half expecting to discover it was just his imagination, but instead was greeted by the sight of a man crouching by the wall. He looked like a drowned rat, blond hair plastered against his face and his leathers drenched black. He shivered miserably, staring up at Rhys with a mixture of fear and wariness.

            "Cole," Rhys sighed. He kept his distance, a firm grip on his staff just in case the young man decided to attack . . . or run, as he had last time. Rhys had first noticed someone was following them only yesterday, keeping far enough back on the road so they were just out of sight. As soon as Rhys realized that Evangeline, alert as she was, didn't spot their shadow, he knew exactly who it must be.

            "I'm sorry," Cole moaned.

            "Did you follow us all the way from the tower? What, in Andraste's name, are you even doing here?"

            The young man rubbed his shoulders, his teeth chattering. "I had to come. I had to warn you, but I was afraid . . ."

            "Warn me?"

            "I saw Knight- Captain speaking with a man, a frightening man in black armor. He told her that if you found something, nobody else could know about it." Cole looked up at him, his expression full of concern. "I couldn't let anything happen to you; you're my only friend! I just . . . I was so afraid that you'd never . . ." He buried his head between his knees, misery overtaking him.

            Rhys stared, unsure what to think. Could Cole be lying? Perhaps making up some story to earn his way back into his good graces? That seemed unlikely. Cole might omit the truth, but there was little guile to him. That much Rhys was still certain of, if little else.

            "You came all this way to tell me that?" he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

            "Yes," Cole said. "I was so scared I might lose sight of you, and I wouldn't be able to find my way back. I'd be lost forever. I didn't realize it would be so
far
!"

            Despite himself, Rhys felt bad for the young man. He knelt down beside him, sighing. Cole flinched, and then realized that Rhys wasn't going to attack him. He clutched desperately at Rhys and hugged him tight.

            Rhys hugged him back. What else could he do? Yes, Cole had killed people . . . but he wasn't doing it out of malevolence. Nobody had taught him how to control his magic, or given him an answer he could understand. He was frightened and lost, and a part of Rhys understood that.

            But what now? He couldn't take Cole along, and the idea of leaving him to his own devices had no more appeal. It would be like abandoning a child in the wilderness. Maker only knew how Cole had been feeding himself so far. Stealing his food, probably, with no one the wiser . . . but there would be nowhere to steal from once they were in the badlands.

            "Cole, you have to go back," he said.

            The young man disengaged long enough to give Rhys a hurt look. "I can't."

            "Yes, you can. If you find one of the main roads, it should lead you straight back to Val Royeaux. It's a hard city to miss."

            "I need to protect you!"

            Rhys patted the man's shoulder sympathetically. "It's enough that you've warned me. I can take care of myself, Cole."

            "No, you can't. They took you away to the dungeons, and I should never have let them. I should have listened to you! I should have gone with you; I'm so sorry!"

            "We can deal with that when I get back to the tower."

            "No." Cole backed away and stood up. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I won't let them hurt you again." Without another word, he turned and ran off into the darkness.

            Rhys watched him go. Giving chase would be as pointless as it had been the last time, although he couldn't help but have misgivings. What was Cole going to do? Would he try to hurt Evangeline? He might not realize how much more trouble that would mean for them all.

            Even so, it was a relief to once again see a glimpse of the young man he'd known. It was troubling to think of Cole as a murderer, and the shock of the discovery still lingered. How much more was there about Cole that he didn't know? If he didn't find a way to help the young man or stop him from killing again, the blood of his victims would be on Rhys's hands. He had to remind himself that while Cole wasn't a monster, that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous.

            There wasn't anything more he could do now, however. He stood up, sighing, and slowly made his way back to the inn. Several times he looked over his shoulder to see if Cole was following, but there was nothing. Rhys just hoped the young man wouldn't do anything foolish. With luck he would turn around and go back to the tower on his own.

            Rhys walked around the side of the inn, feeling his way in the near- darkness, until he was in sight of the stables. The moon was almost completely obscured by clouds, but there was just enough light to see someone standing in front of the stable doors. A woman in templar armor, crossing her arms and waiting impatiently.

            So much for returning unseen.

            Evangeline arched an eyebrow when she spotted him. "Already returned from your little jaunt?" she asked.

            "Call of nature?"

            "Funny, then, that you were nowhere near the privy . . . or anywhere else nearby. You must have searched far and wide for privacy."

            He spread his hands and grinned at her. "You caught me. I went to consort with a demon, of course. He gave me the loveliest recipe for blood magic pie. You should try it."

            The joke fell flat. The silence dragged on as Evangeline stared at him, baffled. "You're not very good at staying alive, are you?"

            He coughed uncomfortably. "Evidently not."

            "It's a good thing you're charming."

           
Oh?
"You think I'm charming?"

            She suppressed a wry smile. "Like a stupid dog is charming, perhaps." Then her expression hardened. "I'm no fool, Rhys. What were you thinking? Those men from the tavern could have spotted you, alone and away from the rest of us."

            "They didn't."

            "This is the second time I've caught you wandering off. If I didn't think you were smarter than that, I'd suspect you were trying to make a run for it. What were you really doing?"

            He paused, remembering what Cole had told him. Could it be true? "I've a question for you, actually. If we find something with Wynne's friend that the Chantry wouldn't care for, what are you supposed to do? What orders did the Lord Seeker give you?"

            Evangeline's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

            "It's true, isn't it? You're here to protect the Chantry's interests."

            She stepped away from the door, walking up to him with a look that said she meant business. "There is more than our self- interest at stake here. I will do what ever I must to protect the greater good."

            "Does Wynne know that?"

            "She would be a fool not to." She sighed unhappily, and for a moment Rhys saw the woman behind the templar mask. There was doubt in her eyes. It was good to see he wasn't dealing with some unquestioning creature of the Lord Seeker's. "I'll admit," she said, "I hope what we find is inconsequential, an aberration we can deal with together. I have nothing against you or the others, but I will do my duty."

            "Even if that means trying to kill us."

            That he'd said "trying" wasn't lost on her. A single templar against three senior mages would not be much of a battle . . . assuming that they were all on the same side. "Stop trying to evade the question," she growled. "Where have you been?"

            "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

            "Try me."

            He considered carefully. What would change if he told her about Cole now? The templars already thought Rhys was the murderer, and it seemed pointless to provide her with yet another lie she would see through instantly. If Cole truly intended to listen to him now, then he would need to go before the templars eventually. And if he didn't . . . it's not like Rhys's fate could get any worse.

            "Very well," he finally said. “There's been someone following us since we left the tower. I went to find him."

            "I've kept a close eye on the road."

            "No, you wouldn't have seen him. He's invisible."

            Evangeline gave him a skeptical look, evidently trying to decide if he was making a fool of her. "Invisible," she repeated. "Are you joking?"

            "This would be an incredibly poor time to joke, wouldn't it?"

            "Disastrously poor."

            He gave up and sighed. "Yes, he's invisible. It's . . . a special ability, I guess you would call it. Most people don't see him, and even those who do forget about him. I can see him, and I know some of the mages in the tower have caught a glimpse. They’ve been calling him the Ghost of the Spire, although I don't know if a templar would have heard about that."

            Her look of recognition said she had. Even so, she seemed suspicious. "You're saying he lives in the tower."

            "He was brought there by the templars, yes, and he's never left . . . until now."

            "He
could
be a demon."

            "I can sense spirits. I would know the difference."

            "Demons are masters of deception."

            "I know that, too." Rhys shrugged. "I've been visiting him in the tower's lower levels for almost a year now, trying to figure out how to help him. I couldn't tell anyone because they wouldn't believe me."

            She thought about it. "And this is who you were fighting with when I found you?"

            "Yes."

            "Why?"

            "That's . . . a long story."

            She didn't believe him, just as he assumed she wouldn't. He could see it in her eyes, in the way she folded her arms again and began circling him, as if looking for a weakness. "Do you have any proof of what you're saying?" she demanded. "Can you produce him?"

            "Not yet. He's frightened of the templars, and with good reason."

            Evangeline stared at him a moment longer. Then she nodded. "You may be telling the truth, or you may be under the influence of a demon . . . in either case I'll have to watch you closely. Regardless, this isn't the time for this conversation. We will discuss this further when we return to the tower."

            He let out a slow breath. "I thought you might try to drag me back there now."

            "I would," she said, "but I doubt Wynne would come with me. My duty is to help her mission. What comes afterward is another matter." Her glare became hard. "And for your sake, I pray you're telling the truth, and this 'invisible man' is what you believe he is. Maker help you if he's not."

            That seemed to be the end of it. Evangeline turned to leave, but paused when she noticed his incredulous expression. "I half expected you to run me through, regardless of what I said," he admitted. "You're all right. For a templar."