The Castle Of Hape. Caves Of Fire And Ice. The Joining Of The Stone

She yearned to talk with Alardded, yet found no opportunity before he left for the bay of Vexin; she stood watching from the tower early one morning as he and Roth and Nicoli rode out, leading a dozen trained young horses and followed by Hux’s wagon. The well-trained horses led easily. It would be a different matter when the band returned leading young, untrained colts to be broken to the ways of saddle and sword and sectbow. Why was Alardded not taking Clytey, when she wanted so much to go? Meatha would have no chance, now, to ask until he returned in five days’ time.

It was mid-afternoon of the fifth day when she knew that Alardded’s party was returning home. On impulse, she saddled a horse and rode out to meet them, came upon them just at the mouth of the river Somat Cul where it emptied between marshy banks into the sea. They had stopped to mend a broken harness; and while Hux repaired the leather lines, Alardded and Nicoli and young Roth waded knee-deep in the surf, their trousers rolled up like children, laughing. The diving had gone well; they were in high spirits and anxious to be off to Pelli soon for the real dive, filled with eagerness to seek out the drowned runestone at last. She watched the three, concealing her own covetous interest in the drowned stone. They sensed nothing of her thoughts, grinned and waved at her and beckoned her to join them. Nicoli, with her legs bare and her short red hair blowing in the wind, looked no older than Roth. All three were sunburned. Roth deeply burned across his freckled nose.

A dozen young horses were tethered around the marsh on ground stakes, grazing the lush grass. Hux’s two older cart horses stood tied on long lines to the back of the wagon, grazing, too. Meatha looked with interest at the diving suit hanging to dry on the side of the wagon. It was like a big fat body, for the leather had been stuffed with cloth to keep the wax from cracking—a headless body, for the monster metal head was hanging alongside.

She wanted Alardded to tell her about the diving; but when he began to show her the journey, it was not the diving he brought in vision, but the three new waterwheels along the Somat Cul, the new grain huts nearby, the weaving sheds, the new breeding stock on the farms. Nothing at all of the diving. When they had saddled up once more, she rode alone with Alardded behind the wagon, for Nicoli and Roth had their hands full leading the strings of colts, tied head and tail to one another. At last she clenched her fist on the reins, took a deep breath, and looked across at Alardded. “Did the diving go well?”

“Oh, yes, very well.” No vision, no sense of what it had been like. His mind as closed as a clamshell.

“Alardded?”

He looked at her, his mind wary. Fear touched her for no reason, and she blocked with all her power, steeled herself to speak. “You did not take Clytey. Why not? She wanted badly to go. To dive with you. She—she is the same size as Nicoli or Roth. The suit would fit her, she—”

Alardded’s dark eyes flashed with warning. “Do not ask me, Meatha. I do not wish to discuss that.”

“But—” She plunged on despite his annoyance. “Why can’t you let her dive? What—?”

“Whether Clytey dives is not your affair. I do not like your speaking of it. This is my business, Meatha, and mine alone.”

She had never seen him like this, never seen him so unreasonable. His anger was like a tide. The sense of his mind was utterly closed. He gave her a stormy look, turned his horse, and rode away from her. She stared after him, dismayed and afraid. The fear that touched her spread, and a suspicion began to chill her. She tried to call after him and could not.

At last she kicked her horse into a gallop, caught up with him, and forced herself to speak, blurting it out before she could lose her nerve. “Would you let me dive, Alardded?”

He did not speak. His mind was like thunder.

“Would you let me dive?” She stared at him, willing him to speak.

“I will not let Clytey dive. I will not let you dive. I do not wish to speak of it. The diving is my business, not yours. You are behaving like an insolent child.”

“Oh,” she said in a small voice, “oh, but this is my business.” For now she knew that she had every right to an answer; and the knowledge terrified her. She tried to breach his shielding, pushing her power at him until his dark eyes turned on her flashing, the muscles of his jaw working as if he bit on steel.

“You take liberties, Meatha. You show the grossest discourtesy to try to breach my mind so! I am the master Seer!” He had never talked down to her before. Her face went hot-but beyond her shame, her uneasy suspicion would not let her turn away. She faced him boldly, her face flaming. “Would you . . .” Her voice came out like a croak. “Would you let Shoppa dive? Would you let Tocca, if he were old enough? Would you let—any one of us who was drugged in the Kubalese caves?”