The King's Bastard - By Rowena Cory Daniells Page 0,146

we can't.' Catillum straightened his shoulders. 'I had hoped it would not come to this.' He saw Fyn did not understand. 'I can test for poison. But first I'll have my most trusted assistants kidnap Springmelt until we need him. If I can prove it was poison and that they stooped to poisoning a master, I'll discredit Firefox before all the other masters. Some will change sides, weakening him. But I'll need your help to prove it was poison.'

'Anything.'

'Be careful what you promise.' He smiled sadly. 'It will take three days to prepare the body. They must do it correctly or that would raise suspicion. I must test Master Wintertide's heart. We won't be able to go near him until he is safely in Halcyon's care in her Sacred Heart...' His black eyes held Fyn. 'Only the abbot has the key. When we all go down there to commend Wintertide's soul into the goddess's care, I'll leave something wedged in the doorway so you can follow us. '

'But it is forbidden for anyone except masters to enter.' Fyn came to his feet. 'If I am caught, I'll face death.'

Catillum nodded. 'And I can't save you. I can only move against Firefox once I have proof.'

Fyn sank onto a stool.

'If you don't wish to do this, I'll understand.'

'No.' Fyn looked up, meeting the master's eyes. 'I'll do it.'

'Good. I can draw you a plan of the passages. You have three days to memorise it.'

Three days to regret he had volunteered for this. Three days to wish he'd run away before Wintertide's death.

Chapter Twenty-Four

By mid-afternoon Piro's strength had failed. Only determination kept her going. She wished she had taken after her father. Then she'd be at least as tall as Orrade. She had seen the armour her namesake, Queen Pirola the Fierce, had worn into battle. Now there was a woman, able to hold her own.

Exhausted, Piro caught herself slipping into a sleepwalking state and experienced a kind of double vision, as the last night's dreams came back to her. With a jolt she realised she had dreamed this right now... dreamed of stumbling through a snow-shrouded forest trying to escape manticores, with Byren bringing up the rear. She almost tripped.

'Do you need a break, Piro?' Garzik helped her up, too tired to tease.

'No.' She made herself go even faster. In her dream it had seemed they ran for ever but soon they would reach the lake, and then they would have to go either left or right and hope to find a tradepost before nightfall.

The fight with Elina had driven the dream from her thoughts but now it was clear, the dream had been a true foretelling. Did that mean that her recurring dream of wyverns stalking through Rolenhold was likely to come true? Hadn't the mystics mistress said that seers saw many possible futures, which made interpreting them difficult?

'There's one good thing about the manticore pride,' Byren muttered.

'What's that?' Orrade asked over his shoulder.

'Scare off the ulfr pack!'

'Ulfrs?' Piro echoed, happy to be distracted.

Byren nodded. 'Saw old signs of them yesterday. Probably the same pack we had a run-in with.'

'Pity,' Garzik panted. Piro was pleased to see that talking and walking at this pace was almost too much for him. 'I would have liked to get that leader's pelt!'

'Nah, that one was mine,' Byren insisted.

They laughed and Piro laughed along with them, but she did not understand how they could boast when their lives hung in the balance.

Orrade trudged on. At the top of the very next rise he stopped. 'Eh, Byren, you were right. We're just where I thought we'd be!'

Piro stopped focusing on her feet and lifted her weary head. They were high enough to see the lake, its icy surface gleaming through the tree trunks.

Byren pointed. 'And, if I'm not mistaken, Narrowneck tradepost is just around that bend.'

Now Piro knew where she was. Narrowneck was built on a finger of land that projected into Lake Sapphire. True to its name, it was narrow where it joined the land and bounded by cliffs. At one point, ladders could be lowered down to a small beach on the lake. A solid, three-storey tradepost was built there. Busy in peak times, it would be nearly empty now.

'Keeper Narrows will open his doors for us,' Byren declared. 'Though he won't be happy to hear we've drawn a pride of manticores down on him and his family!'

Narrowneck tradepost. Piro fixed this goal in her mind and kept moving, but distances were deceptive