“Children shouldn't play with flint and tinder, lest they burn more than tallow and timber,” Gudrin quoted. Brand half remembered the old rhyme from his childhood, but he was at something of a loss to understand its meaning now.
Telyn, however, jumped as if struck. Her hands twined about one another. Brand realized Gudrin suspected Telyn had used magic, and she could be right.
Chapter Eleven
It was then, in the awkward moment of silence that followed, that Brand saw the rucksack on Gudrin's back jump, just a little. It was really more of a twitch, as if something inside had suddenly moved or shifted uneasily. He wondered vaguely if Gudrin had a rabbit in there or some other kind of captured game. Out of politeness for other people's customs, he decided not to mention it.
“I don't understand your meaning, madam, but I do know that I have offered you hospitality and you don't seem overly gracious about it,” said Jak. Brand and Corbin exchanged glances. Brand knew that they were both thinking Jak was perhaps pushing too far. The Battleaxe Folk were known to be honest and just, but often gruff and surly as well.
Gudrin dropped her powerful gaze, and for a moment she looked truly old and burdened. She leaned her head forward, rubbing the back of her neck. She sighed and looked back at them, smiling. It was a very different effect this time; her eyes no longer seemed to bore into one's head. They looked friendly and tired. “I apologize. You are clearly all good folk, you must understand that we are tired and have journeyed far. All the world is not at peace like the River Haven. In fact, very little of it is. We of the Kindred have suspicious natures that should be left at the border, but it is hard to change one's nature so quickly.”
“Yes, I can understand that. It's very late. I think it's time we retired,” said Jak, nodding. His tone indicated that the apology was accepted. “Brand, Corbin, show our guests to their rooms when they're ready.”
And so the lights were doused again, and the two strangers were given rooms in the back of the house with many apologies for the dust and old linen. As Modi mounted the steps, Brand felt sure they would give way under his weight. He now recalculated the warrior's weight to be greater than Corbin's. Considerably greater. On his way back to his own room, he passed by Telyn's room, and noted that the candle she had burned all night was now out. Telyn caught him by the arm as he went by and dragged him in, shutting the door.
“They make me nervous. Don't you feel it? Gudrin has a power, I'm sure of it. That's why she saw my beacon,” said Telyn, speaking very quickly. Before Brand could comment, she snatched the candle he had been carrying to light his way and took it over to the window. With it she relit the candle in the window. “Well, I'm not going to have some old talespinner scare me out of my plans with a few words.”
“Telyn, are you saying you think they saw your candle?” Brand asked. “How could they have?”
She looked him in the eye. “You saw it last night, even though the shutters were closed,” she said. A far-away look came over her face. “To one of the Kindred, especially a wise one like Gudrin, it must stand out like a brilliant point of light visible for a great distance.”
“But how?” he demanded, knowing the answer, but not wanting to hear it. “How is such a thing possible?”
“Because it is a magical beacon. I've had visions about how to make it-the tallow is not normal tallow, there are many ingredients-but none of that matters now. I-” she came forward and took his hands. “I've got a bit of the power in me, Brand, just a spark. I've known it for a long time, the visions, this beacon, other things…”
Fear came over Brand, a more direct and immediate fear than even the shadow man brought. He felt that he was losing Telyn. How could she ever be his when they reached marrying age if she indeed had some kind of power?
“Telyn, in the River Haven, such things aren't looked upon favorably. Magic is strictly to be kept out of the Haven-for the River's sake girl, that's what the Pact with the Faerie is all about!”
Telyn looked up at him. “I know. That's why I must meet the Faerie.”
This time he reached out to her. He took her hands into his. “No, that's impossible, Telyn. I won't have you following a will-o-wisp or becoming a new trophy for the Wild Hunt.”
Telyn pulled away from him with an irritated gesture. “I'm not suggesting anything so drastic. If I could just learn a few more things from them. They are so wise…”
Brand's mouth felt dry. “Wise yes, but fickle and as full of malice and deceit as kindness and wisdom. No one but those performing the ceremony can even watch them in safety.”
“I could. I could use your help as well. We'll go around behind the faerie mound, to the side where the forest comes close, and then-”
“But we have no wards! We would be at their mercy!” burst out Brand.
She shushed him with her delicate hand. She looked to the door and listened a moment before speaking further. Satisfied that no one had heard his outburst, she lifted her hand from his mouth. “I'm not a fool. I have wards. We will be in no danger.”
Brand sighed aloud, finding it difficult to believe that he was having this conversation. See the Faerie? This was one of the greatest fears of any sensible person, not something that was planned for and sought out! Truly, this plan of hers topped them all.
“Are you with me, or do I go it alone?” she demanded. She had the cast to her face that Brand knew meant a bout of stubbornness was near at hand. She had a stubborn streak as wide as the slowest part of the river.
“I'll have to tell your mother. I'll tell everyone, I can't let you be led astray,” he said resolutely.
Telyn tilted her head and gave him an amused half-smile. “You think you can stop me? You think you or anyone else in the Haven can even catch me?”
Brand paused for a moment, considering. He sighed and looked dejected. “No, probably not. You'd just disappear into the trees or something…”
“That's right,” she said, walking around him in a slow circle as she spoke. “I would. And then I would face the Faerie alone.”
Brand rolled his eyes, unbelieving of his misfortune. “Okay, I'll come with you.”
Telyn, who was halfway around on her circle jumped up with a happy sound and kissed the back of his neck. This sent a wave of nerves tingling and singing down his back.
After that, she swore him to secrecy and he bid her goodnight. Just as he left, he looked at the candle again. She had placed his beside hers. His candle guttered and danced with the drafts, but hers burned steady and clear. This time there was no doubt of it. Telyn had worked magic.
He went to bed for a second time that night with troubling thoughts. As he fell asleep, he wondered what other things might be attracted to her beacon.
Chapter Twelve
By the following morning the blizzard had stopped. The world had changed from green and brown to white and dark gray. Hoarfrost and icicles were already growing from the house's eaves. One particularly long icicle hung down in front of the doorway like a frozen dagger. It broke way and shattered when Brand went out to fill two tin pails at the covered well in the yard. Corbin followed him out to help.
“Well, what do you think of them?” asked Corbin as they wound up the rattling chain. Far down in the echoing depths of the well the bucket sloshed and clattered against the stones.
“I don't like this whole thing,” Brand replied.