Hyden looked around the tent for a skin of water, or a flask, but he didn’t see anything. He was starting to panic. The woman was choking to death right there in front of them. The telling of the two fortunes had apparently drained the life right out of her.
Wheezing and hacking, she grasped at her throat desperately. She tried to rise to her feet, but ended up falling on Gerard. He pushed her away hard, as if she were on fire, or contagious. She rolled across the flaming candles and the bloody bones on the floor, and then coughed out harshly one last time. Her body extinguished the flames, leaving the tent in darkness. Her breathing filled the sudden silence, ragged, wet, and harsh, but steady nonetheless.
“Leave me,” she croaked.
Her words were wasted. Gerard was already throwing open the tent flap and Hyden was right on his heels. He stopped, and looked back, to make sure that there wasn’t a fire, but he wasn’t lingering. By the light of the lantern poles along the Way, he saw that there was blood, bones, and globs of candle wax stuck to her robes, but she was struggling to rise to her feet. Satisfied, he hurried to catch up to his fleeing brother. He felt guilty leaving her in that condition, but she had told them to go. Who was he to argue with a demon witch?
Trying very hard to put what had just happened out of his mind, Hyden gained Gerard’s side. He saw that his brother was just as troubled by the ordeal, but Gerard’s expression showed more anger than confusion.
“Are you all right?” Hyden asked.
Gerard started to dismiss the question, but changed his mind.
“I felt…No, I saw her…Shaella, betraying me in a cavern.” He unconsciously covered his ring with his left hand.
Hyden noticed the protective gesture, but ignored it. He wanted to say that the crone had said that he may or may not be betrayed, but he held his tongue. He could tell that Gerard was confused and searching for words.
Gerard was searching for words all right, but not in the way Hyden suspected. He was trying to sort through all the strange visions he had seen in his mind’s eye, especially the ones that he wouldn’t dare tell Hyden about. He had envisioned dark and powerful things that he would never speak about to anyone, sinister and malignant things, that he might someday have control over. The idea of it was intoxicating and he liked it.
“I’ll be going with Shaella,” Gerard finally said. “When they leave the festival for the marshes, I’m going with them.”
The conviction with which he spoke left little room for argument, so Hyden didn’t bother. He wasn’t sure he wanted to dissuade Gerard from his adventure anyway. The fortune-teller had spoken of great power and of commanding legions. How could Gerard not want to seek out his destiny with the beautiful swordswoman Shaella? As with his own prophetic glimpses, he was sure that there were a lot of truths to what had been predicted for Gerard. Some were obvious. He had already begun using the ring to get his way with the people around him, and he was already considering a journey to a black formation that supposedly resembled a fang.
“Do you want to go with me to the Brawl?” Hyden asked, even though the idea of watching two men beat the hell out of each other somehow seemed a little less exciting after hearing the old woman’s grand prophecies.
To Hyden’s surprise, Gerard lit up at the suggestion.
“Yes! Let’s go. Bludgeon, the Seaward Monster, is in the group going with Shaella to the marshes!”
Gerard had instantly changed back into the little brother Hyden loved so much. His excitement was contagious, and he picked up the pace as he spoke.
“He is huge Hyden! His arms are as big as your waist, and his legs are like tree trunks. He’s covered in tattoos, like that fire breathing guy we saw earlier, but without all the red paint.”
“Lord Gregory, the Westland Lion, is pretty big himself,” Hyden said. He had watched the Lion Lord destroy the Valleyan Stallion a few years ago. Bludgeon would have to be good to win against him.
“My money is all on Bludgeon,” Gerard said, with a devilish grin on his face. “I already wagered most of my profit on him, all but a few golden lions.”
“I hope he wins,” Hyden said, wondering why his brother would do such a thing with so much money.
Chapter 11