Secrist smirked. “How convenient.”
Miestri nodded. “He has a weapon you desire, I think.”
Secrist frowned and rubbed the stubble on his jaw. “What do you want me to do with him? Bring him back to you?”
“Kill him.”
Secrist smiled. “What about the Sleepwalker?” He nodded to the Everoot. “If I have to face another one, I’ll need more of that.”
Miestri shook her head and reached into the folds of her robes. She withdrew a dagger with a copper hilt. A piece of leather wound around the grip. The blade was not any metal that Dujahn had ever seen. It had a grainy texture that looked like black sand. Had she poisoned it?
Miestri passed the dagger to Secrist, who studied the blade in the lamplight. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. “Deathbane,” she answered and watched the Kiran Thall grip it, mesmerized by the blade’s dark texture. “If the blade so much as glances the skin – even a Sleepwalker would die. And no amount of Everoot will bring him back. Now go, Secrist. Use it against the Shae. Nothing can stop you.”
A dark smirk crossed Secrist’s face as her magic wove through him. He couldn’t take his eyes from the dagger. “Where will you be after I’ve killed the Shaden?”
XXVII
Allavin Devers slouched against a cedar, resting a moment. He squeezed his yew bow, gritting his teeth. Anger and fear wrestled inside him. Only the Rebellion made him this angry. He was angry that a pig-headed knight rebelled all those years ago and caused so much suffering because of his ambition. And very few things in the valley frightened him anymore. Except the Sorian – the Witch of the Vale. He shook his head and steeled himself. The knight wasn’t afraid. Those from Owen Draw had lived too long on the borders of the Kingshadow near the largest nest of Bandit regiments. They had learned to master their fear long ago. But he knew the magic of the Sorian would affect the Shae even more. Distant shouts whispered through the woods. He had come back to see why Thealos and Justin had not followed and discovered the Kiran Thall clotting the forest and following two sets of trails. He muttered an oath. The girl would be worried about Thealos. So would the Drugaen. Allavin had to admit it to himself. He was too.
Leaning away from the tree, Allavin quickly climbed the small rise, careful in every bootstep. Clearing the tracks as he went, he listened to the sounds of pursuit. The Kiran Thall were furious at being eluded, even though it was still the middle of the night. They had the advantage of horses and lanterns, but the Shadows Wood was thick and nearly impenetrable by horse in some points. Allavin knew enough tricks to shake the horsemen loose. But he wasn’t confident either of the Shae did. He hoped Thealos was competent enough to elude the Kiran Thall. The difficult part would be crossing the lowlands to Landmoor without being seen. The edge of the forest was several miles from the city walls. And he had his suspicions that the Kiran Thall would be watching from the trees.
Grabbing a branch, he swung himself up and over a huge juniper bush and landed deftly. He glanced both ways, trying to pick out the path in the near blackness by touching the earth, letting his fingers read the signs instead of his eyes. Not much further to where he had left the others. The earth was mushy in spots, which he tried to avoid. Clearing tracks from mud was very difficult. But unless the Bandits did full circle sweeps every hundred paces, they wouldn’t find his trail.
“It’s Allavin.” Flent’s rough voice was distinctive in the darkness.
Allavin smiled. He’d forgotten about the Drugaen’s sight. Bounding the last few steps up the steep rise, he joined the others in a small clearing surrounded by rock and crooked cedar high up the slope. A thin shaft of blue moonlight invaded the clearing, glinting dully off of the knight’s armor.
“Where’s Quickfellow?” Ticastasy asked.
Allavin settled down in a crouch, laying the bow across his lap.
“Captured?” the knight asked.
Allavin shook his head. “No. Not yet.” He eyed each one of them. “I think she got the Sleepwalker though.”
Stillness fell over the group.
“Are you sure?” Sturnin sounded skeptical.
Allavin shrugged. “I don’t know enough about Sleepwalkers to be sure. But she called up this red fire to surround him and then a flash of lightning from above…”