Prue stared at it in disbelief. She had thought she would never see it again. Yet here it was, returned out of nowhere. It perched quietly on the branch, its sharp little eyes fixed on her as if watching to see what she would do. Prue was afraid to move, worried she might frighten it away. She badly wanted it to stay where it was so she could look at it, the only color she was allowed in her sight-impaired world. She wanted to look at it forever.
But at the same time she was admiring it, she could not help wondering why it was there. Why had it come back? Why now? She had thought it lost to her forever, once she found Pan.
Once she found Pan, she repeated.
And now she needed to find him again.
Go where you are led …
She heard the words of the King of the Silver River whispering in her mind, her memory of them clear and sharp. She stifled a gasp of recognition, still staring at the bird. It was the scarlet dove that had appeared to her when she was alone in the wilderness and had first discovered her sight was diminished. It was the dove that had shown her the way home—and to Pan.
She knew at once it wasn’t a coincidence that the dove had returned.
She couldn’t help herself. “Do you know where he is?” she whispered. “Beautiful thing, have you come to help me?”
The bird lifted off, flew a short distance away, and landed on a different branch. Prue walked toward it slowly, trying hard not to hurry, not to frighten it. “Are you taking me to him?”
When she was close, the dove flew to another branch, this one a little farther away, and landed once more. Prue stopped questioning whether the bird might be leading her to Pan. She knew that was exactly what it was doing. She rushed after it, no longer trying to hold back.
The bird flew swiftly, and soon she was running to catch up to it. She had gone all the way to the boundaries of the Ashenell when she realized she was being taken a different way than she had come. If she continued, she would leave the cemetery without passing Xac Wen.
Which would mean, of course, he would not know where she had gone, only that she had disappeared like Panterra and Phryne before her.
She almost turned back, but the fear of losing sight of the scarlet dove kept her from doing so. It was more important to find Pan than to explain herself.
Once she had passed through the south gates, she knew there was no going back, only forward. She hesitated one final time, still debating about taking time to find the boy.
After all, when she had followed the dove back to the valley from wherever the King of the Silver River had left her, it had waited on her when she faltered to make certain she could follow it. Wouldn’t it be the same here? But watching as the scarlet dove circled back and then flew on and out of sight, she experienced doubts she could not banish.
Finally, she gave up thinking she could do anything else but follow it and ran on.
As she did so, the Elves she passed gave her second looks, apparently noticing her eyes and wondering how a blind girl could run as quickly and unerringly as she did. She slowed, tiring anyway, still not recovered from her journey coming up from Glensk
Wood to Aphalion Pass and then back down to Arborlon. She had slept little and eaten less. She was already wondering how far she would get before thirst and hunger knocked her down.
She was still struggling with the guilt she felt for running out on Xac when she passed a boy who was about his age. She gave him a quick glance, then wheeled back and called him over.
“Do you know a boy called Xac Wen?” she asked him.
“Everyone does,” the boy answered, trying hard not to look at her milky eyes. His narrow face and severely downward slanted eyes gave him a feral look. “What’s he done now?”
“Nothing. But he’s sitting at the Belloruusian Arch waiting for me, and I need someone to tell him I’m not coming. Can you do that? Do you know the arch?”
The boy nodded. “I know it. But I’m not going there.”
She glanced over her shoulder, searching for the dove. She saw a flash of scarlet far in the distance, high in the trees. “I’ll give you something if you do.” She rifled through her pockets and produced a small metal bracelet Pan had made for her years ago. It was one of her most treasured possessions. “I’ll give you this,” she said, holding it out.
The boy took it from her, looked it over carefully, and nodded. “Bargain. I’ll tell him what you said. Who are you?”
“My name is Prue. Tell him I think I know where Panterra is, and I have to go there right away. Can you remember to tell him that?”
He nodded, gave her a kind of salute, and dashed off, heading in the general direction of the Ashenell. She had to hope for the best now. She had to pray he would do what he had promised.
She wheeled back and began running again. Ahead, the scarlet dove swept across the trees, just barely staying in view. She followed it out of the city and down the Elfitch and back toward Glensk Wood. She found that odd. It wouldn’t be going there, would it?
Would Pan have gone home?
Even when she was well beyond Arborlon and continuing south, the scarlet dove leading her on, she was still trying to decide.
THE OTHER BOY’S NAME WAS ALIF, and Xac Wen had seen him around, but didn’t know him otherwise. He listened to what Alif had to tell him, questioned the boy’s memory, and dismissed him.