The pendant’s mists welcomed her back. She moved through them as they swirled, then she opened her mind a crack. Thunder roared, deafening her, but within the sounds had been emotion, maybe words. She crafted a light shield and opened her mind once more. Yes, emotions, terror, disgust, horror, nausea.
She touched them very lightly. A warning. They faded to be replaced with a query. *Who?*
*Half-friend, maybe. Who?*
*One taken by evil men for an evil purpose. They seek now your carriage to bear me more quickly to that end. Aid in the Light’s name.*
Automatically Aisling gave the reply to that. *Aid in the name of the Light shall be given.* Then she knew. She must talk with the others swiftly.
She reached again. *I have friends here, but also some who would recognize you and be a danger. Give me time to speak to them all.*
*There is a little time, but hurry.*
Aisling half-fell from the carriage, grabbing Keelan. “Kee, that’s Kirion’s men out there. They want our carriage so they can get their prisoner to Kirion.”
“Pris—They have the witch?”
“Yes. Kee, she’s only a girl and she’s terrified. We have to save her. You know what Kirion will do to her.”
Both men scowled. They knew. There was one easy way to disarm a witch of her powers. Kirion would find great pleasure in it. Both he and Shastro had done so before. And as it happened it would break her wards, allowing Kirion to leech her power. As a trained witch with her witch jewel she could bring him power enough to make him almost invincible in Kars. Aisling felt sick. She could not allow it to happen. They had to rescue the girl, but how? She left her brother and Rann discussing it and retreated to the carriage again.
*I am here. Is there any way you can aid us?*
*None. I am bound and gagged. Oh, please…*
Aisling wavered. Should she tell the girl. *Do you know where you’ve been taken and why?*
*To the death of all I am, better I die clean. Sister, I beg you.*
If she did not know all of it she knew enough. *Is there any way I can slay you mind to mind?*
She felt fear, then a firming of the girl’s resolve. *Those older and better trained can stop their own heart.* Her voice in Aisling’s mind was bitter. *It is something our kind have had to learn, but I am not yet trained in that. If I were free I could slay myself.*
*If you were free you could slay them* Aisling sent.
*Yes. Maybe if I open my mind completely you could stop my heart for me?*
*Not yet. There is hope of freedom. I will speak to my friends.* She paused to reach out and count. Nine men with the girl, and Aisling had her two companions, the driver, and three guards left—bad odds. But then the bandits would not expect nobles to fight when they had guards and servants to die for them. They believed the odds to be far better. She returned to Hadrann just as a gurgling screech rang out. Rann grinned cheerfully. One gone.
“What, how? Kee… where’s Keelan?”
“Evening our odds a little. Kirion’s bandits aren’t that good. Maybe they sneak about, kidnap girls, and burn garths very well, but they aren’t trained the way Keelan was trained.”
Aisling reached out with her gift, then jerked her mind away. A man had died, a second was gone even as she touched. There was panic among the others of the enemy remaining. She felt Keelan.
His concentration shut her out, but she could feel the competence. He’d learned well from old Hannion and Harran in the past six years. Since then he’d been an excellent stalker and hunter. Now he used his knowledge on other more dangerous game. Hadrann had strung his bow. He slid around the edge of the rock and waited.
Aisling took up her own lighter weapon reluctantly. An arrow was nocked and held ready as she watched from another rock edge. If the bandits had discounted her companions in the carriage, they’d have doubly ignored her. She’d give them reason to recall her if there was no other choice. One of the enemy was made careless by the sounds of his comrades. His companions were dying although they were hidden from those in the carriage.
Other enemies must be behind them. Perhaps Estcarp’s borderers had found them. He knew of those ones. They had a reputation in Kars as being utterly deadly. In attempting to see the new and unknown enemies he was seen by Aisling. She held her shot until she felt she must let the arrow fly for the sake of those with her, then she loosed it, closing her mind tightly as she did so. There had been nine against seven. Now there were six. They had hope.
X
Aisling watched the surrounding land keenly. Out there in the jumble of rock and scrub Keelan was hunting. It was for her to back him where she could. She could not link with him—they’d never had that, brother and sister though they were—but she could tell where he was. She allowed that direction to settle into her, then she let her eyes drift out of focus. She would notice the slightest movement as she scanned across the area.
There! Another flicker. Her gaze sharpened on it but before she could let fly, another arrow had flown. Hadrann too had watched. Keelan came slipping back.
“Five to go, but they have the girl in a hollow back there.” He spat dust. “Filth. She’s been tied so tightly she could be crippled even if we do free her.”
Aisling looked at him. “Her choice, her choosing, Kee. But if I were the one bound I’d rather be freed. Her friends may be able to help her once she’s back among them. If we can’t get her away she’s asked me for a clean death.”
“Can you?”
“We have an idea that may work, but better we get her out. Rann, what do you think?”
“I think we stop talking and do something.”
“True, my friend,” Keelan agreed. “So we leave Aisling out here to watch and we both go back into cover and see how many more we can pick off. I wonder what our brave guards are doing. There were three of them alive.” He turned to his sister. “Aisling?”
She concentrated. “Fear, anger, pain. Two of them are hurt, one badly. The one less injured tends him. The one unhurt is circling toward us. He wishes to find out if we are unharmed and to aid us either way. He comes from that direction.”
Her hand lifted to point as she forced down nausea again. She was fighting for all their lives, and the life of a young girl who had done no more evil than to be born with the Gift. But she hated the killing.
Hadrann nodded. “We’ll wait for the one who’s circling.” He blinked down as a furred weight thrust past his knee. “Ah ha. Wind Dancer. And what are you doing out of the carriage?”
The big cat ignored him. He went to Aisling, raised his front paws to place them against her, and uttered a low imperative cry. She dropped to one knee. He lifted his face and laid it against hers, rubbing his head along her jaw as he purred. Pictures came to her as they touched. Small, sometimes fuzzy, but clear enough. She hugged the cat sending pictures in return. His reply carried undertones of impatience. Aisling grinned.
“All right. As you wish, Wind Dancer. It’s your turn to be a hero.”
“Aisling?” Keelan was watching them. “What are the two of you planning?”
His sister smiled. “Wind Dancer wants to help the witch.”
“No,” both men protested.
“I rode as a warrior in Escore. If the distance to be traveled was not too great, Wind Dancer rode with me more than once. We work well together.”
She looked out across the rough land before them in which a girl was being held for a terrible death. “Wind Dancer’s coat blends with this land. We will go, each knowing where the other is and both knowing where those who hold the girl are hidden.”
“And what do we do?” her brother asked sarcastically. “Wait to be called for dinner?”
“No, Keelan,” Hadrann interrupted quietly. “You collect that guard and go back and help the two injured. Then you start making a noise over in that direction. Leave all three guards hidden together as a diversion. You and I will split and cover them. That gives us all a better chance no matter what Kirion’s men decide to do. Tell the guard Aisling is in the rocks above the carriage with her bow, guarding it in case the bandits try to steal it while you’re gone.”