"We'll wait for you in the great room," Camid said, shoving Adhémar out of the chamber before him. The rest of the men followed, dragging Fletcher with them. Morgan opened her mouth to thank Miach for tending to her blades, while of course taking the opportunity to chastise him for apparently removing them from her person, but the chamber was empty. She looked over at the corner. At least nothing appeared to have been filched.
But what of Nicholas's blade?
Her heart beat with uncomfortable swiftness and she found herself on her feet without really knowing how she'd gotten there. She crossed the chamber in two quick strides, grabbed her pack, and opened it with hands that shook far more than she would have liked.
It was unnecessary.
The blade still whispered to her.
She set her pack down with trembling hands and cursed softly. She could not continue this way, unsure of her next step, faced at every turn with magic and creatures from nightmares?
No more boats. They were just too hard on her.
"Morgan? Breakfast."
Morgan looked over at Glines. "I thought it was supper."
"It's morning."
Morgan nodded as if she'd known it all along, then began to methodically replace her weapons. Once they were all residing where they should have been, she buckled her sword about her hips and shouldered her pack. That Glines only waited and didn't offer to help was reassuring. Perhaps she looked more herself than she dared hope.
She followed him out of the chamber and into the gathering room, realizing as she did so that she had no memory of ever coming through there in the first place.
That was not a pleasant realization.
She continued to follow Glines over to a table where a place had been saved for her. She sat, applied herself briskly to her breakfast, and hoped it would remain where it was supposed to. It was only after she held a mug of ale in her hand and sat back to test her stomach's resiliency that she looked around her. She blinked in surprise to see that Miach was indeed still loitering about in his brother's fashion. He sat over in a corner, very far apart from them, staring off into the distance as if he saw something no one else did.
"Adhémar," Paien said, tapping his fingers in an annoying fashion on the table, "where is your brother? I thought he would remain for a day or two."
Adhémar shrugged. "He comes and goes. I imagine he's somewhere hereabouts."
"Of course he is," Morgan said. "He's sitting over there."
Her companions looked to where she was pointing, then began to shift uncomfortably. All save Fletcher who looked at her as if she'd lost her mind.
She frowned. "What?"
"Morgan," Glines said carefully, "there's no one over there."
"Of course there is, you fool," she said. "I can see him as plainly as I can see you."
Glines and Paien exchanged a look. The look was then exchanged between Paien and Camid. Then Paien turned back to her. "Let's have a bit of fresh air, shall we? It will clear our heads."
"I'm telling you, he's right there," she said, pointing toward the corner. "I'll go get him. "
She got up, only to find that the corner was now empty. She came to a stumbling halt and rubbed her eyes. There was indeed no one sitting at that little table there.
But there had been a moment ago.
She would have sworn it.
The front door opened and she spun around to see who it was. She was somehow quite unsurprised to find it was Miach. Had he snuck out the back and come around to the front? She was certain, quite certain, that she had seen him in the darkened corner.
But why had no one else been able to?
"See?" Paien said, putting a hand briefly on her shoulder. "There he is."
"He was in that corner but a heartbeat ago," Morgan muttered under her breath.
