Page 45 of The Lost Guard's Healer

“We must see the facts,” Yovin says wisely.

Colm huffs. “I will not discuss this out in the open.”

“I agree,” Magdalena says. “We should find the others.”

I assume she means the elders, but it sounds like she’s talking about someone else.

They head across the field. I keep low and still as I peek out at them.

“I will prepare the thoro-seer,” Yovin says.

“We’ll wake up Aldus and Abby,” Magdalena says.

I sit there for a while after they’ve left, wondering what a thoro-seer is, and what it has to do with Aldus and Abby.

I throw on a sleeveless shirt and head out, keeping my actions quiet. A pre-dawn blue-gray haze is over the world, making me feel like I’m walking through a dream. The birds in the trees have only just begun their morning songs.

The field is muddy in places from the rain last night, so I stay on stone pathways to reach the rows of tents. For a while, I hear nothing but the sounds of the quiet morning birds as I creep along the tents. When I round the back of one, I catch sight of Aldus and Magdalena heading into a small tent on the outskirts of the village.

I make my way to the tent and listen by the side of it. I think this is one of their supply tents, used for hunting tools and general storage, as it’s smaller than the others and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it frequented.

Aldus’s grumpy voice sounds very disturbed about something.

“For the record, I still don’t believe this is happening,” Magdalena says challengingly.

“Let’s just trust in the thoro-seer,” Aldus says. “That’s what it’s for.”

“We should send people immediately,” Yovin says. “We need to know what is really happening out there.”

There’s a rustle in the leaves nearby. I duck to the side of the tent as two figures come into view. It’s Colm and Abby. They enter the tent with the others.

Something isn’t right here. This seems like a strange group for a secret meeting. I’ve seen them all in smaller groups before, but never together at the same time. It sounds like something very important is going on, and I wonder why they aren’t involving the elders.

“Colm told me what’s happening,” Abby says from within the tent. Like Magdalena, her voice is also different now. Slower and more severe, without her girlish lightness. “Are we sure this is real?”

“That’s what we want to find out,” Aldus says.

“We should make an announcement,” Magdalena says.

“And get everyone worried?” Colm asks skeptically.

“It’s too soon for an announcement,” Aldus says. “We shouldn’t bother the elders for such a thing. Not yet.”

“I’ll get Bohan,” Colm says, “and begin forming a hunting team for the western plains.”

They agree on this and say they will stay close to the thoro-seer to see what else they can discover.

I’m not sure what I’m hearing, but it doesn’t sound good. And why aren’t they involving the elders?

I step back into the dim shadows between the tents as Colm leaves and makes his way to the other side of the village. The sky is lightening around us and the morning gloom is gradually dispersing like mist burning away.

I consider following Colm to hear what he tells Bohan, but a flash of golden light gets my attention. I look around, wondering where it came from. It was like a faint lightning flash.

I wait a moment until another flash lights the air. This one is coming from down in the valley beyond the village. I make my way there and look down the hill to see a cluster of trees below, beyond a field of tall grass. Someone is there within the trees.

Another light flashes. The golden vibrancy of the light tells me who this person is. My heart begins beating faster.

I head down the hill and cross the tall grass to get a better look at the figure. A golden light begins to grow, casting a warm glow in the field and sending long shadows out from the trees.

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