doors and windows are, in case we end up having to get out of here quickly.»
She put her arm around him. «You scared me this morning. Are you sure you're all right?»
He leaned over and kissed her, then put his lips against her ear. «I've been thinking while you were out,' he whispered. «Thinking about this morning and what happened in the cold chamber. I have some ideas that might be worth considering.»
«Tell me about Penderrin first,' she insisted, putting her arms around him and drawing him close, her voice a whisper as well. «I've been waiting all day for you to be coherent enough to talk to me. You said you found him?»
He nodded into her shoulder. «In the Charnal Mountains. It happened too quickly for me to be sure exactly where he is; I couldn't take the time to find out without giving away what I was doing. But it was definitely him.»
«Why would he be all the way up there?»
«I don't know.» He took a deep breath. «Here's what I do know. I was doing a general search through the scrye waters for any sign of Pen or Grianne. I found Pen in the Charnals, like I said, but I moved away from the contact before Shadea or one of the others could tell what I was doing. Maybe they wouldn't have known anyway, but I didn't want to chance it. I purposely didn't search Paranor on the grid; after all, that was where Grianne was supposed to have disappeared. What was the point?»
«A question you might have answered differently if you had stopped to think about it,' she said quietly.
He nodded. «True enough. Anyway, I worked my way back to Pen to make certain he was in the Charnals, that I hadn't made a mistake. Then I moved my hands away again, trying to decide what to do next. I let my concentration lapse, and my hands drifted back down over Paranor. That was when the scrye waters exploded and threw me away from the basin. Shadea claimed that Paranor's warding magic responded to my intrusion, defending the Keep. But I wasn't trying to intrude. I wasn't doing anything threatening. What I was doing was searching for Pen and Grianne, and I think the magic that wards Paranor reacted to that. I think it reacted because I found something it was trying to hide.»
She was silent a moment. «But it wasn't Penderrin because he is somewhere in the Charnals. So it has to be Grianne.»
«I think so. When she disappeared, Tagwen left Paranor without confiding in any of the Druids who might have helped him. I think the key to discovering what happened to my sister lies here, and that these Druids who claim to be her friends are covering it up.»
«But you were brought here to find her. Why would they do that if they are trying to hide where she is?»
«I think we were brought here to find Pen and found Grianne by accident. Did you see Shadea's face when I explained what I was doing when the magic threw me back from the scrye waters? She was elated! I think it confirmed something she already knew about Grianne. It's Pen she's looking for, but she had to tell me to look for my sister, too, because it would have seemed odd not to.»
Bek felt her shake her head slowly against his own. «I still don't understand what Penderrin has to do with all this. I still don't see why he's up in the Charnal Mountains, miles from everything.»
He didn't make an immediate response. He didn't have the answers to those questions. His instincts told him that Pen was running away, that he had fled Patch Run to avoid capture, perhaps from these Druids, perhaps from someone else. What troubled him was that Pen would have come looking for them if he had been able to do so. He wouldn't have run off blindly, and he certainly wouldn't have gone into the Charnals without a very good reason.
He stared off into the growing dark. Pen was levelheaded and capable, but that didn't stop Bek from being frightened for his son. Pen was just a boy, and he lacked the life experience necessary to deal with this sort of danger. If he was being chased, there was always the possibility that he would panic.
«Bek, I just thought of something,' Rue whispered. She moved so that they could see each other, her face so close to his that they were almost touching. «If Shadea knows the wishsong's magic exposed Grianne, she will expect it to expose Penderrin as well. You won't be able to pretend otherwise for long.»
He nodded. «I thought of that.»
«We can't allow that to happen. How are we going to prevent it?»
He leaned forward and kissed her on the mouth. «While they're sleeping, we're going to use the scrye waters and find him ourselves.»
Nine
Night had fallen across the Four Lands, and Arishaig was bright with the light of torches and candles when Sen Dunsidan made his way back from dinner to his sleeping chambers. The day had been productive. An address before the Coalition Council had produced a standing ovation following his carefully worded promise that he had found a way to resolve the war on the Prekkendorran quickly and favorably. Even those who would have liked to see his role in the Federation government diminished congratulated him afterwards for his courage and commitment. They were counting on him to fail, of course, but he was confident that he wouldn't.
This was due in part to an earlier visit to Etan Orek, who had completed all work on the first of what he was now calling his «fire launchers.» He had mounted it on a swivel that allowed it to swing left and right at a ninety– degree firing angle and was equipped with a sighting system and recoil springs to keep it from disrupting the flight of an airship, once it was in place and operating. It was also equipped with controls to manipulate the amount of energy fed through the crystals and released from the mouth of the firing tube. When Sen Dunsidan had tested it this time, the scope of its destructive capabilities had left him breathless with anticipation.
His excitement was only marginally diminished by news that no other weapons were yet complete. But after long hours of experimentation using different combinations of crystals, Orek was close to duplicating his first effort and expected to complete a second launcher before the week was out.
At the construction site for Federation airships, mercenary Rover designers and builders were at work on a huge new flagship, theDechtera, which would carry Sen Dunsidan's secret weapon into battle when she was completed. He inspected their work and was satisfied with their progress. For the first time in a very long time, he could imagine a world dominated by the Federation.
His bedchamber was lit with candles, but deeply shadowed in its corners and alcoves when he entered, and he might not have seen her at all had she not immediately moved out into the light to greet him. His heart went directly to his throat in that instant, freezing his muscles and his voice so that he was rendered completely helpless. Then he recognized her, and he gave a quick, sharp sigh.
«Iridia,' he said. He straightened himself, his composure recovered and his irritation fanned. «What are you doing here?»
«Waiting for you.»
Iridia Eleri stepped forward, her slender body and white skin giving her an almost ethereal look. She was wrapped in a lightweight traveling cloak that hung open to the floor, and her dark hair fell in loose waves about her shoulders. He was captivated, as always, by her impossible beauty. He had not seen her in weeks, not since she had given him the liquid night that he, in turn, had given to Shadea a'Ru to eliminate Grianne Ohmsford and seize control of Paranor. She had been his spy within the Druid's Keep for some time, but it was not until she had provided the potion that she had proved her real value.
«Waiting for me for what reason?» he demanded. «It was our agreement that you would remain at Paranor and monitor the activities of our new Ard Rhys, so that I might have eyes and ears inside the Keep. It was our agreement that you would never come here.»
The Elven sorceress shrugged. «The agreement has been changed.»
He had never trusted her, never felt comfortable with what she was doing for him. He was more than willing to accept her offer of help and make use of her services as a spy. But she had been close to Shadea for too long for him to feel comfortable with the idea that she was ready to switch loyalties to him. It was one thing to betray Grianne Ohmsford, whom they all hated. It was another to betray a friend. Not that someone like Iridia would ever
