Wynn quickly backpedaled before the paired horses ran her down. And her back thumped into someone tall and solid. That somem' lid. Theone grabbed her by the shoulders from behind.
'Are you all right, miss?'
She spun about, face-to-face with a tall, clean-shaven young man in a thick wool cap and coat. Through the coat's open front she saw a canvas workman's apron filled with the tools of his trade—a leather crafter. A young woman in a pleated bonnet peered around his side and frowned at Wynn.
Wynn looked about the street, filled with patrons out and about for a noon meal and errands. Something brushed harshly against her leg.
Wynn stumbled again as another clear memory filled her head.
She saw through his eyes as he ran the dark streets of Venjètz, Leesil's birthplace, but this memory was much hazier than the last. Details of sights and sounds were missing or indistinct. But she could almost feel his rage as he and Leesil hunted… a vampire.
Suddenly the undead vanished from Chap's awareness. He'd been hunting on senses alone, and his quarry simply wasn't there anymore.
'Mama, did you see that?'
Wynn shivered as her head cleared.
The young woman in the bonnet sighed. She grabbed the arm of a little boy, who was dressed much like the tall young man. Blueberry stains encircled the boy's mouth, and the remains of a turnover were clutched in one hand. With the other hand the boy pointed down the road.
'It was bigger than me!' he said.
Wynn looked through the people along the street, her heart pounding.
'Miss?' said the young father. 'Do you need help?'
Wynn stared blankly up at his worried frown. His wife now tried to get their other two children's sticky hands off the shopwindow. Wynn backed away from the family and peered through the busy street.
She saw no sign of silver gray fur or crystal blue canine eyes. No dogs at all, let alone the one she ached to see.
The young father shook his head and turned to help his wife with the children.
'Chap!' Wynn shouted again, her voice quickly weakening. 'Chap… please… please come.'
Wynn felt so suddenly alone on that busy street that she wanted to sink to her knees and weep. By the time she felt tears on her face, other people were looking at her in passing.
If anyone from the guild saw her now, they wouldn't need rumors and spiteful hearsay to think she'd gone well beyond witless. She backed away from hesitant glances and fled back toward the bailey wall's gate.
Why was this happening to her? Why did she hear claw clicks and then wallow in yet more disturbing memories? First of an undead who drew life force from a distance, and then of another event whhe ther evere a vampire seemed to vanish.
Was she going mad? Were High-Tower and Sykion and all the others right about her? Had all she been through in the Farlands driven her into obsession?
In her travels with Magiere, Leesil, and Chap, she'd encountered only one Noble Dead who could drain life without breaking skin—Vordana, also a sorcerer. To Wynn's best knowledge, his rise from death had been unique. Unlike a vampire, he wore a tiny urn that trapped his spirit and kept his corpse animate.
But Vordana had fed upon a defenseless river town merely by being present within it, draining life without touching anyone.
Wynn hurried through the gates and up the stone path.
She wasn't mad.
What she'd lived through in the Farlands was real. And now did some creature like Vordana hunt sages and whatever lay hidden within the texts? If she wasn't allowed to see those ancient works, there was still the wealth of the guild archives in the catacombs.
Wynn stopped before the gatehouse's tunnel, and late autumn's chill sank deep into her body. She turned and gazed back to the busy intersection a block beyond. Those memories, which had risen suddenly, lingered in her mind.
Even before anyone learned how sentient Chap was, what he was, he'd manipulated Magiere and Leesil with his memory play. It was also part of how he communicated with them—and Wynn. At least until a later manifestation of wild magic's taint began to let her hear his mental voice sent into her thoughts.
From anywhere within his line of sight, Chap could call up in someone any memory that he'd dipped at some time before. He could bring it back to their conscious awareness, and he used this to influence people when necessary.
In that second, hazier memory, Wynn had recalled the hunt as if looking through Chap's eyes. But that night Leesil, Magiere, and Chap had left her behind at an inn. Wynn stared along the bailey wall, wary of claw clicks on cobblestone.
One thing that Chap could never do was send one person's memories to another. He couldn't even send his own to her.
The second memory hadn't been one of Wynn's own, but one of his.
And that was impossible.
Outside the district nearest the sea, Rodian climbed off Snowbird before a beautiful stone mansion. From its uppermost floor one could look over the bay docks to the white-fringed waves rolling into the farther shore. He led his horse to the front walkway and whispered, 'Stay.'
Snowbird put her head into his back and snorted softly. It was well past noon, and she'd had no breakfast —neither had he.
'Last stop,' he said, and walked up the triple steps.
He knocked at the ornate front doors framed on each side by triple columns, and a pretty maid with a lace cap answered shortly.
'Hello, Biddy,' he said.
She smiled. 'Good afternoon, Captain. The baron wasn't expecting you.'
'I know… but is he or Master Jason about?'
She shook her head. 'They've both gone to temple. The masons are coming to redo stonework on the west side.'
Rodian sighed quietly. The last place he wanted to have this conversation was in the temple, but he couldn't put it off.
'Snowbird is out front, and we've had a busy morning. Could you have one of the stable hands find her a stall and bring her some oats and water? I'll walk from here.'
'Of course,' Biddy answered. 'I'll take her myself.'
Rodian was well-known at this house—as was Snowbird. He turned and whistled, and the white mare trotted over, empty stirrups bouncing at her sides.
'Go with her,' he said, nodding toward Biddy.
Snowbird tossed her head once and blew warm air into his hand as the maid reached for her bridle. Girl and horse disappeared around the mansion's north side.
Rodian crossed the courtyard, out the tall iron gates, and headed up the street. He barely noticed the surroundings filled with fine townhouses and other mansions, and looked aside only once as he passed an eatery called the Sea Bounty. A bit pricey for a captain's stipend, but occasionally he'd succumbed to the establishment's fine cuisine.
Not much farther on he slowed before a large construction built from hexagonal and triangular granite blocks laced with faint blue flecks. Again, a trio of columns graced both sides of the landing before the large front doors.
Commissioned dwarven masons had built the temple generations past. Each one of its large wall stones fit so well that not a bit of mortar had been used to set them. Climbing roses had been carefully nurtured to twine about the triple columns' bases and ran in trellis hedges along both sides of the path from the street to the entrance. No sign identified this sanctuary, only those trios of columns—a simpler designation of the sacred teachings of this place.
