Rebecka Evertrue's Arc

Chapter 63 of 66

The crawler rolled south through low hills. Rebecka sat with the quiver across her knees. The arrows were quiet now, but the northern buyer was not a problem she could sleep through. He knew her name. He knew the arrows were gone. She did not know his face, his road, or the hour he would come. "He'll move fast," Storm said from the driver's seat. "He paid for those shafts. He'll want blood before he wants the arrows back." "Then I need to see him before he sees me," Rebecka said. She pulled the cloaking prism from her pack and set it on the dash. The stone flickered and steadied. The crawler's outline blurred against the road. One hour of cover. Long enough to reach the fae hollow and ask for eyes she did not have. The between-road opened at a stand of birch. Storm drove them through. The hollow rose from the moss in glowing mushroom towers and lantern-strung bridges. Lark met them on the lower stair, wings folded tight. "You came back sooner than we agreed," he said. "I need to know where the northern buyer is," Rebecka said. "Before he finds my gate." Lark led her up two flights to a room lined with pale flowers. He set a shallow bowl of water on the floor. "My people can look, but only through a living link. Someone who has already touched the buyer's magic." "Ninka has," Rebecka said. "His people wrote her name." Lark nodded and sent a runner. Within the hour Ninka arrived through the between-road with Katia at her elbow. The giant jumping spider rode on the girl's shoulder, its eyes bright and steady. Rebecka's chest tightened. Ten years old, and the room quieted for her. "Mama," Ninka said. She climbed onto a floating hammock strung between two mushroom pillars. The spider stepped down to the floor and turned to face the bowl. "Ride with her," Rebecka said. "Only look. Don't touch him." Ninka closed her eyes. The spider's legs braced. The water in the bowl darkened. An image formed: a lean man in a fur collar, a map spread on a table, six riders behind him. A dragon's shadow crossed the map. Aureath, circling for hire. The man tapped a mark on the map. Rebecka's homestead. "Two days," Ninka whispered. "He rides in two days. He has hired the dragon." The image broke. Ninka slumped in the hammock. Katia caught her hand. Rebecka stood. She had her warning. Two days. Six riders and a dragon against her dome. "Home," she said to Storm. "We set the ground before he reaches it." She carried Ninka to the crawler herself. The quiver hummed low against her back, patient now, waiting for the shot she would need to make.