Midwinter

A memory appeared in his mind, growing slowly from the blankness of his empty stare. Superimposed over the blurred image of the fire there came a creature, a hideous snaking thing that was translucent, nearly transparent, with pale leathery wings and sharp teeth. It called itself Bacamar.

"Look down," said Bacamar in the memory. Mave's internal viewpoint tilted downward and he stared into the mouth of something beyond death. It was the size of a world, the mouth, with lips like continents, red and burning. It had teeth, millions of them, and the teeth had eyes. The eyes were thick with mucous, scaly and green. They peered longingly toward Gray Mave.

"Do something for me," said Bacamar, "and I will let you live again."

Gray Mave swam toward Bacamar in the ice-cold ether of death and nodded. "Yes, anything, only do not let me fall into the mouth."

In the miasma of memory, Raieve could not hear the words that Bacamar spoke as the creature led Mave back down to the world of familiar things, back into himself, where he regained consciousness. He was lying on the floor of his home in Hawthorne with a terrible pain in his throat and Mauritane standing over him with a noose in his hands.

Raieve cried out, and it sounded strange to hear her own voice from across a campfire. Gray Mave's eyes turned to meet hers and she found herself suddenly back in her own body, staring back at him.

His eyes widened. He clutched at his head, clawing at his hair, then stood. She could see him wince from the pain in his chest.

"I'm sorry," he said. Then he ran.

Raieve said something to Mauritane, she was not sure what. But it resulted in Mauritane and Silverdun leaping to their feet and drawing their swords. So it made sense, whatever she'd said. They hurried after Mave, down the steep slope beyond which she'd found the icthula.

"What happened?" said Satterly.

Raieve ignored him. She leaned backward and looked at the sky, fascinated by the shapes of clouds and the brightness of the sun. They all seemed to be saying something to her, but their words were just beyond her vocabulary.

gray mave

Mauritane rushed after Mave, Silverdun at his side, down the snowclad slope to the north where a wide river bowed across the valley below. Gray Mave ran ahead of them, clutching his chest either from lack of breath or from the sting of the buggane's wound. He stumbled on the root of a giant oak, fell to his knees, then pitched face forward into the snow. The morning sun glinted from the blade of his sword, the weapon lying useless at his feet.

"Is it a trick?" said Silverdun as they sidestepped down the slope.

"I don't know," said Mauritane. "Keep your weapon drawn anyway."

Gray Mave lay on his wide chest, huffing miserably, his face buried in the snow. "I'm sorry," he whimpered. When he lifted his face, a line of mucous dribbled from his nose onto the ground. He was sobbing.

Silverdun, his cloak wrapped around his head like a shawl, prodded the man with his sword. "Hold, Mave. Mauritane, what is the meaning of all this?"

Mauritane took one of the empty message jars from the pocket of his cloak and held it out to Silverdun. "Someone's been stealing these from my saddlebags at night. Raieve and I came up with a plan to catch him during our ride through the shifting place yesterday."

Silverdun eyed the jar suspiciously. "Who's been receiving these messages and to what end?"

"That's what we're about to find out. Sit up, Mave." Mauritane grabbed Mave's shoulder and tugged. Gray Mave winced at the pain in his chest and stood slowly, resting his hands on his knees halfway up.

"The wound from the buggane's sword," he chuffed, out of breath. "I think it's done me in. It's what I deserve, at least."

"Come back to camp, Mave," said Mauritane, without inflection. "We'll talk there."

Silverdun scowled behind his hood. "Why did you and Raieve not include me in your spy hunt?"

Mauritane looked at him. "Why do you think?" He pushed Mave forward and they began marching uphill.

Silverdun thought, then nodded. "Of course. You thought I might be the spy. What about Raieve, then? Did you not think to suspect her? Or did your cock already do a thorough enough examination?"

Mauritane stopped, then turned to Silverdun. "What did you say?"

"Nothing more than what you said to me when I bedded Faella on the Estacana road." He stood his ground. "Or did you think no one noticed your little tryst?"

Mauritane spat. "Fine, Silverdun. You've had your touche. Will there be anything else?"

Silverdun opened his mouth, but Mauritane's look silenced him.

* * * *

With one of Silverdun's poultices applied to the wound, Gray Mave was able to rest by the fire, although his weeping had not slowed in the interim.

"I'm sorry," he continued to mutter. "I had no choice."

Mauritane knelt in front of him, gripping his sword by the forte, drawing in the snow with its tip. "I need answers, Mave," he said. "Will you tell me what I need to know?"

"All is lost," said Mave. "I am finished."