Catherine Fisher - The Lost Heiress

“Terrible. What’s wrong with me?”

It shrugged. “Nothing I can understand. Your master says you did too much in making that magic net.” It winked at him. “He won’t say it, but he’s proud of you.”

“Galen!” Weakly Raffi laughed. He found that very funny.

The Sekoi scratched its fur and bit a nail. “You Starmen,” it said. “We’ll never understand you.”

It was Alberic who was angry. From the cave mouth Raffi could see him now, furiously slamming his hands against a tree.

“What’s going on?”

“Come and see.” The Sekoi led him outside; he saw Galen standing tall and grim in the dark clearing, arms folded. The keeper glanced across but his face didn’t change. Between them Alberic raged, kicking over a stool in uncontrollable fury.

The change in the dwarf astonished Raffi. He looked pinched and gray; his hair seemed thinner, and his temper was foul. A tipped goblet of wine spilled among the leaves; as they watched, he picked up a gold plate full of fruit and hurled it hard at the bushes with a scream. The Sekoi looked after it eagerly.

“Are we his prisoners?” Raffi asked, bewildered.

“I think not. Galen has put some fearsome curse on him. In fact, I rather think he’s our prisoner.” It slid into the undergrowth quickly.

Suddenly Alberic stopped raging, breathless. Clutching his side, he swung around. “You promised me!”

“I promised you nothing.” Galen was remorseless. “I asked you to attack.”

“We attacked! We burned the drawbridge! Three of my boys are having bolts picked out of them! I even used up all that damnable blue box. What more do you want? Take the stinking curse off me!”

“Not just yet,” Galen said calmly.

Alberic clutched his arms around himself like a man in a nightmare. “For Flain’s sake, keeper! Everything I eat tastes like ash!”

“First,” Galen went on, “you get us out of the forest. We’ll need horses—the boy’s too worn out to walk. And you protect us from any Watchpatrols till we get to the marsh. A day’s journey, no more.”

“The marsh?” Despite his pain, Alberic’s eyes went sly. “What’s in that marsh?”

“Nothing you’ll ever find.” Galen shifted the weight from his stiff leg; he looked grim, but Raffi could tell he was enjoying this. “Agreed?”

The dwarf swore. “I’ve no choice.”

“No, you haven’t. And if anything happens to me, the curse will never be lifted. Take care of me, thief-lord. Without me, six weeks of suffering . . .”

“I know! Don’t start that again!”

Galen grinned darkly. “And if my friends are hurt, I’d see them die before I’d cure you. Believe me.”

“I’d believe anything of you.” Alberic spat, and watched him sidelong, a murderous look that chilled Raffi. “But what I really want to know is, did I have to suffer all this just to rescue that ?”

He jabbed his finger out. Raffi looked over.

Felnia was sitting near a campfire, eating a huge slice of melon; there were pips all over her face. She rubbed them off, fascinated, her brown eyes staring at the dwarf.

“Is he crazy?” she asked.

Galen grinned. “I hope not. I can’t cure that.”

Someone came up behind Raffi. “Feeling better?” It was Carys. She had a different shirt on, and a bloody slash down her jacket sleeve.

“A bit. What happened to you?”

She frowned, shaking her head. Reluctantly she said, “I couldn’t jump.”

“Couldn’t?”

“Too scared.”

He laughed, but she looked up quickly. “I mean it. I saw how it held you, but . . . it was only made of light, Raffi!”

He nodded. “But you did it. Galen would say that was a leap of faith.”

They watched Felnia. She stood up and came out into the dim clearing, deep in leaves. First she looked at Galen, then Raffi. “Are we going to the garden now?”

He nodded, feeling suddenly happier. Lightning glimmered silently, high above the trees; the girl looked up at it, surprised. “Good.”

“You’re willing to come with us?” Galen asked harshly.

She pointed. “With him. I’ll go with him.”

Raffi felt foolishly pleased. Then he realized she was pointing behind him, and turned. The Sekoi lurked there, astonished.

“Me?”

“I like you.” The girl took another bite of her melon. “You’re furry,” she said, indistinctly, “like Cub.”

“Thank you.” The creature looked dubiously at the moth-eaten toy; moving forward, it thrust something from behind its back into Carys’s hands. She hid it expertly, but not before Raffi had glimpsed the golden plate.

“This is so sickening,” Alberic spat.

The Sekoi crouched on its long knees and held out a seven-fingered hand. “Shall we go into the cave?” it said quietly. “Because I think it’s going to rain.”

The little girl nodded. As she passed Alberic, she whispered loudly, “He is crazy.”

“Indeed?” the Sekoi said mildly. “Then that makes two of us.”

That night, in the back of the stuffy cave with the rain crashing outside, the four of them sat on their own, deep among stalactites, with the Interrex asleep in blankets on the Sekoi’s lap.

It pulled dirt from her hair thoughtfully. “She’ll be a handful. She’s as haughty as an Emperor’s child ought to be.”

Raffi grinned, feeling warm and rested. He’d had plenty to eat, and Alberic’s guards prowled the woods for miles around. The Interrex was safe, and they were going back to Sarres, and Braylwin was tied up and guarded somewhere. And yet, he thought sleepily, they were still in the middle of their enemies.

Carys was telling Galen about the Watchhouse. He nodded grimly. “It sounds worse than even I thought. You think the child will be satisfied to stay with us?”

“If she’s got any sense.”

“What about you?” Raffi said suddenly. “You can’t go back now.”

She shrugged, uneasy. “Of course I can. No one knows it was me in there.”

“Except Braylwin.” Raffi stopped. Galen’s warning had snagged every sense-line he had; he looked down, giddy.

“There’s time to decide. It will take a day to ride clear of the forest.” Galen tugged the hair carelessly from his face and knotted it in the dirty string. “Now one of us stays awake, all night. But first it’s time for the Litany, boy. And don’t fall asleep.”

IT WAS STRANGE BEING on a horse again. He and Carys rode together, with the Sekoi and the little girl on a white horse in front of them. Even Galen rode, a green-painted creature with sidelong frightened eyes. They traveled quickly, in the long straggle of the thief-band. The remaining Watchguards, Braylwin’s men, had vanished; Raffi didn’t know if their throats had been cut or if they’d been released. Certainly Alberic wouldn’t have gotten any ransom for them.

But Braylwin was still there. They’d made him walk at first, but he’d been so clumsy and complained so loudly, they’d found a horse for him too, a great stubborn pack-beast. Raffi stared at the man, repelled by his great bulk. As if he sensed it, the spymaster turned around in the saddle and smiled greasily.

“Fond of the lad, aren’t you, Carys?”

“Ignore him,” Carys muttered.

But Braylwin slowed his horse, hanging back. “Won’t you release your uncle, sweetheart?” he whispered. “It would be wise.”

She stared out into the trees icily.

Braylwin scratched his cheek with plump, tied hands. “You see, I was just composing my report. What an epic that’s going to be! It’s a pity you’ll never have a chance to read it.”

“What are you going to say about her?” Raffi was worried.

The big man jolted in his saddle and smiled. “Why, everything I should. Betrayal of the Watch, that’s a hanging offense. Abduction. Counterespionage. Of course, if either of you should decide to help me escape, that would be different. Very different. You and I could make up some really tasty little story . . .”