Special shout-outs to Kiaga, my beta, and Fallen-Petals, who gave me the motivation to finish this chapter. Thanks guys, I love you both.
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Cadvan looked at the paper in his hand; I saw his eyes moving as he read something.
"What does it say?" I asked.
"I, Lanorgil of Pellinor, here set down my dream, so that those to come may know of it when I have gone through the Gates to the Uncircled Open." I knew these words so well. As he read them I thought I heard a trace of another voice, one that was weak and rasping.
"A mist obscures the bright river, a mist on which no eye can fasten its sight, a mist which confuses the brave, and casts down the weak in fear and trembling. All is in Darkness and despair: corruption assails the High Seats of Annar, and those who truly follow the Light are cast into shadow." My stomach swooped, as it always did when I read that part. All the suffering in this world…
"Seek then one who comes Speechless from the Mountains: a Bard unSchooled and yet of this School. Seek and cherish the Fire Lily, the Fated One, which blooms the fairer in dark places, and sleepeth long in darkness; from such a root will blossom the White Flame anew, when it seems its seed is poisoned in the centre. Note the Sign and be not Blind! Then it goes on to say the year and so on. It is about six hundred years old."
I knew this. Knew who the prophecy was talking about. But perhaps it could be me? There was no way to get Maerad back, so I would have to play her part.
"Dernhil has written at the bottom that he thinks this may apply to you," Cadvan went on. "Though it seems unlikely. You are well Schooled, after all, even if you have been in that place so long." He looked closely at me for a long minute. "It does not feel like you," he said uncertainly after a while. "My Knowing tells me that it is not."
He said nothing more, pondering the words, occasionally looking back at the me. In the end he tucked it away into his cloak, and soon I saw Kargan on the horizon, his wings stretched out magnificently. He landed on Cadvan's arm.
"I have asked the creatures," Kargan said. "And they tell me that two Dark ones passed this way three nights ago." He paused, as though he regretted having to say his next words. "And there is a Hull and a group of wers there now."
Cadvan sighed heavily. "This is ill news. I think it will not be long before others come…Thank you, Lord Kargan. I shall ever be in your debt. Tell the Lady Silvia that all is well, that we shall soon be out of the Innail Fesse." The raven took off for the last time, and Cadvan turned to me as I wondered why he had lied.
"No sense in worrying them unnecessarily," he explained. "The Dark is now at our very heels, and we must hurry. Already we are outnumbered, and it will be hard to escape. You must make use of that new sword. Swift, esterine ni?"
Swift snorted and stretched out her neck, and then the four of us were off at a full gallop. We must have looked glorious, the proud black stallion and the pure white mare, racing like bullets down the road.
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We could only go at full speed for a short time, and when we had slowed to a trot something occurred to me.
"Cadvan," I began, my voice jerking as I sat clumsily to Swift's trot. "Are we going to die?"
Cadvan said nothing for a moment, and I was about to repeat myself when he turned to me grimly and said "Quite possibly." I stared at him for a long moment after he had turned away. I might die today. What would happen to me back home, I wondered again. It was bad enough not knowing how to get home, but if I died here I would never go back. I wondered if Nathan would even miss me - ever since my birthday he'd been acting strange. Distant. I could never quite connect with him, no matter how hard I tried. I was sure he was going to leave me soon. I must have said something to upset him on that day, but I couldn't really remember what had happened.
Before I could dwell on the matter further, Cadvan motioned for us to slow down and I looked up to see…nothing.
"I sense the Dark about this place," he explained softly, and an iron fist clamped hold of my insides. He muttered something and the sound of the horses' hooves on the road became suddenly almost silent. "Draw your sword," he said. "You will need it."
I did as he said and strained my ears and eyes for any sign. The way was quiet, painfully so. No birds sang in the bushes close by; it was eerily still.
The peace was shattered as quickly as a bullet and suddenly there were black shapes all around, trying to kill us both. I hacked at them with my sword, imagining each one as my stepfather, allowing the anger to take me over as Indik had said. Channel and control it, he had said.
A black flash whooshed past me, and suddenly there were black and white bolts of light everywhere. I concentrated on the wers, ducking bolts which came too close. Swift shied away from a wer as it flew into her face, black claws outstretched. She threw up her head, dancing uneasily. I squeezed with my knees, praying she would not decide to bolt down the road.
My arm began to ache from holding my sword so high, and the wer's dark blood spattered over everything. One of them tore at my left arm so hard I thought I would be lifted bodily from Swift and carried away, but I stabbed it with my sword and it drenched me with blood as it fell to the ground. Another one flew right at my head and I shuddered as dark wings flapped in my face.
The bolts of black lightning stopped all of a sudden, and soon the air became. I looked around us, feeling dazed, and saw at least twenty wer corpses laid out on the ground.
"Kayla, you were magnificent," Cadvan said, turning to me.
"Thanks," I wheezed back, and pulled out my inhaler.
"Did you kill the Hull?" I asked when I could breathe again, trying not to be sick as I saw how covered I was in inky black blood.
Cadvan nodded, looking regretful, and waited for me to catch my breath before saying, "We had better go, and fast."
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"I'm sooooo tired," I groaned, as Cadvan finally called us to a halt. Cadvan and I had travelled hard all that day, not stopping until well after sun-down. We made camp in a copse of trees by the side of the road. Cadvan was not happy with the arrangement, saying that it would be blatantly obvious where we had stopped. I asked him if he would rather sit out in the open for anyone to pick us off, and he went quiet.
We sat leaning against two trees for a short while, talking of Schools and the Light and other such things. After a while, Cadvan stood up and offered a hand to pull me up.
"It is time for sleep," he said, once I was standing. "I will take the first watch. I will wake you in a while." He dropped a kiss onto my cheek. "Goodnight, Kayla."
I tried to stifle a smile, and turned away to hide a blush, mumbling, "'Night…" I lay down under my blankets and watched Cadvan, whose head was bowed slightly. His features were slightly shadowed, but it didn't matter. He was still so good-looking it made me question how I could have become used to it.
I must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing I was aware of was Cadvan waking me to go on watch.
"Wake up, sleepyhead," he said.
"Shut up," I snapped back. "We've walked miles. I can't help being tired."
"Peace, Kayla," he replied. "It was no criticism."
I sat up reluctantly, keeping the blankets around me to ward off the chill. Watching Cadvan settle down, I wondered if he really went to sleep as fast as he appeared to, or if he lay with his eyes closed even though he was awake.
I was sure I could feel eyes on me. I shuddered and looked about me into the darkness. I was sure that somebody was watching me, keeping just out of sight. I would think I could see some movement, but as I turned my head it would disappear. The air was too close, the night too dark. I dismissed it as paranoia, telling myself not to be so stupid.
I loved being a Bard. These were bad times, with Hulls travelling freely and other creatures of the Dark increasing in number and strength; but how could one appreciate the good times if not for the bad? A candle on a sunny day cannot be seen, but a candle in the dead of night brings light and hope to all.
Despite the current dangerous lands, I wanted to travel with Cadvan forever. I looked up at the sky and picked a star. "Please let me travel with Cadvan until I am old and grey and have to follow him in a wheelchair," I whispered, touching the spot on my cheek where he had kissed me. I wondered how he had meant it; as a father to a daughter, as a brother to a sister, or as a lover? I glanced behind me at his slumbering face and smiled. That man had kissed me. Without ulterior motive, without prompting. It was a long time since a man had kissed me.
I felt a vague uneasiness somewhere between my heart and my stomach, and wondered at its origins. I supposed it was from the same source as the feeling of being watched, which was still prickling at the back of my neck. I ran my fingers over the short hairs there, which were on end, hoping to lessen the feeling.
However, the feeling of being watched continued all night, and even when the sun came up so that I could see that there was nobody around. Eventually, I woke Cadvan and we had breakfast. I didn't tell him about my misgivings - I didn't want him to think I was paranoid.
After breakfast, Cadvan gave me a leg-up onto Swift's back. When I was sat astride her, he guided my foot into the stirrup, and stood looking up at me. I didn't even realise until I had picked up my reins and looked down at him to see why he was still holding my ankle.
"What?" I asked.
He shook his head. "I was just working out how long it would take to get to Norloch," he said, letting go of my ankle and vaulting onto Darsor. I watched him as he tightened Darsor's girth and set off. He avoided my eyes.
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Here ends chapter 11. I know it ends kind of abruptly but I'm not in the mood to drag up 100 more words I'll hate.
Thanks to all my reviewers. I really do love you loads and it means a lot that you take the time to review.
