Chapter 30 Keelan
Isat on the floor holding Sil. The minutes that followed felt like hours as her body calmed and she finally stilled.
“That was unlike any scrying I’ve ever witnessed. What happened?” Arch Mage Quin asked Daris.
The Mage ran his hand over his balding pate, straightening hair that hadn’t been there in years.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. I felt Sil connect to the Healer through her link with the horse. I’ve never heard of such a thing, but there was a close bond between the animal and its owner. Add my scrying magic focused on the Healer, and I suppose it makes sense.”
“I think it’s safe to assume that Tiana is alive and being held captive. Daris, did you get any sense of her location, even a direction?” I asked.
“No. Nothing from the scrying. When Sil wakes, she may be able to fill in some gaps. She saw and experienced things we couldn’t see in the water.”
“Keelan, I suggest we adjourn to my office where Sil can rest more comfortably,” Quin said. “We can figure out what to do next while we wait for her to wake.”
I rose and lifted Sil, bracing myself for the downward spiral of tower stairs. We opted to leave the horse in the event a second scrying was required. Either way, Quin suggested the grooms might be better at handling the beast on the stairs than any of us.
Upon entering Quin’s sprawling office, I laid Sil on a couch and dropped into a nearby chair. The Arch Mage settled into a large leather seat behind his desk.
“Should I send for the Captain-Commander?” I asked. “He will want a full report.”
Quin responded, “No. We can fill him in once we’ve spoken.” He looked over at Sil and was quiet for a moment. “Keelan, I hate to wake her, but we need to know what she saw before deciding our next steps.”
I nodded and kneeled, then placed a hand on her shoulder. When she didn’t wake, I shook a little harder. “C’mon, Sil, we need to talk.”
Quin stepped around his desk, leaned down, and pressed his index finger to the middle of her forehead. A quick pulse of light traveled from his fingertip into her skin, and her eyes popped wide.
“Keelan, Arch Mage? What happened?” She tried to sit up, but I gently pressed her back down.
“Easy,” I said. “You passed out while we were scrying with Tiana’s horse. You looked terrified and kept saying, ‘Save me,’ over and over.”
Sil tried sitting up again, but then closed her eyes and fell back as if dizzy.
“You’ll be disoriented for some time and need to rest. We just need to know what you saw during the scrying, then you can rest,” Quin said.
“It was so much more than just images. I’ve never felt anything like it. Emotions flooded through me with each new scene. Warmth and love at Tiana’s face. Sadness at images of her house. I think those were the horse’s memories and feelings.
“Then everything became so vivid . . . so intense. I don’t know . . . it was overwhelming. It wasn’t just the horse’s emotions anymore. It was as though I was inside Tiana herself, seeing through her eyes, feeling what she felt.”
Sil clutched herself as she spoke. “There was so much fear . . . and pain. A feeling of loss and loneliness. When that man appeared overhead, I felt a spike of hope and excitement, then confusion and panic. Then it all went dark.”
The office was still, save the crackle of the fire.
Sil remained slumped on the couch.
I stood and walked aimlessly across the office. My mind was a jumble. It felt like the puzzle pieces were there, but someone kept shuffling them before I could snap the full picture into place. “What do we know so far?”
“What do you mean?” Quin asked.
“Let’s go over everything again. What do we know?” I scratched my chin.
Sil finally managed to lean up, pressing her back to the high arm of the couch. “The southern investigation ended abruptly after their scrying revealed the victim had died.”
“Right.” I nodded. “Before she died, the victim was taken and moved west, likely beyond the mountains into the Kingdom.”
“That sums up the report we received from Atikus,” Quin said.
“I wish Atikus were here.” I smiled at the thought of my adopted father. “He would help us sort through all of this.”
Quin grunted agreement. “His team is still twenty days away. If only we had a Mage who could teleport. It’s been nearly a hundred years since one of our people possessed that Gift.”
“Right,” I said, my mind already moving on.
“Okay, let’s turn to Saltstone. Tiana was taken at some point over the last seven to ten days. Her infirmary was ransacked and her house emptied, down to the pictures on the walls. She ended up in the mountains, surrounded by the smell of pine, and was transported in a wooden container. What else?”
Sil cleared her throat. “Don’t forget the man with the green eyes. I don’t think he was one of her kidnappers. A strong feeling of hope came over me when I saw his face, like he was a Constable or something.”
“Can you describe him again?” I asked.
“He was leaning over, looking down as if Tiana was lying on her back looking up at him. He searched around but didn’t appear to see her, then turned away,” Sil said.
“From that angle, it was hard to tell, but he looked tall and had a strong jawline. His hair was wavy, almost curly. It was really blond, almost yellow in the sunlight. His cloak was light green of a uniform, like a Ranger’s but not that dark.
The one thing I saw more clearly than anything was his eyes. They were the brightest emeralds I’ve ever seen. There was a sadness to them . . . I don’t know . . . maybe I was just feeling Tiana’s sadness.”
“Did he have any weapons? What else did you see?”
“I think . . . yes. There was a bow and maybe a quiver over one shoulder. I’m sure I saw arrows.”
“What color was their fletching?” I pressed.
Sil screwed up her face as she thought. “Green, I think? Maybe? They were dark, I know that.”
I glanced up at Quin. “The border?”
Quin nodded.
“You saw his bow and uniform? Blond hair and green eyes? Big hair?” I tried to cover my surprise.
“I’m sure of it,” said Sil.
Dec? What have you gotten involved in, little brother?
“Is there anything else we can do using magic? We’ve narrowed our search to west of the mountains, which leaves us a land mass the size of Melucia and all our neighbors combined.”
Quin shook his head. “I don’t think so. The horse will only give us more jumbled memories, and I don’t like the idea of subjecting Sil to another scrying so soon after the last one.”
“I’m all right—” Sill protested.
“No. The Arch Mage is right. No more scrying,” I said. “We need to follow the trail west. It’s really all we have now.”
“I agree. If the Healer’s captors are moving slowly with a cart in tow, you may be able to make up ground on them.”
“Seven to ten days’ worth of ground?”
Quin shrugged. “If they stop to rest, sleep overnight in Huntcliff? You never know what might happen with a cart traveling over the mountains.”
“True,” I sighed. “Could you get word to Atikus? Redirect him to meet me in Grove’s Pass? If we left in the morning and he cut west when his team reached Crees, we would get there at roughly the same time, give or take a few hours.”
Quin tapped a finger against his cheek. “We can’t send word telepathically, but the old-fashioned way will work. A raven should make it to Crees well before the team. I can have one of our Mages relay word once they arrive.”
“That would work. Add Ridley to that order. I’d like him with us, too.”“What about the rest of the team?” Quin asked.
“Have them return for reassignment.” I scratched my scalp, then turned to Sil. “I wish we could leave you here to rest, but we may need your Gift before this is over. You’ve made more contact with Tiana than anyone else. I’ll send Buros and Went back for reassignment, as well."
“Arch Mage, is there anything you can give Sil to help her? I need her on horseback first thing tomorrow morning.”
“I’m sure we can come up with something,” Quin said.
I walked out as the glow of Quin’s magic flowed into Sil.
We set out early the next morning, making good time on our way out of the capital. Quin assured us that his raven was on the way, and that Atikus and Ridley would meet us as planned.
The trip from Saltstone would take more than three weeks if we pushed our mounts to their limits. Despite Quin’s best efforts, Sil’s condition post-scrying was still shaky, something I knew would force additional delays.
I tried not to let frustration get the best of me as I thought about Tiana folded up in a cramped wagon. I didn’t want to imagine her terror in the hands of those men and the pain each bump in the road must inflict as her body slammed against hardened wood.
I didn’t want to think about those things or see them in my mind’s eye, but my thoughts rebelled. Within hours of leaving home, I’d already begun spiraling toward that dark place.