been sore and stiff after days of walking, but he had not been exhausted. Over the last few days on the journey with the Princess, he had been volunteering to take night watches and had been subsiding on only a couple hours of sleep a day without having felt the inevitable drain.
“Then we should find him. He was the young man that arrived with you?” Redzyn moved out the chamber entrance and Urake followed ducking the lower sections of the connecting passage.
“There were two of them. Emeck was the one with the dark hair. Aleest is the one with the dirty blond hair.”
“Ah, I will have him informed of your chamber’s location. If you really aren’t tired, then I can see about something to do. Have you any medical experience? The healers here are just medics. Their expertise involves setting broken bones and sewing up cuts.”
“I have a fair knowledge of medicine. Not as much as your average healer yet adequate to survive in my line of work.”
“Splendid. House Inarack promised to send us a healer as soon as they could, but until then, I have a puzzle for you. There was a couple young individuals that stumbled across our camp some time ago. They nearly were able to subdue the sentries that apprehended them so we brought them in and interrogated them. They claim to be simple travelers, a blacksmith and his sister, but they were able to overpower two of my men before they were outnumbered. They have been held prisoners until Balinor is able to make a decision concerning them.”
“I fail to see how that requires a healer unless they were injured in their capture or an escape attempt.” Urake turned the conversation back into its original stream.
“Oh, I seem to have begun rambling. The thing is, several days ago the girl collapsed and we haven’t been able to wake her.” Redzyn pointed to a wooden door fashioned into the mouth of another chamber similar to Urake’s own. Emeck was peering through the bars that were nailed over the window.
“What is it Emeck?” Urake could see a young man at the side of the bed where the young woman lay to all appearances deep in sleep.
“It is really strange. I'm sure that I sensed her when I sensed Skeln. I think that she is the echo. The strangest thing is what I can see through her eyes. It’s like she is in her imagination and seeing things that aren’t here. I can see some blurry bars, like in a jail cell, and two or three people. One of them is about a normal height and the other two are really short. The one is wearing shiny armor and I can see a reflection. It is hard to make out but…” Emeck stiffened as if he had seen a ghost. Before Urake could formulate a response Redzyn interrupted the silent conversation.
“So what do you think? You can go in there. The blacksmith is worried sick and won’t bother you.” Redzyn had the door unlocked and Urake stepped inside. Emeck followed and the door was locked again on the outside. The young man jumped up and approached as soon as he realized that he wasn’t alone with the girl.
“Please can you help her? I'm her brother, Gastin. Please do something.”
“His name isn’t Gastin. It’s Torroth, but that isn’t important. The reflection I saw isn’t hers, its Skeln’s. She is somehow seeing through Skeln’s eyes.” Urake glanced at Emeck in surprise.
“Impossible!” Urake was sure that Emeck had made a mistake somehow.
“You can’t do anything either?” Torroth hadn’t been privy to Emeck’s shocking statement and had thought Urake’s audible response to be in relation to Inadar’s condition.
“Torroth, who is she?” Urake’s blunt question drained what little color there was from Torroth’s face.
“I… How…? I'm her… She is my sister.” Torroth’s composure was shattered and the beginnings of fear were growing in his eyes.
“I doubt that she is your sister any more than you are a simple blacksmith. What is she? Do you know Skeln? A boy about yea tall with blue eyes and blond hair? He might be calling himself Cero. He could be taller by now. It has been a little while since I have seen him.” Urake held his hand about the height of his shoulder.
“I don’t know any Skeln or Cero. I don’t care what you do with me, but can you help her?”
“Why should I do anything to you?” Urake detected that there was still something that