Page 73 of Gryphon in Light

It was absolutely dismal working in the rain, however, and he was very glad to stop and change into dry clothing. It wouldn’t stay dry for long, of course, but at least he could take a brief rest and sit down in something that didn’t squish.

Firesong finished creating the Gate inside the perimeter, and although Hallock couldn’t read his expression behind his mask, his posture said he was as ready for a rest as the Valdemaran was. “We’d never have been able to do this so ‘quietly’ if it wasn’t for Kel,” the Adept said conversationally, as he sat down next to Hallock on a bit of tree trunk and accepted broiled meat and wild onions on flatbread from Ayshen. “He topped up the barge power stores last night from his Heartstone. Today I was able to tap them without exhausting myself or pulling local power, and he’ll be able to top them up again once he’s back.”

Hallock wasn’t sure why Firesong was telling him this, but he nodded anyway.

“Well,” said Ayshen. “I just hope the hunters find another herd of wild pigs, or something equally bountiful. He and Torandi will be ravenous when they return, if they haven’t found anything on the way.”

“Kel didn’t seem any too pleased about what you sent him to do, Firesong,” Hallock observed dispassionately. “Is he still afraid he’s unstable?”

“Oh, he’s unstable, but he has a lot of options now to mitigate that.” Firesong rubbed the back of his neck fretfully. “I don’t know why he didn’t want to make the trip with Torandi. It’s exactly the sort of thing his heroes would have done.”

“Oh, I know why!” Ayshen chortled. “It’s got nothing to do with the task, and everything to do with the company. He’d much rather have been sent out—alone!—with Vindaria!”

That made Firesong raise his head. “So the wind blows in that direction, does it?” He chuckled. “And what about the lady?”

“Keeping her mind on her job,” Ayshen replied, with a disappointed sigh. “But if you cue us when things are safe enough—short-term, obviously—that they could be intimate, we can arrange things with Nightwind.” Hallock was taken aback, but Firesong had no reaction at all.

Ayshen might have elaborated on that, but at that point the first of the foot-hunters came back with their small game, and the rest of the thorn-bush seekers arrived with their burdens. So Ayshen had to busy himself with the cooking and serving, and Hallock with building the defensive wall. Firesong was left beside the fire to stare into it and nurse his tea and his strength.

Just about dusk, as the last of every party but the Gate-builders returned, the Gate flared into activity for a moment, Torandi and Kel leapt through it, and the Gate shut down again. Firesong was there to see it, and jumped to his feet to join them.

“It’s all like this as far as we went,” Kel said, before Firesong could question him. “Trees, low hills, rain. So much rain! I was glad we could fly above it, mostly.”

He flopped down under the canvas next to the fire and closed his eyes in concentration. Smoke began to rise from his feathers.

“Kel!” Hallock cried in alarm, and Kel cracked an eye.

“It’s steam,” he said shortly. “I am not setting myself on fire. I hope.”

“Kel—” Firesong said, warningly. “That’s almost not funny.”

“Yes, it is funny,” Kel retorted. The steam stopped rising from his feathers. “Funnier than rain and wet feathers.”

“Did anyone see anything unusual today?” Firesong asked, ignoring him.

“Mebbe?” said Jefti, and Jak nodded his head. “It was . . . kinda like a plume of smoke, only stretched out sideways, ’stead of up and down. It didn’t blow away, an’ stayed together even with rain fallin’ through it. I just saw it for a blink. Jak saw it twice.”

:And Jak did not like it at all, thank you,: said the Companion. :It felt as if it was sizing us up for dinner, and trying to decide if we would be worth the struggle.:

“You’re sure that wasn’t your imagination?” Silverfox asked gently.

:Perhaps,: Jak admitted. :Jefti didn’t feel anything.:

“To be sure, Jefti has never given us any indication that he has Gifts,” Nightwind pointed out. “But—” She pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. “Jefti is small for his age, and hunger—I’m not blaming your mother, Jefti, but you spent most of your childhood hungry—hunger has led to delays in his growth. So he could come into Gifts on this trip.”

“But he doesn’t have them now,” Hallock stated.

“No,” she admitted. “Not that I can tell, at least.”

“So we continue to be on our guard,” Silverfox said, in a tone of voice that made it into a decree. “Let’s—”

“Eat,” Ayshen interrupted firmly. “You will be happy to know that the foot-hunters brought in more than enough to feed the birds for two days, and the winged hunters found enough in the way of a deer here and a boar there that everyone will go to bed stuffed and there will be plenty for breakfast.”

Since the little hertasi was brandishing a very large carving knife and wore a bloodied apron, no one was inclined to argue with him. Firesong regained his depleted stores of energy thanks to Kelvren, food was shared out, and mage-lights under the canvas created a space that, while it was not cozy thanks to the pouring rain, was at least convivial. And the last thing that Firesong did before accepting a bowl of thick stew and flatbread was to put full shields and wards over the camp, just inside the ring of thorn bushes. Then he heard Genni and Hallock trying to stifle laughs.

“What?” he asked them, and Genni couldn’t hold laughter back any longer.

Hallock adopted an expression of dark seriousness and replied as if his soul was being tortured, “It’s Stew Day.”