He strode on in silence, the image of it burning with bright promise in his mind.
When the attack ended and the Federation withdrew, Aphenglow left the ramparts and went down to find Arling to make certain she was all right. Cymrian trailed after her, and she let him come without comment. She ignored Bombax.
After reuniting with her sister and giving her a hug and a few words of reassurance, she left her with Cymrian and went off to find the rail sling that had been used to attack the Arishaig. She found it easily enough, but there was no sign of who had used it. More telling was her examination of the angle available for attack using that particular weapon. Even under the best of circumstances, the rail sling couldn’t have done much more than dent the iron-plated underside of a Federation warship.
The ramifications of that conclusion were disturbing.
She decided to talk to Woostra. She had questions about the magic warding the Keep, and with the Ard Rhys absent she believed her best chance at getting answers was from Khyber Elessedil’s personal secretary.
She found him where she expected, ensconced in his office outside the Druid Library. His scarecrow body was hunched over his desk, eyes scanning the pages of a clutch of books and papers spread out before him. He didn’t even look up when she entered, merely gesturing to a bench to one side.
“Sit, Aphenglow. I’ll be done in a moment.”
She lowered herself onto the bench and waited patiently for the several minutes it took him to complete whatever it was he was doing. When he finally looked up, she said, “How do you do that?”
He looked puzzled. “Do what?”
“Recognize me without looking.”
“Oh, that.” He gave her a small smile. “Your footsteps. I can recognize any of you just from hearing you approach. Assuming I am paying any sort of attention.”
She smiled back. “Really?”
He shrugged. “What can I help you with? Something to do with that Federation attack?”
“You know about it?”
“Hard not to with all the noise.”
“Did you go out for a look?”
“No need to. The magic that wards Paranor repels anything or anyone not invited in. Always has. Always will.”
“So she protects us?”
He smiled anew. “Druids might choose to see it that way. But that’s not really how it is. Grianne Ohmsford put the wards in place before she left the Keep for the final time. But the wards protect Paranor, not the Druids. The Druids are simply inadvertent beneficiaries. Along with anyone else who might be inside during an attack.” He rubbed his long nose with his finger. “Easier to protect something that doesn’t move around than something that does. Druids come and go. The Keep stays right where it is.”
She thought about it a moment. “So if there were an enemy inside—say, someone who managed to get invited in one way or another—the magic wouldn’t let the rest of us know.”
He gave her a long look. “What are you saying, Aphenglow?”
She shook her head. “I’m just mulling something over. This attack was provoked by someone who fired one of our rail slings from inside the walls of the Keep. I didn’t see who it was, and no one else I talked to saw, either. But I found the rail sling that was used, and it was clear from the angle of trajectory that using it served no purpose. The angle of attack was all wrong.”
“Then why …?”
“Bother? To provoke a response to an apparent attack from us. These were Federation warships, fully manned and armed, and although they claimed to have been invited by the Ard Rhys and came expecting to be received, there was no evidence any of this was so. What they seem to have come for was pretty much exactly what happened.”
Woostra nodded slowly. “So you think it was all planned? That the firing of the rail sling was a deliberate subterfuge by someone who was in their employ?”
“I think it possible. I haven’t found a better explanation.”
“And you don’t know who this someone is?”
“Not yet.”
He nodded again, and then went back to reading the papers in front of him. “Better find out then. No point sitting around here talking to me.” He looked up quickly. “But the magic that wards the Keep can’t help you with this. It can shelter you from attacks without, but not ferret out enemies within. Good luck, Aphenglow.”
She departed his office and went back out into Paranor’s halls, wondering what to do next. As she walked, she began going over the list of those who were within the Keep. She could eliminate herself and Bombax and Woostra and Arling. That left Cymrian, the Troll guards, and the boy who had rescued Bombax from the Mwellrets. If she was right about what had happened, it had to be one of them.
She was mulling over which when Bombax caught up to her. She flinched inwardly as he did so, prepared for the worst. She kept her eyes averted and continued walking.
“Are you thinking the same thing I am about all this?” he asked quietly, surprising her. “That this attack was no accident?”
She nodded. “Someone in the Keep fired that rail sling to provoke it. The attack was planned ahead of time.”
His big hands tightened on the staff he bore. “One of the Trolls?”
“Hard to believe. They’re sworn to us. Most have been here a long time.”
“That Elf you brought into the Keep with your sister? What do you know of him?”
She stopped where she was, fighting down a surge of new anger. “That boy you brought into the Keep when you came back from Varfleet? What do you know of him?”
“I know he rescued me. He saved my life.”
“Well, Cymrian did the same for me. He killed five men doing it, too.”
She turned and walked on, forcing him to come after her. All at once, she didn’t want him there.
“Why are you so angry?” he asked, grabbing her arm.
She stopped again and carefully extracted herself. “I don’t like how you’re acting. It isn’t who you are. I’m not sure you’ve recovered from what happened with the Mwellrets.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me.” He stared at her a moment, and she could see the confusion in his eyes. “I love you, Aphen. I don’t like thinking that maybe you don’t love me.”
It caught her by surprise. “Why would you say that?”
“That Elf follows you around like a puppy. What am I supposed to think?”
She shook her head. “I haven’t given you any reason to doubt me.”
“Maybe you don’t see it the way I do. Do you still love me? Can you say the words?”
Impulsively, she reached up and touched his cheek. “Of course I can say them. I love you. You are my life partner. I didn’t make that choice without giving thought to it. It was not done lightly or with any intention of not honoring it.”
“I want to believe that,” he said.
She dropped her hand to his arm and gripped it. “Let’s leave this discussion for later. Let’s concentrate on what’s at hand. I want to find out who fired that rail sling. I want you to help me. Let’s be united on this.”
He nodded slowly. “That’s how I want it, too.”
“United, then.” She gave him a quick smile. “We should talk to everyone. Maybe there’s something we can learn.”
“One thing you want to keep in mind, Aphen,” he said. “It might not be one of the Trolls or the Elf or the boy. It might be someone else entirely, someone who managed to get inside Paranor without any of us knowing.”
It gave her pause. She hadn’t thought of that.
Twilight, and most within the Keep were gathered in the dining hall.
Deek Trink worked his way down the corridors, halfway certain that this time he was going to get caught. Bombax might not suspect him, but the Elven woman had already made him her prime suspect in the rail sling incident simply by process of elimination. He had hoped there would be a sufficient number of other logical suspects, once he got inside the Keep, to shift suspicion away from him. But there were only the members of the Druid Guard, the two Druids, the old man in the library, the Elven woman’s younger sister, and that really scary Elven Hunter Cymrian. Of all of them, he was the one Deek wanted least to be around.