He gave her a dubious look, but nodded his agreement.
Crouched down far enough that they could keep the rocks between themselves and anything watching from below, they inched sideways across the slope, moving north toward the mountains. Prue understood that this effort might fail and they might have to face their stalker anyway. Their disappearance from the trail would send a clear signal to whatever was after them, and it would adjust its thinking accordingly. The best they could hope for was that it would guess wrong about which direction they had taken or that it would decide they hadn’t moved and try to wait them out.
But she was able to live with the uncertainty if it meant they had even a chance of slipping past. Prue was not ready for a confrontation with whatever was down there.
She knew it in her heart, knew it the moment she felt the weight of her instincts press down on her in warning. She might have thought she could do whatever was needed to help Pan, could act on his behalf as the King of the Silver River had intended she should do. But when she thought about what that meant, she realized she had no idea how she could protect him. Somehow, she hadn’t understood that part of things when she had accepted the Faerie creature’s bargain. She could sense Pan’s danger and warn him, but she could do nothing to save him. He was the one with all the power, the bearer of the black staff, the inheritor of the Word’s magic. She was only a fifteen-year-old girl who didn’t want to see him die.
It was a bitter moment, the truth revealed in a way that left no doubt in her mind of the extent of her inadequacy. It shouldn’t have been like that. There should have been something more that she could do to help him. But the truth was inescapable, and she must find a way to learn to live with it.
And with whatever strength and abilities she possessed, she must discover ways to help him learn to live with it, as well.
They worked their way north along the face of the slope, keeping carefully hidden within their rocky covering, moving soundlessly and smoothly in the way that Trackers were taught when they first signed on, listening and watching, alert to any movements and sounds. Only once did Pan stop and position himself so that he could take a quick look. He ducked back down again immediately, shook his head at Prue to indicate there wasn’t anything to be seen, and they started off again.
At some point they turned downslope toward the northwest corner of the meres. By then, Prue’s instincts had gone quiet and all the warning signs of the danger she had sensed earlier had dissipated. She was feeling better about things by then, hoping they had succeeded in deceiving their stalker into believing they were somewhere else— either still up in the rocks or gone another way. She touched Pan on his shoulder to signal as much, and he nodded his understanding.
But it was late by then, and they would have to decide whether to push on to reach Arborlon that night or stop to rest and go on in the morning. The meres were treacherous in places and difficult to navigate in darkness, but once across the distance to Arborlon was short.
Pan signaled that they would continue on.
They kept their cover until the slope leveled out and the rocks gave way to huge old cedars and willows that marked the northern boundary of the meres. They were still too far south and would have to skirt the edges until they reached the far north end if they wanted a clear, safe passage. Neither of them fancied trying to navigate the meres at night, so they resigned themselves to what needed doing and set out, keeping just within the shelter of the trees so that they could not be seen. It was slow going because the woods were thicker at the edges of the ponds and swamps that formed the meres and required angling in all directions to avoid ravines and drops. The trick was to keep moving. Once they had put enough distance between themselves and whatever was stalking them, they could slow their pace.
Prue had just finished estimating that they were still four or five hours away from the
Elfitch and safety when her instincts kicked in anew, and she felt the familiar crushing wave start to close in on her.
“Pan!” she hissed, causing him to turn and come back to her immediately. “It’s following us! It’s figured out which way we’ve gone!”
He was quiet as he stared back into the growing darkness, his gaze fixed on something she couldn’t see, but could easily imagine.
“We have to go faster,” she urged.
He shook his head. “We have to stop and face it, but not here. Not out in the open where it will have an advantage over us.”
She waited, already knowing what he was going to say.
Even so, the words were chilling when he spoke them. “We have to lead it into the meres.”