Growing quickly frustrated, he settled himself on one of a pair of benches placed at the edge of the grounds so he could rest and think.
Going back to Patch Run and his mother was out of the question. He would rather face the Goblins on one leg than have to tell her what had happened to Redden. He could return to Bakrabru and Farshaun Req and see if the old Rover couldn’t arrange transportation back to the Breakline or perhaps find someone who knew the wilderness well enough to do the job the Speakman had been recruited to do. But Farshaun would want him healed first, and it seemed unlikely anyone there could do more to hasten that process than the Elves, unless he chose to travel east to the Gnome Healers at Storlock.
He sat for a time in the shade of a chestnut tree, stewing about his situation, waiting for the steady aching in his leg to lessen, trying very hard not to think about what might be happening to his brother inside the Forbidding while he was sitting around inactive and useless.
Skint appeared and said a few words to him, and a little later Crace Coram. The latter told him not to despair, that Seersha would already be making plans to go back and that both he and the boy would accompany her when she did. His reassurance helped ease Railing’s distress, and finally he went back inside and washed himself and dressed in fresh clothes, having realized he was still wearing his clothing from the day before.
The morning passed while all four of them sat around waiting for something to happen. Eventually Aphenglow would appear with news of the Elven response to her report. What was to be done about the Goblins breaking free of their prison, though, was not something she had chosen to discuss with them, although Railing was pretty sure she would have talked it over with Seersha. Whatever the case, action would have to be taken, and it would have to be taken soon.
The boy was also anxious to see Mirai, who was as concerned about Redden as he was, and to whom he could best open up about his desperate need to do something to help his brother. But midday came and went, and Mirai did not appear, either.
He was back on his bench in the early afternoon when Seersha trudged up the pathway looking less than happy. She came over and plopped down beside him. “Sleep well?”
“Poorly,” he snapped. “Is there news?”
She shrugged. “Aphenglow and Arling went to their grandfather to advise him of things and to talk about what could be done for the Ellcrys. I think they made a plan for it.”
“You don’t look too happy about that.”
She stretched out her arms and dropped them listlessly at her sides, frowning. “Aphen and I had an argument. I lost my temper. I don’t usually do that, and I wish I hadn’t this time. Aphen is my friend. But this whole business has gotten completely out of hand, and no one really knows what to do about it.”
“I know what to do,” he said darkly.
She nodded. “Go back into the Fangs and save your brother. But it won’t be that easy. It might not even be possible.”
“Don’t say that.”
“I have to say it. I have to convince myself. You and I want the same thing—to go into the Forbidding, find the Ard Rhys and your brother, and bring them out again. Simple enough. But there are larger concerns. If the Ellcrys fails and the creatures imprisoned there break free, they will overrun the Four Lands. It isn’t just the Goblins; it’s other things, much worse things. We lack the magic and the numbers to hold them back. And without the Ellcrys, we have no way to lock them up again.”
“I’ll worry about that later, after I’ve gotten Redden back,” he insisted stubbornly.
“Except there won’t be a ‘later’ if we don’t address the collapse of the Forbidding first. I don’t like it any better than you do, but I accept the fact of it and that’s why I am not very happy just now.”