Page 12 of Ice Magic

“Oh, it’s more than that,” she said. “Giselda foresaw thatyouare the key to helping Bran overthrow Karehl’s rule. You’re destined to help Bran take the throne and exile Karehl.”

I stared at her. “Me?How?”

“I don’t know, but Giselda also told Karehl that if he kills you, Bran will slay him.” Fenling gave me a long look. “If you die, Karehl dies.”

“So that’s why he didn’t kill me. I’m a danger to him, dead or alive.” The words sounded odd on my tongue. But a little voice inside whispered,This is true. Do not discount it.

“Right. I guess he felt his only option was to imprison you and hide you away where Bran couldn’t find you.”

“It’s not just lust, then,” I said, oddly relieved. But the next moment, her words fully sank in. “How can any of this be true? How can I be the key to helping Bran oust the prince?”

“I can’t answer that, but you know it’s true. I can see it on your face. If you live free, you endanger Karehl. If you die, Bran will retaliate.”

“Crap,” I whispered. “I never expected to be a political pawn.” I paused, then asked, “How did you find out that he was masquerading as Sparrow?”

“Tonyah found the real Sparrow’s head outside the pigpen. She fetched Quen and me, and we realized that Giselda had fed most of him to the pigs. Right then, we knew we had to bind her and force her to tell us everything.”

“Poor Sparrow,” I said. “Why him?”

“Giselda told Karehl we were going to escape. And she knew that Sparrow spent a lot of time with my maid, and that Tonyah treated him like a son. So she and Karehl formulated the idea to entrap you—and they thought that by separating us from the rest of the Lorani, they could take us a lot easier.” She winced. “I don’t think Tonyah will ever recover.”

I didn’t think I would either, if I were her. “So Sparrow…the Sparrow I met…was always Karehl?”

Fenling nodded. “Yeah, they orchestrated our journey to her place. Karehl intended for his men to capture the rest of us at Giselda’s after he separated you from us. But we happened to find Sparrow’s head shortly after he—disguised as Sparrow—left with you. We forced her to talk, then immediately got out of there. I’m not sure when they returned, but all they would find was her body.”

“I imagine Karehl knows I’ve escaped his tower by now.”

“I agree. And make no mistake, if he catches you again, he’ll throw you in the dungeons and leave you there. I know my cousin.”

“How did he transform into Sparrow?” I asked, thinking once again of the innocent young man who had lost his life. “And how did you convince Giselda to talk?”

“A transfiguration spell. She must have given Karehl a scroll. As to how we forced her to talk, well…it’s best that you don’t think about that. Leave it at knowing that we forced her to answer our questions, and then we dispatched her. Never leave your enemies alive. It’s too dangerous.”

“I guess I really don’t want to know how you made her talk, but I’m grateful that you took care of her. Especially after what they did to Sparrow. With Giselda’s death, that makes one fewer ally in Karehl’s corner. Ashera hates him. And I gather a lot of the people around here do as well.” I sighed. “So, what next?”

“We have to find Bran and regroup. Also, as far as we can tell, Karehl is searching in this area. Ashera needs to strengthen her wards again. We’ve been taking as much care as possible on the road, and I trust every one of these men, but there’s always the chance that he’ll stumble over someone who saw us. We should leave come nightfall. We’ve been traveling during the night.”

“Do you know where Bran is?”

She shrugged. “Not really, but I have an idea, so we’re heading toward a place that Bran’s father took refuge in during a horrible storm, long ago. Bran was with him, and so was I—this was when we were young. Karehl had chosen not to go with us.” She paused, then glanced at the door. “Are you ready to leave here?”

I thought about the cozy house that surrounded me. I had the feeling Ashera would let me stay with her as long as I wanted to, but every day I was here, I put her in danger. And that, I could not do. “I’m ready. I have only one outfit, which she made for me, but that doesn’t matter now. Maybe she’ll have something more for me. I just wish I had Yaran.” Again, my heart ached. “I hope to gods that Karehl didn’t kill him. Or sell him.”

“We have an extra horse. We should rest and eat, then get ready to head out.” She stood. “I’m going to talk to the others.”

I walked her to the door. “Yeah, I’ll talk to Ashera. I wish I could thank her more.”

“Here,” Fenling said, fiddling with a small pouch strapped to her waist. She handed me three silver coins. “Give her this. Itwill offset the food and there’s more than enough there to help her out.”

I closed my hand around the coins, then gave Fenling a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.”

A few hours later, near twilight, we were packed and ready to go. I had given Ashera the coins and she insisted we take some meat and cheese with us, and had baked fresh bread for us to take on the road. Fenling, Quen, and the other men had rested and eaten. Now, I stood at the door as they waited on horseback. I turned to Ashera.

“Thank you so much,” I said. “You’ve been invaluable. More than that, you’ve been kind to me. And I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.”

Ashera pressed her lips together, staring at the horses. Then she said, “I wish you could stay with me, I’ll not deny it. I’ve enjoyed having you here.”

“I’ll try to come back for a visit, if I can. Meanwhile, make sure to strengthen your cloaking spell, and…take care of yourself.” Impulsively, I gave the older woman a hug. “I’ll miss you,” I whispered.

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