bite.
What was Nevery doing right now? I closed my eyes. He was across the table from me. He was eating chicken pie and pointing at me with his fork, telling me not to wipe my face on my sleeve. Use your napkin, boy , he said. Later we would go up to the study and I would ask him about the papers he’d written on pyrotechnics, the ones I’d nicked from his study. Lady would curl up on my lap and purr. Benet would bring up tea and then sit with his chair tilted back against the wall, knitting.
I chewed at my bite of biscuit and bacon andfinally swallowed it down, but the lump of sadness in my throat wouldn’t let me eat any more. Carefully, I wrapped up the biscuit again and put it back in the knapsack.
I lay down to sleep, using the knapsack as a pillow, shivering because my clothes were damp. The leaves of the bush rustled, and drops of rain pattered down nearby. My eyes stayed open, and I stared at the black night. High above, the wind blew in the treetops. It sounded like somebody sighing, far, far away, alas , alas , alas .
The next morning when I woke up, I felt awful. Not because I was tired, but because of something else. The inside of my neck hurt and my head felt watery and strange, like it was going to fall off and roll across the ground.
I knew what it was. I was sick with a cold. In Wellmet I’d never gotten sick, ever, because the magic had protected me. But it couldn’t protect me way out here on the road to Desh.
I sneezed and crawled out from under my bush. The rain kept up all day, just a drizzle that made everything damp but not wet. Wellmet’s magic felt very far away, just a warm spark in the distance. My cold got worse, my head aching with every step. My shoulder hurt. The road grew muddier. It led on, straight through the trees. If I followed it, I reckoned, and walked fast, I would catch up with Rowan and her envoyage. I wasn’t sure Rowan would let me join her, but one way or another I would get to Desh.
I walked all the rest of the day, sneezing and sniffling and wiping my nose on my sleeve. Finally the night crept through the trees. Like the night before, I found a bush to sleep under, this one farther away from the road.
I couldn’t feel the magic at all anymore, not even a glimmer in the distance. My ribs aching, my head aching, I crawled into the bush; even under its rustly leaves the ground was wet, but I wasn’t going to find anywhere drier. I’d spentwetter nights in the Twilight. After eating a potato and some cheese and telling my growling stomach it wasn’t getting any more, I lay down to sleep.
The night was empty, and darker than a cellar with the door closed. Nearby I heard rustling, twigs cracking, scurryings. What was it? Little animals, I guessed. Maybe rats. There were always plenty of rats around in the Twilight. Sometimes, if you slept in a dark cellar, they’d creep out during the night and nibble at your hair.
My eyes fell shut and I went to sleep.
Went to survey damage. Heartsease utterly destroyed. Nothing salvageable. Grimoire lost, curse it. Will have to rebuild from ground up.
Benet has not yet woken. Trammel grows more worried, fears his brain injured when skull was cracked.
Met with magisters. Discussed Connwaer’s exile. Order of exile issued. Discussed Shadows. Magisters grow more worried every day.
Staying in Brumbee’s apartments in academicos. Uncomfortable; don’t like it. Can’t sleep. I fear something is deeply wrong, more than we know.
CHAPTER 17
F our more days of walking as fast as I could through the mud with my sore throat and my ribs aching, and sleeping under bushes. I ran out of food on the third morning, after eating the last crumbs of cheese and a half potato for breakfast. Living with Nevery and Benet, I’d forgotten what itwas like to be hungry. My stomach felt hollow, and by the next morning my head did, too.
Eventually the night came on. Instead of looking for a bush to sleep under, I kept walking, plod , plod
What was Nevery doing right now? I closed my eyes. He was across the table from me. He was eating chicken pie and pointing at me with his fork, telling me not to wipe my face on my sleeve. Use your napkin, boy , he said. Later we would go up to the study and I would ask him about the papers he’d written on pyrotechnics, the ones I’d nicked from his study. Lady would curl up on my lap and purr. Benet would bring up tea and then sit with his chair tilted back against the wall, knitting.
I chewed at my bite of biscuit and bacon andfinally swallowed it down, but the lump of sadness in my throat wouldn’t let me eat any more. Carefully, I wrapped up the biscuit again and put it back in the knapsack.
I lay down to sleep, using the knapsack as a pillow, shivering because my clothes were damp. The leaves of the bush rustled, and drops of rain pattered down nearby. My eyes stayed open, and I stared at the black night. High above, the wind blew in the treetops. It sounded like somebody sighing, far, far away, alas , alas , alas .
The next morning when I woke up, I felt awful. Not because I was tired, but because of something else. The inside of my neck hurt and my head felt watery and strange, like it was going to fall off and roll across the ground.
I knew what it was. I was sick with a cold. In Wellmet I’d never gotten sick, ever, because the magic had protected me. But it couldn’t protect me way out here on the road to Desh.
I sneezed and crawled out from under my bush. The rain kept up all day, just a drizzle that made everything damp but not wet. Wellmet’s magic felt very far away, just a warm spark in the distance. My cold got worse, my head aching with every step. My shoulder hurt. The road grew muddier. It led on, straight through the trees. If I followed it, I reckoned, and walked fast, I would catch up with Rowan and her envoyage. I wasn’t sure Rowan would let me join her, but one way or another I would get to Desh.
I walked all the rest of the day, sneezing and sniffling and wiping my nose on my sleeve. Finally the night crept through the trees. Like the night before, I found a bush to sleep under, this one farther away from the road.
I couldn’t feel the magic at all anymore, not even a glimmer in the distance. My ribs aching, my head aching, I crawled into the bush; even under its rustly leaves the ground was wet, but I wasn’t going to find anywhere drier. I’d spentwetter nights in the Twilight. After eating a potato and some cheese and telling my growling stomach it wasn’t getting any more, I lay down to sleep.
The night was empty, and darker than a cellar with the door closed. Nearby I heard rustling, twigs cracking, scurryings. What was it? Little animals, I guessed. Maybe rats. There were always plenty of rats around in the Twilight. Sometimes, if you slept in a dark cellar, they’d creep out during the night and nibble at your hair.
My eyes fell shut and I went to sleep.
Went to survey damage. Heartsease utterly destroyed. Nothing salvageable. Grimoire lost, curse it. Will have to rebuild from ground up.
Benet has not yet woken. Trammel grows more worried, fears his brain injured when skull was cracked.
Met with magisters. Discussed Connwaer’s exile. Order of exile issued. Discussed Shadows. Magisters grow more worried every day.
Staying in Brumbee’s apartments in academicos. Uncomfortable; don’t like it. Can’t sleep. I fear something is deeply wrong, more than we know.
CHAPTER 17
F our more days of walking as fast as I could through the mud with my sore throat and my ribs aching, and sleeping under bushes. I ran out of food on the third morning, after eating the last crumbs of cheese and a half potato for breakfast. Living with Nevery and Benet, I’d forgotten what itwas like to be hungry. My stomach felt hollow, and by the next morning my head did, too.
Eventually the night came on. Instead of looking for a bush to sleep under, I kept walking, plod , plod
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