It's been a while, and this is fairly short. I write slowly, even when I know what I'm writing, and Real Life stole my time away. Aside from the archivist, is anyone actually reading this? Feedback is the duty of every reader (and I feedback under another name, so don't be pissed off), just as finishing the bloody story is that of every storyteller. Not that this matters to Steven King. Stupid bastard is probably going to leave Roland and Eddie and Susannah and Jake in limbo forever.
Okay, pointless rant over. This is chapter three, and it's kind of filler, and rather contrived, and if anyone wants to archive this or any other story of mine they're welcome to it - just let me know.
Chapter 3: In which there is a little macho posturing, a certain amount of exposition, Wisdom gets some backstory, and a couple of fairly obvious plot points are confirmed.
Wisdom was a spy. He was not famous, but when those who knew these things really needed the information and did not care about the price, the first man they turned to was always the man called Wisdom. He was known in certain circles for reliability, for loyalty to his employer of the moment, and for independence. What he was not known for was his skill in combat, not because he lacked it but because he preferred to avoid direct confrontation. For him to draw a weapon was rare; for him to initiate combat was almost unheard of.
The woman named Tessa stepped back as he drew his knife. Before he could advance Jack was between them, his staff swinging up to bar Wisdom's path.
There was a soft whisper of steel as Katherine drew her sword, swiftly moving to cover her lover's flank. Around them the villagers stood silent, watching. None of them had yet reached for a weapon, but Katherine was certain that it was only a matter of seconds before someone did.
`This is personal, Jack.' Wisdom whispered, his voice knife-hard.
`If you make it so.' Jack held Wisdom's gaze, and was impressed. `Sheath your blades.' Behind him Tessa moved round to gain an unobstructed view. Although her hand rested on her own dagger, she made no move to draw the weapon.
`I have sworn revenge on her.' Katherine had never seen Wisdom like this.
`I have sworn to protect her.' The bigger man replied, equally determined.
`You honestly think you can stop me?' Wisdom asked, his left hand lifting, fingers spread. His opponent took a step back, dropping into a defensive stance with his staff held ready.
`You honestly think I can't? I am Jack-in-the-Green, the Dervel Scoatt. And I swear to you by my name that the Sage did not betray you.'
`Pete -` Katherine said quietly.
`We should talk.' Tessa spoke for the first time since the confrontation began. There was a moment of tension, and then Wisdom broke eye contact. He glanced around at the assembled villagers, and then slowly sheathed his blade. Tessa walked past him with enviable poise, and sat beside the growing fire. Wisdom turned, and crouched opposite her. Katherine moved to sit at his left, and Jack sat opposite her. There was an awkward silence, and she felt driven to break it.
`Dervel Scoatt.' What kind of name is that?'
`A title.' Said Jack.
`Dervel is old.' Her lover replied. `It means Gift of the Gods.'
`Just as Jack comes from James which means Gift of God.' Jack intervened. `Nothing changes without reason, Wisdom.'
`And Scoatt?' She asked.
`It means, Wanderer.' Wisdom said, looking at Jack with a challenge in his eyes. Katherine realised he was deliberately ignoring the Sage.
Jack met his challenge with a small smile.
`I prefer, Nomad.'
There was another pause, and Wisdom looked across the fire to the slim, pale woman who sat there.
`Was it you in our heads last night?' He quizzed.
`You know I don't have that kind of power.'
`I thought I knew you once. Tell me you did not betray us.'
`I did not betray you.' She told him, and Wisdom's lip curled in a bitter sneer.
`Tell me why I should believe that.' He demanded.
`Because I am here of my own free will.' Said a new voice from the shadows of the doorway of the hut. It was soft and gentle, distinctly feminine but with a rough, almost feral edge to it. Into the waning sunlight there stepped a girl, perhaps a little younger than Katherine. She was short and fine-boned, slim as a wisp, but somehow she did not look delicate. Perhaps it was the richness of her russet hair, perhaps it was the fact that she wore a gentle, friendly smile that displayed small, neat, but somehow fierce teeth, but most likely it was the alert way her blue-green eyes moved across the company, intent and calculating. Her body language was that of a shy young girl, but she had a predator's eyes.
There was a small child, perhaps three or four years of age, toddling just in front of her.
Wisdom rose to his feet almost without thinking and inclined a nod to the girl.
`Princess Rhane.' He said, with an astonishing lack of sarcasm. `You honour us with your presence.' The girl blushed, her colour deepening dramatically. She was bundled up in an old green cloak, and her reddened face made a striking contrast.
`Thank you.' She said, slightly awkwardly. `But out here its just Rhane.' The child ran across to Jack, and climbed into his lap. The princess smiled shyly at him. `She was just waking up.' Katherine was frowning; the girl's eyes looked familiar.
`You were Jack's dog, weren't you?' She asked suddenly. It was no startling deduction; after all, the girl had just emerged from the house into which said dog had vanished, but even so it seemed surprising.
Rhane, whose colour had just been fading back to normal, blushed again.
`Yes. It is my gift. I can - become the wolf.'
`So why are you here?' Demanded Wisdom.
`Frost.' Said Tessa.
The spy sat down heavily, his face pale, terror rapidly turning to anger. His hands were trembling.
`Liar.' He whispered. He stared at her. `You are lying.' There was a pleading note in his voice.
`She is there. You probably ate with her last night.'
`So why weren't you there with her?' He sounded bitter.
`She finally found out I was still working for the Cassidy.'
`Who's Frost?' Asked Katherine.
The man now known as Wisdom was born in Westchester in the first year of the reign of King Christopher the Corsair, who was to become High King of Britain. His mother died when he was young, and so their father, a weaver, raised him and his elder sister. The weaver's business was never a great success, and he had to work long hours to stay afloat, and so the boy named Peter largely ran wild in his childhood, enjoying the streets of the old Roman city.
When he was twelve his father began to teach him the skills of making cloth. When he was fourteen he finally decided that he had had enough, and left home. That same year he manifested his Gift for the first time.
Peter lived in the Forest for a short time, but this was long before the Nightcrawler came to tame the outlaws that lived within, and he found it a harsh place. He soon left, and made his way west, to the coast. There he tried his hand at fishing, but proved incompetent. His captain put him ashore at Loch Garman, in the county of Leign in the Emerald Isle.
Loch Garman has been the hold of Shaw since time immemorial. At this time, though, it was also one of the focal points in a power struggle that took in all Ireland, with at its centre Shaw, whose name is Sebastian, and the Cassidy, Sean, now the consort of the Witch-Queen of Scotland but then simply master of Gaillimh in Connacht. It centred on the efforts of Shaw to have himself crowned king at Tara, and the efforts of the Cassidy to prevent this for - complicated reasons. To say that Shaw was an unscrupulous, evil, power-hungry bastard would not be exaggerating, but the Cassidy had other, less altruistic reasons to deny him the throne even though he did not seek it himself.
Peter's involvement in the struggle began innocently enough. He got a job as a stable boy in an inn, and was as bad at this as he had been at all of his previous jobs. Eventually this brought him into the bad graces of a customer, and in the ensuing confrontation the other man received a broken arm. It transpired that he was a lieutenant of Shaw's, and was able to have Peter declared outlaw. The young man, naturally, fled to Shaw's enemy, and so at the age of sixteen entered the service of Sean Cassidy as a scout and news-finder.
He had been a clumsy weaver, an incompetent forester, a seasick fisherman and an abysmal stableboy. Peter was therefore surprised to discover he had a natural talent for his new trade that the Cassidy found quite astonishing. His skills developed rapidly, as he earned his pay time after time - and, in the process, first gained the nickname of Wisdom. Peter rose rapidly in his master's estimation, and by the time he was nineteen was reckoned the most skilled spy in Connacht.
It was at this point that Wisdom first met the woman named Tessa.
She was the same age as him, and unlike him she made no great pains to hide the fact that she was Gifted - indeed, most of her ability in the dangerous game they played came from her powers as a mindwalker, as well as her analytical intelligence. Wisdom survived the game by talent, gut instinct and luck; the Sage worked by reason, logic, and by tampering with the thoughts of those who opposed her. At the urging of the Cassidy the two became partners, and, without his knowledge -
Tessa had been telling this part of the tale, and now she stopped. The damage was done, though, and Katherine looked to Wisdom.
`Kitty.' He said.
`You don't have to make excuses.' She actually smiled at him. `After all, I was eight years old back then.' He blinked. Tessa looked surprised. `Although if you're unfaithful to me now, I'll come after you with the biggest sword I can find. Continue the story.' Wisdom took up the tale once more.
Wisdom and Sage were friends, partners and lovers, working against Shaw's schemes by guile and by Tessa's powers. They were highly effective - they were able to end the financial dominance Shaw exerted over many of the lesser lords of Ireland, and more importantly to force many of his true allies away from him by blackmail and trickery. Shaw reacted by seeking Gifted of his own.
What he found was the woman now known as the Frost Queen.
No one knows where she came from - not even Wisdom could find out who she was before Ireland. What rapidly became known was that she was a witch of little power but considerable learning. What remained unknown to all but a few - to all but Shaw, and Wisdom, and Sage, and the Cassidy - was that she was a mindwalker, and an immensely powerful one at that. She far eclipsed Tessa, and was rapidly able to undo much of their work.
The Cassidy was a good man, but he was also a strong leader. He did not permit himself to show hesitation in ordering the woman's death, and only Wisdom, who was his friend, could see how much he hated to give the command. It was given in secret, to his two most trusted agents, and they moved to carry it out instantly.
Tessa betrayed Peter. She had been in communication with the Frost Queen through their common power, and she betrayed him in Shaw's hall. Wisdom the spy was captured by the men of Leign, and given to the Frost Queen.
`She sent me to kill the Cassidy. I couldn't do it. Somehow I broke her control.'
`Were it not for me she would have obliterated your mind in its entirety.' Tessa told him. `I went to her on the Cassidy's orders. I betrayed you on his orders, and I suggested using you as her assassin on his orders.'
`Why?' Asked Katherine.
`Because Shaw had won. He still rules Ireland today. Frost was too much of an advantage, and he was elected king five days after I went over to his camp. Except that really it was Frost's camp.'
`You betrayed him, too?' Wisdom whispered.
`Frost betrayed him. Cassidy had ordered me to stay close to Frost. I obeyed him.'
`So why didn't he tell me?'
`Because the Frost Queen had been in your head, and he couldn't be sure she wasn't still. Not without me.'
`Mister Wisdom.' Interrupted the princess. `My mother is a prisoner in her own stronghold. Please believe Tessa. We can't rescue her without you.'
`Prisoner?' Asked Katherine.
`We don't know how, but Frost is impersonating the Queen Moira.' Tessa told them.
`What makes you think she'd still be alive, then?' Asked Wisdom. `If what you say is true, she could probably dispense with her. And even if she is, what good would I do?'
`What good will we do.' Put in his lover. Wisdom turned to look at her in surprise, and then paused.
`I don't suppose it'd do any good to tell you that this is my unfinished business?' His tone was resigned.
`Only if you also said you didn't love me. Tessa?'
`She will be alive. Frost will want her skills as a healer, in which she is second to none, and her knowledge of Scotland, at least for now. Rescuing her is the first step towards protecting the land from becoming the Frost Queen's personal domain.'
`So you actually have a plan?'
`I can hide us from Frost. Nomad - Jack - is as good a fighter as any, and we may have need of that eventually, and Rhane will be able to find her mother wherever she is.'
`So what do you need us for?' Wisdom asked again.
`If I'm hiding us from Frost I can't really use my powers otherwise. We need your skills, Pete. You have a knack for getting in to places, and a knack for getting back out.'
`I also, if this Nomad character is to be believed, have men hunting me up and down the road between here and Scone. Bad odds.'
`The gateway to the valley is not fixed. When we leave the valley we will be where we need to be.' Jack told him.
`Is that why you call yourself Nomad?' Asked Katherine. Jack actually broke a smile, and adjusted the child that sat in his lap.
`No. I do not live here. I am truly a nomad. Except that I have undertaken to aid the Sage, I and my buck would be wandering still.'
`Buck?' Katherine was puzzled. The child looked up, and gave her a delighted, gap-toothed smile and a wave of one small hand. `Your child?'
`In a way.' He smiled, and then looked grim. `Her parents are dead. I took her in, just as the last Nomad took me in and raised me as a son.'
`And she's going to be the Nomad after you?'
`Only if she chooses.' Jack rose to his feet, swinging Buck onto his back as he did so and then lifting his staff. `We should move now. I don't know how far from Scone the Old Man will put us when we leave the valley.'
`How about five hundred miles?' Wisdom had been thinking, looking into the fire, and he did not look away as he asked this question.
`If you asked him, I am sure he would do that.' Tessa told him.
`We would not try to stop you.' Rhane added. As she stood up her form seemed to blur slightly. Her shoulders thickened, her canines elongated slightly and her hair became rather redder. Her ears were suddenly pointed, and set slightly further back on her skull than before. It was extremely disconcerting. `But it would be kind of you to stay.' It was odd in the extreme to hear that gentle, slightly apologetic voice coming with growling undertones from a woman who suddenly looked as if she would be able to rip a man's throat out with her teeth.
`Will you come with us?' Jack asked now. Katherine looked at Wisdom. Wisdom still did not look away from the fire.
`I don't trust you, Tessa.' He told her. `You might be telling some truth, but you're keeping a lot back.'
`Naturally. I would do the same with any man.'
`And if you betray us I'll kill you in a heartbeat.' He stood, and handed Katherine her sword. `You ready to go, Kitty?'
The five of them turned and walked out of the valley.
In Scone, the man known as the Hawk stood before the Queen and listened and believed as she told him of the impostor who had somehow taken the form of his old friend Wisdom, and agreed to aid Colin McKay in tracking the man down.
The Frost Queen could no longer sense Wisdom, and feared that by trying to remove him from the conflict unawares she might well have sent him straight into the arms of her enemies.
Okay, pointless rant over. This is chapter three, and it's kind of filler, and rather contrived, and if anyone wants to archive this or any other story of mine they're welcome to it - just let me know.
Chapter 3: In which there is a little macho posturing, a certain amount of exposition, Wisdom gets some backstory, and a couple of fairly obvious plot points are confirmed.
Wisdom was a spy. He was not famous, but when those who knew these things really needed the information and did not care about the price, the first man they turned to was always the man called Wisdom. He was known in certain circles for reliability, for loyalty to his employer of the moment, and for independence. What he was not known for was his skill in combat, not because he lacked it but because he preferred to avoid direct confrontation. For him to draw a weapon was rare; for him to initiate combat was almost unheard of.
The woman named Tessa stepped back as he drew his knife. Before he could advance Jack was between them, his staff swinging up to bar Wisdom's path.
There was a soft whisper of steel as Katherine drew her sword, swiftly moving to cover her lover's flank. Around them the villagers stood silent, watching. None of them had yet reached for a weapon, but Katherine was certain that it was only a matter of seconds before someone did.
`This is personal, Jack.' Wisdom whispered, his voice knife-hard.
`If you make it so.' Jack held Wisdom's gaze, and was impressed. `Sheath your blades.' Behind him Tessa moved round to gain an unobstructed view. Although her hand rested on her own dagger, she made no move to draw the weapon.
`I have sworn revenge on her.' Katherine had never seen Wisdom like this.
`I have sworn to protect her.' The bigger man replied, equally determined.
`You honestly think you can stop me?' Wisdom asked, his left hand lifting, fingers spread. His opponent took a step back, dropping into a defensive stance with his staff held ready.
`You honestly think I can't? I am Jack-in-the-Green, the Dervel Scoatt. And I swear to you by my name that the Sage did not betray you.'
`Pete -` Katherine said quietly.
`We should talk.' Tessa spoke for the first time since the confrontation began. There was a moment of tension, and then Wisdom broke eye contact. He glanced around at the assembled villagers, and then slowly sheathed his blade. Tessa walked past him with enviable poise, and sat beside the growing fire. Wisdom turned, and crouched opposite her. Katherine moved to sit at his left, and Jack sat opposite her. There was an awkward silence, and she felt driven to break it.
`Dervel Scoatt.' What kind of name is that?'
`A title.' Said Jack.
`Dervel is old.' Her lover replied. `It means Gift of the Gods.'
`Just as Jack comes from James which means Gift of God.' Jack intervened. `Nothing changes without reason, Wisdom.'
`And Scoatt?' She asked.
`It means, Wanderer.' Wisdom said, looking at Jack with a challenge in his eyes. Katherine realised he was deliberately ignoring the Sage.
Jack met his challenge with a small smile.
`I prefer, Nomad.'
There was another pause, and Wisdom looked across the fire to the slim, pale woman who sat there.
`Was it you in our heads last night?' He quizzed.
`You know I don't have that kind of power.'
`I thought I knew you once. Tell me you did not betray us.'
`I did not betray you.' She told him, and Wisdom's lip curled in a bitter sneer.
`Tell me why I should believe that.' He demanded.
`Because I am here of my own free will.' Said a new voice from the shadows of the doorway of the hut. It was soft and gentle, distinctly feminine but with a rough, almost feral edge to it. Into the waning sunlight there stepped a girl, perhaps a little younger than Katherine. She was short and fine-boned, slim as a wisp, but somehow she did not look delicate. Perhaps it was the richness of her russet hair, perhaps it was the fact that she wore a gentle, friendly smile that displayed small, neat, but somehow fierce teeth, but most likely it was the alert way her blue-green eyes moved across the company, intent and calculating. Her body language was that of a shy young girl, but she had a predator's eyes.
There was a small child, perhaps three or four years of age, toddling just in front of her.
Wisdom rose to his feet almost without thinking and inclined a nod to the girl.
`Princess Rhane.' He said, with an astonishing lack of sarcasm. `You honour us with your presence.' The girl blushed, her colour deepening dramatically. She was bundled up in an old green cloak, and her reddened face made a striking contrast.
`Thank you.' She said, slightly awkwardly. `But out here its just Rhane.' The child ran across to Jack, and climbed into his lap. The princess smiled shyly at him. `She was just waking up.' Katherine was frowning; the girl's eyes looked familiar.
`You were Jack's dog, weren't you?' She asked suddenly. It was no startling deduction; after all, the girl had just emerged from the house into which said dog had vanished, but even so it seemed surprising.
Rhane, whose colour had just been fading back to normal, blushed again.
`Yes. It is my gift. I can - become the wolf.'
`So why are you here?' Demanded Wisdom.
`Frost.' Said Tessa.
The spy sat down heavily, his face pale, terror rapidly turning to anger. His hands were trembling.
`Liar.' He whispered. He stared at her. `You are lying.' There was a pleading note in his voice.
`She is there. You probably ate with her last night.'
`So why weren't you there with her?' He sounded bitter.
`She finally found out I was still working for the Cassidy.'
`Who's Frost?' Asked Katherine.
The man now known as Wisdom was born in Westchester in the first year of the reign of King Christopher the Corsair, who was to become High King of Britain. His mother died when he was young, and so their father, a weaver, raised him and his elder sister. The weaver's business was never a great success, and he had to work long hours to stay afloat, and so the boy named Peter largely ran wild in his childhood, enjoying the streets of the old Roman city.
When he was twelve his father began to teach him the skills of making cloth. When he was fourteen he finally decided that he had had enough, and left home. That same year he manifested his Gift for the first time.
Peter lived in the Forest for a short time, but this was long before the Nightcrawler came to tame the outlaws that lived within, and he found it a harsh place. He soon left, and made his way west, to the coast. There he tried his hand at fishing, but proved incompetent. His captain put him ashore at Loch Garman, in the county of Leign in the Emerald Isle.
Loch Garman has been the hold of Shaw since time immemorial. At this time, though, it was also one of the focal points in a power struggle that took in all Ireland, with at its centre Shaw, whose name is Sebastian, and the Cassidy, Sean, now the consort of the Witch-Queen of Scotland but then simply master of Gaillimh in Connacht. It centred on the efforts of Shaw to have himself crowned king at Tara, and the efforts of the Cassidy to prevent this for - complicated reasons. To say that Shaw was an unscrupulous, evil, power-hungry bastard would not be exaggerating, but the Cassidy had other, less altruistic reasons to deny him the throne even though he did not seek it himself.
Peter's involvement in the struggle began innocently enough. He got a job as a stable boy in an inn, and was as bad at this as he had been at all of his previous jobs. Eventually this brought him into the bad graces of a customer, and in the ensuing confrontation the other man received a broken arm. It transpired that he was a lieutenant of Shaw's, and was able to have Peter declared outlaw. The young man, naturally, fled to Shaw's enemy, and so at the age of sixteen entered the service of Sean Cassidy as a scout and news-finder.
He had been a clumsy weaver, an incompetent forester, a seasick fisherman and an abysmal stableboy. Peter was therefore surprised to discover he had a natural talent for his new trade that the Cassidy found quite astonishing. His skills developed rapidly, as he earned his pay time after time - and, in the process, first gained the nickname of Wisdom. Peter rose rapidly in his master's estimation, and by the time he was nineteen was reckoned the most skilled spy in Connacht.
It was at this point that Wisdom first met the woman named Tessa.
She was the same age as him, and unlike him she made no great pains to hide the fact that she was Gifted - indeed, most of her ability in the dangerous game they played came from her powers as a mindwalker, as well as her analytical intelligence. Wisdom survived the game by talent, gut instinct and luck; the Sage worked by reason, logic, and by tampering with the thoughts of those who opposed her. At the urging of the Cassidy the two became partners, and, without his knowledge -
Tessa had been telling this part of the tale, and now she stopped. The damage was done, though, and Katherine looked to Wisdom.
`Kitty.' He said.
`You don't have to make excuses.' She actually smiled at him. `After all, I was eight years old back then.' He blinked. Tessa looked surprised. `Although if you're unfaithful to me now, I'll come after you with the biggest sword I can find. Continue the story.' Wisdom took up the tale once more.
Wisdom and Sage were friends, partners and lovers, working against Shaw's schemes by guile and by Tessa's powers. They were highly effective - they were able to end the financial dominance Shaw exerted over many of the lesser lords of Ireland, and more importantly to force many of his true allies away from him by blackmail and trickery. Shaw reacted by seeking Gifted of his own.
What he found was the woman now known as the Frost Queen.
No one knows where she came from - not even Wisdom could find out who she was before Ireland. What rapidly became known was that she was a witch of little power but considerable learning. What remained unknown to all but a few - to all but Shaw, and Wisdom, and Sage, and the Cassidy - was that she was a mindwalker, and an immensely powerful one at that. She far eclipsed Tessa, and was rapidly able to undo much of their work.
The Cassidy was a good man, but he was also a strong leader. He did not permit himself to show hesitation in ordering the woman's death, and only Wisdom, who was his friend, could see how much he hated to give the command. It was given in secret, to his two most trusted agents, and they moved to carry it out instantly.
Tessa betrayed Peter. She had been in communication with the Frost Queen through their common power, and she betrayed him in Shaw's hall. Wisdom the spy was captured by the men of Leign, and given to the Frost Queen.
`She sent me to kill the Cassidy. I couldn't do it. Somehow I broke her control.'
`Were it not for me she would have obliterated your mind in its entirety.' Tessa told him. `I went to her on the Cassidy's orders. I betrayed you on his orders, and I suggested using you as her assassin on his orders.'
`Why?' Asked Katherine.
`Because Shaw had won. He still rules Ireland today. Frost was too much of an advantage, and he was elected king five days after I went over to his camp. Except that really it was Frost's camp.'
`You betrayed him, too?' Wisdom whispered.
`Frost betrayed him. Cassidy had ordered me to stay close to Frost. I obeyed him.'
`So why didn't he tell me?'
`Because the Frost Queen had been in your head, and he couldn't be sure she wasn't still. Not without me.'
`Mister Wisdom.' Interrupted the princess. `My mother is a prisoner in her own stronghold. Please believe Tessa. We can't rescue her without you.'
`Prisoner?' Asked Katherine.
`We don't know how, but Frost is impersonating the Queen Moira.' Tessa told them.
`What makes you think she'd still be alive, then?' Asked Wisdom. `If what you say is true, she could probably dispense with her. And even if she is, what good would I do?'
`What good will we do.' Put in his lover. Wisdom turned to look at her in surprise, and then paused.
`I don't suppose it'd do any good to tell you that this is my unfinished business?' His tone was resigned.
`Only if you also said you didn't love me. Tessa?'
`She will be alive. Frost will want her skills as a healer, in which she is second to none, and her knowledge of Scotland, at least for now. Rescuing her is the first step towards protecting the land from becoming the Frost Queen's personal domain.'
`So you actually have a plan?'
`I can hide us from Frost. Nomad - Jack - is as good a fighter as any, and we may have need of that eventually, and Rhane will be able to find her mother wherever she is.'
`So what do you need us for?' Wisdom asked again.
`If I'm hiding us from Frost I can't really use my powers otherwise. We need your skills, Pete. You have a knack for getting in to places, and a knack for getting back out.'
`I also, if this Nomad character is to be believed, have men hunting me up and down the road between here and Scone. Bad odds.'
`The gateway to the valley is not fixed. When we leave the valley we will be where we need to be.' Jack told him.
`Is that why you call yourself Nomad?' Asked Katherine. Jack actually broke a smile, and adjusted the child that sat in his lap.
`No. I do not live here. I am truly a nomad. Except that I have undertaken to aid the Sage, I and my buck would be wandering still.'
`Buck?' Katherine was puzzled. The child looked up, and gave her a delighted, gap-toothed smile and a wave of one small hand. `Your child?'
`In a way.' He smiled, and then looked grim. `Her parents are dead. I took her in, just as the last Nomad took me in and raised me as a son.'
`And she's going to be the Nomad after you?'
`Only if she chooses.' Jack rose to his feet, swinging Buck onto his back as he did so and then lifting his staff. `We should move now. I don't know how far from Scone the Old Man will put us when we leave the valley.'
`How about five hundred miles?' Wisdom had been thinking, looking into the fire, and he did not look away as he asked this question.
`If you asked him, I am sure he would do that.' Tessa told him.
`We would not try to stop you.' Rhane added. As she stood up her form seemed to blur slightly. Her shoulders thickened, her canines elongated slightly and her hair became rather redder. Her ears were suddenly pointed, and set slightly further back on her skull than before. It was extremely disconcerting. `But it would be kind of you to stay.' It was odd in the extreme to hear that gentle, slightly apologetic voice coming with growling undertones from a woman who suddenly looked as if she would be able to rip a man's throat out with her teeth.
`Will you come with us?' Jack asked now. Katherine looked at Wisdom. Wisdom still did not look away from the fire.
`I don't trust you, Tessa.' He told her. `You might be telling some truth, but you're keeping a lot back.'
`Naturally. I would do the same with any man.'
`And if you betray us I'll kill you in a heartbeat.' He stood, and handed Katherine her sword. `You ready to go, Kitty?'
The five of them turned and walked out of the valley.
In Scone, the man known as the Hawk stood before the Queen and listened and believed as she told him of the impostor who had somehow taken the form of his old friend Wisdom, and agreed to aid Colin McKay in tracking the man down.
The Frost Queen could no longer sense Wisdom, and feared that by trying to remove him from the conflict unawares she might well have sent him straight into the arms of her enemies.