Days later, when she had made all preparations for her journey to Marmawell, two wingwands landed nearby, one roped to the other, and a rider approached that Marwen knew to be Torbil when he came closer.
He bowed briefly and said in his gravelly voice, “I am under orders to accompany you, Lady Marwen, to wherever your journey takes you and to continue as your guard until the Prince, in person, relieves me of my duties.”
Under his black beard and moustache, she could see his dark skin flush. “Prince Camlach sends you this gift,” and he gestured toward one of the wingwands. Only then did Marwen notice that it was pure white, with eyes like bloodred jewels. She laughed, a choked little sound at first.
“Is this some kind of punishment for you, poor Torbil, to guard a Venutian wench and on Venutian soil? What have you done to displease the Prince?”
There was a fierce pride in his eyes.
“No lady, this is a reward and an honor that I sought from the day that I pledged you my fealty.”
“Thank you,” Marwen said quietly. “I will need you.”
That day at windeven, they began their flight west and south to the enchanted hills of Marmawell where once one could sit in the arms of the earth and smell the spice gardens on the estwind. Marwen felt completely and utterly free, high in the deep evening sky.
They would arrive on the eve of winterdark, when the Stumble would be high and quick, when only Opo nested on the horizon, and Marwen would remember the huts aglow with hearthfire. Then she would sing of her love for Grondil and Crob and Camlach, and for the Magic. It was the first thing she would do.
About the Author
Martine Leavitt (born 1953) is a Canadian- American writer of young adult novels and a creative writing instructor.
Selected works:
Novels
The Dragon's Tapestry (1992)
Prism Moon (1993)
The Taker's Key (1998)
The Dollmage (2001)
Tom Finder (2003)
Heck Superhero (2004)
Keturah and Lord Death (2006)
My Book of Life by Angel (2012)
Blue Mountain (2014)
Calvin (2015)
Buffalo Flats