The girl Lusta looked into the heart of the now bravely burning fire. “We wanted to go back—but we saw th’ demons riding an’ we knew we could never make it.”
Truas, tending the fire, looked over his shoulder. “We’re shepherds and were out after a stray. They saw us but we knew th’ rock trails better. At least those devils cannot fly!”
“Hurten was shield-bearer for Lord Vergan,” the oldest girl spoke up. “He was hit on the head and left for dead in the pass battle. I am Marsila and he”—she pointed to the younger boy who had been on the wall—“is my brother, Orffa. Our father was marshal of the Outermost Tower. We were hunting when they came and so were cut off—”
“How came you together?” Lethe asked.
Marsila glanced about as if for the first time she herself had faced that question.
“Lady, we met by chance. Alana and Robar, they fled to Bors Wood and there met with Lusta and Tyffan. And Orffa and I, we found Hurten and stayed with him until his head was healed, then we, too, took the wood road. There was, we hoped, a chance that Skylan or Varon might have held—only, when we met the others, Alana said the demons had swept between to cut us off.”
“You decided then to come over mountain? Why?” Lethe must know—already she sought the beginning of the pattern she had sensed. There was one or she, the weaver, would not have been summoned.
It was Lusta who answered, in a low voice, her head down as if she must confess some fault. “The dreams, Lady. Always the same dream an’ each time I saw clearer.”
“Lusta’s gran was Wise,” Tyffan broke in. “All of Fourth Bend thought she had part of the gift, too. Lusta dreamed us here.”
Marsila smiled and put her arm around the younger girl’s shoulders. “Not many have the Wise gifts now, but we had records of such at the Tower and—well—we had no other place to go, so why not trust a dream?”
Her face became bleak again. “At least the demons did not try the mountains then. When we found this place we knew that fortune favored us a little. There is farm stock running wild in the valley, even some patches of grain we are harvesting, and fruit. Also—this place, it seemed somehow as if we were meant to shelter here.”
“Dreams led!” Lethe moved to Lusta and, as she had with Alana, touched the girl’s head with her staff. There was a spark of blue. Lethe smiled.
“Dreamer, you have wrought well. Good will follow in a way now past your understanding.”
Then she drew back to survey them all, her gaze resting for a long moment on each face. So this was indeed the beginning.
“Truly,” she spoke, “this is the place for such as you.”
These were from very different beddings, these seedlings, yet their roots were the same. That had been clear to her from their first sighting. Their hair, tangled, unkempt, was of the same pale silver blond, their eyes shared the same clear sword-blade grey. Yes, the old stock had survived after all, though the seed might have been wide flung.
Lethe shifted the bag she had carried from her shoulder to the top of the table. She loosed the string and reached within, drawing forth a packet of dried meat, another of herbs.
There was already something steaming in the great pot; she was certain that they had not lost the chance for a day’s hunting. Now she shook forth her own offerings and added them to that. They watched her closely.
“Traveler’s fare, but it may add to your store as is the custom,” she told them.
Marsila had watched her very closely. Now, in spite of the fact that she wore breeches patched with small skins, she made the curtsy of a daughter of a House in formal acknowledgment.
“If this be your kin, hold our thanks for shelter.” Still there was a measure of questioning in her eyes.
However, it was Alana who spoke, and she did so almost with accusation. “You are one of Them so this is your place.”
“What do you know of Them, child?” Lethe had shrugged off her cloak. Her breeches and jerkin were of a dull green not unlike the walls about her.
“They had strange powers,” Alana answered. She reached out and drew Robar to her. “Powers which gave them rule. None could stand against them—like the demons!”
Lethe had taken a ladle from a hook in the hearth wall. Now she looked directly at the small girl. “Powers to take rule like the demons—that is what they say of us now?”
For a long moment Alana was silent and then she flushed. “They—They did not hunt people—They did not … kill—”
“They were guardians!” Marsila broke in. “When They were in the land there could be no death there.”
“Why did They go?” One of the twins sat back on his heels.
“When They had strong keeps like this, if They ruled th’ land, what did They do?”
Lethe stirred the pot. She did not look around.
“The land is old, many have been rooted here. When years pass another blood comes to masterage.”
For the first time Orffa spoke: “So this is the time for demons to rule, is that what you tell us?” There was a fierce challenge in his voice and he was scowling.
“Demons?” Lethe looked to the fire and the steaming pot. “Yes, to this land at this hour, they are demons.”
Marsila moved closer. “How else can we see them? Tell me that, once guardian!”
Lethe sighed. “No way else.” She turned to face the children. Children? Save for Robar, there was little childlike in those faces ringing her in. They had seen much, and none of it good. But that was the working of the Way, the spinning of the weaver’s threads. Standing in shadow behind each was the faint promise of what might be.
“Why have you come? Will others follow you?” demanded Orffa.
“I have come because I was summoned. I alone.” She gave them the truth. “The kinblood have passed to another place, only it would seem that I am tied to this day.”
“That is magic.” Tyffan pointed to her staff where she had laid it across the table. “But you’re one against many. Those raiders hold th’ land from Far River to th’ Sea, from Smore Mount Mouth to Deep Yen.”
Lethe looked directly at him. His mop of hair reached barely above her shoulder, but his sturdy legs were planted a little apart, and he stood with his fist-curled hands on his hips as if in defiance.
“You speak as one who knows,” she commented.
To her mild surprise he grinned. “Not claimin’ magic, mistress, that. You find us here now, that’s not sayin’ as how we is always here. We has our ways o’ learnin’. What chances over mountain—and it ain’t by dreams.”
Lethe pursed her lips. Looking at him she could believe in what he hinted. This one had stated that he was land-born, land-trained; and the young learned swiftly when there was need.
“So you have used your eyes and ears to good purpose.” He nodded briskly. “Well enough. And what have you learned with your non-magic?”
Orffa pushed past the younger boy. “Enough,” he snapped.
“And the demons have not disturbed you here?” she asked.
“There was a scouting company,” Marsila answered. “They followed the sea road inward but there came a sudden rockfall which closed that. At night they camped near that …”