“Wait, now. We haven’t been told everything yet.” Tasha gestured at Panterra. “You carry the staff that belongs to Sider Ament. How did that come about?”
Pan sighed wearily, as if the effort to speak were too much for him. “Sider was killed by Arik Siq outside Declan Reach maybe ten days ago. I couldn’t stop it, even though I tried. When he was dying, he offered me the staff, and I agreed to take it. Now it’s mine to use in the defense of the people of the valley.”
“We hadn’t heard about this,” Tenerife said.
“The staff is a great responsibility,” Tasha said. “More than you probably want to deal
with. But you are like that, Panterra. You always were. You will do as well with it as Sider would have. You will be strong like he was.”
“But the demon hunts you because of the staff,” Tenerife pressed. “So we’ll have to help you keep watch for it. Demons might be mythical in the lore of Men, but Elves know better. We have our histories, and demons have always been part of them. You are at great risk.”
“We can speak of that later,” Pan said, not comfortable talking about the matter. He knew how things stood without being reminded. “Do you have any idea at all where we can find Phryne?”
They talked about it at length, but neither of the Orullians could help. Normally, if she were in trouble, she would go either to her grandmother or to them. Or, in this instance, Tasha added, she would send Xac Wen in her place. Likely it would be the latter.
“He can’t stand not being at the center of things,” the big man insisted confidently.
“Give it time. He’ll show.”
TASHA WAS RIGHT. But it didn’t happen until evening, long after Panterra and Prue had visited with the Orullians and even pitched in to help them build their snares, having more than a little experience in such matters. The friends had settled into a comfortable reunion, talking of mundane things as the hours rolled on and the daylight began to fade, keeping the more serious matters at bay until later that night when the day’s work was done and they could talk alone. They were all eating dinner, gathered about a cooking fire with other Elves, trading stories and sharing experiences, when one of the sentries from inside the valley appeared with Xac Wen in tow. The boy looked as if he had made a hard trek to reach them, his face dirty and sweat-stained, his clothing torn and rumpled.
Tasha rose to meet him, wrinkling his nose. “Stay downwind of me, you muddied little squirrel. No, wait. Don’t say anything just yet. Moren will take you out to wash and give you fresh clothes.” He turned to the sentry. “Anything close to a near fit will do. Then bring him back. We’ll feed and water him and see what he has to say. Go.”
The sentry hauled a grumbling Xac Wen off to bathe and change, and by the time the boy returned, looking much better, the four friends had finished eating and moved off to a more isolated place. As promised, they gave him food and drink and waited to hear what he had to say.
What he said first, to Prue Liss, was, “What happened to your eyes?”
“Nothing. It’s a disguise.” She blinked as if to demonstrate. “Tell us about Phryne.”
The boy shrugged. “I got her out, just like Tasha told me to,” he said, wolfing down large bites of food between words. But when Tasha cleared his throat and caught his eye, he put his plate aside. “Like I said, I freed her. But then things got strange. First, someone sent her a note saying help was coming. Wasn’t me. Wasn’t you, was it? No? I didn’t think so. Anyway, we never did find out who it was, but Phryne thought it might be the Queen. Since you say you didn’t send it, I’d guess she was right. She thought the Queen might be planning to let her escape and then kill her afterward. But that didn’t happen. Instead, Phryne said she had to go to her grandmother’s house to look around.
So we did, even though I thought it was dangerous. There was no reasoning with her.
We searched the house, looking for something. I don’t know what. Phryne wouldn’t say what it was. Then this ghost thing appeared. It looked like her grandmother—like Mistral—but it wasn’t real. It talked to Phryne and made this message out of fire that burned in the air and told Phryne to go to the Ashenell. Then some of the Queen’s pet guards came looking, and we got out of the house just in time. Phryne was furious. I think she would have done something about them if she could have managed it, but instead she made me go to the Ashenell with her. Well, she didn’t make me go exactly. It was more like I made her take me. I couldn’t leave her alone. So I went with her and she walked under the Belloruusian Arch and just disappeared!”
He stared at them breathlessly, dark hair tousled and damp, eyes wild and excited. “So what do we do now?”
“You know, if this were anybody else telling this story, I might think they were making it up,” Tasha offered.