All save Edwin, whose lips curled downward. “I would say you’re late, Corwin, but that would be a gross understatement.”
“There are daydrakes in the Wandering Woods.” Corwin pulled the magestone from his pocket and held it out. “They were caged in a pit and hidden with magic.” Placing the magestone on the table, he told them the rest.
“Very worrisome,” Grand Master Storr said when Corwin finished. Storr picked up the magestone, examining it closely. “This stone had a concealment spell on it, the kind for sale in any of the brown-robe houses. It would be difficult to trace, to say the least.”
Corwin gaped at him, dismayed. The concealment spells he knew of were for hiding simple things like blemishes on the skin or an unfortunately shaped nose, not a massive pit in the ground housing four deadly daydrakes. “But the browns deal in the small arts, vanity spells and the like. This was far bigger and more powerful.” Corwin waved Storr off when he started to respond. “Later. For now we need to scour the woods to catch whoever put the drakes into that cage.”
Minister Knox and Master Cade both stood at the same time. “My men can be ready to ride as soon as the horses are saddled,” Knox said.
“I’ve already got the grooms saddling their horses,” Corwin replied before Master Cade could respond. Then he turned to Storr. “But we will need magist support as well. There’s no telling what other magic our enemies possess.”
Storr bowed his head. “I’ll have Maestra Vikas assemble her golds. They will be best for dealing with such rogue magic.”
Corwin didn’t argue. He didn’t care so long as they hurried.
But nearly an hour passed before the troop of cavalry soldiers and golds were mounted and ready to go. Edwin and Corwin rode at the front of the troop, with Kate trailing just behind them. No one questioned her presence, although Corwin suspected they would later. The councilmembers who’d decided to come along all eyed her curiously. So did Grand Master Storr, although he was better at hiding it. Only Minister Rendborne seemed unconcerned with her presence, going so far as to exchange a few words with her as they rode along. Corwin cast the man a grateful nod.
They entered the white woods in a single file, the path too tangled and overgrown for anything else. Behind him, Corwin heard several of the men whisper oaths of protection against entering the cursed woods. Maestra Vikas soon barked an order for her golds to cast spells of protection.
Within minutes they arrived at the same clearing. At least, Corwin thought it was the same one, only there was no sign of the pit or the drakes. The clearing was undisturbed, as serene as if it hadn’t been touched by human hands in a hundred years.
Corwin glanced at Kate, doubt making him uneasy. “Did we make a mistake?”
Biting her lip, she shook her head. “This is the place. Maybe they came back and hid it again?”
She dismounted and walked toward the center where the pit should’ve been. Corwin joined her, as did Grand Master Storr and Edwin. Visions of the ground giving way flashed through his mind, but nothing happened. They searched for hidden magestones in the grass, Vikas going so far as to use an illumination spell, but they found nothing. The pit and the dead drakes were gone, as if they’d never been there.
“It was here. I swear it.” Corwin turned to where Edwin and Storr stood, Vikas and Rendborne joining them.
A glower colored Edwin’s face. “If this has all been one of your ploys, Corwin, I’ll—”
“What reason would I have to lie?” Corwin balled his hands into fists, ready to hit something in his frustration, even as an embarrassed flush threatened to rise in his cheeks. He felt twelve years old again, with his brother so ready to accuse him of seeking attention. “The daydrakes were real, Edwin, and so was that man with the flash stone.”
Grand Master Storr cleared his throat. “If I may offer, your highness: Supposing it is true that these daydrakes are a tool of the Rising, then there’s an easy explanation for what happened here.”
“Yes,” Maestra Vikas said, nodding. Like the grand master, she wore no mask, her skin pale as white silk. Equally pale hair framed her narrow face. It would’ve been an attractive face, with her gray eyes like storm clouds, if only her expression weren’t always so austere, like a marble statue. “An earthist could’ve easily hidden evidence of the pit.”
Corwin swore beneath his breath, seeing the insidious brilliance of it. He exchanged a look with Kate, hers more worried than angry. “It took us a long while to get back here. Surely enough time for a wilder to have come in and taken care of it.”
Edwin looked doubtful, but he didn’t argue. Instead he turned to the men crowding into the clearing. “We need to search the woods. Overturn every leaf and stone. I want small groups heading in different directions, but there needs to be a gold in each one for safety.”
“A wise plan, your highness,” Storr said, sketching a bow.
While Edwin took charge of organizing the groups, Corwin drew Kate aside for a private word.
“You must be tired and hungry. Do you want me to have someone escort you to the castle?”
“I don’t need an escort.” She brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen loose from her braid. “But no, I’ll stay and help. I might be of use.”
Corwin held in a sigh. He didn’t want her in these woods, not with wilders and drakes about, but he knew better than to try to order her home. Besides, a part of him was relieved she was staying. It was the same part that always seemed able to find her in a crowd. He wanted to take her hand, to lace her fingers with his, but he settled for a touch of her shoulder.
“I know you’ll be of help. I don’t think I would’ve found the pit in the first place without you.”
Kate dropped her gaze, shrugging. “The horses told us more than anything.”
“True. But if you’re going to stay, I want you to ride with me.” He hesitated, then added, “Please.”
Kate looked up, her eyes bright and that secretive, sideways smile appearing on her face. “Of course. Where else would I go?”
Away, he thought, remembering Hale’s ledger, once this is all over. But no, he shouldn’t dwell on that now. It was a dangerous subject, leading him down a dark road to nowhere.
They searched the woods until dusk began to descend and Edwin called it off. They’d found nothing so far, but early the next morning they returned to search once more. Again, they found nothing. Hour after hour, path after path. Nothing. Not so much as a single claw mark in the mud.
“We didn’t even find the Hellgate,” Corwin said as the search party rode back to the city. “How is that possible?”
Although he hadn’t directed the question at anyone in particular, Master Storr chose to answer. “People lie, your highness, sometimes even the ones who write the history books.”
It was an unpleasant thought, but less so than the certainty that he’d come so close to uncovering the mystery behind the daydrakes and who might be controlling them, only to fail again.
19
Corwin