“You three rest the ponies,” Adair told the men. “I am going ahead on foot.”
Dabhor protested, “And if ye get lost? Ye do not know this land.”
Nay, but he was coming to know it, deep and strong.
“Wait here,” Adair bade the men, and hared off before they could prevent him.
Soon enough, the silence of the night forest closed around him. Only, as he swiftly discovered, the silence was notsilent. It still whispered to him in the movements of small animals, in the rustle of tree branches, and in something more—a low hum that matched the rush of blood through his veins. A soft voice that sounded almost like the music Bradana wove from her harp late at night.
Alba, alive around him. Speaking to him.
He spoke back to her.Aid me. Let me find her. Show me which way to go.
When the hound appeared before him, he had to blink for fear he’d summoned up what he wanted to see. Wen was no more than a long, dark shape, but he whined beneath Adair’s hands and trembled.
“Good boy, fine lad,” Adair breathed, hunkering down. “D’ye know where she is?”
Apparently Wen did. He ran forward, then back to make sure Adair followed.
The next few moments felt like a dream, too fantastical to be real. The hound moved silently, as did Adair. He could no longer feel his feet hit the ground. The trees, seeming identical and endless, blocked his way repeatedly but he wove his way through them, one hand resting on Wen’s rough coat.
He smelled a wisp of smoke before he saw the place, and his lips spread in a mirthless smile. So confident was Mican, he’d dared to light a fire.
Wen paused at the edge of a small, stony clearing, and Adair stood stock-still beside him. The hound trembled with eagerness. Neither of them made a sound.
To the left, large, dark shapes and a few restless movements told Adair the ponies had been picketed. The fire slumbered, no more than an orange-red eye on the ground. So did most the men, anonymous, dark shapes wrapped in their cloaks.
Two men stood guard, neither appearing particularly alert. One stood motionless across the way. The other, not far from Adair and Wen, moved restlessly.
To be sure, the man had no notion that Adair and the hound were so near.
Which of the prone figures was Bradana? It was too dark to see the colors of clothing. One body did appear a bit smaller than the others, but naught was certain. Which was Mican?
A knife blade in the dark might solve many problems. But once the sleepers roused, the battle would be intense.
Wen whined softly. Adair pondered what to do. He could follow them and wait for a chance, one that might not come. They would no doubt reach Mican’s stronghold sometime tomorrow.
Wen whined again. The guard nearest them turned toward them.
One of the prone figures lifted its head from the ground.
Was that Bradana? Had she somehow heard her hound? Aye, the size of the figure seemed right. But she lay close to the fire, and Adair would be hard-pressed to reach her.
He touched the hound’s back again.Stay.He slid not his sword but his knife from its loop on his belt, and crept forward.
Chapter Forty-Two
Bradana never knewwhat alerted her. Some wild instinct, perhaps, or a rustled whisper from the trees overhead.
She ached too badly and harbored too much fear to sleep, though the men around her did. When they stopped, Mican had dumped her on the ground and growled at her that she should not move. His men had built a fire but made no offer to her of food or water.
She cared little for the former, but would have killed for a cool drink.
She had remained where Mican dumped her as the men conversed, mounted a guard, and eventually lay down around her. Mican lay not far away—within arm’s reach. Two men stood on watch pacing the perimeter of the camp. Until the fire died, she could see them clearly. After, not so much, but she knew they would see her if she tried to rise. If she made an attempt to get away.
Mican—arrogant man that he was—had failed to bind her hands or feet. He did not think much of her as an opponent.
If she ran, they would pursue her. She knew not what lay out there in the dark. But she sensed…
