Da blew out a long breath and shook his head in disgust. He would never put up with anyone mistreating a child, would Da. He turned to Sylvester.
“So, you were some little bit of a boy when he scooped you up? Disgraceful.”
Sylvester looked surprised to be addressed. He had been silent, concentrating on his dinner.
“Yes,” he said. “I don’t remember it, though. It was many years ago now, of course, and our memories of the children we were before seem to disappear as part of the ... process.”
“That’s beside the point,” said Da. “You just don’t treat people that way.”
“I am not precisely a person,” said Sylvester with a certain awkwardness.
“Like hells you aren’t,” said Da. “Of course you are.” He reached out and prodded the sorcerer with one of his meaty fingers, startling him again. “That little boy is still in there, somewhere, and he deserved better.”
I felt a ridiculous pricking of tears at the back of my eyes. Oh, Da.
“He took another girl, while I was there,” I said. “Millie, her name was.”
“Oh, the poor little thing,” said Da.
I thought about telling him how we had seen Millie floating in the tank, her heart out and floating like a kite on a string, but I didn’t want Da to have to imagine such things. Bad enough that we had to bring him such terrible news.
“Da, they need more hearts,” I said. “The ones they have are all sick with something, a mold or a disease that’s eating them up. They’re running out. Until they find a way to fix them, if they ever do, they’re going to need to replace them. And there’s a whole palace full that they have to replace.”
“So, what does that mean?” asked Da, looking at me sharply.
“They’re going to ride out, all eleven of them ... Or twelve, I suppose, if they’ve changed Millie into one of them already. I don’t know how long it takes.”
Sylvester shook his head. “It will be many years before she is a full sorceress. She will have the ... necessary parts for one when he removes her from the chamber, but we are trained until adulthood.”
“Right, so eleven. They usually only take hearts from the outlying villages, but this time they’re going to almost all of them.”
“They will probably start here,” said Sylvester. “Partly because they like to take the bulk of the harvest from the farthest places, as Foss said, and ...” he hesitated.
“And what?” I asked.
“And because this isyourvillage, Foss. The king will know it, and he will take pleasure in harvesting from it first and deepest, for your sake and for mine.”
“They’re coming here?” said Da. “When?”
“I cast a sleep spell that I would hazard still holds,” said Sylvester. “I used an inordinate amount of power for it.”
“An inordinate number of hearts,” I said under my breath.
“They will awaken soon and come here as soon as they have gathered themselves. You have a day, perhaps. Maybe two.”
“That’s not terribly long,” commented Da.
“You need to get out, Da,” I said. “All of you. You need to get out and hide.”
Da turned his mug of tea between his hands. “Where can we hide, from the king himself, and a small army of sorceresses? Where could we go that they could not follow?”
“I can help a little,” said Sylvester. “Perhaps it will be enough.”
“If you go deep enough into the woods, you may at least delay them a little,” I pleaded.
“And what about all the other villages that aren’t lucky enough to have you to warn them?” said Da. “They’ll be sitting ducks.”
“I know, Da,” I said. “But we don’t have much time. I had to make sure that you were all right.”
