Bearers of the Black Staff

Xac hesitated, not certain he wanted to reveal anything. “How would I know her? Why are you asking me?”


“When I talked to some people in the city, they told me they might have seen her with you. Please, young man, it’s very important. I need to tell her that her brother is very sick and ask her to come home right away.”

Xac found the old woman repulsive, but that didn’t give him the right to keep her from her daughter. Maybe the brother would die and the girl never get to see him, and it would all be his fault.

“She was here a couple of days ago, but she left again. She went up into the mountains with some friends of mine. But she’ll probably be back before the week is out.”

The old woman nodded without speaking, swaying a bit unsteadily. “I will wait for her, then. I’m too old to go searching in the mountains. Can you tell me one more thing? Where should I look for her when she returns?”

“She’s been staying with the Orullian brothers, Tasha and Tenerife. That’s who she left with.”

The old woman turned and started away. Her boots made a scraping sound on the loose stone of the walkway. “I will look for her there, then. Thank you, young man.”

Xac watched her go, wondering suddenly how she had managed to get this far, as hobbled as she was. Why had she even come, in fact? Why hadn’t she sent someone in her place?

He wondered, as well, with the instinctive suspicion of the young for what any older person tells them, if he had done the right thing.



THE LITTLE COMPANY FROM ARBORLON slept that night at the foot of the northern peaks, sheltered in a copse of fir backed against the rock of the foothills, and though it rained, they stayed warm and dry in their blankets. At first light, they set out once more, beginning their climb into the mountains. The passes of the safehold were more numerous and easily reached to the west and south than to the north and east, and Aphalion was a particularly difficult ascent, even in good weather, which today’s was not. They were on their second day out of Arborlon, and the weather had taken an unpleasant turn. It had begun raining before sunrise, and the rain got heavier as the day progressed, the skies remaining gray and unfriendly.

The climb was difficult under the best of conditions, steep and winding, the footing made treacherous by loose rock and sharp drops that fell away hundreds of feet as the five progressed. That it was raining and the ground slick made everything much worse, and the climbers were forced to keep their attention focused on where they placed their feet and found their handholds. They climbed in single file with Tasha and Tenerife trading off as leaders. Panterra and Prue knew the trail as well as the Elves, but deferred to their hosts. It was their country, after all.

Pan dropped back to the rear of the procession, glancing up periodically at Phryne Amarantyne as she climbed just ahead of him, nimble and sure-footed. He found her an enigma. The more time he spent with her, the more confused he became. Her admitted interest in him didn’t make sense. Nor could he come to terms with her easy friendship. She barely knew him, had spent only a handful of hours with him, and yet she was acting as if she had known him all her life.

But then girls confused him, anyway. Prue was the exception, and that was probably because he had known her for so long. She was the “little sister” to him that she was to Tasha and Tenerife, and their familiarity with each other had been tested and earned. Phryne, on the other hand, just assumed it was there and that it needed no seasoning and no consideration. It was enough for her that they were together on this journey and shared a common purpose in being so. Panterra, who had spent so much of his life alone and away from other people, save for Prue, was more comfortable staying apart. He was more reticent, more measured in developing his relationships. Phryne Amarantyne seemed to find this unnecessary.

At one point in their climb, Prue dropped back beside him. She didn’t say anything for a long time, but only kept him silent company.

Finally, she whispered, her voice so low he could barely hear it, “Do you see how she looks at you?” He knew right away whom she meant, so he simply shook his head no. In truth, he did not.

Prue cocked an eyebrow at him. “I think she likes you. A lot.”