for a time. “Oh damn. My healing herbs are all back in the castle. Some oh so helpful lady’s maid must have tried to ‘neaten up’ my stuff when I wasn’t watching.” Lydia paused, holding up a small flask. “I do still have this, though.”
“Water?” Tich’ki piped up. “Should think you’d had enough of water by now.”
“It’s not water, believe me.”
“Ah, the brandy! How’d the maid miss that?”
“I don’t know, but it’s a good thing she did. Naitachal, you want to take a good swig of this, then bite down on something. This is going to hurt like hell, but at least it should ward off wound-sickness.”
Kevin winced in sympathy, nearly losing his hold on the light-spell, as she poured the brandy on the arrow- gash.
Naitachal never made a sound. Instead, endurance finally exhausted, he simply fainted.
“There, now,” Lydia said after a moment. “That’s bandaged as best 1 can manage, what with nothing really dry. You can stop singing now, Kevin.”
The light was already fading, because the bardling’s voice was quavering so much he could barely hold the tune. He broke off abruptly, and the tree-cave was plunged back into darkness.
“Kevin? What is it, boy? What’s wrong?”
“I d-don’t ... I... Eliathanis ...”
“Oh hell, kid, don’t be embarrassed. Nothing wrong with grieving, be you woman or man.”
But Kevin battled with himself till he’d fought back the tears. “I—I don’t understand him!”
“Who? Naitachal?”
“How can he suddenly turn so ... cold? Eliathanis was his friend! Why isn’t he grieving?”
“Ach, Kevin.” Lydia’s voice was very gentle. “He is. That coldness was to hide his real feelings. Look you, I’ve seen a lot of people die. Too many,” she added softly. “That’s part of being a warrior. I’ve mourned a lot of them, too, and that’s also part of being a warrior. True grief isn’t something you can command. It comes out when and where it will.”
All at once Lydia gave a long, tired sigh. “You know something? I enjoy traveling and all that but, times like this, I really wish I had a place to come home to.”
She stopped for a thoughtful moment, then added with an embarrassed little laugh, “Like that castle we just left. If it wasn’t already inhabited by that bitch-witch and her buddy, it might make a good place to settle. Despite all the hassle, the place itself had a nice homey feel to it. Or do you think that’s too crazy?”
“Not at all.” Kevin straightened, staring in her direction in the darkness. “There were times in that casde when I was really miserable; I admit it. But underneath it all, even with those two running things and those spoiled brats of squires, there really is something there that could make it a good place to live!”
Working by touch, he fit the lute back into its case. “Ah well. Let’s not dream about catching the moon, as Master Aidan would say.”
Lydia chuckled softly. “Oh, I don’t know about that Dreams aren’t such a bad thing to have. And sometimes —who knows? Sometimes you do catch that moon.” Kevin heard the dried leaves rustle as she stirred. “Come on, kid, enough talk. 1 have a suspicion we’re going to be leading an active life in the next few days, so let’s try to get some sleep while we can. If we huddle together with Naitachal, we should be warm enough. Hungry, bruised and battered,” Lydia added wryly, “but warm enough.”
“Kevin!”
The fierce hiss brought the bardling awake with a start. “Naitachal?” The tree-cave wasn’t as totally dark as it had been, but even so, the Dark Elf’s eyes still glinted with their eerie red light. “What—” Kevin sat bolt upright. “Carlotta! Has she—”
“She hasn’t found us. Not yet. But I felt her sorcery brush us just now. And she has set loose her hunters.”
“Not human hunters,” Tich’ki added, perching beside Kevin for a moment, “not all of them. I sensed that, too.”
“And I don’t think we care to meet any of them,” the Dark Elf added wryly, “so come! We must hurry.”
