“More likely it would be the woman who died in the winter because she couldn’t quit talking long enough to get out of the cold,” replied Wolf repressively.
Her smile warmed into something more genuine. “By all means, let us avoid such an ignominious fate.” She gestured grandly to the underbrush that covered the old trail. “Away, then, to the Lyon’s keep.”
He bowed low. “Allow me to retrieve your knives first?”
“Of course,” she said, as if she hadn’t forgotten them. She slipped the knives, cleaned by Wolf, back into their sheaths and strode into the woods.
Her heroic stride was shortened somewhat by the waist-high aspen seedlings and drifts of snow nearly as high, but her spirits lifted all the same—how many people could claim to have met a howlaa and survived? Her optimism was greatly helped by the wind’s continued absence.
By the time they reached the keep, the snowfall was no longer so light, and Aralorn was grateful to have Wolf’s eyes to depend upon rather than her own feebler senses—he had shifted back to lupine form as soon as the keep was in view. The sentries allowed her entrance through the gates without challenge.
She took the time to shake out her cloak and dust the worst of the snow off Wolf before she opened the door into the keep. As the warmth of the hall fire touched her cheek, a red-tailed hawk landed lightly on her shoulder. Ignoring the surprised expressions of the servants, she transferred the bird to one of her arms, which were protected by the layers of clothing she wore, and handed off her cloak. The hawk climbed her arm and perched once more on her shoulder. Her sweaters had slipped to one side, leaving only a single layer of clothing between her skin and the hawk’s sharp talons.
“You be careful,” she admonished her uncle. “I don’t want any more scars. I look odd enough in an evening gown as it is.”
Halven flexed his talons lightly without gripping hard enough to hurt.
“All right,” she said.
The hawk unfurled his wings slightly to keep his balance as she strode through the keep. Wolf trailed silently behind. With the funeral preparations on indefinite hold, most of the visitors had left, and the servants were busy with dinner, so the back ways through the keep were empty—at least until they passed by a turret staircase near the mourning room.
“Why does Mother let you bring your pets into the keep when we can’t even bring in our dogs? Is she frightened of you? Or do you have her bewitched like Nevyn says?” asked a young voice coolly.
Aralorn took two steps back until she could see the area under the stairs clearly. In her hurry, she hadn’t seen the dim light cast by the oil lamp, but now that her attention had been drawn to it, she could see that a small study had been neatly tucked into the cramped space beneath the stairs. The keep was not overly large, and with a family the size of the Lyon’s brood, it took cleverness to find a place unclaimed by anyone else.
The boy who’d spoken sat perched on a stool with a large book on his lap. He was on his way to gaining the height of the rest of the family—already he was taller than Aralorn—but he was painfully thin. His wrists were bare for several inches where he had outgrown his shirt, an oddly vulnerable touch for such a self-possessed young man. It took a moment for her to see the toddler she knew in the man he was becoming.
“No coercion,” replied Aralorn lightly. “I doubt a . . . howlaa could frighten Irrenna. I’ve seen her face down Father a time or two, and he’s much more scary than I could ever be. Nor sorcery either—I don’t have the kind of power that can influence people’s thoughts.” Once she would have said that no one did, but recent history had proven otherwise. “The wolf would worry the shepherds if he wandered freely about, Gerem. It’s safer for everyone if he stays with me.”
Gerem was a year younger than Lin. Aralorn remembered him as a quiet little person with an unexpected stubborn streak. The icy blue eyes that glittered with dislike and fear were something new. This kind of moment was why she’d left Lambshold. Bad enough that Nevyn felt that way about her; to have her family fear her was more than she could bear. She felt a sudden empathy with Wolf.
“And the hawk?”
“Hmm,” said Aralorn, trying not to let his coldness hurt—she had, after all, left when he was a toddler; he couldn’t know her. “Lady Irrenna doesn’t know about the hawk yet.”
“If the Lady Irrenna objects, I will shift back to human,” said the hawk softly. “But I prefer to stay as I am.”
“Shapeshifter,” Gerem whispered, his eyes widening.
Aralorn nodded. “Yes. I told Irrenna ...”
“Is he the one who did it?”
Aralorn gave him an assessing look. There was something in his voice that led her to think that he was attempting offense rather than speaking out of belief.
“You overstep yourself, accusing a guest of this house.” She dropped the friendly tone she’d been using and replaced it with ice. “He did nothing but volunteer to look at the workings of the spell.”
The hawk tilted its head to the side. “I will answer the boy, Aralorn Sister’s Daughter. You need not come to my defense. I have not ensorcelled the Lyon at any time, Master Gerem. If I were inclined to use my magic in such a fashion, I would certainly have done it decades ago, when it might have done me some good. As it is, his incapacity has inconvenienced me greatly.”
Gerem looked embarrassed. His rudeness, thought Aralorn, had been directed at her.
Recalled to his manners, the boy bowed graciously, if briefly. “My apologies, sir. My words were ill directed.”
The hawk bent to preen his wing. Aralorn nodded formally and proceeded on her way.
“I think we just saw Nevyn’s influence,” commented Wolf, once they were out of earshot.
“Ah yes, Nevyn—the wizard who dislikes magic.” Halven sounded amused.
Aralorn smiled without humor. “Something tells me I’m going to have a long talk with Nevyn before I leave. Speaking of people who do stupid things, why did you announce your presence to my brother? Kessenih informed me that you’ve taken a serious risk coming here.”
“As if no one would have thought ‘shapeshifter’ when you came into the keep with a hawk on your shoulder,” murmured Wolf. “A hawk like the one that brought you here as a baby.”
“Plague take it,” said Aralorn. “I didn’t think of that. The howlaa must have stolen all that was left of my wits.”
“Peace, child,” replied the hawk with amusement. “Kessenih worries overmuch. I have dealt with the quorum before, and I will again. They need me more than I need them.”
SIX
There was a guard seated just outside the entrance to the bier room. She’d told Irrenna the room was warded, but apparently someone thought that Aralorn’s wards would be insufficient to keep people away. Since they might have been right—if Aralorn had set the wards—she was amused rather than offended.
The guard rose to his feet as they entered. “Lady Aralorn.”
“It might be wise if you leave for a candlemark or two,” she said. “My uncle has agreed to look at the Lyon, and he might work some magic. If anyone asks you, tell them it is on my authority.”
He probably wouldn’t be in any danger, but the shadow that guarded the Lyon worried her. There was no way to tell what it was capable of until they knew more about it. If Wolf and Halven were going to be prodding it with magic, she’d prefer to keep the defenseless away.
The guardsman glanced at the hawk riding her shoulders and blanched a bit, letting his gaze slide to the safety of her human face. “As you say, Lady. I’ll report to the captain, then return in two candlemarks.” So saying, he started off with suspiciously brisk steps.
But she must have been wrong about how much her uncle frightened him because he stopped abruptly and turned back. “The Lyon gave me my first sword and taught me to use it.”
“Me, too,” she said.