“Where is she?’’
Meggie looked down, as if not wanting to look him in the face. “Gone. She left yesterday with Count Ramon DeBarges’s entourage. They turned up two days earlier, and when they left to go back south, Lela went with them.’’
Talon didn’t know what to say. He carried the bucket outside and dumped the contents in a trench near the wall. He paused for a moment to listen to the shift of sounds in the surrounding woods as day gave way to night. He savored the noise of night creatures awakening, sounds so familiar to him and so different from the sounds he had experienced in the city. He let the familiarity of the woodlands flood over him, then headed back to the kitchen. When he returned, “And Lars and Gibbs?’’
“They went, too.” With a shy smile, she said, “I guess for a while it’s just the two of us, Talon.’’
Talon looked at the slender girl and felt a sudden stab of confusion. She was flirting with him the way she had with Lars when they weren’t fighting. But Lela was gone! He had thought himself in love with her, until Caleb had told him that he had been with her, as had both Lars and Gibbs. Now the girl he thought of as Lars’s woman was turning her attention to him.
Suddenly he was very tired. The tension of the trip, the simmering rage of seeing the men who had been responsible for the death of his family, the knowledge that they were returning north, and his confusion at the strange games in which Robert and the others were involved were all taking their toll.
Just then an odd popping sound came from outside, followed by a sizzling sound like ball lighting rolling across a distant meadow.
Meggie exclaimed, “Magnus is here!’’
Before Talon could ask how she knew, the kitchen door opened wide and the white-haired man entered. He glanced around the kitchen, then, without saying a word, passed into the common room.
“I thought he was on some journey to visit his family,” said Talon.
Meggie leaned forward. “Haven’t you understood it yet? Magnus and Robert can do magic! They can come and go in the blink of an eye if they wish it.’’
Talon remembered the conversation with Caleb, which had confirmed his suspicions. It made him feel uncomfortable. It was another thing Robert had neglected to tell him, another thing he had had to find out for himself.
Leo and Martha prepared a small meal for the four of them; then Leo took food into the commons for the others. They dined in relative silence, with Leo or Martha occasionally asking Talon about something he might have noticed in the city. More often than not it was a question about some feature of the city he had neglected to notice. Halfway through the meal the conversation fell off into an awkward silence.
After the kitchen had been cleaned and preparations made for the morning meal, everyone turned in, leaving Talon alone in the kitchen. He ventured to peer into the common room, and there he saw Robert, Caleb, Pasko, and Magnus deep in conversation. Robert glanced up, and seeing him standing there, said, “Good night, Talon.’’
Talon closed the door and stood outside for a moment, uncertain of what to do. He had no room of his own to go to, having left the barn for Lela’s room. After some consideration he decided that if she was gone, he might as well use the room for himself.
He mounted the back stairs and opened the door. The room was empty. The simple chest stood open, and the bed was made up, but none of Lela’s personal belongings were left behind. Her brush was missing from the small table, as were the tiny boxes in which she kept the few belongings she had acquired over the years.
He fell hard upon the straw-filled mattress, causing the rope-and-wood frame to groan, and lay thinking. What was to become of him? He had stumbled upon some insights, but he knew there was far more going on than he imagined. Robert was obviously involved with people a great deal more important than Kendrick. Caleb had mentioned his father in passing, but Talon had no idea of his name or what his stake in these things might be.
The conversations downstairs appeared to be much more earnest than they would have been if they’d simply been gossiping about the coming war, or concerned over the defense of the steading.
No, there was far more here than Talon had yet apprehended, and it frustrated him not to understand the full picture.
He was so lost in thought he barely heard the door open behind him. He rolled over and saw Meggie slip through the door. She smiled at him and whispered, “I thought I might find you here.’’
He was about to ask her what she wanted when he saw her reach up and unfasten the ties at the shoulders of her shift. The simple dress fell away, and she came over and knelt upon the pallet next to him. “Move,” she snapped, as if he was too slow to understand, and when he did, she slipped under the blanket.