“What?” I said and I noted that my voice sounded very dry, as if I hadn’t had any water in a long time.
A look of relief crossed her face, “Don’t scare us like that. You closed your eyes and everything started shaking. I thought you might bring the castle down on top of our heads.”
“Really?” I said in a daze. I sounded calm but my heart was a churning turmoil of emotions. I had no memory of making anything shake.
I tried to draw my thoughts together. Addressing James I finally verbalized a question, “You said the wizard was wounded. Do you still have him? Alive?”
“Yes, he’s in the dungeon, same place we kept Cyhan,” he replied.
“How are you keeping him?” I was curious since I couldn’t imagine how they would prevent such a person from escaping.
“We tended to his wounds and then we drugged him. We’ve kept him bound and gagged. Whenever he regains enough consciousness to wake we feed him, give him water and drug him again. He’s barely been conscious for more than a few hours since he was captured,” he told me.
I was surprised. Drugging someone into unconsciousness was a tricky business. You might just as easily kill them as render them insensible. “Who had the skill and art to manage that?” I asked.
Lady Thornbear spoke up, “That would be me.” I stared at her in astonishment. I had never known her to have such skills.
The Duchess spoke then, “Elise learned much of the healing arts from her mother, and she practiced them often on our behalf. Gram himself benefited from her skills on more than one occasion when he was wounded.” Gram was the first name of the late-Lord Thornbear, Dorian’s father, and Elise was Lady Thornbear’s given name, though I had never heard anyone use it before.
I pushed my surprise aside. “I want to talk to this wizard.” I could see concern on James’ face when I mentioned it.
Lady Thornbear broke in, “He’s unconscious at the moment. He probably won’t wake up for a few more hours. That should give you a little time to get your bearings as well.”
Her face plainly told me that she feared I might commit murder if I met him now. I doubted a few hours would change that risk though. I turned to William Doyle, “Did you search the area where they disappeared?”
“Of course my Lord,” he said promptly.
“You could not follow their trail?” I said questioningly.
“After their battle the shiggreth dispersed, taking many paths through the forest. I had no way of knowing which way they took Dorian and the Countess,” he answered.
“Did you find any personal items?” I asked hopefully.
“Not personal items your Lordship, I found a few torn bits of cloth from her dress, and a dagger, nothing else,” he replied.
“No jewelry? The Countess wore a necklace I made for her,” I told him.
“No your Lordship,” he said.
I felt a tiny spark of hope. One thing we had learned in our few encounters with the shiggreth since I had made the enchanted necklaces to protect our people was that the undead did not like the enchantment. A few of our men had been taken since Dorian’s famous battle with them and in every case we found each man’s necklace not far from where he had been ‘turned’. Apparently once they had gone over to the other side they found the necklace to be unbearable and removed it. If Penny still had hers it meant she had not been ‘turned’, it meant she might still be alive.
Dorian of course did not wear one, his natural ability as a stoic had made the enchantment unnecessary for him. I wondered what that would mean if he was taken by the shiggreth. Would he go mad? He had no necklace that could be removed. I was still uncertain why the mind protecting enchantment bothered them so much after they had become undead.
I looked at the people around me. “I will go and see where they were ambushed. I’d rather do something while I wait for this wizard to wake up. I don’t think I can sit still.” I glanced at William Doyle and without waiting I indicated the door that led out. “Let’s go.” I started walking toward the door before he had even risen from his chair.
With my mage-sight I could see him look toward the Duke, who merely nodded, and then he ran after me.
Chapter 25
I walked through the courtyard from the keep to the main gate, scanning the ground as I went. William walked beside me silently. He obviously had a good sense of my mood. We passed the stables on the way to the gate, but I never even spared them a glance. I didn’t intend to ride. I wanted to examine the ground carefully from here until the trail went cold, and possibly beyond.
“Tell me what you know of what happened here,” I said. William was a smart fellow and he did as I asked, giving me only the information pertinent to where we stood. Once we got beyond the gate he showed me the area where they had mounted horses and ridden away.
“And Dorian was on foot here?” I asked.
He nodded affirmatively. I walked on without commenting. William led me to the trail where they had turned off the main road to follow a small forest trail. I watched the ground along the path with both my eyes and my other senses. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for but I didn’t want to miss anything. Unfortunately I didn’t find anything that William hadn’t already noticed.
“What was this? The ground is all churned up here,” I pointed at a place where the earth had been disturbed.
“I didn’t see with my own eyes but some of the men on the walls were watching. According to their reports the enemy sent one of their riders back to stop Dorian’s pursuit. The rider charged him with weapon drawn and if the witnesses are to be believed Lord Dorian threw him over his shoulder.” William hesitated as he spoke, unsure if I would believe such fantastic details.
“What the man dismounted first?”
“No your Lordship, according to the people watching Dorian picked the horse and rider up and threw them both over his shoulder,” he clarified.
I stopped and put my hand on the ground. I couldn’t imagine what my friend had been going through at that moment, but I knew he had done his best. I might have laughed at the image of him throwing a horse, but the fact that he was probably dead now stole the humor from the thought. I straightened up and resumed walking. Despite the emotions within I still had not had the urge to cry. I was somewhat numb, though I felt a cold fire burning inside my stomach.
William led me along the path, showing me where they had found Miriam before leading me on to the place where their last stand had occurred. I surveyed the area carefully. “What happened to the body parts that were found?” I asked.
“The Duke had them collected and burned,” William replied.
I nodded approvingly. “Give me a moment alone William,” I told him.
Without a word the huntsman retreated back down the path and waited at a distance. For being a man of few words William was remarkably adept at discerning my intentions from a few words. I imagined his perceptiveness must come in handy when tracking and understanding game.
I closed my eyes so that I could better focus on my mage-sight, then I took a deep breath and began to search the area carefully with my mind. I hoped to find some indication of which way they might have gone but I knew that it was a long shot. After a quarter of an hour I had nearly given up when I detected a faint gleam of magic, something that had fallen to the ground.
It was a few hundred yards to the north of where we were now and I had a sickening feeling I knew what it was. I pulled my mind back rather than examine it more closely. I didn’t want to know, not yet, not till I could see it with my own eyes.
I waved at William and pointed north so that he would understand my intention, then I started trudging through the brush. It took me almost twenty minutes to reach the spot where it lay and the closer I got the more I shuttered my mind, to keep from seeing it before I could pick it up. Now I stood over it and I could not avoid looking at it any longer. Lying at my feet was a silver necklace with an enchanted pendant, the first of its kind I had ever made. The necklace I had given to Penny for her protection.