purpose. We keep watch on him, but he”- the young Cord gave a slight shrug- “simply wanders.
“We will retrieve him, if that is your desire.”
Uncomfortable with so much attendance, Linden shook her head. “Not yet, thanks. The poor man doesn’t seem to get much peace when I’m around.” Then she repeated, “But I do need to talk to Manethrall Hami. Would you mind letting her know?”
She intended to take action before her courage failed.
Char acceded with a small bow. He did not seem to hurry; but he quickly disappeared among the shelters, leaving Linden to contemplate her own form of insanity.
Esmer had said,
Restless with tension, she found it difficult to wait. Fortunately, Hami soon approached between the shelters, trailing a small entourage which included two other Manethralls and Cord Bhapa.
They all bowed formally to Linden as if during the night she had somehow confirmed her status as a visiting potentate. She responded as well as she could. She lacked their fluid grace, however, and her awkwardness made her feel unsure of herself. She had done much in her life-suffered much, accomplished much-but at the moment she did not believe that she had ever done so gracefully.
Like Covenant’s, all of her actions seemed stilted and effortful; expensive.
“Thanks for coming,” she replied to the query in Hami’s eyes. “I’m sure you’re busy. But there are some things you might be able to help me with.” She had to put her decisions into effect. “Can I ask you a few questions?”
The Manethrall bowed again, but less formally. “Ringthane,” she said with a smile, “your courtesy honours us. Yet you need feel no reluctance to speak. You have been accepted by the Ranyhyn. You are welcome among us without stint or hindrance “
Then she gestured toward the centre of the encampment. “Come. Let us gather together under the open sky, so that these mountains may witness our amity. You will break your fast, and we will answer your questions as we can.”
Linden nodded. Because the Ramen could not see her thoughts, their respect discomfited her. Nevertheless she hoped to make use of it. With Hami and the others, she moved toward the circle of trodden ground where Anele had burned her, and Esmer had nearly killed Stave.
Where the Ranyhyn had accepted her.
That, also, she hoped to use.
Yet she would have preferred to talk more privately; in some enclosed space. The clearing seemed rife with memories and implications. And the rising dawn was too vast to be redeemed or spared by any hazard of hers.
Hami had invoked the peaks as witnesses, as if she expected the Earth itself to acknowledge and validate what happened here.
With the confidence of long, unquestioned service, the Manethrall led Linden out into the centre of the clearing. When the Cords had set a few of their wooden blocks in a small circle, Hami sat down and gestured for her companions to join her.
Four Ramen and Linden comprised the group; but the Cords had provided seven seats. As she lowered her weariness to one of the blocks, she wondered who would occupy the two remaining places. Esmer and-?
Bhapa was the only Cord included with the three Manethralls. One of Hami’s companions was the older man who had spoken the invocation for the feast. The streaks of grey in his hair resembled the scars on his arms: paler lines like galls, or the scoring of claws. The other Manethrall was a man with a narrow, avid face and a raptor’s eyes. His aura gave Linden the impression that his life was not arduous enough to suit him; that he hungered for struggle and bloodshed, yearned to give battle more often than his circumstances allowed.
“Ringthane,” Hami began, “here are Manethrall Dohn,” the older man, “and Manethrall Mahrtiir,” the frustrated fighter. “Cord Bhapa you know. He joins us by right of kinship with Sahah, whom you brought back from death. However,” she added with a touch of asperity, “he has not yet gained his Maneing, and will not speak unless you wish it. Rather he will address the Cords on your behalf when our counsels are concluded.”
Bhapa met Linden’s gaze gravely and inclined his head. She saw now that he had lost sight in one eye: a detail which she had somehow failed to notice the previous evening. Perhaps that explained why he had not yet become a Manethrall. At first, she suspected an injury; but when she looked more closely, she realised that he had a cataract. A simple procedure for an ophthalmologist. She might have been willing to attempt it herself, if she could have found a tool, a metaphorical scalpel, more precise than wild magic-and if she could have spared the time.
“These,” Hami was saying, nodding toward the empty seats, “are for your companions. When they have joined us, we will begin. Until then, permit us to offer you food.”
Two-? Linden thought. Liand and-? The Ramen must have known that Stave was in no condition to sit upright on a block of wood. And Anele had left the encampment.
Cautiously she asked, “What about Esmer?”
Manethrall Dohn looked away, and Mahrtiir bared his teeth. Hami’s gaze darkened as she shrugged. “He departed into the mountains after he had spoken with you, and has not returned. Perhaps that is well. His incondign attack upon the sleepless one troubles us. He has gone beyond us. It may be that he should not remain as our companion.”
Her tone suggested that the Ramen would already have spurned Esmer if the son of the merewives had not been accepted, validated, by the Ranyhyn.
Mahrtiir leaned forward sharply. “He is distressed.” The Manethrall had a voice like a rusty hinge. “He wields a storm among the mountains, power and lightning visible across all this vale. We have witnessed his struggle, though we do not seek him out.” For a moment, Mahrtiir’s gaze seemed to burn with reflected theurgy. “It is in my heart that he strives to defy his doom.”
Linden closed her eyes, bowed her head. Instinctively she believed Mahrtiir.
She needed him as well. She had more questions for him. He understood Anele’s cryptic references to Kastenessen, to
His absence was not a problem she could solve, however. When she had set aside images of his “storm among the mountains,” she raised her head and opened her eyes.
Across the clearing, she saw Liand moving toward her, accompanied by Char and another Cord, Pahni. The young woman had a waterskin tied at her waist, and her hands held a bowl of food.
Unhindered by Kevin’s Dirt, Linden saw at once that the Stonedownor had rested little, although he wore his fatigue lightly. The past few days had simply been too exciting to encourage sleep. And perhaps he, too, had witnessed Esmer’s distress during the night. His eyes shone with an almost feverish alertness, and his strides as he approached were full of youth.
When he met Linden’s gaze, however, his expression changed to one of concern, and he quickened his steps. As soon as he reached the circle of seats, he announced unselfconsciously, “Linden, you have not rested. And you are troubled. There is darkness in you.
“What is amiss? Has Esmer harmed you?”
Sighing, Linden reminded herself that he was new to health-sense and had not yet learned to interpret what he discerned.
“I’m fine, Liand.” With an effort, she smiled. “Better than I look, at any rate. Esmer was actually”- she grimaced involuntarily- “helpful. But I wanted to keep an eye on Stave, so I didn’t get quite enough sleep.
“Please. Sit down.” She indicated one of the seats. “We all need to talk.”
Now Liand seemed to realise that he stood among the leaders of the Ramen. Looking abashed, he bowed stiffly to the Manethralls, then dropped himself onto one of the wooden blocks.
At the same time, Pahni came to Linden’s side and knelt to present the waterskin and bowl. In the bowl, Linden found
Gratefully, she accepted Pahni’s offering. As the Cord withdrew, Linden placed a treasure-berry in her
