Julian May - Boreal Moon 02 by Ironcrown Moon

Author:Ironcrown Moon
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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thirteen

Snudge had been windwatching the sleeping thief intermittently since he and the warriors rode out from the castle, even though his talent was greatly fatigued. The empty brandy flask lying on the floor of the hut showed plainly enough why the heretofore impenetrable cover spell had failed in its protection. But the two empty wash-leather bags on the floor—plus the even more ominous presence of the missing Brother’s gear and mule—filled him with foreboding.

Then Scarth awoke. The man’s inexplicable terror, nausea, and frantic preparations to ride out caused Snudge to bark out an oath of vexation.

“What’s wrong, sir?” Mattis shouted over the noise of pounding hoofbeats.

“Use windspeech,” Snudge bespoke him. “Our thief is preparing to flee. Scry him out yourself, if you can. He’s frightened out of his mind for some reason, but not saying much, so I can’t read his lips and find out what’s going on… Damn it to hell! He’s put up the cover spell again.”

“I don’t see him, sir,” Mattis admitted. “There’s only the stone hut and a mule.”

“There were two mules a moment ago,” Snudge said tightly. “Look carefully at the ground around the place. Let’s see if either of us can scry a trail of hoof-marks in the mud.”

Close scrutiny was all but impossible while jouncing along on horseback. As the troop came closer to the croft, Snudge was finally able to determine that there were no fresh prints ahead of them, on the track to Beorbrook. So their prey had taken off cross-country, probably in the direction of the mountains.

“We won’t be able to track him over the open moors until we reach the hut,” Snudge said. “The ground’s too stony and cluttered with heather and brush for close scrying. On the other hand, he’s not going to be able to go very fast. Do exactly as I say when we arrive at the hut. Don’t forget that you are the only windvoice in our company.”

“I understand, sir.”

They reached the faint side-path leading to the croft in another quarter hour. Snudge held his hand high as a signal for the troop to stop, then pointed out the new direction. The men followed single file over the rougher ground, at a cautious walk. When they rode into the hollow and caught sight of the tiny dwelling in the murk, Snudge once again called for a halt and motioned for the six knights to come close for a conference.

“Gentlemen, my windvoice and I are going to ride forward and call on Scarth Saltbeck to surrender. Fan out your warriors and follow us. Keep back about ten ells and be alert if he tries to run. Remember: We want this man alive.”

One of the knights said, “Is he likely to attack us with sorcery?”

“It’s not likely. Mattis is very weary from having performed an arduous windsearch earlier, and he’s temporarily unable to scry through the stone wall of the hut. But when he oversaw our villain half an hour ago, he was lying dead drunk inside.

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