Fool’s Quest

She stared at him, blinking once as if she was trying to put her memory in order. I knew that feeling. Her crying had been too intense for tears. Her nose was running and her cheeks and nose were bright red. She finally spoke. “Last night. Dwalia led them. They all held hands. I was at the end, with Kerf. And Soula. At the last moment Bee leaned down and bit his wrist. He was so surprised he let go of me. But Bee didn’t let go of him. She dragged him into the stone. He went in screaming.” Her voice lifted on her last sentence, as if that gave her satisfaction. She turned back toward Lant, obviously baffled at how he had released her.

Riddle tugged her back to face him.

I tried to keep my voice level and calm. “Shine. You have to guide us back to that stone. Now. I must go after Bee.”

She moved her gaze slowly from Riddle’s face to mine. Her eyes grew flinty and her voice childish. “You left us through a stone. And then they came. You shouldn’t have left us.”

“I know that and I’m so sorry. But you are safe now. And we need to find Bee so she will be safe, too.” I spoke very simply, as if she were a child. I recalled that fragmented thoughtfulness that follows torture or extreme hardship. Shouting at her would do me no good.

She leaned toward me and whispered, “No. We have to get far, far away. They may come back out of the stone. And there were still some soldiers roaming the forest there. I left the fire burning to lure them and I took the horse and left as quietly as I could. I wish the white horse hadn’t followed me. So easy to see her in the night. I would have killed her to keep her from following if I’d had a knife. But I had nothing. Nothing at all. And it got too dark for me to find my way. So I found a thick grove of trees and hid there until daylight.” She drew a breath. “I rode through the forest until I found a road. We galloped and galloped until the stupid horse wouldn’t gallop anymore. And then I found you.”

“You have to guide us back to the stone. See all the guards we have with us? They’ll protect you this time.”

She lifted her eyes and looked at the waiting troops. Then she narrowed her expression. “I don’t think I could find that place again. Even if I wanted to. Please. We have to get far, far away from here.”

“We will,” Riddle assured her. “But first we have to go back for Bee.”

She stared at him, taking deeper and deeper breaths until I feared she would break out into a shriek. “You don’t understand. I can’t go back there!” Her eyes grew very round and black. “After Bee dragged Kerf in. We, we were . . . There were more Chalcedeans nearby. Dwalia had said so. But they went into the stone and left us, Soula and me. And Soula, she started screaming and hitting me, and trying to follow them into the stone. I had to make her be quiet. And . . . she was part of them, the ones that had ruined our home and dragged us away. So I . . . I killed her. I think.”

“You had to kill her,” I said. I could not let her dwell on that. “You had to kill her, and your father will be so proud that you did. It was the right choice. Shine. What stone?” My heart was racing. Nettle and Dutiful had told me there were no records of Skill-portals in this area. Had they lied to me? I felt a flash of anger, followed by the fear that the stone was unknown because it was defective.

But my effort to reassure her and focus her mind failed badly.

She turned her head slowly to me. “My father?” she asked dully.

“Our father.” Lant’s voice broke on the word and I wanted to strike him. Not now, not now. But he spoke on. “Lord Chade is your father.”

She blinked at him. The look on her face reminded me of a foundering animal. She would go down soon and with her my chance to find Bee. She spoke slowly. “Lord Chade is your father, you mean. You told me your secret . . . the night before . . .”

Her eyes widened. No, don’t let her thoughts go back to the night she was raped and kidnapped. I tried to keep my voice calm. “I must know where the stone is, Shine!”

Lant held up a shaking hand. “Let me speak. Let it be said before your guard gets here. Let me tell her and have it over it with! I can bear this no longer.” He looked at her, his face full of tragedy. “Shun—Shine. You are my sister. Shine Fallstar. Lord Chade is father to us both.”

She stared, her gaze going from me to Riddle and then to Lant. “It’s a poor jest,” she said brokenly. Her bottom lip quivered. “If you love me at all, you will take me away from here, as fast and as far as we may go.”

Lant gave me an agonized look.

Sometimes it is better to rip off the bandaging quickly. “Of course he loves you,” I reassured her. “He is your brother. He would never let you come to harm.”

She snapped her head around to stare at me. “My brother?”