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Avender found Nolo cradling Redburr’s limp head in the grass beyond the stone circle. There was no sign of Reiffen. Beside the Dwarf a pale gem shone thinly within the patch of trampled meadow. Its clear light revealed the feathers along one of Redburr’s wings and up the side of his head were scorched all the way to the skin.
“Is he dead?” whispered the boy.
Nolo shook his head. He lifted the bird in his arms and carried him to the edge of the brook. With a cloth from his pack, he bathed the wound in the stream’s cold water.
Avender followed with the lamp, the rain coursing down his head and shoulders. “Where’s Reiffen?” he asked, hardly daring to breathe.
Nolo shook his head a second time. Avender’s heart sank. Mutely he knelt in the soft earth, not knowing what to think or say. A cold, empty feeling swelled up inside of him as the Dwarf told him about the fight at the standing stones.
When he was finished, Nolo gestured toward the henge. The white rocks were streaked with dark patches from the rain. “Those stones are very powerful,” he said. “They’re Inach.”
“Inach?”
“Heartstone in your tongue, lad. The True Rock, though it’s far rarer to you on top of the world than to those of us below.” Nolo smoothed a feather on the side of Redburr’s neck; the quill fell away from the skin at his touch. The Shaper stirred and looked for a moment as if he might wake, then settled back into troubled slumber.
“What about Mindrell?” asked the boy, his eyes still lingering on his wounded friend.
“Ranner and the others are searching for him, but I don’t think they’ll find him.”
They passed most of the night outside the circle of stone, camped with Redburr in the rain. The foresters, however, moved down to the shelter of the trees at the bottom of the dell. As Nolo had foreseen, they had lost Mindrell’s trail in the stony ridge above the valley. But they still had two prisoners to watch, including one with a bloody bump on the side of his head where he claimed the bard had tried to murder him. Ranner, knowing exactly what Hern would say should he bring home an ailing Avender as well as no Reiffen, wanted the boy to come down with him out of the wet; but Nolo told him not to worry, that he would look after the boy. Then the Dwarf spent the rest of the night studying the stones.
The rain hissed on the sodden grass; Avender tried to keep awake at Redburr’s side. Whenever the boy thought he was falling asleep in the dreary darkness he pinched his leg, but it didn’t help. Only the faint odor of burnt feathers and skin assured him that Redburr was still close by in the matted grass.
He had been asleep for some time when he was woken by a loud thud. Jumping to his feet, he shouted out at once, thinking Ossdonc had returned. Nolo hurried over from the circle to see what was wrong. At his forehead his gleaming lamp bobbed; he had attached it to his iron circlet to leave his hands free while working. In the pale, shining light Avender was astonished to see that Redburr was no longer a bird. He had changed back to his natural shape, and now the smell of wet fur was added to that of rain, grass, and burnt feathers. The bear snored loudly.
“He’ll heal quicker as a bear,” Nolo explained at Avender’s puzzled look.
“Was he awake?”
The Dwarf shook his head. Raindrops flicked from the tip of his soggy beard. “Sometimes when the stress gets to be too much for him, he just goes back to being a bear.”
That the Shaper would heal more quickly as a bear reassured Avender greatly. He no longer needed to worry about losing a second friend. Shivering in relief, he realized he was soaked to the skin for the third time in the last two days. Nolo noticed his trembling and decided it was time to send the boy off to the foresters, regardless of how much he wanted to stay. Their warm fire glimmered through the trees at the bottom of the slope.
“He won’t wake again till some time tomorrow,” said the Dwarf. “He’ll be fine till then. You go get warm.”
Redburr did look more comfortable stretched out on the dark grass as a bear than he had as a bird. The cold rain wouldn’t bother him, now that he had his fur back. His wound looked much less serious as well. Though the Shaper had grown larger in the change, the burn on his shoulder looked smaller. He snuffled in his sleep, rubbed his nose with one of his large paws, and snored comfortably. Completely forgetting the crash that had woken him, Avender went down to the fire and promptly fell fast asleep a second time. This time nothing interrupted him.
The rain stopped during the night; the morning opened wet and gray. Nolo came down from the meadow to join them for breakfast, leaving Redburr to sleep on alone. While they ate, the Dwarf and Ranner decided the foresters and their prisoners should start back for Valing as soon as they broke camp. Nolo and Avender would stay behind to take care of the bear, who might not wake for another day while he healed. But it was important that news of what had happened be brought back to the Manor as quickly as possible, especially the report that Reiffen had definitely been taken by the Three, and not by Brannis. As long as Giserre thought the king had stolen her son, she would never rest until an army was on the march to Rimwich to win him back. But Wizards were another matter.
After Ranner and the foresters left, Avender took his stale bread and went back up to the meadow to watch Redburr. Nolo followed, stamping loudly through the woods behind him. At the edge of the trees the boy noticed that two of the standing stones had been torn down. They lay like large coffin lids on the lush green grass not far from the matted patch where the bear was sleeping. Avender remembered the crash from the night before and wondered just what Nolo had been up to among the stones.
“I thought I’d start taking it apart,” said the Dwarf as he came up beside the boy. “I think I’ve broken its power. Otherwise there was no telling when the Three might use it again.”
“But what if we could have found a way to follow them?” asked Avender.
Nolo shook his head. “Magic won’t work on me. And I don’t like the idea of having so much power lying around while we’re waiting for Redburr to wake up. It’s better the way it is.”
They built a stout shelter in the meadow while the bear slept, in case the rain started up again. Mostly that meant Avender fetched rocks and wood while the Dwarf knit both into a sturdy roof and walls against the sloping grass. The sky continued gray and gloomy all morning, and the bare branches of the trees showed like dark cracks in smoky glass while Avender gathered wood beneath them. There was no sign of life in the forest: no squirrels scampered, no robins or blue jays called. It was as if the magic of the day before had driven off everything that could flee.
Their shelter built, they spent the rest of the day in the meadow. Nolo went back to work toppling the slabs while Avender watched. Unlike the Dwarf, he couldn’t dig long trenches in the dirt with his bare hands. Instead he sat beside the stream close to the bear while Nolo, with brute strength and mining skill, sent the tall stones crashing to the earth one by one. Black dirt fountained high into the air when they fell, and the ground shook; but Redburr slept peacefully on.
He woke finally in the late afternoon, when Nolo was digging his sixth trench. Avender had returned empty-handed from a search for mushrooms in the woods and was lazily tossing bits of grass into the chattering stream, when Redburr gave a sudden grunt and sat up. Avender turned to greet him, but, before the boy knew what was happening, the bear growled savagely and charged. Instantly Avender curled up in a ball on the ground. In the back of his mind he remembered Redburr telling him more than once never to run from an angry bear. Terrified, he waited for one of those huge paws to knock him into the rocky stream, or the powerful jaws to snap tight around his head.
But no attack came. His eyes shut tight, Avender tried not to tremble as he felt the bear lumber to a stop beside him. A low, rumbling growl seemed to rise out of the earth itself. Hot breath steamed against his cheek. Avender hugged his knees and wondered if the bear had gone mad because of the Wizard’s magic. He held his breath as Redburr poked him with his muzzle and sniffed him from head to toe. Gradually the rumbling growl subsided. One huge paw rolled him over onto his back on the wet grass. A rough tongue licked his face.
“Open your eyes, boy. I won’t hurt you now.”
Avender opened his eyes. Redburr was sitting back on his haunches, licking his muzzle. He twisted carefully to look at his tender shoulder, and gave the wound a few swipes with his tongue as well. Then he turned to Avender and asked, “What day is it?” His voice was dry and rasping.
“Tomorrow,” said the boy. He swallowed carefully and wondered if he really was safe again. “You didn’t even sleep a whole day.”
“Feels like I slept a month. I’m hungry enough. Did we save him?”
Avender shook his head. The bear scratched his belly and said nothing more. When he rolled forward onto his paws the boy scrambled to his own feet and took a couple of careful steps backward. Redburr ignored him and took a long drink from the brook. Thirst satisfied, he limped across the grass to what was left of the circle. Avender followed warily.
They found Nolo hard at work digging a pit in front of one of the stones. The five slabs he had already knocked down had been replaced by five deep gashes in the earth. In the middle of the henge the charred ground was a tumbled mass of turf and soil, as if some large child had been turning the dead earth with a shovel. Tall though the slabs were, half their length was buried in the ground. Nolo had been forced to dig deeply to upend them.
He looked up from his trench as they arrived and frowned as he caught sight of the boy. “What happened to you?” he asked, his hard hands black with moist earth. “You look like fresh-cut chalk.”
Avender sat heavily on the grass without answering.
“I almost killed him,” explained the bear. He sniffed at the closest slab, and the ripped earth. “I wasn’t quite myself when I woke up. Luckily the boy remembered what I taught him.”
Nolo looked up at the boy’s face with concern.
“I’m okay,” said Avender.
Nolo turned to the bear. “You could at least apologize,” he said.
“Why would I do that?” The bear pawed at the grass. “Now he knows to be careful when I’m in a fighting mood. Remember that, boy. When the rage comes over me, it’s best to keep out of the way. Especially if I’m hurt.”
“I thought you were sleeping.”
“I was. But if I go to sleep fighting, chances are I’ll wake up fighting, too.”
He licked his wound again and clawed up a large section of sod. Absently he began to eat whatever grubs he found clinging to the soil, his jaws chewing stolidly like a cow’s. Then he walked over to the nearest slab and sniffed the stone once more.
“You know,” he said, clods of dirt tumbling from his mouth, “I think I’ve smelled stones like these before.”
Nolo looked sharply away from Avender, his concern forgotten. “You have?”
The bear nodded. His tongue swept around his heavy jaws, searching for any worms he might have missed. “I’m sure I have. In Cuspor. And maybe Simmas. Yes, definitely Simmas.” He tore up another swath of grass. “And there’s one in the hills north of the Ambore, too.” He stuffed a second pawful of earth into his mouth.
“North of the Ambore!” Nolo climbed out of his hole and clapped the dirt from his hands, now keenly interested, as he joined the Shaper and the boy. “Really? How far north? Is it close to Grangore?”
“It’s a few days east of Upper Crossing. There’s a tribe of woodlings nearby who can take you to it. It’s their holy place, though. I’m not sure how happy they’ll be if you tear it up like this. Why are you so interested?”
“The stone is Inach.”
Redburr shrugged his uninjured shoulder. “Stone’s your work, Bryddin,” he said, snapping at a fly that buzzed past his ear. “The forest’s what I know.”
“Inach is heartstone in the Human tongue,” Nolo answered. “It’s what the Sword was made of.”
Redburr forgot about insects and worms entirely. “Heartstone? If that’s what it is, what’s it doing up here on the surface? How did it get into the mountains?”
“Wizard’s work, I guess. It seems the Three can shape Inach. We Bryddin can’t.”
“Stone the Bryddin can’t shape? I don’t believe it.”
“It’s true. We’ve never found anything strong enough to cut it. But that’s all changed now.”
“Changed?” The bear’s black nose wrinkled in confusion. “How’s it changed? All you’ve done is find more heartstone, not something to cut it with.”
The Dwarf smiled and stroked his beard. He always enjoyed teaching something new to the bear. “How do you think we cut diamonds?” he asked.
“I have no idea. How do you cut diamonds.”
“With another diamond.”
Avender saw what Nolo was suggesting at once. “So that means you can use this heartstone to cut other pieces, right?”
“Exactly.” The Dwarf stroked his beard and beamed.
“But you must have found pieces of heartstone you could cut with before,” said Redburr.
“That’s just it,” replied Nolo. “We haven’t. Veins of heartstone are always huge. They’re what hold us up over the Abyss, the bones of the earth. The only Inach any Bryddin has ever seen before is too big to be mined. But these slabs are perfect.” He placed his hands on his hips and gazed eagerly at the stone laid out on the grass, as if he could hardly wait to get to work on it.
Redburr sniffed the nearest one once more. “It almost makes it all worth while,” he said after a moment.
“It does,” agreed the Dwarf.
This time it was Avender’s turn to be confused. “All what worthwhile?” he asked.
“Losing Reiffen. Just missing getting him back.” Redburr nodded at the stones around them. “There’s enough heartstone here to carve into a thousand swords.”
Avender felt it would take a lot more than a thousand swords to make up for losing Reiffen.
“At least a thousand,” said Nolo. “And there are those other circles you mentioned, too. Especially the one by the Ambore. That’ll be easier to get at than this one here.”
The bear growled softly. “And the Wizards led us right to it. Maybe Giserre will get her army, after all.” His black eyes gleamed and his lips curled to bare his yellow teeth. Avender wondered if he was going to have to curl up in a ball on the grass again. “Only it’ll probably come too late to save Reiffen.”
“We’re not going to give up trying to rescue him now, are we?” asked the boy, though he was afraid he already knew the answer.
“No one’s ever escaped from Ussene, boy.”
“But we can’t just leave him there.” Avender kicked a small stone at the edge of the pit. It struck the bare earth on the other side with a satisfying thunk. “We have to try.”
The bear made no reply.
“What I don’t see,” said Nolo slowly, “is what the Three hope to do with Reiffen now they have him.”
“That’s plain enough,” grunted the bear. “They’ll use him to start a rebellion. That’s always been their way. Sow discontent and reap the harvest after. There’s no lack of ears in Malmoret willing to listen to any plan that rids them of Brannis. And Reiffen is the true heir, after all. Even in Wayland there are people who would join with him should he claim his birthright. The bloodshed that would follow would be terrible, far worse than the last war. No matter how it came out, the Three would have their way. The strength of Wayland and Banking wrecked, and the Wizards free to gobble up whatever’s left. Even Valing would fall, in time. Mountains won’t keep out Wizards, not if there’s nothing else to stop them.”
“But what about the heartstone?” asked Avender. “If we can make new swords, why would we fear the Wizards any longer?”
“It’s not the Wizards we’ll be fighting, boy, if they have their way. It’s other humans, with Reiffen at their head, doing the Wizards’ work for them. A sword’s just a sword, as far as humans are concerned.”
“Reiffen would never do the Wizards’ bidding,” said Avender stoutly. “They killed his father.”
“And yours, too,” added the bear. “But when you’ve watched the Three as long as I have, you won’t underestimate their power. Mothers might murder their own children at Usseis’ command. His skill lies in changing the nature of things, twisting them to his own purpose. Were it only Ossdonc we had to fight, we’d have won this battle long ago. But Usseis’ skill is more subtle, and Fornoch’s more cunning still. Who do you think it was slew my fellow Shapers? Reiffen will do whatever they ask of him, believe me. No one can withstand them, once they’ve fallen into their hands, except the Dwarves. And that’s only because Dwarves are made of different stuff.”
The bear turned back to the torn ground and clawed out another chunk of earth. He found no worms, and let the black sod crumble from his paw back into the pit. Avender lay in the meadow and looked up at the plain gray sky. A hawk spiraled through one corner of his view, circling in and out of sight behind the side of the western ridge. Each loop brought the soaring bird a bit less back into view, and each time it disappeared Avender found himself wondering whether it would return. And each time he had begun to give up hope that it would, there it was, a dark silhouette, motionless except for the curving passage of its flight. It swung quietly across the sky, until finally it passed away beyond the hard gray stone.
He refused to believe Reiffen was gone, no matter what the Shaper said. There had to be a way to rescue his friend. On his own he wandered through the meadow and the trees for the rest of the day, dreaming wild plans. He would ride alone to the northern mountains and, wielding an Inach sword, rescue Reiffen and slay the Three. He would be a hero! Old Mortin would bang his cup on the table at the Bass and Bull and call for a song about him! His dreams comforted him for a while, but even while he was dreaming, he knew they were impossible. Boys didn’t become heroes, especially not alone. Mostly they were captured, like Reiffen, and dragged away to die. Or worse.
He thought of one more question that night as he lay by the fire in front of Nolo’s shelter.
“Redburr?” he asked. “How’d the Wizards get their power?”
“Hmm?” The bear rolled his head sleepily to the side and looked at Avender from the corner of one dark eye.
“How’d the Wizards get their power?”
Redburr looked at Nolo, who shrugged and poked the hot coals with his toes.
“Think I should tell him?” asked the bear.
“I don’t know why you’ve kept the secret so long.”
“It wasn’t always a secret. Everybody knew once.” Redburr rubbed at his wound with the flat of his paw. “Then too much time passed, and everybody forgot. I’ve had to remind stewards and kings exactly what happened more than once. It wasn’t right for them to forget. But there was no reason to scare anyone else.”
Avender waited patiently for the bear to go on. He was sure that, having started, the Shaper would finish. But it was a while before the bear finally spoke again. The fire crackled in the night and Avender had another question ready when Redburr finally said,
“The power of the Three comes from Areft. Understand, boy, that Areft wasn’t completely killed by the Sword.”
Avender sat up in surprise. Thin fear trickled down his throat. “Wasn’t completely killed? How can anybody be only partly killed?”
“There’s always something left of Ina, boy. Like that right there.” The bear nodded his heavy muzzle up toward the henge, dark shadows dancing in the firelight across the stone. “Inach is the bones of Bavadar. Just as the Bryddin are what’s left of Brydds. And I’m what’s left of Oeina. In the same way, when Areft died, he left behind the Wizards.”
Despite himself, Avender peered fretfully at the shadows around them. He didn’t like hearing Areft’s name on a dark night in the wild mountains. Nolo reassured him with a grin.
“I don’t see how anyone could forget that,” said the boy.
Redburr’s deep voice rumbled. “Because it was a long time before we knew for sure. We knew some of Areft’s power escaped when he was killed, but it was hard to tell what shape that power would take when it reformed. Years passed and there was never any sign of it, so most people forgot. All that was left were the tales old men and women tell around the fire at night, about how Areft would come back some day. Until Usseis finally showed himself in the north.”
“When was that?” asked Avender in a whisper, still afraid to let even the dark night hear what he said.
“In King Essem’s time, before the Separation.”
“And before? When no one knew where they were?”
“More years than you can count, boy.”
“But where were they all that time? Doesn’t anybody know?”
Nolo chuckled. “You sound like Ferris, lad.”
Avender frowned and dropped his eyes to the fire. “Ferris isn’t here.”
“So you have to ask the questions for her, eh? Nothing wrong with that.” Nolo turned to the bear. “So where were they? The Wizards, that is.”
Redburr shrugged, his forepaws sliding across his furry chest. “The world’s a big place. We don’t even know what’s on the other side of the ocean. They could have been anywhere. Waiting, learning. Building henges.”
“But how’d you know they were Wizards when they finally appeared?” asked Avender.
“They couldn’t have been anything else. I did go north for a while to make sure my suspicions were correct about Usseis. He almost caught me, too, before I finished scouting out his fortress—even then he’d fashioned terrible new things. But I escaped, and came away having learned enough to know I was right. And when Ossdonc appeared soon after, there was no more guessing about it. Ossdonc has never been subtle.”
“And Fornoch?”
Redburr shook his massive head. His dark eyes shone with yellow flame from the fire, matching the color of his teeth. “No one knows when Fornoch appeared. I knew there had to be three Wizards; but, until he revealed himself as Martis, I had no idea where Fornoch was. Don’t believe for a minute, though, that Martis was his first disguise. There’ve been more than a few times in the past that might be explained if it turned out Fornoch had been here all along.”
The Dwarf leaned forward and added a few more sticks to the fire. “The thing I don’t understand,” he said, “is why the Three bother with all this hocus-pocus instead of just killing everybody outright and getting it done with. That’s all Areft did, according to the old tales, after he made the world.”
“Because the Three aren’t Areft,” answered the bear. “They have other things on their minds. And perhaps they’ve learned that, if Areft can be destroyed by his own creations, so might they. After all, they’re not Ina, no more than you or I, and they know it. Ossdonc might be happy with such a life, but not his brothers. Usseis, especially, seems to want to rule. Perhaps because he can’t create the way Areft could, he wants to control everything instead. And ruling is much the harder of the two, when matched against outright killing. It’s easier to kill a wild horse than tame it.”
The bear stretched out along the fire and blinked sleepily. “Now, if you don’t mind,” he said, “I think I’ve answered enough questions. From both of you. The fire’s nice and warm and I’m ready to go to sleep. We have to be on our way back to Valing early tomorrow.”
Avender pulled his blanket close about him and crawled into Nolo’s shelter. Stars stared brightly down on him from the top of the night sky. Though the Dwarf had toppled all thirteen of the henge’s stones, the boy couldn’t help but feel they were still too close to the Wizards’ power. Areft’s power. It was bad enough knowing the Wizards’ strength was more than anyone else’s; but now that Avender knew it was really Areft’s, the thought of what might be happening to Reiffen seemed even worse.
They were three days on the return to Valing. They might have enjoyed the journey had so much sadness not been weighing on their minds. The season was turning, and the newly mild days coaxed up fresh flowers and filled the icy streams. Rock that had seemed barren a few days before now glittered with pockets of white cowbells and tiny yellow daisies. But the travelers’ thoughts were elsewhere: Avender on the plight of his friend, Redburr on his next good meal and what he was going to say to Giserre, and Nolo in trying to work out some way to rescue Reiffen. He was a Dwarf. And being a Dwarf, Avender knew, meant preferring to pass the time in Bryddin fashion, digging about for ways to fix a problem.
Hern, Berrel, and Giserre met them at the lower dock on their return, with Ferris hopping impatiently back and forth behind them. Old Mortin was there, too, shaking his head mournfully. The lines in his face seemed deeper from an erosion of tears. “To think I shared a glass with that Mindrell!” he said with a doleful hiccough. “Charmed us all, he did. I should have known there was something wrong with that rascal.”
Redburr bowed his head to Giserre as soon as he set his paws on the cold stone quay. Even on all fours he was almost as tall as she, and the Lady Giserre was not a short woman. “I’ve failed,” he said.
“I have heard the tale,” she replied. “You did what you could.” She wore a simple dress, black as night; but it was a dress from Malmoret and outshone anything anyone in Valing might have worn, for all its plainness.
“Name your punishment, my lady,” said Redburr humbly, “and I will accept it.”
Giserre pursed her lips. “You lose my son,” she asked, her anger cold, “and yet you propose I let you off with punishment? Perhaps you would like a dunking, or an afternoon in the stocks? No, Redburr, I will not allow you to escape so easily. What I wish is that you tell me the steps you intend to take to try again. What will you do to return my son to me?” She stared at the bear with terrible eyes. Her face might well have been cut from stone.
A sorrowful rumble escaped from Redburr’s deep chest. “Your sentence is just, my lady,” he answered. “But I doubt that raising an army to storm the north will achieve your aims.”
Giserre’s eyes flashed. “It is the only way,” she said.
“Even were Brannis likely to raise a host to storm Ussene, Usseis need only slay your son in plain sight to defeat your purpose.” The bear regarded her steadily, his small eyes intent and his large mouth closed.
“Here now,” broke in Berrel, an eye on Ferris and Avender. “This isn’t the place to discuss such things. Let’s go upstairs.”
He stood aside for Giserre, who lifted her long skirt as she swept past. Hern led them up the curving stair, lamp in hand. Through the cellars and up to the kitchen they went, where Hern told Ferris to help Avender find something to eat. “Anything he wants,” she said, wagging a stern finger at her daughter. “Anything. After what he’s been through I’m sure he’s hungry as Redburr. There are pickled eels in the tub and some of last night’s oatcake in the pantry. I’ll be with Giserre and the others in the library, but if there’s anything else you need, Avender,” she added, “I’ll try not to be too long.”
In a swirl of white apron she bustled away. Avender sat down at the kitchen table and told the story of everything that had happened, from Mindrell meeting them on the stairs to Nolo digging up the stones, while Ferris and everyone else in the kitchen listened and helped him to whatever he wanted to eat. The only thing he didn’t mention was that the henge was made of heartstone. Redburr had given him strict instructions not to speak of that to anyone, preferring that knowledge to be kept secret as long as possible. Most of the story had already been heard from the foresters, but no one minded listening to the tale again. Avender guessed it would be the end of summer before anyone in Valing began to tire of that.
“And you found no sign of that wicked harper?”
“I hope he fell off a cliff and broke his neck.”
“He’ll find it broke for him if he ever comes back here again!” Tinnet clenched his fist and even scared himself at the extent of his sudden courage.
Avender ate hungrily for a long time, but Hern had still not returned when he was finally done. So he went out with Ferris to Redburr’s favorite sunning spot beyond the orchard where they watched the fishermen on the lake casting their nets and lines. The ice beneath the western cliffs had melted almost completely in the week he had been gone, and large floes drifted on the current toward the gorge. A few dark shapes played in the water near Nokken Rock. Ferris asked only a few questions, even when Avender mentioned what Redburr had told him about the Wizards.
“You have to take me with you next time,” she said instead.
Avender tossed a pebble out from the cliff toward the lake below, its splash too small and far away to be noticed. “There won’t be a next time,” he said. “Redburr says it’s impossible to rescue anyone from Ussene.”
“That may be what Redburr says,” said Ferris, “but he hasn’t been stuck here with Giserre. You know she’ll make him do something.”
“Even if she does, they won’t take me along. Berrel didn’t want me to go this time. I wasn’t much help, anyway. If anything I probably held them back.”
“You found the canoes.”
“Skimmer found the canoes.”
“Skim wouldn’t have been there to find them if it wasn’t for you.”
Avender shrugged. He couldn’t completely deny his part, but he still didn’t believe he had done that much.
“If there’s going to be a war,” he said finally, “they won’t be bringing girls along. Or boys.”
“That’s what they think.”
“It’s not that simple, Ferris.”
“I think it is.” She set her hands firmly in her lap and looked out over the sparkling water. “There’s no reason we can’t go. Swordbearers and pages go to war, just the same as captains, you know.”
“I’ll let you try to convince them. Meantime I’ll be out on the lake fishing with Skim.”
She looked back at her friend in sharp surprise. “You mean you don’t want to go?”
“I didn’t say that.” He threw another stone out over the water, much harder than before. “I want to go as much as anyone. But at least I have the sense to know what’s impossible and what isn’t.”
Ferris rolled her eyes. “Avender, you don’t have any sense at all. If you did, you’d know we have just as good a chance of going along with whatever they’re cooking up as anyone. You’re part of this now, whether you think so or not. And I’m going to be part of it, too. With or without your help.”
“You know I’d help if I thought it would do any good.”
“If I think of a job you can handle,” she replied curtly, “I’ll let you know.”
With a look that told him she no longer cared what he did, Ferris bristled back to the house. Avender wondered what she thought she could accomplish. He knew perfectly well, even if she did talk her way into coming along, she would be left safely behind somewhere on the way if anything important happened. Just as he would, if he were lucky enough to be asked himself.
He was still throwing rocks off the cliff when Anella came to fetch him to Giserre. He wasn’t surprised, knowing that Giserre would want to hear his version of what had happened as soon as possible. He followed Anella along the northern edge of the Neck toward the top of the gorge. From there a stone stair curved downward to a covered half-bridge that poked out over the flume. At the bridge’s end the Tear hung like a jewel in snow-white smoke above the chasm. Beyond and below, the water poured in a thick curve like the back of a leaping fish over the break in the northern cliffs, thundering down to the White Pool and the head of the River far below. Wreathed in swirling vapor that as often as not hid both stair and bridge, the Tear seemed no more than a bit of flying stone floating among the clouds.
They descended the stair. The roar of the gorge rose around them. Despite the warm sunlight, the covered bridge was chill and damp. Even with the heavy glass windows closed, the thick mist from the spring flood always found its way within. But the Tear itself was dry and warm. Two sets of heavy oak doors sealed the inner chamber from the ghostly plumes without. A fire burned brightly at the open hearth in the center of the room, the coals glowing. Beyond the stone-framed windows, the mists of the cataract swept and swirled. The small glass panes were streaked with tears as the mist melted back into the streaming cloud. The rush of the gorge thrummed below, but not nearly as loudly as it had outside.
Giserre was already packing. She sat by the hearth, the cushions around her strewn with neat piles of clothing. Several strands of dark hair had come free from the knot behind her head to hang down around her face. The loose hair made her look more like her son than Avender had ever realized.
She stood as the boy entered the chamber, and welcomed him. “Please,” she said, holding out her long, graceful arms. “Sit beside me, Avender. Tell me all that happened.”
He continued to the middle of the room beside the fire. Except for the space taken by the double doors, the circling wall was filled with mullioned windows. From them five low tiers of stone stepped down to the hearth at the center of the chamber. Soft pillows and richly embroidered cushions covered most of the steps; when Avender and Reiffen had been small they had tried to sleep in a different spot among the pillows every night, while Anella and Giserre had kept to their places by the door.
Giserre moved an armful of dresses to a different couch to make room for Avender beside her. He didn’t ask where she was going. Only Rimwich and Malmoret held any hope for her now that her son had been taken from Valing. He sat uncomfortably on the offered pillow, a large green one with the towers of Malmoret embroidered upon it in thread of red and silver, and told them the tale he had told Ferris and the others in the kitchen. Giserre made no interruptions. She and Anella worked quietly and without haste while they listened, as if there was nothing else on their minds at all. When Avender was done, the Lady finished folding a dark blue scarf and added it to one of the piles before her. Anella also said nothing, waiting for her mistress to speak.
Giserre turned to Avender. “You have been a brave friend,” she said. “I thank you, and all my line thank you also. Without you, I might not yet know Reiffen’s fate.”
She kissed his forehead. Avender didn’t know what to say. Instead he remembered how she had always kissed both of them at night when he had first come to the Tear to be her son’s companion.
Giserre looked down at the coals burning in the hearth and rested a hand on Avender’s shoulder. “You are a second son to me,” she said. “I am proud of you both. When Reiffen returns I shall tell him of all you have done.”
“So it’s decided?” Avender asked hopefully. “You persuaded them to keep trying to rescue him?”
Giserre took a slight breath. Had Avender not grown up with her, he might not have noticed the slight tightening of her jaw. “No,” she said. “They have not. But there are others who might show more favor to the plight of the true king. My brother, for one, has always been his champion.”
“If you’re going to raise an army, Ferris and I both want to come, too.”
The lady smiled. She was always at her most beautiful when she smiled. “You are a worthy friend,” she said. “And Ferris, also. But you have done your part. It is time for others to do theirs.”
A heavy knock sounded on the wooden doors, as if someone had struck them with a club. Anella put down her work and hurried up the steps. It was no good calling out from within the Tear for anyone outside to enter. With the gorge thundering below, no one on the other side of the door could hear even the loudest shout. Redburr padded in, his long claws clacking on the stone. Nolo followed. Giserre rose from her seat, but this time her manner was not nearly so welcoming as it had been to Avender.
“You have had your say, bear,” she said coldly, “both on the dock and in council. There is no need to force your views on me in private audience as well.”
“There is, my lady.” Ignoring her command, the bear descended the wide steps to the fire. “Especially when my private counsel is different from what I said in public.”
“There is nothing you can say that will ever change my mind.”
“Well then. Maybe I should let Nolo talk. It’s his plan.” Redburr started to settle himself comfortably on top of several dresses on the bench closest to the fire; Anella smacked him sharply and pushed him on. Grumbling, he moved back to the second tier, farther from the warmth of the coals.
Giserre turned her attention to the Dwarf. For the first time she allowed a small part of the pain she felt to show in her voice. “Please,” she said wearily. “Just speak your piece and go.”
Nolo set himself right on the edge of the fire, where anyone else would have burned, and rubbed his hands briskly in the flames. “I’ve been thinking, my lady,” he began, “and I think I’ve found another way.”
“Another way?”
“Another way to rescue Reiffen. An army won’t work. That’s clear as crystal. Redburr already pointed out the fault in that down at the dock. But there’s more than one way to skin a bat. There are other ways to reach Ussene that might not occur to humans.”
“Or Wizards, either,” said Redburr.
“Come to the point, please, Nolo.” Giserre returned to her packing, to show her visitors she only had time to grant them half her attention.
“It’s quite simple, really.” The Dwarf cracked a crooked grin. “We’ll sneak in.”
“The attempt has been made before.”
“Not from underneath.”
Giserre dropped the shawl in her hand; her fine, dark eyebrows creased in a frown. “Underneath?”
“From below,” rumbled the bear from his bench. “From really, really, far below. We’ll underwhelm them.”
Nolo grinned, but Giserre looked coldly at Redburr. “I thought you said this was Nolo’s plan.” She turned back to the Dwarf. “Please, continue.”
“What I mean,” said Nolo, “is that a small party might travel secretly through the Stoneways from Issinlough to Ussene. There might be some digging involved, but I don’t think there’s much chance the Wizards are prepared for an approach from that direction. There’s even a possibility we might be able to tunnel our way right into the dungeons and whisk Reiffen away before anyone even knows we’re there.”
Giserre’s composure nearly left her. Her mouth fell open. For the first time since their return real hope rose within her. She stared at Nolo for a moment, wondering at the simplicity of his plan. On the bench behind her Anella put a hand to her mouth, and Avender also started forward as he realized what the Dwarf had said. There might still be a chance to rescue Reiffen.
“Is that possible?” asked Giserre.
“Of course it’s possible,” replied the Dwarf. “It’s just a matter of how much we have to dig. There are many paths through Bryddlough.”
“But why not take an army?” asked Giserre as she thought the idea through more completely. “An attack in force might so surprise the Three as to destroy their fortress forever.”
“You can’t take an army through Bryddlough,” said Nolo. “Not a human army. You’d never be able to feed them all. But a small group should be able to make their way up through the tunnels and come upon Ussene from below.”
“Why not an army of Bryddin?”
Nolo shook his head. “There’s no such thing. You might get a few score to answer a call to arms, but the rest wouldn’t want to be bothered. Uhle and Dwvon can see the need, but until the Wizards actually make a move against Bryddlough, most Bryddin will never understand the need for fighting.”
Redburr scratched his stomach with his great claws and rolled onto his side. A few feathers puffed up into the air, but otherwise the pillows beneath him held. “Nolo and I have talked about this for most of the last few days,” he said. “A small party makes the most sense. That way we can move fast, which is as important as anything else now. The quicker we reach Ussene the better, as we all know.”
“How many will you take with you?” Giserre changed the subject swiftly. No one wanted to think about what would happen to Reiffen as long as he was in Usseis’ hands.
“Four or five would be best,” said Nolo. “The bear and I, of course. And maybe another Bryddin or two to help with the digging.”
“Who else? Ranner? A knight from Malmoret?”
“Our need will be for stealth in the Under Ground, Giserre, not fighting,” said the bear. “And we’ll need one other skill as well.”
Giserre turned her head slightly to the side and waited for Redburr to go on.
“We’ll need someone with us who can recognize Reiffen no matter what’s been done to him.”
There was a moment’s silence after the bear finally voiced what everyone was thinking. Giserre clasped her hands firmly in her lap and straightened her back. “It is as I suspected,” she said. “Well then. I have never done much campaigning. Indeed, I left Malmoret when I was barely more than a girl, and have not left this valley since. But I presume I shall be able to manage. It is for Reiffen, after all. No one else can recognize him so well as I.”
Anyone else would have been abashed to contradict Giserre, and that would probably have been the end of the discussion right there. But Redburr was not in the least put off by her assurance. He sniffed once, his black nose twitching.
“Actually, Giserre, you’re not the one I had in mind.”
She did lose her composure then. Her eyes flashed and her chin rose. Though it seemed impossible, her back grew straighter. “Even you cannot have the audacity to suggest there might be someone who knows my son better than I!”
“Not better,” the bear agreed. “But almost as well.”
He turned and looked at Avender. The boy’s face glowed with the red and gold of the fire.
“There he is right there.”
Avender looked up in surprise. Giserre glared at him angrily, and Anella with disapproval. Nolo tried to give him a sly wink of encouragement. He had no idea what to think himself.
“Me?” he cried.
“You have surpassed even your usual foolishness, bear.” Giserre’s eyes flashed darkly.
“The thing is, Giserre,” said Redburr, “we need you to keep the Wizards occupied while we travel to Ussene. They’ll expect any fresh attempt to rescue the boy to come from you. If you come with us to Issinlough, I’m afraid it wouldn’t be long before the Three guessed our purpose, and then we would no longer have the benefit of surprise. I think we can all agree it’s better to have them looking elsewhere. Following you.”
“This is no task for a child,” she insisted.
“No, it isn’t,” agreed the bear. “But Avender has more than proven his worth over the last few days, and he’s the only other person who knows Reiffen nearly as well as you.”
The thought crossed Avender’s mind that Ferris would strongly disagree with the bear’s last observation. Especially after what she had just said on the cliff.
Nolo scratched his chin through his thick beard. “The only problem I see,” he said, “is persuading Hern to let us bring the boy along.”
“It’s his decision, not hers,” growled Redburr.
“He is not yet of age,” pointed out Giserre. “Hern will claim the privilege of a parent.”
“Well then, maybe we won’t tell her.”
Redburr’s small eyes narrowed craftily. For a moment he looked more like an enormous weasel than a bear. “We’ll tell her Nolo’s taking the boy to Issinlough for his education. She can’t very well argue with that. And the fewer people who know what we’re up to, the better. You can be sure there are spies in Valing, and they’ll report back to their masters whatever we decide to do. But if all they see is Nolo taking the boy into the Stoneways for his education, what can they possibly suspect? Especially if you’re somewhere else. That’s why you need to keep packing. Let their masters’ attention follow you to Rimwich and Malmoret. Call for Brannis and the barons to save your cub. Brannis will send you away empty-handed, but your brother and the barons might listen. And the Wizards will listen, too, thinking your pleading to be our real intent.”
Giserre pursed her lips. “So I am to be offered as a stalking horse,” she said. Avender could see she had hoped to take a more active part in the rescue, and do more than go begging at the court of a faithless king. But, if begging was what was required, she would swallow her pride and beg. The Lady Giserre had swallowed the better portion of her pride ever since she had first come to Valing.
“Yes, milady,” said Redburr, “that would be best.”
“It’s what the Wizards will expect you to do,” added the Dwarf. “And it’ll give them one more reason to think that’s what we’re really up to.”
“In the meantime we’ll be hunting them from below,” growled the bear. “But any success you might have with Brannis and the barons would help. A small force marching on Ussene while we’re trying to sneak in through the basement would be the perfect distraction.”
Giserre looked at the three of them, Dwarf and bear and boy, her dark eyes deeply serious. She made up her mind. “I believe you shall rescue my son,” she said, accepting Nolo’s plan. “I do not yet feel he is gone. He shall be king some day, that I have always felt, and I have felt it no less since he was taken away. But you must promise me—” she turned to Avender and held him close with her gaze, “—that you will regard him carefully when you find him. You will study him, and assure yourself that he is the same Reiffen you and I both know and love. And after you have looked at him you will come to me, and you will tell me if you doubt he is whom he should be. For it would not be fitting, when he gains his throne, if he is not, in truth, Reiffen, but rather some poor Wizard’s creature.”
She spoke grimly, but the cruelty in her words was to herself, for having to speak in such a way about her son. And when she saw she had made Avender afraid, even as he nodded and agreed to her bidding, her eyes softened. She laid her hand lovingly against his cheek.
“Do not be afraid, Avender. If my son is to be king, it will be by your grace and friendship. To you we will owe everything.”
They ended their council with their plans decided. Giserre, with an escort of foresters, would travel to Rimwich and Malmoret to plead for an army to fight for her son. Hers would be the hardest task, for she would have to patiently pretend to play through all the intrigues of both courts, the Old Palace and Rimwich Keep, while all the time knowing the real tests were taking place deep below the ground. Nolo and Avender would travel by sea, as that was the quickest way, from Lugger to Mremmen, and then by land from Mremmen to Grangore and on to Issinlough. Redburr would travel with Giserre at first, accompanying her to Rimwich before going on by himself into the north to see if he might learn anything of what was happening in Ussene. They decided it would help their deception if he was known to be traveling with Giserre. That would give the Wizards’ spies one more reason for believing that Giserre’s mission was the important one.
They finished their preparations quickly; there were many reasons for haste and none for delay. The Stewards understood Giserre’s need to be doing something, but they were confused by Nolo’s hurry. They pointed out that Avender had already had a grueling week, and that there was no reason for him to be off again so soon. Redburr finally told them that one of Nolo’s purposes in going to Issinlough was to see what help the Dwarves might provide for any attempt to recover Giserre’s son. After that Hern and Berrel gave up their objections at once, no matter how poor they thought the chances for success.
It turned out there was another reason the stewards might want Nolo and Avender to delay. In the late afternoon, the day before they were all to depart, the bear and the Dwarf brought Avender with them to the woods on the north side of the Manor to discuss their plans one last time. A thick pinewood grew between the house and the edge of the cliff, which was far higher here than on the side that faced the lake. To their left the gorge and waterfall thundered; to the right the steep green sides of the Shoulder rose up into the Low Bavadars. Redburr had picked a spot he knew near the edge of the cliff where the gray stone provided rough benches among the pines, and where they were unlikely to be bothered. So they were quite surprised when Ferris joined them not long after they arrived.
Redburr gave her a fierce look. “We’re busy,” he said. “Go on back to the house and help your mother.”
“Oh, I’ll go back,” the girl replied with a large measure of satisfaction, “as soon as I’ve told you the news. I’m coming with you.”
Nolo’s thick eyebrows rose in surprise; Avender brightened. Much as he enjoyed Redburr’s and Nolo’s company, having Ferris along would make the trip even better.
Redburr growled. “No you’re not,” he said.
Ferris ignored his tone. “Yes I am. Mother said I could.”
“Your mother has nothing to do with it.”
“You know better than that. She thought it was a wonderful idea for me to come along, after I told her it was fine with you. She said I could use a trip to Issinlough, just as much as Avender. She said it would help take my mind off all the terrible things that have happened.”
The bear climbed down from his rock to stand beside the girl. His dark nose came uncomfortably close to hers. She smiled primly.
“It’s not fine with me,” he said. “You’re not coming.”
She was so close to the bear Avender was surprised she didn’t keel over from the smell of fish and beer. But Ferris was undeterred. “If I can’t go with you,” she said sturdily, “I’ll tell Hern what your real plans are. And then Avender won’t be allowed to go either. I know you wouldn’t be bringing him along if you didn’t need him.”
The bear glanced angrily at the boy. “What have you told her?”
“I haven’t told her anything!”
“He hasn’t,” said the girl. “He didn’t have to. But I know the three of you are up to something. And Giserre, too. She was in a much better mood after you talked to her yesterday. She even smiled at dinner.” She gave Avender a narrow look. “I told you I was coming with you this time, no matter how hard you tried to keep me away.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with it! I would’ve told you everything if they’d let me!”
“Quiet, boy. I’ll deal with the girl.” Redburr shouldered Avender aside, then turned and studied Ferris carefully. “You don’t really know anything, do you. You’re just guessing.”
“I know enough to tell Hern there’s more to your plan than you’ve told her. What will you do if she starts asking questions? You know she’ll see right through you if you start to lie.”
“The lass is right, Redburr.” Nolo didn’t even try to conceal his grin. “We all know you can’t lie to Hern. Remember that time you got into the October ale and broke two casks? You didn’t fool her for a second. And there were those beehives of Darny Uphill’s, too. Let the lass come. She already has permission.”
“You know I’m right,” said Ferris confidently.
The bear growled once more, and even bared his teeth. “I should call your bluff, girl. I can always take the boy with me, with or without your mother’s permission. But it wouldn’t be so easy for you.”
“It wouldn’t be so easy for you, either,” said Ferris boldly. She was trying to keep up a brave front, but Avender could see she was starting to fear she might be left behind after all, for all her careful planning. It hadn’t occurred to her that the bear might not be as afraid of her mother as she thought.
Redburr stared hard at Ferris a long moment, his teeth still showing. Then suddenly, much to the surprise of the other three, his mouth relaxed and his anger disappeared.
“On the other hand,” he said, “we do want to keep our real purpose as quiet as possible. It might even be better this way. You can come. But this isn’t a picnic to Nokken Rock. You’d better hear what you’re getting yourself into before you decide to join us.” He turned his heavy head to Nolo. “If I’d known convincing Hern would be so easy, I might have asked the girl along from the first. Better to have two of them with us when we get to Ussene, in case something happens to one.”
“Ussene?” A horrified look burst across Ferris’s face. “You’re going to Ussene?”
The Shaper grinned wickedly. “Proud of yourself aren’t you, now you’ve found out what it is you’ve gotten into. Where’d you think we’d go to rescue the boy, the Pearl Isles? You can always stay home if you like.” His small eyes flickered cruelly.
Ferris caught herself with a deep breath, but was still white as a sheet. She swallowed before she spoke. “I said I’d come, and I will. But I thought you were going to Issinlough first to get help from the Bryddin. I didn’t think we’d be going straight to Ussene.”
“We are going to Issinlough, lass.” Nolo gave the girl a kind look. “And we’ll use what help we find there. But we won’t be taking any armies to Ussene, Bryddin or otherwise. The task’s for us alone.”
A gust of wind swayed the tops of the dark green trees. Last year’s needles were swept off the side of the cliff in a brown swirl. Ferris sat down on the gray stone between the Dwarf and the bear and listened to their plan.