He shook his head no. “But I was scared. I kept seeing things in the dark.”
She laid her hand on his forehead, stroking the tips of his hair. “Courage isn’t the absence of fear, Owen. Courage is moving forward even when you’re afraid. I’ve known many brave men who have felt fear the night before a battle. Fear comes and stalks them, like a wolf does a lamb.” She paused, sliding her finger down his nose. “But when the dawn comes, they do their duty, and the fear goes away. It only preys on the powerless. Owen, you have power.”
He stared at her, his eyelids so heavy. “No, I don’t.”
She nodded sagely. “You do. Your power summoned me tonight. I felt your need. The Fountain whispers to those of us who listen. I had a bad feeling about you tonight when you didn’t come. Most people ignore those little feelings. But I’ve learned to trust them. I didn’t know where you were, but I kept looking. Kept searching. And then I heard you weeping.” She caressed his cheek with her knuckle.
“Ankarette, will you tell me about the Fountain again?” he asked. He blinked and forced his eyes open. He wanted to listen to her, but he was so tired. He licked his fingertips and then rubbed the wetness over his eyelids. That made it easier to keep them open.
She gently stroked his hair. “The Fountain is everywhere, Owen. It’s here in the room with us. It was in your tears. It’s likened to water because without water, even a little bit, we would die in days. I can hear its murmur right now, here with us. It carried your fear and despair to me, knowing I could help you. It led me to you. The Fountain is power, like a river current. Even the strongest things must budge to its force, given enough time. The Fountain is magic. We were all born of it. And it was the Fountain that gave me the idea of how to save you.”
“By tricking the king,” Owen said with a weary smile. “Has the Fountain told you how yet?”
Ankarette nodded emphatically. “It’s all so very simple. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”
“Tell me?” Owen pressed. He loved staring into her sad eyes, looking at her lovely smile. Ankarette had come to feel like a mother in this place so far from home.
“As you know, I’ve made an acquaintance of Mancini,” she said in a near whisper. “He seeks to do away with Ratcliffe so that he himself might become master of the Espion. I have been helping him with his goal. In return, he will help me with mine. One way to prove that you are Fountain-blessed, Owen, is if you can bring information to the king before Ratcliffe does. It won’t be easy. Mancini is helping me track down the first tidbits to help build your reputation. Something that will help you without compromising him. Something that Ratcliffe intends to tell the king later, only you will tell him first. You will become a fortune-teller, in a way. Only a Fountain-blessed could have that power of sight.”
“I’m . . . I’m not sure I am brave enough,” Owen said in a small voice.
Ankarette leaned down and kissed his cheek. “Then you must learn courage, Owen. You must learn it however you can.”
The thought of Elysabeth Victoria Mortimer came to his mind. She was the most fearless person he knew. How had she become that way?
He fell asleep while thinking about her.
The next day, the two youths were in the interior yard of the palace grounds, arms held out for balance as they walked in the great circle around the rim of the enormous fountain in the yard. Jewel scolded them for risking a fall, but they ignored her. The Mortimer girl was trying to catch up to Owen. He had to keep one eye on the tiles at his feet, and the other on her to make sure she wasn’t gaining on him, which she was. He tried to walk faster to widen the distance. The sky was blue and clear of clouds, and the fountain water lapped playfully.
“How come you’re not afraid of anything?” Owen asked as they walked.
“Because of my father,” the Mortimer girl replied breezily. He could hear the silver laugh in her voice. She was trying really hard to catch up with him. It was obvious she found this kind of play much more interesting than watching him build rows of tiles to knock over.
“How did he teach you?” Owen pressed.
“He taught me to climb waterfalls,” she responded matter-of-factly.
“What?” He stumbled a bit and almost fell off the fountain wall.
“Ha! You were about to fall in!” she teased with her silvery laugh. “I’m going to catch you, Owen Kiskaddon!”
Not if I catch you first!
“In the North we have the most beautiful mountains. They’re covered in snow all winter, but the water melts in the spring and feeds huge waterfalls.”