The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure - By Storm Constantine Page 0,174

He wondered how much of the truth they would eventually get and couldn’t help wondering whether the influence of Immanion was somehow, deep down, at work here too.

‘Are you human?’ Ulaume demanded unexpectedly

Flick noticed Tel-an-Kaa wince a little. ‘What do you see?’ she asked.

‘Someone who won’t answer my question,’ Ulaume said. ‘Well?’

She hesitated, then said, ‘Not exactly. I will explain. You have my word.’

Leef came back into the cabin, which curtailed any further exchanges. It was apparent to Flick that the Zigane was relieved about that.

‘If we can reach the eastern boundary of the forest by nightfall, there is another cabin we can use,’ Leef said. ‘It isn’t that far. From there, we could take the eastern road to the coast. It’s about a week’s ride.’

‘Shouldn’t we keep off well-used roads?’ Flick asked.

‘My guess is that if the Gelaming are looking for you, they’ll begin their search to the west,’ Leef said. ‘They won’t imagine you’ll head east, especially across the ocean, because that is where Almagabra lies. They’ll think you’ll want to melt back into the Unneah wilderness.’

‘I hope you’re right,’ Flick said. ‘I can’t help thinking that if Thiede’s involved, we can’t hide anywhere.’

Leef smiled mordantly. ‘Look on the bright side,’ he said in a sarcastic tone. ‘I would.’

For the rest of the day they rode up steep hills and down into plunging valleys. The Parsic horses seemed tireless, even though they must have covered three times as much ground than if they’d been travelling across a level landscape. By sundown, the cabin Leef had spoken of had not yet materialised, and Flick was beginning to worry they’d have to spend the night outdoors, but the Parsics insisted they keep travelling and about three hours after the sun set, they rode into the tiny clearing where the cabin lay. This place appeared to have been used more regularly than the last one, and Chelone explained that hunters from tribes on the lower plains no doubt used it all the time. Thankfully, it was not occupied at the moment.

The most fortunate discovery inside the cabin was a stock of home made sheh, which must belong to the hara who used the place regularly. Leef and Chelone obviously now felt they were not in danger of capture by Gelaming, because they joked about how tonight, the harish hunters would be stripped of some of their moonshine liquor. Flick felt compelled to leave some of the currency Swift had given him in its place.

There was indeed a faint but definite celebratory air to the late evening meal. They cooked three rabbits that Mima and Lileem had caught earlier in the day and Ulaume found a barrel full of old potatoes, sprouting but still edible, in a shed behind the cabin. Flick saw to the meal, which conjured back a comforting sense of familiarity. In the cabin’s main room, there was a blackened old pot-bellied stove. Leef helped Flick build a fire within it. ‘This reminds me of old times,’ Leef said, ‘when I travelled with Swift and Cal.’

‘Oh? You travelled together?’

‘Yes,’ Leef said bitterly. ‘We were looking for Terzian, who had vanished, but instead we delivered Cal into the hands of his enemies.’

‘You were a friend of Cal’s then,’ Flick said. ‘A rare creature.’

‘Cal had friends among the Varrs,’ Leef said. ‘I hated him for a time, because he took something special from me, but you get to know a har really well when you’re on the road with him. We all became very close.’

‘Who did he take from you?’ Flick asked, knowing full well it wouldn’t be a ‘what’, not if Cal had been involved.

Leef glanced at him, then fed more twigs into the fledgling fire. ‘Swift,’ he said.

‘That’s a big ‘who’!’

Leef shrugged. ‘I was chosen for Swift’s feybraiha, it was all organised, but then… well, you know Cal, so I don’t think I have to explain.’

‘No,’ Flick said. ‘I can imagine.’

‘I wasn’t Swift’s first, as I’d longed to be,’ Leef said, ‘but it wasn’t really Cal’s fault. He just has this effect on hara. Anyway, ultimately, it didn’t matter, not until we went to the Gelaming camp of Imbrilim and the Incomparable Seel came into the picture. He played with Swift like a cat with its prey. He was vicious, in my opinion.’

‘Go on,’ Flick said, eager for details.

‘Thiede made Seel take a special kind of aruna with Swift. He wanted them to conceive a harling, and they did. Swift was smitten from the start, and eventually it seemed