Page 109 of Silver in the Bone

Olwen’s face hardened. “Because we’ve not got many arrows to spare.”

A pathetic “Oh” was all I managed.

“I’m ready to dig in, figuratively and literally,” Emrys intervened smoothly. “Do you have an extra shovel for me?”

“Of course,” Olwen said, leading him away. “I’ve asked the others to gather what ash they might have ...”

Her voice trailed off as they went to join the growing cluster of men and women gathered near the forge. Emrys glanced back one more time, mouthing, Later?

I nodded.

Cabell and Neve, I reminded myself, turning back toward the tower and the many steps between me and the bedchambers. They needed to know what we’d found—and maybe Neve would have some idea of what the sculptures were used for.

The clash of metal drew my attention back outside. Taking a chance, I made my way toward the training area. I’d expected to see another batch of anxious novices, or at least some of the Nine, but Cabell and Bedivere were the only ones there. My brother worked through a series of blocking and parrying moves, this time with a broadsword, not one of the blunt training weapons.

I stared, almost not trusting my eyes. Cabell had always thrived at night, and, on more than one occasion, had come home from a night of reveling through the streets of Boston or a guild gathering as I was getting up. His idea of an early start was noon.

Yet he’d been out here long enough to have worked up a heavy sweat. There was real color in his face—real emotion in his eyes as he grinned at something Bedivere said.

The older man gave an encouraging “Yes—good, good! Well done, lad!” and pounded him on the back as Cabell stopped to catch his breath. The hunger for approval on Cabell’s face, the way he smiled in turn, was almost painful to see.

I felt oddly unmoored watching them, like I was drifting in the mist, insubstantial and fading. As he raised his sword again, Cabell happened to look my way, and stilled. His face tensed with concern.

I pressed two fingers against my upturned palm. Later. Then formed a small square with my hands. Library.

He nodded, turning back to Bedivere to resume practice. The old knight raised his hand in greeting to me, and I returned the gesture, struggling to muster a smile.

I could try to confront Caitriona, or at least shadow her steps, but that might only turn the others fully against me.

No, the best thing I could do right now was continue to gather information and bring Cabell and Neve to see the room with their own eyes. That might finally be enough to sway them into finding another way out of Avalon.

Opportunity came in the form of a soft gasp of surprise behind me on the steps. Mari’s leaf-green face leaned around the mound of folded linens in her arms. “My apologies, I did not see you there.”

“I don’t know how you can see anything at all,” I said. “Can I help you?”

Mari’s face pinched in a way that made me wonder if she was replaying my harsh words from the other day.

“I was rude to you in the library,” I continued, thinking quickly. “I’d love to make it up to you ... ?”

After a moment, her expression relaxed and she nodded, but still didn’t meet my eyes as she let me take half the sheets from her teetering pile. They were still cold from the line they’d been pinned to high on the southern wall.

Mari wasn’t one for empty words. It became obvious within minutes that my usual tactic of letting the other person nervously talk to fill the silence wouldn’t work; Mari seemed to relish the bit of peace it provided. I’d have to engage her where she was willing to be met.

“So ... ,” I began, racking my brain for something to say as I scurried along after her. For someone so small, she moved with the speed of a cat. “What do you know about unicorns?”

The dream had been hovering at the back of my mind, begging to be acknowledged, but it was slightly mortifying that this useless question was the best I’d been able to come up with on the spot. This was why I didn’t do small talk.

Mari’s eyebrows rose. “Have you come across one?”

“No,” I said, fumbling in a way that annoyed me. I was better than this. “I just thought that—in the library, you seemed to know so much about legends. I just wondered if they were real. Or something invented out of—well, you know, dreams.”

“A dream of a unicorn is a wonderful omen of good fortune ahead.” Mari started to turn away, only to pivot back, unable to resist elaborating. “They were alive once. One of the Goddess’s most beloved creations, as gentle as they were fierce.”

“Once?” I repeated. “What happened to them?”

“No one is certain, only that eventually, they stopped appearing to the priestesses, and were no longer there to aid in healing the sick,” Mari answered, starting down the hall again. “The dragons came to the same fate.”

It took me a moment.

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