Lord's Fall (17 page)

They went to the main hall for supper, which was filled with quite a few more people than had been present at breakfast. Supper was robust winter fare, hot and filling: roasted deer, rabbit and pheasant, white and sweet potatoes, roasted chestnuts, loaves of chewy honey nut bread, pumpkin and cranberry tarts, baked apples and plenty of wine, beer and water.

Linwe joined them, along with a few of the other Elves that had traveled with them on the previous day, and the meal passed with plenty of lively conversation. Most of the people in the hall didn’t leave when they had finished dining. Instead a few fetched musical instruments, and soon the sound of flutes, fiddles and drums filled the hall.

After several people called out in encouragement, a slender male with a sensitive-looking face stood to sing a ballad in Elvish. Even though Pia didn’t understand a word of the song, the music and the flow of the lyrical words were haunting.

Pia watched and listened in silence. Everyone was friendly, the music was excellent and she had not heard anything
bad
, not from Dragos, Hugh or Calondir.

So that meant everything was fine, right? The evening should have been pleasant.

Table lamps and the firelight from both massive hearths gave the hall a warm, golden illumination. Sparks of Power from individuals glowed in her mind’s eye like fireflies lighting a warm summer night, and the wild, secretive Wood’s presence blanketed them all. She could sense so much Power, and it was all undiluted by distractions from technology like television, cell phones and street traffic.

A few especially strong glows seemed to shine in the distance. Perhaps those were Linwe’s “ancients.” Two of the glows might even be Calondir and Beluviel.

But underscoring everything was a sense of dread and anxiety she could not overcome. She had to force herself to unclench her fists. Then only a few minutes later she discovered that she had clenched them again. She ate because she was starving and eating was compulsory these days, but the food sat in her stomach like a rock. An unseen pincer gripped her by the back of the neck, causing a dull, throbbing ache.

Her tension roused the peanut whose awareness draped around her neck, his bright, loving energy unsettled. She put a hand over her abdomen, whispering silently,
I’m sorry, baby
. She tried to soothe him, but she didn’t really know what she was doing, and she was still tense and filled with dread herself. His presence sharpened until it felt spiked with invisible claws. For the first time since she had become aware of his existence, he felt dangerous.

Oh great, go ahead and scare the dragon baby, why don’t you? Knucklehead. She breathed deeply and evenly. Calm down.

She could just see how the future was going to go. If the peanut really turned out to be dangerous after he was born, Dragos might have to be the one to take care of him whenever he had a toddler tantrum. Yeah, it was going to be fun to get the answer to that question. For the first time that whole, rotten day she felt an evil, sneaking sense of cheer.

Gradually the baby calmed down again. As she turned her attention away from him she felt again the sense of something lying stealthy and quiet underneath all the other sparks of Power, and her fists clenched.

Realization struck. Yes, she was worried and anxious, and she missed Dragos horribly, but whatever the hell she was sensing, it wasn’t her own fear. It definitely existed outside of herself.

Had it always been there, only she had been too preoccupied to notice? Or had it crept in since they had arrived? The words
dark
and
light
didn’t seem quite accurate when describing nonphysical qualities, but that stealthy, quiet thing felt like the antithesis of those sparks of Power that glowed so brightly against her mind’s eye.

She turned to Eva, who sat beside her and murmured, “Do you feel anything odd?”

Across the table James’s gaze flickered to them even as he laughed at something one of the others said. Beside him, Miguel shifted his seat back and settled into a lounging position that, Pia noticed, also happened to free his legs so that he could leap easily to his feet. Even though the others appeared relaxed and were clearly enjoying themselves, they had not sacrificed an iota of their alertness.

Like Pia, the captain had also been silent as she listened to the conversation. Eva sat in her chair at an angle, legs crossed at the ankles. She rested one elbow on the table, chin in her hand as she watched not only their group but also everyone else in the hall. Her black, alert gaze considered Pia thoughtfully.

Eva asked telepathically,
Like what?

Following Eva’s lead, Pia switched to telepathy.
How strong is your magic sense?

This time Eva didn’t bother with any taunting street talk.
Pretty good. Miguel is the real magic user in the group, though, so his is the best out of all of us.

Pia rubbed the back of her aching neck as she tried to come up with the right words.
I just picked up on something. It’s very quiet.

Hold on.

As Pia waited, she ran her gaze over the main hall again. Whatever it was, she didn’t think it was in the hall, but pinning a physical geography to the feeling was as difficult and slippery as trying to explain it with physical descriptors.

Then Eva said,
None of us are sensing anything. Can you get any more specific?

She thought of how she had sensed the Goblins who had kidnapped her and Dragos in May. Dragos hadn’t sensed the Goblins either. Frustration gripped her. The feeling was growing all too familiar on this trip.

I can feel different Powers in the area,
she said.
Some of them are definitely people, although I can also sense the Wood. This other thing is lying underneath all the rest. It’s like a patch of black ice on the road. You might not be able to see the ice very well even though you know it’s there.

How dangerous do you think it is?

Dragos had thought her sensitivity to the Goblins might be connected to her Wyr form. Should she open that can of worms with Eva?

She shook her head. I don’t know. I’ve never felt it before. It’s making my stomach knot. I don’t know if I just became aware of it, or if it’s something new to the area since we arrived.
She looked into the other woman’s sharp gaze.
The last time I felt something strange, I was beaten and nearly killed. But this is a different situation. I don’t think this . . . thing is physically here in the hall. I’m not even sure that what I’m sensing is active.

Yet,
Eva said.
It might not be active yet. Bombs are inert until they go off.

Pia grimaced.
Point.

Think we should take a walk, see what you pick up from different areas. I’d like to get an idea of how localized it is, if we can. Maybe Miguel can get bead on it somewhere else, or we can get a direction on it.

Pia said aloud, “After such a big meal I could stand to stretch my legs a bit.” She stood, and the rest of the people at the table, Elves and Wyr alike, politely stood with her.

“Miguel, come with us,” Eva said to their group, smiling. “The rest of you, relax and enjoy the music.”

Miguel winked at Linwe, stood and fell into step behind Pia and Eva as they turned away.

Pia kept her stride casual and her expression calm, while her heart rate sped up. Stupid, but there it was. She returned nods and smiles to people while she, Eva and Miguel worked their way through the crowd to the doors that led outside.

The night air was chilly and damp, and patches of fog had begun to appear again, drifting over the area like aimless ghosts. The other two kept silent as Pia chose to descend the main staircase beside the falls. Two lit braziers illuminated the bottom of the stone steps and other braziers dotted the open area, marking the entrance to paths into the forest.

Other people were outside, walking and talking quietly, with the occasional outburst of laughter ringing out over the clearing. A few were couples, arm in arm. She felt jarred and disoriented as she glanced around again and realized that the scene was actually quite pretty, and people were out to simply enjoy the night.

Choosing a direction at random, she walked across the shadowed clearing and stopped by the boulder with the subtle face. The Wood’s presence felt stronger at night. It pressed against her skin, unsettling and intoxicating at once. She resisted another urge to change and disappear into the dark foliage. Some Wyr went wild and never returned to their human form. For the first time she began to understand the lure.

Then she turned in a slow circle. At first she couldn’t sense anything beyond the Wood, but she cast out further with her mind.

There. She felt certain that the nearby quiet, intense glow of Power was Miguel, and that the weaker one was Eva. Then other, different glows came clear.

And there it was again, that slick, subtle patch of black ice. Certainty settled inside, and she knotted her fists. “It’s in the building,” she said.

“Damn.” Eva sighed. “Okay.”

Miguel said, “I still got nothing. I can’t pick up on whatever you’re sensing.”

“That means we have to rely on you,” Eva told Pia. “And if we aren’t going to leave, you need to speak up immediately if you feel it change.”

She nodded, frowning. Beluviel had been very kind to her, and it wasn’t the consort’s fault that events had given her a surfeit of houseguests and issues to attend to. While Pia was wary of putting herself in the shoes of someone who was so different in race, age and outlook, she couldn’t help but do so this time. Pia would want someone to tell her if something like that black . . . thing was lurking anywhere around her home.

She said, “I need to talk to Beluviel.”

Even in the shadows, she could see Eva and Miguel exchange a look. “For all we know, she might be responsible for it,” Miguel said, his voice pitched very low. “Needs to be considered.”

Pia shook her head and spoke just as softly. “I don’t believe that. It feels entirely alien from Beluviel’s energy, and even though there are some Powerful Elves here, it’s possible none of them can sense this anymore than you can.” She looked at Eva. “You know that experience I mentioned earlier? Dragos didn’t sense what I picked up then either.”

Eva sucked a tooth and looked sour, but she said, “All right. Let’s go find her.”

They walked across the clearing and up the stairs, and Pia stopped the first Elf in a house uniform that they came to, a woman with hair so blonde it was almost white.

“Please take me to the consort,” Pia said.

The woman regarded her with wide eyes. “Perhaps I can take a message and she can get back to you.”

“I know it is late,” Pia said gently. “And I know the consort has been very busy. But I need to talk to her right now, and you need to take me to her.”

The Elf’s posture grew rigid, but she said, “Yes, ma’am.”

What, you ain’t gonna tear her up none? I feel betrayed,
Eva said telepathically.
You lied to me. You ain’t got no bitch in you.

Keep pushing,
Pia told her.
And you’ll get to find out how much bitch I’ve got.

Sound like a good time to me.

Pia, Eva and Miguel followed the Elf through corridors and up a flight of stairs. They reached the end of a hallway where two attendants stood in front of double doors. Their escort spoke rapidly in Elvish, and one of the other attendants replied.

Pia asked in Eva’s head,
Any clue what they’re saying?

Eva turned to Pia with her most limpid innocent look.
They arguing
.

Apparently Eva couldn’t straighten up and fly right for long. Pia angled out her jaw. She told Eva,
I still hate you passionately.

Yeah, I still surviving, princess.

The Elves’ conversation had grown forceful. Finally the door attendant slipped inside the apartment while their escort studied the floor with her mouth folded tight. Clearly the woman felt like Pia had put her in a bad position, and Pia supposed she had.

A pungent herbal scent had wafted out when the attendant had opened the doors, along with a faint, unsettling whiff of blood. On either side of her, Eva and Miguel shifted into a tighter position until their shoulders brushed hers, and the invisible pincers at the back of Pia’s neck tightened as they waited.

She had lost her internal vision when they had traveled back inside, and she fumbled to retrieve it. Her concept of where the various sparks of Power had shifted with the change in her position, and that flat, black patch was so quiet and subtle anyway. . . .

The door opened again, and Beluviel herself stood in the doorway. For the first time since Pia had become acquainted with the other woman, the consort looked disheveled and tired. Beluviel wore a simple loose tunic and cotton trousers, and her long dark hair was bound haphazardly back from her face.

Pia’s internal vision settled into utter clarity. Whatever the dark thing was, it was in the apartment behind Beluviel. Could it be the emissary’s illness that Linwe had mentioned?

The strong, medicinal herbal scent, mingled with the scent of blood, wafted through the air again. Even though Beluviel held the door partially closed, Pia could see several individuals in the apartment behind the consort and hear quiet-voiced conversation. She glimpsed a few familiar faces of people she had seen in the main hall earlier that day. They stood in a tight cluster around a tall male she had never seen before.

All the Elves were striking in some way, and this man was no different. He had his own particular charisma, with gleaming chestnut hair pulled back from precise features, and eyes that were as green as the Wood and just as compelling.

The man turned and looked at her. Such green eyes, like a sunlit, beckoning glade that called so seductively to her.

A glade for her forest creature to get lost in, reveling in mystery and silence.

No, she was wrong. She
had
seen this man before. Of course she had. Somewhere. He was more familiar to her than any of the other Elves that were present. She had talked with him at length at some point, perhaps at one of the functions she had attended over the last seven months. Perhaps over dinner. . . .