in Tintagle, planning to return and set up camp at its base.”
I jerked fully awake at this. Madoc and I gently untangled our limbs from Ink, who slept on, oblivious.
“Was the Quick leader named Sven du Lac, by chance?” I rose to my feet, Madoc beside me.
Sunset nodded. “She was.”
The Bard and I exchanged glances. “We came to the Brocee Leon to find Sven and her band of Red Sparrow Quicks,” I said. “As advised to us by three Drakes at a Night Wild.”
“We lost a companion to them to gain that information,” Madoc added quietly.
Sunset tilted her head, and blond ringlets fell across her shoulder. “Why do you seek Sven du Lac? She’s a tiny thing, comes up only to my shoulder, but they say she fears nothing and no one. She and her Sparrows have sworn to protect this corner of the forest, and all of us who live here are in her debt.”
“We hope to acquire her help.” I paused. “A horde of wolf-priests slew a band of Butcher Bards and then took my sister and burned down my family Hall.”
Sunset reached out and grasped my shoulder. “I’m sorry for your loss. I’ve heard much of these Fremish wolves. I thought they’d been driven out of the Middlelands.”
“There is one pack left, led by a bishop named Uther. We believe they have set up a temporary camp on Lake Le Fay.”
Sunset reached into the pocket of her long tunic. She pulled out a small ceramic vial, removed the stopper, and dabbed its purple liquid on my wrists and then my throat. “Breathe in,” she said.
I did. I smelled sharp gella seed, sweet sea-thorn berries, earthy Wild Carrot Oil, and a hint of herbal blue chamomile.
“It’s an oracle perfume. I brew it myself in a little workshop I built on the forest floor. My mother was an Alchemical Witch, and her mother before her. It’s the reason our ale is so delicious.” She smiled. “The oracle ingredients are rare and expensive on the open market, but I grow my own and distill them myself. I like to keep a vial of this scent on hand in case I come across a traveler who seems to be on a quest of some sort.”
Madoc leaned toward me and pressed the tip of his nose into the hollow of my throat. He took my hand, raised my wrist, and did it again. He breathed in deeply one last time and then pulled away.
“Torvi smells of … victory.” He looked at Sunset. “How did you do that?”
She laughed. “The scent changes when it settles into a person’s skin. I can’t predict the result.”
“Hel,” Madoc replied. “You are a skilled witch.”
Madoc’s eyes met mine. “We are going to succeed. The four of us are going to find Sven du Lac, rescue your sister, and kill every last one of those poison-drinking dogs. That scent speaks the truth.”
I nodded. I, too, had smelled victory in the oracle scent.
I’d also smelled sorrow and pain and loss and love.
* * *
Madoc slept in my arms that night.
The two of us had grown close since the sand reading. In a few moments, Gyda’s druid magic had poured all of Madoc’s pain, his wonder, his happiness, and his pride into my heart. There was a bond between us now—the thick, unbreakable kind that generally formed between two people only after several years, when they’d walked beside each other through all of life’s joys and sorrows.
I enjoyed the feel of a man’s limbs against mine again. It didn’t lessen my heartache, but it did bring a primal sense of comfort.
FOURTEEN
I woke to sunshine filtering down through green leaves and to the sound of children’s laughter.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Two of the Pinket Trills were serving what looked to be barley porridge with butter and honey to the couple with the seven lively sons. It was a pleasant scene: the rowdy boys, the smell of warm, well-made food.
I glanced down at Madoc. He was smiling in his sleep. A thin ray of morning sun illuminated the freckles across his nose. It made him look younger.
The Sea Witches had departed at first light. They woke us gently to say farewell.
“Come visit us in the Merrows,” Spruce said in her high, silvery voice. “We shall sing and drink and be merry.”
“Yes,” added Cedar. “Feast with us in the grand Scorch Trees, and meet the queen of the witches.”
“I will,” I promised as I kissed both on each cheek. “Someday