Fixit shrugged. “I’m just saying.”
They sat quietly for a few minutes more and then rose to go off and eat their dinner.
TWENTY-THREE
I T WAS SHORTLY AFTER MIDDAY of the following day that Logan Tom pulled the Ventra 5000 onto the bridge that crossed north over the Columbia River to the refugee children’s camp and was confronted by a cluster of barricades and armed guards. Suspicious looks greeted his appearance, cast first toward the rune-carved black staff he was carrying and then toward his passenger. While Kirisin had the basic appearance of a human, there was no mistaking that the strange pointed ears and slanted eyebrows marked him as something more. The commander of the bridge defenders was summoned, took a quick look at things, and politely but firmly asked Logan and Kirisin to wait where they were for just a few minutes more.
“Seeking to pass any decision as to what to do with us on to someone else,” Logan said to the boy after the commander had departed.
“Don’t they know who you are?” Kirisin asked him.
“They know what I am, but not who I am. Big difference. If Hawk and the Ghosts haven’t made it here, no one will know anything at all about us.” He sighed. “It’s happened before. It’ll happen again.”
“Won’t they let us cross? They won’t turn us away, will they?” Kirisin paused. “Do you think that Praxia and the others are here?”
Now, that last was a good question, Logan thought. He shook his head at the boy, indicating his lack of a helpful answer. They should have caught up with Praxia and the other two Elves by now. Should have found them somewhere along the road coming up. But they had seen no sign of the Elves at all, and now Logan was starting to worry that something might have happened to them. And to the Loden Elfstone, which contained the bulk of the Elven nation, its talismanic tree, and its city. Logan didn’t like to think what that would mean.
They were silent after that while they waited, surrounded by guards arrayed loosely about the Ventra, weapons not leveled but ready, eyes watchful. Logan didn’t blame them. In their place, he would have assumed the same stance. He glanced past them to the barricades and then beyond to where a small cluster of men and women worked over what looked to be wires attached to detonators. He had done enough work with explosives while he was with Michael to know what he was looking at. The defenders of the camp were set to blow the bridge if they felt the barricades were in danger of being breached by an enemy.
He wondered if they had a specific enemy in mind. He wondered if they knew about the demon-led armies working their way inland from the coastal regions. Given that they had fled north from Los Angeles, it seemed likely they did.
“I’m worried about Angel Perez, too,” Kirisin said suddenly. Logan looked over at him. “We left her just down the river with Larkin Quill, a former Tracker that Sim knows.” He hesitated, as if he wanted to say something more. “He was looking after her until she was well enough to come join us. But we never heard anything more. She should be here, too. If she isn’t, we need to find her.”
Logan nodded without saying anything that would commit him. He couldn’t make Kirisin any sort of promise at this point. He wasn’t sure what he would and wouldn’t be able to do. Obviously, it would help to have another Knight of the Word in their camp. But he couldn’t be sure how fit she was or even if he could get to her. The demons under that old man would be coming as quickly as they could manage. Moving an army north through the mountains would take time, even if the demon drove them hard. But Logan could not depend on gaining more than a handful of days before the leading elements caught up to them and began efforts at forcing a crossing.
He couldn’t even promise himself that he would go back and look for Simralin, something he wanted desperately to do.
He shook his head. Mostly, he needed to get everyone moving. The longer they delayed in getting to the haven that Hawk was supposed to lead them to, the greater the danger that they wouldn’t reach it at all.
There was sudden movement from behind the barricades and guards. The commander of the bridge defense had returned in the company of two women. A small, intense woman with short-cropped blond hair and a determined step was in the lead. But it was the bronze-skinned woman walking next to her that caught his eye immediately.
Or, more particularly, the black staff she carried.
“Angel!” Kirisin shouted, scrambling out of the vehicle and rushing toward her.
A couple of the guards tried to stop him, but he was too quick for them, and the next thing anyone knew he had reached the second woman and flung his arms around her in an effusive hug. Logan watched in amusement, then extracted himself from the Ventra and walked over to join them.