Mystic and Rider (Twelve Houses) (49 page)
Read Mystic and Rider (Twelve Houses) Online
Authors: Sharon Shinn
They ignored him as best they could, which was easy enough as they were all preoccupied by different tasks.
Kirra had taken hawk shape and flown ahead to scout out the road, making sure no soldiers lay in ambush. Cammon gave most of his attention to controlling the raelynx. Donnal remained in dog form, following Tayse’s scent, though Senneth was pretty sure where the trail would lead them: to the Lumanen Convent in the unclaimed land between Nocklyn and Gisseltess.
Senneth was wholly absorbed by planning what she would do when they arrived at the gates to the convent. She could already feel a faint headache building at the back of her skull, a warning to hold her fury in check. So she made an effort to keep her shoulders relaxed, her mind clear, her thoughts orderly. She would not be much use to anyone if she practically destroyed herself every time she lashed out with magic.
“They can’t hurt him. A King’s Rider? That would be stupid,” Justin was saying. He had continued this litany more or less continuously since they had set out from the site of the ambush this morning. “I mean, if they kill him, the king will send his troops to the convent to destroy them. What have they gained then? They’re all dead.”
Unless Gisseltess guards and Nocklyn soldiers were massed before the convent awaiting the assault. Unless the very thing the southern rebels wanted was a pretext to go to war. Senneth did not offer these observations.
“I mean, killing a King’s Rider would be like assassinating the marlord of one of the Houses,” Justin went on. “It would be suicide.”
Cammon looked at Senneth as if she was the only one beside him on the road. “Are we going to ride straight through or stop for the night?” he asked.
“Ride straight through,” Justin said.
Senneth shook her head. “Stop for the night.”
Justin was incensed. “What? And leave him there—leave him unprotected for another eight or ten hours? No, no, you don’t leave a fellow Rider in danger that long. We go straight to the convent.”
Senneth looked at him, willing him, for just a moment, to shut up. “Coralinda Gisseltess is the handmaiden of the moon goddess,” Senneth said softly. “She is strongest at night. I want to take her on when we have some chance of defeating her.”
“But Tayse—”
“I don’t think she will act so soon,” Senneth interrupted. “He is too rich a prize to throw away on a whim.”
“She would be a fool to harm a Rider,” Justin said.
“Yes,” Senneth said, “she would.”
It was not quite nightfall when Kirra returned to the riding party and resumed the shape of a woman. Even at such a critical time, Senneth was fascinated to watch her transformation. Donnal’s shifts between human and animal shape tended to be swift, melting exchanges that were impossible for the eye to follow or the senses to absorb. But Kirra altered shape more slowly, metamorphosing in discrete stages. The hawk landed practically at their horses’ hooves in the middle of the road, then craned its neck, which stretched and stretched to a ludicrous length. The spread wings rolled into slender shapes and brightened from feather dark to skin light; the thin, taloned feet grew plump and pink. The transmogrification still took no more than a minute or two, but it was so deliberate that Senneth was sure Kirra was thinking through every single stage. Donnal, she thought, operated purely on instinct as he flicked from being to being. Though Donnal sat quietly panting in the middle of the road and showed no inclination to become human at all.
“How far is the convent?” Senneth asked when Kirra was done.
“About three miles down this road. We can be there very quickly in the morning.”
“We could be there in less than an hour
now,
” Justin said.
now,
” Justin said.
Senneth gave him a long, careful look. If he was going to try to storm the convent on his own, they would all be lost—Justin, Tayse, all of them. He fidgeted a little under her gaze but stared back defiantly. “Justin,” she said. “We will save him. We will not do it tonight.”
“But the Daughters of the Pale Mother—”
“I am a Daughter of the Bright Mother. Do you know what that means?” she interrupted. “Have you listened as I’ve talked during this trip? Have you seen the power I can conjure with my hands? I am a creature spawned by the sun. My strength is at its greatest during daylight. You cannot get him back without me, and I say we move tomorrow. Do you understand? Do you agree? Because I swear to you, I will strike you silent here, in this place, to await us until we return tomorrow with Tayse safely in our hands, if you will not give me your pledge now.”
She spoke coolly but with great emphasis, and she meant every word. He stared at her, looking so young, so helpless, yet still so dangerous, and she was afraid to let herself blink or turn away. So she held his gaze, as she would have held the raelynx’s gaze, and she did not relent or drop her eyes. Finally he took a quick gasp of air, dropped his head, and nodded.
“Say it,” she said.
“I will trust you, Senneth,” he said in a low voice. “I will do what you want.”
“All right. We camp here for the night. But I don’t imagine that we’ll get much sleep.”
They traveled some distance off the main road to make an entirely uncomfortable—though, they hoped, invisible—camp within the edges of the forest that guarded the convent. The ground was damp, though Senneth used her hands to heat the soil to the point where the mud grew cracked and dry. She was also able to encase them in a small bubble of acceptable warmth, but they ate their food cold and washed it down with what water they had left in their supplies.
“Three watches,” Senneth said as they sat together finishing their meals. “Cammon first. Then Kirra in the middle night, Donnal in the early morning. Kirra—”
“I know,” she said. “Animal shape. So my senses are sharpest.”
“I can watch some part of the night,” Justin said.
Senneth shook her head. “You and I don’t have the skills they have, so we cannot really help. Rest while you can—if you can.”
He nodded. “It’s one of the things the old soldiers try to teach the new ones. Sometimes the only thing you can do that’s of any use is keep yourself strong. It’s the hardest thing to learn.”
“When we leave the convent tomorrow—when we have freed Tayse,” Senneth went on, as if that was a foregone conclusion, as if she didn’t fear that they would all lose their lives or their freedom in this wild gamble, “we will go south again. To Gisseltess.”
“Is that safe?” Kirra asked.
“Oh, I doubt it. My plan is to send one of you—Kirra or Donnal—ahead with a message to Halchon. We will have him meet us in some neutral place. I think he will agree to it, just out of curiosity.”
“But Sen,” Kirra said, her voice urgent, “what can we learn from speaking to him directly that we don’t already know? Why don’t we just take Tayse and head straight back for Ghosenhall?”
Why indeed?
Senneth made a fist of her hand and rested her chin upon it. “Because I, too, have a curiosity,” she said at last. “I want to hear what he has to say.”
Senneth made a fist of her hand and rested her chin upon it. “Because I, too, have a curiosity,” she said at last. “I want to hear what he has to say.”
She half expected someone—Justin, most likely—to grumble
Fine reason to get us all killed,
but no one said anything. It was her mission, after all; they were all here to support her. And she was convinced they had to see Halchon Gisseltess to put all the pieces together.
Fine reason to get us all killed,
but no one said anything. It was her mission, after all; they were all here to support her. And she was convinced they had to see Halchon Gisseltess to put all the pieces together.
“Well, if we’re all going to be up for part of the night, we’d better sleep now while we can,” Cammon said, breaking the silence at last. “Or—well—the rest of you lie down. I will stay up and watch.”
Within a few moments, the others had arranged themselves as well as they could. Kirra and Donnal appeared to fall instantly asleep; Senneth could tell that Justin lay awake for a long time, though he held his body very still. If she’d been thinking about it, she would have had Kirra brush her hand across his forehead before she curled up on her bedroll, for the healer’s touch could sometimes soothe a man into dreaming. But perhaps not Kirra’s touch on Justin’s head, and perhaps not this night.
Senneth knew she should sleep while she could, but for a while she let her mind drift with the mind of the raelynx, prowling through the undergrowth about fifty yards from their camp. It was hungry and restless, but she would not allow it to feed, merely let it scent the rich odors of the night and occasionally hiss with frustrated desire. Briefly she wished that she had the ability to shape-shift, so she could take raelynx form herself, run like supple sunlight through the forest, exist on nothing except hunger and menace and power.
But she would not trade her own fiery skills for the ability to transmogrify. She had power and menace enough as it was.
Eventually she dozed for a few hours, rousing again as Cammon shook Kirra awake and the serramarra slipped into the shape of a lion. Seeing Senneth’s eyes open, Cammon turned to her and whispered, “I can take the raelynx back while you sleep.”
She shook her head. “I want to keep him now and through the morning. I want you free to concentrate on danger, even while you sleep.”
“Do you think they’re looking for us? Do you think they really expect us to approach them tomorrow?”
She smiled at him in the dark. “I don’t think the Daughters do, but I would guess that Tayse knows we’re coming.”
“Will we free him?” Cammon asked.
Yes, or all become prisoners.
“We’ll free him,” she said. “Now lie down, and let’s go to sleep.”
“We’ll free him,” she said. “Now lie down, and let’s go to sleep.”
CHAPTER 26
M
ORNING came swiftly, and they were all tired. They’d been tired for a long time, and Senneth couldn’t imagine things would get any less exhausting as they traveled into Gisseltess. Maybe Kirra was right, and they should just head straight back to Ghosenhall.
ORNING came swiftly, and they were all tired. They’d been tired for a long time, and Senneth couldn’t imagine things would get any less exhausting as they traveled into Gisseltess. Maybe Kirra was right, and they should just head straight back to Ghosenhall.
Maybe not.
They ate quickly, then mounted and set off along the forested road. Donnal was in wolf shape now, though Senneth had told him she wanted him human and on horseback as they approached the convent. Still, even for these last few miles it seemed prudent to have animal senses scenting the road for danger. Once he snarled and circled back to them, and they hastily moved off the road to allow a party of soldiers to pass. They encountered no one else until they came within sight of the convent.
“It’s bigger than I thought it would be,” Kirra said, as they pulled off into the woods again to eye their target. “It’s
huge.
”
huge.
”
“If they’re provisioned, they could last months under a siege,” Justin observed.
“Good thing we don’t plan to wait them out, then,” Senneth said. She glanced around at her four companions, all sitting easily in their saddles and awaiting her word with complete confidence. “Ready then? As we discussed.”
And they moved back onto the road and arranged themselves for travel. Senneth was in the center of the group, in the lead. Kirra and Donnal flanked her, half a horse to the rear, and Cammon and Justin were just behind them. In this arrow formation, they trotted up to the very gates of Lumanen Convent.
None of the guards lounging before the gate saw them until Senneth and her party were only a few yards away. Then there was a sudden scramble and call for reinforcements and quick maneuvering until the five of them were surrounded by at least twenty soldiers.
“Halt! Who are you? What do you want?” one of them demanded, clearly unsettled by their sudden appearance.
Senneth looked down at him coolly. Her head was perfectly clear, but she could feel a dangerous tingling in her fingertips. “We wish to speak to the head of your order.”
“The Lestra does not speak with random trash who ride up to the gate unannounced,” the guard snarled back.
“Oh, she’ll very much wish to meet with us,” Senneth replied. “Tell her there are mystics at the gate. Describe us. I think she’ll be happy to hear what we have to say.”
The guard stared at her in narrow-eyed uncertainty for a moment before turning to one of his underlings and issuing curt orders. All of them must know by now of the prisoner in their midst and of the mystics who had traveled with the Rider throughout the southern provinces. Even the lowest-ranked guards in the barracks must be able to figure out who sat before them now.
“Will you open the gates for us?” she asked pleasantly.
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