Page 40 of Keeper of the Word (The Unsung and the Wolf Duology #2)

Chapter

Thirty-Five

TOLVAR

“ A nd then what occurred?” Kyrie asked.

The two walked through the trees in the direction of the crack.

A mob of knights followed them, the Order knights and a half-dozen of Tolvar’s.

’Twas no use attempting to hide their tromping as they cut through Anscom’s land.

The men had given them space to speak, but Tolvar and Kyrie still kept their voices low.

“And then we rode back. I had the feeling it wouldn’t be in our best interest to loiter in Trysinmar.”

“You were right to return.”

Her affirmation did not make Tolvar feel better. What had Crevan thought of that move? Cowardly? He glanced down at Kyrie, trodding along the forest floor gracefully, as if she glided across the floor of a hall.

She was almost as short as Sloane. Sloane. Instinctively, Tolvar pressed a hand to his pocket in which the moon cuff was tucked. Kyrie shifted her gaze, and Tolvar dropped his hand.

“Have you any idea who this traitorous watchdog might be? Is it possible to See? ”

“The stars shall decide that. In the meantime, you did right in sending us word.”

“I know not why you, yourself, came. You might have sent any number of messengers. ’Twas made clear last time that StarSeers do not leave Ashwin. I cannot believe Tara allowed you to go.”

“Tara is attending to other business,” Kyrie said, giving her attention to the birds in the above canopy. Even with her eyes upward, her feet continued their smooth gait. “And I am here because I am the only one who can do what I am here to do.”

Tolvar was in no mood for more riddles. He thought of Gus and Bernwald riding to Trysinmar.

It’d been a quick decision to send them without him.

It’d been an even quicker decision to send Bernwald at all.

But the sunlight wouldn’t wait. They needed as long as it would give them.

At least, he hoped it would give them an advantage.

Tolvar had put to rest the paranoia surrounding Bernwald, almost. He still hadn’t told him of Crevan’s message or that he was the leader they hunted in Trysinmar. A little test of loyalty never injured anyone.

Kyrie halted and pressed her palm to Tolvar’s forehead, its warmth drawing Tolvar back to the matter at hand.

He exhaled.

“There you are,” Kyrie said, removing her hand and clasping it with the other at her waist. “You are positively bone-weary.”

“I am not.”

“You are. And worse, I See your feet splayed across several paths. Stars, ’tis as if your toes curl in all directions so you can scarcely move.”

Tolvar glared behind them at the waiting knights, who’d halted in their tracks. He took Kyrie’s arm and stepped a few paces away. “Listen?—”

“Nay, Sir Tolvar. You listen. I know who Crevan is. You are not to tell me anything I do not already know.”

“Then your suspicion must be as mine. ’Twas probably him who unburied the Curse here. I need to hunt him and stop him. ”

“You are supposed to be in Asalle with Elanna.”

“King Rian?—”

“King Rian has many an earl he could have sent as his errand boy. You chose to come here. The time for Crevan’s retribution shall come.

But that should not be your worry at present.

Or did you forget everything Elanna told you?

” She glanced upward. The birds had ceased singing.

“Currently, we have the problem of the traces of the Curse giving this place more fissures than one. Let us worry about one matter at a time.”

When they arrived in the glen, they were met with seven Anscom knights standing in a circle around it.

It had grown larger.

And wider.

And was it possible? Darker.

“Halt!” one said, brandishing a spear before taking steps back, his forehead puckered in surprise as he gawked at Kyrie. “It cannot be…”

“And yet I am here.”

Kyrie removed a pair of gloves from the satchel she carried. With the texture of what seemed like velvet, they were the color of midnight. Kyrie slid them onto her hands and closed her eyes.

“Captain, have your men see if there are new splinters nearby. They will appear akin to that.” She pointed to where the crack was most narrow but kept her eyes closed. “Once we’ve determined whether this is all of it, we may begin.”

Tolvar, along with his men and Anscom’s, stood aside and watched.

Kyrie opened her eyes and took methodical steps around the crack until she stood where ’twas deepest. More than an arm’s length now. She stroked the edges with her gloved hands, occasionally bringing her hand to eye level and rubbing her fingers together.

“This trace is new,” she finally said. “And not the work of a Mortah pick, which I predict is what you hoped I would say.”

“Why do you think that?” Tolvar asked.

“Because it would give clout to your suspicions.” She had not mentioned Crevan with the crowd observing, but Tolvar caught her meaning.

“But.” Kyrie stood. “’Tis worse this way. It means the Curse has been unburied by accident. By greed, hate, or conspiracy.” She studied the direction of the battlefield. “You must tell these men to put away their weapons. They are feeding it with their warfare.”

“Cannot you do that?” Tolvar asked.

“Nay, Sir Tolvar. StarSeers do not act. Interfere.” She stood as if listening for something in the air. “The fortune is never finite, but humankind must always be allowed to make their own choices. Including you.”

The Order of the Siria captain appeared in the glen. “No sign of any other trace, m’lady.”

“Good. Then I shall seal this and be on my way. I am sorry, Sir Tolvar and Sir Jenz, but only the Order of Siria may play witness here. I shall join you back at your camp.”

Tolvar obediently left, but not before giving one backward glance to Kyrie, who, still gloved, appeared as though she threaded a thin strand of the very essence of light through a large, crystalized needle.

When Kyrie returned to Tolvar’s camp, she was as pale as a wilted moonbeam flower.

“’Tis done,” she said, as she took the cup Tolvar offered her and a chair beside him outside his tent. The Order knights had placed themselves around the area. “But do not hope to think that the Curse cannot be unburied again. There is much animosity I sense here. Including your own.”

Tolvar was quiet. His finger ran along the scar on the back of his neck.

“’Twas my intent to leave today,” Kyrie said. “Return to Ashwin with haste, but I find that I need rest. Pulling the dark threads of the Curse, as you might imagine, brings exhaustion.”

“You said you know who Crevan is. Because of the stars? ”

Kyrie took a drink. “Because he has a pair of gloves like mine.”

“What? How?”

“What do you remember of that night with Crevan during the War of the Hundred Nights?” She took another sip of her cup. Her color was beginning to return.

“Very little. The sky seemed darker than normal. We were in battle. Winning. I had given chase to one of the commanders and was about to corner him when I was struck with an arrow. ’Twas laced with the Curse of Adrienne.”

Kyrie flinched but didn’t comment on Tolvar’s use of the word.

“I began to feel as if the night ’twas even darker, if that was possible, and pain shot down my spine.

Then Crevan was there, and the next thing I remember, ’twas morning.

I knew Crevan had pulled the Curse from my wound but didn’t know how.

He refused to discuss it, said that I would not like it.

At the time, I left well enough alone. He was my brother.

Stars. How did he come by a pair of those gloves? ”

“That is a tale I Saw long ago. Moons before that night.”

“You Saw?—”

“Aye. On his trek to join you in battle, Crevan cut through a cynth mine and then across a little-known mountain passage. There, he was provided shelter in a storm. And in return, for a single piece of cynth cristal, your brother was offered a pair of midnight gloves.”

Tolvar waited for more of her tale, but she ended it there and said no more. There was no sense pressing the StarSeer. If she was finished sharing what she had Seen, nothing Tolvar asked would change that.

“Strange that his fortune’s path resulted in his ability to save you.”

Her gaze wandered into the distance. “And I have Seen him make use of them again. Yet not to aid anyone this time.”

“What can the gloves do?”

“They protect the wearer from the full effects of the Curse. For me, because I am a StarSeer, the starlight in my blood helps to uphold that safeguard. But for another, such as your brother, the effects will eventually seep through. I needn’t tell you that the effects have already likely seeped through. ”

Tolvar nodded. “Where came you by your gloves?”

“The same place Crevan did. From the witches, of course.”