Stone. You don’t see the future, but you do see the truth, at levels the rest of us may never comprehend.”
“I already have reconsidered my visions.” Aron guided Tek carefully, keeping her between Dari and Nic. On all sides of them, and in the bright morning sky as well, their escorts pressed ahead, pushing the pace as much as they dared. Dust rose at the edges of the traveling party, and the air grew heavy with the scent of horse sweat and talon oil.
Aron kept his focus on the road, but Dari could tell he was also steeped in thought. “I believe that in my visions, the Brother—the illusion that looked like the Brother—that was Falconer. Falconer masqueraded as a god to see what he wished to see, learn what he wished to learn, without me or anyone else being the wiser.”
“And the false goddess.” Dari remembered Aron as a younger boy, sobbing out his terrible dreams. “Do you believe that was Lady Thorn?”
“I’m certain of it.” Aron’s response was calm, but Dari heard the undertone of anger at how many times he had been duped.
“The light in the Shrine of the Mother would be their graal energy.” Nic’s speech was more slurred, and he seemed to be having more difficulty keeping himself steady on his horse. “I’m sure when Aron and I have projected our legacy over distance, when we’ve observed people from the other side of the Veil, we’ve left some residue that trained eyes could see.”
“The Shrine would be a perfect place for that energy to be contained.” Dari was beginning to share Aron’s anger at how deeply and how often they had been fooled. “Most of Triune never went to the Shrine, and believers in the Mother would take visions of light as a reward for their faith.”
“Who is Cayn?” Nic slouched forward in his saddle, then righted himself.
Dari stared at him, concerned. At first she took his question literally, but as she put her hand on his shoulder to help him regain his balance, she understood what Nic meant.
“The god of death in my visions.” Aron adjusted the reins at the base of Tek’s scaly neck. “Another illusion, no more real than Snakekiller’s hood snake. If I had my guess, I’d say Cayn was Lord Brailing or Lord Altar—take your pick.”
Nic gripped the pommel of his saddle with both hands. “Cayn might be a stranger. Someone we don’t know.”
Aron shook his head. “Cayn was familiar to me. I know the person, or I’ve met him. If I could just see him again—but that’s probably not something I should wish for.”
Dari didn’t respond because she was too distracted by her sense that she should understand more, realize more. “Aron, what did I say to you in your vision at the Ruined Keep, after I helped you?”
“I’m not sure I heard you correctly, but I could have sworn you asked me to kill you.” Aron frowned before she could ask him if he had gone mad. “Kill me. Those were your words, but I knew you must have meant Falconer, that I’d have to kill him to get out of the Ruined Keep alive and free.”
Dari wrestled with the strangeness of Aron’s vision, and she had ridden some distance when she realized Nic was no longer keeping pace beside Aron and Tek.
She reined her stallion hard and turned her mount, and Aron did the same with Tek. Their sudden reversal sent a ripple of concern through their escort, and with a great bunch of snorting and pawing, the procession ground to an awkward halt. Above them, the Sabor overflew, then wheeled back, and a few peeled toward the ground, shifting even as their paws struck the grasslands.
Nic was still on his horse, but he was holding the reins too tightly, seemingly frozen in his saddle.
“He’s going to have a fit,” Aron said, throwing Tek’s reins to the nearest Stone Brother as he leaped down from his saddle. Stormbreaker was already off his bull and running.
Dari dismounted, dropping her reins to the ground and trusting her stallion’s battle training. She dashed toward Nic, worry charging through her chest as she cursed herself for not keeping a closer watch on him.
Stormbreaker and Snakekiller got to Nic first, and Dari was relieved to see him wave off their concern as if he still had his full wits about him.
When Dari reached Nic, Snakekiller was calling for a supply wagon, and grumbling mightily to her brother that she knew Nic couldn’t