Thank you to weatherwitch.X.x.X., who reminded me that I had forgotten the lyre. As a result of this, the last chapter has been altered slightly. You can go back if you want but you don't really need to; all I did was make her take it. I have also realised that it is morning, so ignore the sunset in the last chapter =P
Short, I'm afraid, but that's how it is. Sorry Jenny =P
Big hello to Kimberly. I have a plan ; )
--
Reprise:
"And so we are out," he said, a prophetic tone to his voice. "Now all is left to do is to walk."
I groaned, but followed him as he set off. As I glanced behind me I saw the setting sun staining the Cot red and throwing all the valley into shadow.
--
Not half a mile later, I heard a hunting horn, and shuddered despite myself."They will not hurt us, Kayla," Cadvan assured me.
"I know. It's still kinda worrying though!"
"Well, there's nothing we can do about them until they arrive, so put them from your mind," he advised.
As the hounds reached us, Cadvan turned to face them.
"Lemmach!" he said.
Exactly as was described in the book, the hounds came to a halt.
"Lemmach ni ardrost!" The lead dog sniffed around Cadvan's knees. "Ni ardost," he murmured, stroking the dog's nose. Each of the dogs came to sniff at him, then turned and trotted casually back the riders.
"Marvellous," I said, grinning. "Come on then."
He gave a pained smile and led the way again. "We had best keep moving," he said, sounding regretful.
"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned. "I mean, are you alright."
"Aye, I am."
I didn't believe him. He looked awful; his eyes were bloodshot, his face was drawn and he was bent over like he was 800 years old. He breathed heavily, so I watched him carefully as I shivered in the cool air. After a while, Cadvan removed his cloak silently and handed it to me. I thanked him gratefully and huddled inside it.
"What memories have you of Pellinor?" Cadvan asked quietly after a while.
"It was a very beautiful place. My father used to take me to the lake every week for a picnic. My mother sang to me a lot."
"What do you know of the Gift, Kayla?"
"Quite a lot. I remember it from Pellinor when I was little." I was getting good at making this stuff up.
"And about your Bardic heritage?"
"I learnt a lot from my teachers." A woman called Alison, I thought to myself. I put out a hand to Cadvan as he stumbled and bit my lip nervously. He hadn't been this bad in the book.
"I must rest, just briefly," Cadvan said, sinking down onto the ground. I sat next to him and said nothing, but kept stealing glances at him. I was beginning to worry that it was my fault that he was this bad - after all, it had been I who had persuaded him to leave early.
Cadvan began to sing to himself softly.
Dashed into darkness, deeper than heart grief,
All voices mourn thee, high and humble,
Treespeech and beastspeech, manspeech and Bard,
All voices mourn thee, fruit of the dawn,
Flower of ice en…
He broke off suddenly, clutching his head.
"What's the matter?" I asked quickly.
"I am a little dizzy," he replied. "It will pass. Come, we had better continue." He pulled himself up slowly, looking like the 80-year-old he was, and set off again, I following in his wake. As he walked, he pulled out a bottle and drank deeply from it. "Some medhyl?" he asked, offering it to me.
"No, I'm alright," I replied, thinking that he needed it far more than I.
We walked on in silence, and I started to feel awkward. To Maerad, he had spoken of the Light and of Afinil, but as I had told him I knew of the Gift it seemed that he did not know what to say.
"You say I am a Bard…?" I began awkwardly after a while, when the sun was glaring down on my back,
"Have you not been listening?" he replied shortly.
"I don't hang on every word," I retorted. "There is a world outside you, you know."
It seemed that my temper was as short as his. What a fun trip this would be(!)
Cadvan gasped suddenly, and dropped to his knees. "Ahh, my head," he groaned. He put a hand on my arm and gripped my elbow. "My apologies," he gasped. "At this moment I stop the whole mountain from toppling on our heads. It pains me." Sweat was running down his face, and he was frowning hard. I wondered if I could help him, as Maerad had, and took his hand tightly.
I could feel nothing.
"Come on," I encouraged, pulling him upwards. "We had best keep moving." The end may be in sight, but it's a flipping long way away. I put his arm around my shoulders and he leaned on me heavily, his breath coming in short gasps. Rocks began to fall, as though in slow-motion, from high in the mountains, and for the first time I began to feel afraid. What if these rocks crushed us? What would happen to me in the "real" world? Would I just disappear? I pictured Nathan coming home, expecting me to be there, and finding an empty house. I shuddered involuntarily and pressed on.
All at once, I felt Cadvan's whole weight fall onto me, and as I looked at his face I saw that he had blacked out.
As I lowered him, in considerable shock, to the ground, there was only one thought on my mind.
Am I going to be responsible for the death of Cadvan of Lirigon?
