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IT WAS STILL DARK WHEN I awoke, although a quick look out the slightly cracked window showed the hazy pink of twilight. Soon the sun would rise, and we needed to be in place by then. I shook Rhyss. “Wake up!”
Rhyss came awake immediately, which was surprising considering he was the deepest sleeper in our group. Perhaps he was excited about this important and risky task we were about to undertake. I know I was. Although excited wasn’t really the right word for it. Worried, apprehensive, nervous ... those were probably more accurate to what I was personally feeling.
We dressed in the dark quickly, not bothering to take the time to light a candle or lamp. In the room next to ours, we could hear Adallia and Farrah moving about as well.
Rhyss and I gathered our packs and left our room, but not before I left a sizable purse of coins under the pillow for our host to eventually find. Carissa had told us not to worry about paying her for the rooms and meal — recovering her son would be payment enough. But I didn’t want the woman to stress about money more than she was already, and I didn’t want little Juneyen to be tempted to try to pick pockets again, either. At least our money would keep them for a little while.
We met Adallia and Farrah in the main room of the house. They also had their bags in hand, as we all knew we would not be returning to Carissa’s.
Adallia handed me a small bit of cloth. It was a hair ribbon, in a bright and cheerful yellow. Adallia said, “It’s Delphine’s. I found an extra one in her bag.”
I nodded, grateful for Adallia’s foresight. As unexpected and unusual as it was, Delphine was now a second ‘lost love’ of Adallia’s I was to find, so having something of Delphine’s on hand would definitely help.
A sleepy-eyed Carissa joined us, pressing some food into my hands. “For all of you as you travel, since there’s no time for a proper breakfast.”
“Thank you, Carissa.”
Juneyen bounded in, the most alert of all of us. “I’m ready! Are you all ready? I’m ready, let’s go!”
Her enthusiasm buoyed my spirits. Perhaps, like Juneyen, I should just view this situation as a grand adventure instead of a dangerous endeavor.
Carissa drew her daughter aside and spoke to her in a low murmur. The rest of us busied ourselves with preparations that were already finished, not wanting to intrude on their private moment.
Carissa kissed Juneyen on the forehead and gave her a hug. “Be careful, be watchful, and listen to our new friends. When it’s time for you to leave them, come straight back here."
Juneyen nodded solemnly, throwing her arms around her mother for a second hug. Carissa held her tightly for a moment, then released her and motioned her toward the door. Juneyen pulled it open, running down the street a little bit before coming back. “Come on, don’t you want to get going?”
She was right; it was time to go. We said our farewells to Carissa, and my friends started to follow Juneyen down the street. I lingered just a little longer with our host, who was dabbing at her eyes.
“We’ll bring them back,” I promised.
Carissa smiled at me through her tears. I turned and followed the rest of the group. Behind me, I heard the click of the door as Carissa closed it against whatever the day would bring.
* * *
JUNEYEN LED US CONFIDENTLY through the streets of Rothschan. Before leaving the confines of the kingdom’s capital, we stopped at the stable to collect our horses. We planned on hiding our packs somewhere and tying the horses nearby, hoping that they would stay hidden and safe in the forest until we were ready to leave. Carissa had told us very few people ventured into the forest, as it wasn’t a throughway to any of the other kingdoms in the Gifted Lands.
The morning traffic was starting to flow through the gates, and we easily slipped through, unremarked by anyone.
Next to me in the growing light of sunrise, Rhyss yawned. “I really hope we get to sleep in tomorrow. Do you think —”
“Shh!” I waved him to silence. The cool morning breeze had blown a bit of conversation back to us from the people on foot just ahead of us, and I wanted to hear more of what they were saying.
“I don’t know how we’ll get all the cleaning done in time, what with Penyon sick and Alea out for a while,” a man was complaining. “You know how it is on Ceremony days.”
“Shut your mouth and save your breath for walking faster,” his female companion retorted. “We should have hired some horses.”
“We already lost pay when Alea was forced to stop working,” the man said. “We can’t afford to spend what little we have on horses, not when we have two perfectly good legs.”
“That will fall off before we even get to the stronghold because of how fast we have to walk to get there on time,” the woman retorted. “And Alea did pretty good, working right up until she had the baby.” She sighed. “We’re all so close to finishing our contracts, I don’t want anything to go wrong. Had I known that working for the Family would be little better than slavery ... well, starving to death might have been better than indentured servitude.”
Rhyss and I exchanged a look. Spurring my horse ahead of the man and woman on foot, I blocked their path.
“Excuse me,” I said.
“You’re not excused,” the woman said frostily. “Get out of our way, or you’ll make us late for work.”
“That’s actually what my friends and I wanted to ask you about.”
On their own horses, Farrah, Rhyss, and Adallia, her arms encircling Juneyen sitting in the saddle in front of her, had come up behind the couple while I was conversing with them and now had them surrounded. The man and woman looked around warily, noticing the others.
“Let us pass. You don’t want to make enemies of our employers,” the man said.
“Would those employers be the Hauster family?” I asked.
Neither of them would meet my eyes, which was all the answer I needed.
“I’d like to offer you something.” I held up a small leather pouch. “An incentive to take the day off, if you will.”
Their eyes lit up as they heard the sound of the coins shifting within the bag. The woman eyed me, one eyebrow raised. “That’s very generous of you, Mister ...?”
“My name is irrelevant. I just ask that you both stay well away from the Hauster compound for two or three days, starting today. This should be more than enough to cover your wages for the days lost.” I tossed the bag at the woman.
She opened it, quickly assessing its contents, then shut the bag immediately, her eyes wide as she looked at her companion. He nodded ever so slightly, and she nodded back decisively, a decision having been made between them.
She turned to me, amazed. “This is enough for at least a week’s worth of wages. And not just for me and my friend here, but for the other two cleaners who couldn’t join us.” But although the amount I was offering them was more than generous, I could still sense their hesitation.
“What’s the issue?” I asked the woman.
“What will we do when we have to return to work? You must have an extremely compelling reason to not show up for a day’s work for the Family. And the punishment for offending the Family is most severe — anything from garnished wages, to an extended contract, or imprisonment ...”
“Or worse,” the man whispered.
I looked at Rhyss, who shrugged back at me. Thanks for your help.
”We ... we’ll say that you and your team have come down with a very contagious disease, and have been quarantined,” I said, thinking furiously. “By the order of the Rothschan government. My friends and I have been sent as replacements, we’ll handle the work in your team’s name, and our labor will count towards your contracts. Hopefully that will keep you from getting in trouble when you do return back to work.”
The woman nodded as I outlined my plan. “Yes, that will satisfy the Hausters. We’ll do as you ask.”
“And keep your silence, as well?”
“Yes.”
With that, my group pulled their mounts back, allowing the couple to slip free. They turned and hurried back toward Rothschan, not bothering to look back as they whispered to each other about their good fortune.
I spurred my horse into motion, the others following suit.
“I hope you knew what you were doing back there,” Rhyss said.
“I hope so, too,” I said. “That was most of the money I brought for this trip.”
“Really? What will we do for the rest of our travels, then?”
I shrugged. “It is amazing what a famous family name and a good reputation for paying off one’s debts in a timely fashion can do for a person.”
Rhyss grinned in response.
Now that the sun had risen in full, we were able to see each other’s outfits clearly for the first time.
“Wow, is that what you’re wearing?” Farrah teased Rhyss. “It looks like you got dressed in the dark.”
“I did get dressed in the dark,” he pointed out. “As did you.”
Farrah looked down at her outfit ruefully. “Don’t remind me.” She laughed, the rest of us joining in. It helped lighten some of the tension we were all feeling.
Last night, when we had talked through possible plans to infiltrate the Hauster stronghold, one thing kept coming up: We all needed disguises of some sort. Our traveling clothes, purchased in Orchwell, easily marked us as foreigners. Carissa still had clothing from her son and her late husband, and she had used those to outfit Rhyss and me. For the ladies, Carissa had generously given them some of her own clothes.
When Carissa had suggested we take her family’s clothes, I had been worried. How could someone else’s clothing possibly fit any of us? But in Rothschan, they apparently favored loose fitting clothing styles, quite different from Orchwell’s more tailored fashions.
They also favored dull, plain colors. We were all dressed in various shades of brown or cream, with maybe a splash of gray here and there for variety. The Rothschan red that was famous throughout the Gifted Lands was probably only worn by the nobility, as the average citizen wouldn’t be able to afford expensive dyes. Nor would they want to draw attention to themselves, I thought, remembering Carissa’s anxiousness over her daughter’s proclivity for pickpocketing.
I glanced over at Juneyen, who was happily chatting to Adallia as if we weren’t walking into certain danger. I wished there was a way we could make sure she would get home safely, but the girl had assured us she would be fine.
Leaving the main road, we turned into the bordering woods. Soon we were immersed in the tall trees, with no real landmarks around us. Juneyen confidently led us on as the sun rose steadily overhead.
We had been riding for nearly an hour, I estimated, when Juneyen looked around the forest, puzzled.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
Juneyen shook her head, confused. She pointed at an oak tree that was split open, a bright orange stripe of exposed bark running down its length. “We should have cleared the trees by now. We passed that tree some time ago. But here it is again.”
“It’s okay,” Adallia soothed the little girl. “I’m sure this landmark will help jog your memory.”
Juneyen looked ready to cry. “I thought this was the last marker before we left the forest,” she said. “But I don’t remember, entirely. I had just been following my brother and I guess I didn’t pay as good attention as I thought.”
Before her tears could spill in earnest, I reached out and touched her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Juneyen, it really will be okay.”
“But we’re lost,” she wailed. “And if we don’t find our way soon, you’ll miss your chance to get in, and —”
Adallia hugged her, hoping to reassure her. Drawing back, I reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out Delphine’s yellow hair ribbon. It shimmered like a little ray of sunshine in my hand. “Juneyen, you’ve done so well getting us this far. Let’s see if I can get us the rest of the way there.”
Farrah and Adallia took charge of the little girl, fussing over her and trying to cheer her up. I was grateful for their help; I didn’t think I was that great with children, and their distracting Juneyen would allow me to focus on the ribbon — and finding Delphine.
Holding the ribbon between my fingers, I sent my awareness into the object. Every Seeker has a different way of tapping into his or her abilities. For me, I often had to use an item as a focus. Preferably an item that belonged to the person I was seeking, but something that had a strong association to the person could work as well.
Delphine’s spare ribbon radiated the cheer and exuberance of the woman that owned it. It helped that Delphine had such a strong personality, and that the trail was only a few days old. I could feel the echoes of her personality within the ribbon. And yet, when I tried to sense in what exact direction those echoes were coming from, I found ... nothing.
I frowned. That was unusual. I should get some sort of feeling, some hint of a general direction. What could be going on?
Rhyss saw my expression. “Is something wrong, Kaernan?”
I turned the ribbon over and over in my hands as if it might suddenly reveal Delphine’s whereabouts. “I can sense Delphine ... but I can’t sense where she is. And that’s not normal, not for me.”
Adallia looked worried. “If we’re lost, and you can’t find my daughter, what can we do?”
“I know I can find her,” I said stubbornly. “But something is blocking my seeking abilities, and I don’t know what it is or why it’s doing it.”
Farrah looked over at me. “Something’s blocking you? Something magical?”
“It must be,” I said. “I can’t think of anything else that would hinder a Seeker.”
“What does it feel like?”
I concentrated on the ribbon again, trying to pinpoint the feeling of nothingness. “It’s like running into a wall, but one that surrounds me on all sides. Like I’m in a box, or a cell. I can sense who I want to find, but whichever way I turn, I can’t figure out where the source is coming from. Like it’s coming from all places, and no places, at once.”
Farrah nodded thoughtfully. “It sounds like this magical cell is trapping you within its walls, and while you’re in it, it’s somehow able to mute your Seeker abilities,” she said. “I’m not strong in defensive magic; I can’t just blast you out of there. But what I could do is create a shield around you, on all sides, that would prevent the cell’s magic from touching you. Perhaps that might allow you to tap into your seeking abilities again.”
My fist tightened around the ribbon. “Let’s do it, Farrah.”
Everyone dismounted, and Farrah and I handed our horses’ reins to Rhyss and Adallia. Taking my elbow, Farrah guided me over to a fallen log. “Sit down,” she said. “It will make it easier for me, since you’re so much taller than I am.”
I sat down on the log. “Now what?”
She put one hand on my shoulder, and her other hand on my forehead. “Give me a few moments to get into place, magically speaking. Count to one hundred, slowly, and then repeat what you did earlier when you were first trying to find Delphine.”
“All right.”
Farrah closed her eyes, holding incredibly still. She began softly murmuring under her breath. Not wanting to break her concentration, I silently mouthed the countdown. One ... two ... three ...
As I continued my meticulous counting, Farrah kept up her barely audible chant. When I reached forty-two, Farrah stopped speaking, but seemed to be deeper into her spell. At seventy-three, she swayed a little, but still held on tight. A small sheen of sweat glistened on her brow.
Rhyss moved a little closer, ready to catch Farrah in case something happened with her spell casting. I could feel her shaking, ever so slightly, but still she held on, both physically and mentally.
I had reached one hundred. I unclenched my fist, staring at the small bit of silk laying in the palm of my hand. Holding it between my thumb and forefinger, my eyes went soft as I sent my awareness into the ribbon once more.
This time I could sense three different things. There was Delphine’s presence, tethered to her hair ribbon and thus floating around me somewhere. There were the four walls surrounding me, hemming me into a neat little prison cell with its ability to mute my Seeker abilities.
The third thing I could feel was much closer to me. It was a shield of some sort, also surrounding me on all sides. Inside this tight bubble the air felt much better. Lighter, and more natural. This was Farrah’s creation, and it really was a beautiful thing.
However, I could feel the dark energy of the prison just beyond it, and knew that Farrah’s spell wouldn’t hold for long. I would have to hurry. And although I was a skilled Seeker, I didn’t necessarily like working under pressure.
I worked on sorting through, and then separating, the different energies surrounding me. That sense of Delphine — I wanted to keep that. That feeling of calm and protection that Farrah’s shield was giving me — that, too, I would keep. That sense of nothingness from the cell’s magical atmosphere outside the shield — that had to be pushed aside somehow. I knew it was there, but if I didn’t give it as much focus as I gave the first two feelings, then maybe I would be able to get my work done. And figure out how to find Delphine.
I sent my senses along the Delphine energy, while trying to pull Farrah’s shield around me like a blanket. I could feel Farrah pouring more and more of herself into the shield, trying to keep the void at bay. Following Delphine’s sense was just like following a dancing ray of light: happy, warm, and cheerful. It danced west, then north, then ran back east. I was getting a bit dizzy trying to follow its happy but erratic movements.
The nothingness smacked up against the shield’s slick surface, sliding off as it failed to gain purchase.
Delphine’s energy kept flitting back and forth. I turned this way and that, trying to keep it in my view.
The nothingness hit the shield again, just above and to the right of me. It didn’t fall off this time. Instead, it stuck firmly to the shield, slowly eating away at it.
Cursing mentally, I willed Delphine’s energy to calm, and show me where I needed to go. Perhaps my seeking skill was bolstered by my urgency, for Delphine’s energy responded by slowing down. It still weaved this way and that, but showed signs of actually straightening its path.
I was nearly there ....
And then the nothingness broke through the shield.