The Lost Endeavour Page 14

“I don’t know,” he admitted, “but it is what I need to do.”

  She studied him for too long, trying to understand him, which he doubted she could do, for he didn’t understand himself. Then she turned and, taking her father by the hand, joined the other girls. They had very little with them. Some carried a piece of cloth tied around a bulge, maybe clothing, with the four corners knotted together to act as a handle.

  “I’ll need my cloak,” Ed said, striding back towards the huts. He wasn’t sure what else he could take, and his father’s sword stared up at him from its place on the cot. He had become complacent, he realised as he strapped it on. They all had, to some degree. Dray had been seen without his armour. Although it had only been a couple of nights before he had gone back to the sturdy, unshakable man.

  Ed glanced at the other man’s side of the room, and there was nothing there. He truly carried everything with him. Knives, swords, armour. He must have been wearing his cloak already, for it wasn’t there. As Ed approached the group, he noticed that the soldier was staring out into the trees around the village. Did he worry for what might be there? Or was he looking for Ana?

  Belle was right; he was distracted and not himself. He would have been the first to greet Ana, no matter the circumstances, embracing her and claiming her for himself. Yet he stood back, as though he was wary of her and what she might do, when she had appeared in the forest. There was one night when Ed had thought she had appeared, as Dray had called out to her, but when he rose from his own cot, the large soldier was still sleeping. Maybe he was worried.

  “Do we worry about Ende?” Ed asked as he rejoined the group. The girls, women, were talking amongst themselves, and Eilke was moving along the road. The group had started to form a line as it followed him.

  “Ana knew where he was,” Dray said without looking around.

  Ed nodded. Ende could look after himself. Although Ed had hoped he would help look after him. He was his mother’s friend, after all. It might have been the forest, for he hadn’t been the same since they had entered it. Or it might be Salima. Ende really hadn’t known of his sister. Perhaps he didn’t understand what had happened to Mother, or he blamed her for her death. Ed shivered at the idea. But she had died to protect her, or so Ed had thought at one point. If his mother had wanted Salima to survive, Ende would want that too.

  Ed looked through the slowly moving group for Belle, but she was closer to the front. “Is it safe to have only one of the Near with us?” he asked, then wondered if he should have taken the time to say his goodbyes to the chief.

  Something whispered against his skin. The chief might know far more than Ed could ever explain.

  “You and I both have a sword,” Dray said, looking Ed over, his brow creased. “Do you know what you do?”

  “Would you rather stay?”

  “I will do as you do.”

  “Because Ana asked?”

  The man stared ahead at the women and then turned back to Ed, far more serious than he remembered the soldier being. “Because you are my king.”

  Ed nodded once, and they followed the women through the shimmering edge of the village into the forest. None of it looked familiar. He wondered how close they were to the Seat of the Forest and what the lord might think when he arrived.

  ֍

  Despite strange dreams of a world she didn’t know, Ana felt quite refreshed when she woke. The room was as she had imagined it, only there was no one present, and she was surprised that they would trust her alone again. She should have told them about the magic, she thought as she climbed from the bed and looked down at the unfamiliar nightshirt. Was that to slow her down? She had been wearing the same silky dress since she had attacked the regent and been locked in the ice cells.

  She had no idea how long ago that was, and she had no idea how long she had slept. She had returned from the forest drained, as though someone or something had dragged all the energy from her.

  The darkness had called her. It wasn’t just that she knew it was out there—something that scared her beyond words, something that was a danger to Ed and those with him—but that it had called to her. As it did now.

  She stepped forward, closed her eyes and dragged in a deep breath. It was here in the castle, and it wanted her to see what it had become.

  The little maid came to mind, the one with the strange link to the mage and the understanding of what he wanted. As did Ana’s mistrust and dislike of her, even though the girl had dressed her and bathed her as instructed. Despite the darkness wanting to impress her, part of it still wanted to use its power to destroy her.

  She smiled at the idea. She had wanted to slap the girl before; she certainly could now. The remains of the dress hung over the back of a chair by the fire. She ran a hand over it, feeling the fine material, but it was torn and worn. She wondered if the wardrobe remained in her room by the mage’s workshop, and she shook her head at the silliness of it as she pushed herself there.

  She pulled open the wardrobe door and stood back to look over its contents. The room was just as it had been left, except the image Ana had taken of the queen from Ed’s room was no longer there. Had she put that somewhere, or had the mage used it to find Ed? Or to send the creature after him?

  The fine dresses were there as she remembered, and she moved through them searching for something a little thicker than the fine one she had been wearing for so long. She realised then that it was still in her hand, and she put it down on the bed to reach for another.

  They were all the same, or at least very similar. She removed the nightshirt and pulled on a fresh dress. She looked herself over in the mirror on the inside of the door. It certainly made a difference. No one would mistake her for a maid now. She wondered if her own aunt would even recognise her. Her new look had certainly unsettled Dray.

  He had looked so unsure the last time she had seen him. But she hadn’t returned to him in her dreams, not since the beast. She had longed for him, but she couldn’t remember seeing him.

  She saw the hairbrush on the mantle and picked it up, turning it over slowly, then returned to the mirror to drag it through her hair. The other women of the court had worn their hair up in a similar fashion to Belle when they were at the Seat of the Lord in the mountains. Ana could do something similar, but then who would see her? And if anyone did see her, after what had happened last time she was in the castle, it wouldn’t matter what she wore or how she looked. She appeared too pale, she thought, leaning forward to study herself in the glass. Her dark hair made her look even paler. She tucked it behind her ears, straightened up and smoothed over the dress.

  She moved to the door that led to the rest of the castle and wondered if it was open. She leaned against it, but no one stood on the other side. She sighed as the darkness called again. She turned back to the other door and knew that the other side would be covered, although if she wished it, she could open the door and appear in the mage’s workshop as she had done so many times before.

  Instead, she answered the call that continued at the back of her mind.

  As the cool wind whipped around her hair and shoulders, Ana regretted the dress. Surely there was something that would keep her warm. She missed Ende’s cloak, and her own green cloak to keep the chill at bay. The cold wall of the castle stood at her back and the river flowed before her, barely a walkway between the two. Someone else was here, not the darkness that called but another.

  She suddenly wanted Dray and his warmth. Not like the little dragon’s heat, she wanted his arms around her. And then a cloak, very much like his, black and thick and a little prickly, rested on her shoulders. She pulled it tight. She put her nose to her shoulder and breathed in the scent of the wool. No hint of Dray. At least she hadn’t stolen his cloak.

  Ana moved carefully along the path, too aware of the fast-flowing river beside the narrow bank. A little further along the path, she noticed a man standing on the opposite bank. Fishing, she assumed, a rod held over the water and a basket by his feet. He didn
’t seem to notice her. She closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of muddy water. There was something else. As she looked up, the man sighed and started to pack away his rod. Then he looked up as though just noticing her. He lifted a hand in greeting and then turned away.

  Blood. She could smell blood. It was oddly calming, and the idea made her nervous.

  She followed the path, knowing that the darkness had been there before her and that it was gone. The small body by the water was not as damaged as she expected when she drew closer, and yet she knew it had gone. The soul, that was. Not just that the child was dead, but that his very essence had been pulled from his body.

  She knelt over him and pulled him over, worried that he would come out near such a fast-flowing river alone and dressed in so little. His bare feet appeared blue from the cold; or was that because he was already dead? His stomach had been sliced open, the cause of the blood.

  She glanced behind her at a sense of the darkness, but it wasn’t the same as she had felt before. She wasn’t sure exactly what that meant. Were there more of these creatures, and could she direct them in the same way? Not that she was sure she had directed the other, but she appeared to have stopped it taking Ed.

  She looked back over the child. Would the creature have taken Ed, or would it have killed him? She tried to understand what it had been; it was two in one. The maid and something else had become something new, something darker than either of them had been alone. Had something similar tried to claim the child? Was that a way for it to come to this side of the world? The veil, an idea breathed in her mind. She had heard that before.

  “Is this your doing?” she asked herself.

  Others wish to come.

  “If the child is not like me, then is that possible?”

  The maid.

  “Mmm,” Ana said, looking at the body before her. But someone had fed that child to the darkness, and she had taken it in. Had someone tried to feed this child to the darkness before it killed him? Was the mage experimenting with the kingdom’s children? She should have stayed and sought him out.

  Would you have won?

  “I don’t know,” Ana admitted.

  A cry from the wall above her made Ana pull back against the wall. “Are there more?” she whispered.

  A whole army.

  Ana shivered despite herself. Pulling the cloak around her tighter, she disappeared to the mage’s workshop before she was seen near the child. Was it truly a gift as the feeling had suggested? Or was it a threat?

  We work together. What do you seek here?

  Answers, she thought, although she didn’t know where to start. The room was strangely quiet. Despite her magic being stronger than it had ever been, she couldn’t hear the world that lived in here, somewhere on the border between worlds.

  She had barely taken a step when the door banged open.

  “You better explain this,” the regent shouted.

  She cursed the interruption and went back in the room Salima and her father had found for her before the regent saw her. She still didn’t know if the mage was there, or if he was responsible for any of what she had seen in the last few days. She moved towards the fire, but as she heard the approach of Ende, Master Forest and the little dragon working their way up the stairs towards her, she felt something else. Not the darkness that had called to her, but something very similar.

  The room she found herself in was strangely dark, as though someone had painted over the windows. She looked up, seeing the light pushing through the darkness, or at least trying. She raised her hand and then stopped.

  Another body torn open by the shadows was present, and judging by the stench there was a lot more blood. Despite the queasy feeling, Ana stepped forward as the body spread out before her started to twitch.

  Someone made a strange sound in the darkness. A torch flared to life, the soldier catching her unawares, appearing too much like Dray in his shiny armour before she waved her hand towards him and the torch died.

  “Is someone there?” he asked, sounding nothing like Dray.

  She sighed and turned back to the body as it pulled together. Not in a form anyone would recognise. The blood was the only thing not moving. The shadows closed in around her, yet she could see very clearly.

  “Hello? Miss?”

  “Shh,” she hissed.

  He took a step closer, his armour squeaking, and she wondered why they had left such a man to watch over the body. He was not the soldier Dray was. If only they were all Dray, she found herself thinking. She shook her head as the shadows disappeared.

  “Where did it go?” he asked. And then the shadows formed into something far more solid. The creature, very similar to the one she had seen in the forest. But this had not been accepted by a cruel girl. This had been accepted later. She could feel them both, the confused boy and the darkness surrounding him.

  “How did you capture his soul?” she asked.

  A strange hiss-like laughter filled the space, and the soldier dropped the dead torch. She could hear him clanking towards the door. As the light spilled into the room, the creature before her leant forward. “Why would my queen ask what she already knows?” it hissed. They hissed.

  “What do you want?” she asked, trying to sound confident when she was sure her legs would buckle. The amount of blood splashed around the room made her wonder just what these creatures were capable of.

  “What you want,” they said, a forked tongue flicking over reptilian lips. The large dark eyes blinked in the dim light, and then it was gone.

  She turned back to the door. The soldier stood in the doorway, and although she couldn’t make out his face with the light behind him, she knew that he watched her. Behind him, she felt Ende approach across the courtyard. She wondered if he had sensed her here, or if he’d guessed when he hadn’t found her in the room. She needed them, and yet she couldn’t face him and his questions.

  As he stepped up to the soldier in the doorway, she disappeared, hoping to be gone before his eyes could adjust to the dark room.

  Chapter 22

  Dray walked along behind the girls, tying to pay attention to the trees around them and what might be lurking behind them. They had camped for the night amongst the trees, and he got the feeling they were further from the Near Folk village than the amount of travel would have taken them. He wondered then if the Near Folk had not only directed their travel through the trees but moved them, as he had moved with Eilke when they had searched for Ende.

  The trees didn’t appear too different to him. And just as before, he couldn’t tell where they were. There was no real path, yet he trusted the man to lead them where they were meant to go.

  The king didn’t appear quite as certain. But Dray guessed it was more about what lay ahead than how they passed through the forest. Belle, on the other hand, looked more confident than he had seen her for some time. The self-assured young woman who had punched the young man in the arm before she knew just who he was appeared to have returned. She hadn’t been the same since she had learnt of the king’s true identity. He doubted the other women knew just who they were travelling with.

  Within only an hour of waking, they moved onto a clearer track, and then he could hear more people within the trees. Dray looked up into the canopy at walkways and huts built around the trunks, between the branches and leaves. If it hadn’t been for the noise of the people moving around, he might not have realised they were there.

  Eilke appeared to sigh as he rested his hand on a broad tree in which a large door had been carved. Dray wondered if these people had worked with the Near Folk, or if they could have helped each other to manipulate the forest. Eilke glanced back at Dray and then turned to the women at the front of the line.

  “Please wait,” he said, then disappeared through the doorway. Dray was curious as to where it led, but rather than follow he stepped forward, nudging the king to move with him as a quiet filled the world around them.

  He glanced up at men lining the walkway
s, men that could have come from anywhere in the kingdom. They didn’t appear to share any similarities with the Near Folk. Women stood in doorways, with small children at their legs peering down at the women below, or with babies in their arms. Older children leaned over the ropes of the walkways, openly staring at the group in the small space between the trees.

  Eilke appeared on one of the walkways and bowed to a tall, dark-haired man. He appeared younger than Dray would have expected for a lord, but he might be someone else. Yet there was something about him that gave Dray the understanding that he was more important than the other men lining the walkways. He nodded slowly, looking over the group of women as Eilke continued to talk quietly to the man, who then turned a hard jaw towards the Near man.

  “Something he doesn’t like,” Dray muttered.

  “Probably a king sneaking into the ranks,” the king returned.

  “At least the people appear to be real,” Dray added as the man waved them forward and Dray prodded the king towards the door.

  It swung open before they reached it. They looked at each other, Dray unsure if he should go first or follow. The king made up his mind for them and pushed ahead. Dray shouldn’t be struggling this much, but he still felt as though he was distracted, not quite paying the attention he should. Ana hadn’t visited him in his sleep the night before, and he was both relieved and disappointed. She had not been herself the last time.

  He shook his head and refocused in the dimly lit stairwell. The king pushed open a door and emerged into the green light of the walkway to face the young lord and Eilke.

  “You are no boy,” the lord said simply.

  The king snorted with laughter. “Not many people seem to think so.”

  The man looked him over and then held out a hand. As the king reached for it, the lord reached beyond his hand and took the king by the forearm. The king hesitated only a moment before clasping the man’s arm in return. Then the lord bowed his head, still holding on to the king. “Your Majesty,” he said.