I’d seen the slim, exotic Fang (Soleine, or ‘Sol’) without her huge silver wig and bestial mask before, but Lovebright was new to me. Her name was Jo, short for Joceine, and I was surprised to find her as captivating as she was. Many Northmen simply didn’t do anything for me; with their tendency towards freckles and reddish hair, they just weren’t my type. But Lovebright cut an elegant figure, blonde-brown hair pulled back in a simple ponytail, skin marble with nary a freckle in sight: her face was roundish, with a cute, stubby nose and a warm smile, eyes bright and intelligent… My mind repeated her curious name, Joceine Tamaflower, and I blinked before averting my gaze.
“You all know what’s happening,” Timesnatcher said after the introductions were over and we’d all gathered round. “Nighteye is absent from all vision. Those predictions concerning him which had previously been hovering around the hundred-percent-accuracy mark have dropped to below ten percent. Yesterday evening Tanra and I,” he gestured to his accomplice, “visited his home.”
Tanra seemed to pale, avoided meeting anyone’s eyes.
“I knew that he’d had a troubled upbringing, but little did I realise the extent to which he’d hidden the reality from us,” Timesnatcher went on. “In truth I always thought I did best by my friends, retreating from those visions which would expose their identities… in greater detail than had already been made plain to me…”
“You don’t have to say sorry for not spying on everyone all the time,” Lovebright pointed out.
“The main thing is, Nighteye was being abused by his brothers, and his dad too,” Tanra said, glancing up and around at us. “A Lord of the Arrealbord. They kept him, like he was a dog. They knew what he could do, what he could do to them, and it never stopped them for a moment. Even when he tried, he couldn’t bring himself to follow it through, and…”
I saw her clench her jaw, looking back down at the floor, and I felt a surge of intense harmony flood through me, a concordance between us.
It must’ve been bad. He’d lied to us, lied to me about everything.
“What were they doing to him?” I asked her directly.
“You don’t want to know,” she said hollowly, flicking her eyes to mine only for a moment.
My hand gripping the arm of the couch was about to start deforming the wood beneath the leather – as though I were ungritting my teeth upon waking, I slowly unclenched my fingers, moved my hand to my knee.
I couldn’t crush my own knee; it was too wraith-y.
“Are you saying that in your professional capacity as –“
“I’m saying it, Kas, because I don’t want you to start torturing people. I know Nighteye saved you, I know you feel you owe him. Don’t ask, please.”
I drew a deep breath and slowly nodded to her.
Zel?
“I’ll get right on it. No idea what she’s talking about, but if you want to know…?”
Please.
Em spoke. “So let me get zis straight – you think zat he has run avay from his life, his role as a champion? Nighteye? Ze guy who came into ze demon’s lair viz us?”
“There’s no way!” Fang hissed.
Timesnatcher – Irimar – held up a hand. “Just… think in terms that he has been kidnapped.”
He paused, allowed that to sink into everyone’s heads.
“There’s three ways it could’ve happened,” Tanra said after a moment.
“You know my thoughts on that,” Irimar cut in instantly.
“The chief thinks it’s Duskdown.”
“I know it’s Duskdown.”
“I think it’s not. I think it’s heretics.”
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“No one can hide something like this from me. No one.”
“That’s what you think. That’s what they’d want you to think. How is it we’re able to predict fewer than five-sixths of their movements?”
He met her eyes for the first time.
“I’ve read between the lines,” she went on, undeterred, “and I think you’re committing a serious error of judgement. For the record!”
She looked around for support.
I nodded. “Shouldn’t we keep all the options open? Time- Irimar…” He looked at me. “If you want to hunt Duskdown, then feel free. No one’s going to stop you. We’ll help you.”
I drew a shuddering breath, and prayed to Yune that the darkmage really truly couldn’t scry that I was saying this. I’d heard he’d scrawled ‘ROSEDAWN’ at his latest murder scene, and I couldn’t imagine a world in which that was a good sign for his sanity.
“But,” I pressed on, “if there’s even a slim chance Tanra’s right, and we don’t investigate? I – I can’t really imagine, what the Srol might do with him. What would they want with him?”
I caught Tanra’s wan smile of gratitude before she swiftly hid it. “It could be Facechanger, too. We know they can hide from us.”
“I hope – whoever it is has him – they don’t hurt him,” Lovebright – Jo – said worriedly.
“Can you sense your amulet?” Em asked the enchanters, looking from Jo to Bor. “Could ve not track him through zat?”
“He’s wearing one of mine,” Jo replied. “And, no, not unless certain other spells were invested in it. Even if I had invested those considerable energies, there’d be ways to hide its signature from me.”
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Fang said, her frustration plain to hear in her voice. “I… I think, if they took him – surely he must have been…”
She couldn’t finish the sentence, and we all knew how it was supposed to end.
Surely he must have been killed by now, whatever they wanted him for.
I licked my lips, not knowing what to say, how to break the sudden silence that had descended.
“We won’t give up on him without a reason,” Irimar promised her. “But before we go too far, I should let you all know that I met with some of the elders this morning. They’ve agreed to allow me to continue to lead, and Springsun is going to be taking over coordination of the druids –“ Fang nodded, even more morose-looking at the reminder of Leafcloak’s passing “– and he wanted to make an entrance, so…”
I stared in surprise as the transformation occurred.
“Did you know I’d landed in your hood all along?” asked the gnome now sitting astride his shoulders.
“Me?” Irimar put on a shocked voice. The smile at the corners of his lips didn’t quite reach his eyes, though.
“And what do you mean, ‘elders’? I’m only a hundred and twenty-four – that’s, as they say, what, sixty-three in your years –“
“Sixty-two,” Tanra supplied.
“Sixty-two!” the gnome cried in a tremulous voice. “I’ve got a good thirty years left in me yet, let me tell you!”
“I meant – would you like to get down from there? Look – ow, Sunspring, that’s my ear, not a ladder-rung – oof –“ the gnome’s pointy little boot caught him in the ribs “– thank you… I only meant the champions whose careers extend back further than mine –“
“That’s enough about my age!” For all his protestations of youth, the gnome’s voice was that of a wizened old man, if a little on the squeaky side. His face was deeply-lined beneath the mop of jagged hair, slightly greyer than the thick, whiter whiskers covering his cheeks, lips, chin, neck. Having found his footing on the couch beside Irimar, he promptly plopped himself down on his backside. His head hadn’t even been on the same level as Irimar’s when he was stood on the padded leather, but now he was truly reduced to childlike proportions.
I hadn’t known any gnomes. I’d seen a few when crossing the city every now and again, but they were rarely found in Sticktown, and certainly there’d never been a gnome in the Gold Griffin in my lifetime. The top of Sunspring’s head wouldn’t even come up to my hip. He wore a robe of autumnal colours, oranges and browns, with yellow bursts of sun-rays scattered across one shoulder and down the front and back, like an embroidered sash.
“Now, before you all start screaming, let me just say…” He held up a finger. “I’ve left my mask off, as a gesture of good faith. You want to remove my memory of this meeting once we’re done? Fire away. You had this sin sprung on you, so to speak, ah-ha-ha.” He chuckled at his own joke, gave a tight grin, and then removed a ring from one of his fingers, lifted it up for everyone to see. “You can keep your memories of who I am – Neko Contellimas.” He dipped his head in salute, looking around at us all.
“Sunspring!” Fang murmured, seemingly instinctively.
He turned his smiling face to her, and the smile faded away; within two seconds he was regarding her gravely. “It’s been awhile since we last chatted, hasn’t it, child? You should come with me, later. We’ll start at his family lands. Fly, talk, while we search.”
Fang – Sol, damn it – lowered her head deferentially and nodded.
I had to admit it – for all that he’d surprised us with his intrusion into our unmasked assemblage, I kind of liked the gnome. I wanted to trust him, and if Timesnatcher had foreseen this meeting, had it go ahead in this manner…
But I didn’t trust him, did I?
I bit my lip, looked around at the others.
“How long has he been zere?” Em asked, her voice hard.
“After we talked,” Irimar replied at once, understanding her concern. “Before Jo and Sol arrived.”
The gnome druid nodded confirmation, with a questioning look on his features beneath the mass of white hairs. “You aren’t suggesting I’m rude, now, are you, young lady? How… how rude!”
His bushy white eyebrows crinkled, wagging as he looked her up and down, face drawn in consternation.
Even the sceptical Em had to laugh after that, and as I glanced around at the faces of the others I realised I was alone.
And so it was that we ended up including a stranger in our exclusive little club.
* * *