The Wild Road Read Online Free PDF Page B

me.” Her smile was faint and fleeting. Then delicate color suffused her face, and then Bethid knew precisely how Rhuan and Ilona had affirmed her resurrection.
    Mikal frowned. “Who is Alario?”
    â€œOh, Mother,” Ilona groaned, pressing hands against her head. “There is so much to explain . . .”
    Jorda stared at Rhuan. “How did you make it out of Alisanos?” He paused. “You were there, were you not? I was given to understand the storm took you.” Ruddy eyebrows shot up. “Or were you off elsewhere shirking your duty, as is occasionally your habit?”
    Rhuan sighed. He glanced sidelong at Ilona. “There is indeed so much to explain.”
    Ilona looked at each of them; lastly at Jorda, where her gaze dwelled in a silent but poignant appeal. “It would be somewhat encouraging were you pleased that I’m not dead.”
    Jorda stared back in shock, then blinked. He took a step, then another, and pulled her into a bearish embrace. “Oh girl, I am pleased! Indescribably pleased! But you were dead!”
    When he eventually released her, Ilona remarked, “You’ve seen Rhuan resurrect before.”
    â€œI knew he was Shoia! But even then, the first time came as a shock. As this does.” Laughter rumbled. “Shoia or no Shoia, it’s the Mother’s doing.” He tipped his head back and stared up at the sky. “Sweet Mother, I thank you!”
    Bethid reached out and poked Mikal. “We should go. We need to tell everyone, to cancel the rites.” Instinct told her it was time to let Ilona, Rhuan, and their employer discuss matters best left to them. Her own curiosity could be satisfied later. “Let’s go, Mikal.”
    The ale-keep started. “Yes. Of course. We can—”
    But a high, shrill scream cut through the grove, cut off Mikal’s words. Another followed, and another.
    Each of them, as one, stilled abruptly, then turned and ran toward the sound.
    DAVYN AWOKE WITH a start. He lay wrapped in blankets atop a thin mattress spread over wooden floorboards, shielded from the elements by the wagon and canopy. With the broken axle replaced and the backup oilcloth stretched over the roof ribs, it was home again to him, albeit a temporary one. But it lacked others. It lacked his children and his wife.
    Trapped in Alisanos, all of them. All save himself.
    Once again he was swamped by fear, anxiety, and guilt: he was not with his family. Better that they be together, even in Alisanos, than separated. But the Mother had inexplicably kept him free of the deepwood, while Audrun and the children were swallowed.
    The hand-reader had seen it clearly: his youngest, Torvic and Megritte, together with the courier, Brodhi. She had seen nothing of Audrun or their two eldest, Gillan and Ellica, but she had told him that the child was born. Before time, well before time, victim of the power of Alisanos. So, in truth, five children were lost in the deepwood.
    His body ached. Over the past several days too much had occurred, too much had affected his life, his plans; plans he and Audrun had made.
    Huddled in blankets, he heard a rooster crowing in the day, then scattered barking. Nearby, a baby wailed with hunger, or the need for a fresh clout. The morning was perfectly normal in all ways, except that he was alone. Brodhi, the courier who had gone into the deepwood, was to bring him word. Brodhi was to restore at least the two youngest to their father, according to what the hand-reader saw.
    A call rang through the grove, summoning everyone to dawn rites. And then he remembered. The hand-reader was dead.
    Davyn groaned aloud. His right hand found the string of charms around his neck. Clenching them within a fist, he pictured the hand-reader in his mind, recalled her care and compassion. It was her vision of the courier, Brodhi, with two of the children, that convinced Davyn his only course was to ask Brodhi to go into