Castle Avamir (2 page)

There had been no real towns on the High Road. They hadn't seen anything bigger than a village since Bidenfast.

Bidenfast.

It made Heart shiver to remember how close they had come to getting caught there.

If the young Lord Irmaedith had been less kind …

If Lord Dunraven had noticed what had happened …

Heart shivered again.

Then she felt Moonsilver's warm breath on the back of her neck.

Heart smiled.

Sometimes it seemed as if he knew when she was troubled.

“I have to find Castle Avamir,” she told him, slowing so he could walk beside her.

Moonsilver shook his mane.

His armor clanked.

Heart stopped, and Moonsilver began to graze on a patch of rain-soaked grass.

“Castle Avamir is mentioned in the storybook three times so far,” she told Moonsilver. “But it's all nonsense. The book says it's higher than the clouds, deep in a valley, under the stars, and over the moon.”

Moonsilver lifted his head to look at her.

“And it might not have anything to do with my family, anyway,” she admitted. “But Ruth gave me the name Heart Avamir and …” She stopped because she couldn't make sense out of anything she had learned so far.

Moonsilver went back to grazing. He tore up huge mouthfuls of the tender green grass. Heart didn't rush him. The farther the Gypsies were from them, the better.

Finally Moonsilver lifted his head.

Heart started off, heading uphill again.

When they got to the top of the rise, she slowed. Hickory Creek wasn't very big. There was one muddy street lined with rough log buildings.

Heart frowned.

She wouldn't be able to buy good clothes here.

She wondered what the people at Castie Avamir would think of the way she was dressed.

Maybe Zim was right. Maybe Castie Avamir
was
a legend.

But the woman in Jordanville had scolded her when she had asked about the Royal House of Avamir.

“But it might be a coincidence Ruth named me Heart Avamir,” Heart murmured to Moonsilver. “Maybe
I
don't have anything to do with Castie Avamir at all.”

Moonsilver whuffled a soft breath through his nostrils.

Heart looked at him. “Ruth is the one who told me to give your mother part of my own name.”

Heart blinked back tears.

She missed Ruth Oakes.

“Why didn't I ask Ruth where the name Avamir came from?” Heart asked the gray sky overhead. “Why didn't I even
wonder
?”

Moonsilver lifted his head sharply.

Heart turned to look down the road.

A flicker of motion caught her eye.

Halfway down the hill a girl in a long blue skirt was sitting on a fallen log. She wasn't looking toward Heart.

She was facing the other way, bent forward, her shoulders hunched up.

The silver bracelet around Heart's wrist tightened.

Heart caught her breath.

She dodged behind the trees beside the road.

H
eart's pulse was thudding. Was there some reason to be afraid of the girl?

The bracelet was loose again, but it had pinched her
hard
.

Moonsilver stood close beside Heart.

A breeze stirred the tree branches.

The rain started again, then stopped, then started once more.

This time, it poured.

Heart leaned forward, letting the rain drip off her hood.

Moonsilver stood with his head down.

He sidled closer, Heart using her cloak's hem to shelter his face from the downpour.

Heart turned the bracelet around and around on her wrist.

It was magic, she was sure. It had woven itself out of the silver threads Ruth and Binney had given her.

But what did it mean when it tightened?

The rain came down hard for a few minutes. Then it thinned again and stopped.

Moonsilver nudged Heart's arm.

He let out a long fluttering breath.

He pushed at her shoulder.

“All right, all right.” Heart gave in. “The rain probably chased her home.” She peeked out from behind her hiding place.

The girl was at the bottom of the long hill, walking down the main street. She was almost running, her head bowed.

As Heart watched, the girl disappeared into a building with a steeply shingled roof.

“She's gone,” Heart said to Moonsilver.

He stamped a hoof.

“We'll just talk to one or two people, then we'll go find Binney and the others,” Heart promised him.

Moonsilver lifted his head high.

He switched his tail.

Heart pulled the soft cotton halter from her cloak pocket. Moonsilver lowered his head.

He understood.

They had to pretend she was leading him so people would think he was an ordinary horse.

Heart held the lead rope tightly. They squished and slid their way down the muddy hill.

Halfway down, Heart saw the girl's footprints near the log she had been sitting on.

There was a single blue thread caught on the bark of the fallen tree.

Heart turned when a tiny glimpse of yellow caught her eye.

Something was sticking out from beneath the log.

Heart looked down the road, then back at the little patch of yellow.

Cloth?

Heart glanced up again.

There wasn't a single person on the main street of Hickory Creek.

She whispered to Moonsilver to stand still.

Then, pretending to rebutton her boot, Heart sat on the log.

She bent to touch the cloth. It was stiff with wax.

She tugged at the cloth gently.

A packet slid out from beneath the hollow log.

Heart picked up the small package. She took in a quick breath. It was a book. The girl had been reading!

But how had a girl in a tiny mountain village gotten a book? How had she learned to read?

Heart looked at the first few pages.

The words weren't simple. They were harder than the book young Lord Irmaedith had given her.

There were pictures in the book. The first one showed a man standing beside a unicorn.

Heart stared. There was a tiny child sitting on the unicorn's back.

Heart held the book closer.

The drawing was dark but it looked as if the child was wearing a strange cloak of some kind. The cloth billowed out as though the wind were
blowing. It looked as if the child had wings.

A spatter of raindrops fell, and Heart snapped the book shut. She rewrapped the waxed cloth to protect the book. The sprinkle thickened into rain.

Heart pushed the book back into its hiding place and started down the long hill, walking fast.

Moonsilver caught up. He lowered his head until the halter rope touched her hand.

Heart grabbed it, feeling foolish. No matter how excited she was to find the girl or how much she wanted to talk to her, she couldn't forget that Moonsilver had to look like a horse to anyone who saw them.

There was a sign hanging over the door of the steep-roofed building.

It was carved from wood and showed a bowl of steaming soup and a loaf of bread.

“I'll hurry,” Heart told Moonsilver.

She looped the rope over the hitching-rail.

Moonsilver shook his mane, his armor clanking like silver bells.

Heart stepped up onto a broad porch. Fire logs
had been stacked neatly on the rough planks.

She lifted the iron clapper and let it fall.

“Come in!” someone shouted from within.

Heart pushed the door open. Warmth surrounded her instantly. The room smelled like apples and vegetable soup.

“Good afternoon,” a woman near the fire said. “Do you need provisions, or are you just wanting a place to dry out?”

Heart closed the door. “Both.”

She looked around. Bags of apples were stacked along the back wall.

Baskets of washed turnips and carrots and sprouting yams had been piled beside them.

There were rounds of cheese in wooden casks.

Heart's mouth watered. “I would like a bag of apples and some cheese, please.”

The woman brought her the food and took her coins.

Heart pulled in a deep breath. “May I ask you something?”

The woman looked up. “What?”

Just then, a side door opened and the girl in the long blue skirt came in.

“Laura!” the woman said, turning to scowl at her. “Where have you been?”

“Just doing my work,” the girl answered meekly. She smiled timidly at Heart.

Heart looked into her eyes.

Books were forbidden to common people in most of the lands. And this girl had hidden hers very carefully.

So her mother almost certainly didn't know about it.

Maybe no one did.

Heart wanted to talk to the girl alone, but she knew she might not get the chance. So she asked the question she had been asking everywhere she went.

“Do you know Castle Avamir?”

The woman shook her head. “Never heard of it.”

Heart glanced the girl.

Laura's eyes were wide and her skin had gone as pale as milk.

“G
et firewood, Laura,” the woman said.

The girl glanced at Heart, then went out the front door, dragging her feet.

Heart turned. “Thank you,” she said quickly. “The apples look very good.” The woman did not smile.

Heart swung her carry-sack over her shoulder and hurried out.

Laura was standing beside the pile of hearth logs. She was staring at Moonsilver. “He looks like a unicorn with that armor,” she whispered.

Heart bit her lip.

Laura smiled timidly. “I love the old campfire stories.”

Heart nodded cautiously. “So do I.”

Laura's smile was wistful, dreamy. “There were rumors last summer. People said that a unicorn was seen in Dunraven's lands.”

Heart blinked.

Of course.

The rumors about Moonsilver had spread in all directions—and she had traveled in a wide circle with the Gypsies. If Binney stayed on the usual route, they'd be back in Dunraven's lands by spring.

“You've heard of Castle Avamir, haven't you?” Heart asked quickly.

The girl nodded, the barest movement of her head. Her eyes flicked to the shop door, then back to Heart's face.

Heart moved closer. “Do you know where it is? Did you read something about it? I saw your book and—”

The girl's frightened gasp made Heart stop.

“I was very careful with it. I looked at a few pages, then I put it back in your hiding place,” Heart said. “I won't tell anyone.”

Laura took a step backward.

Heart understood. Laura thought she was a lord's stable page. She was afraid.

“Please,” Heart begged. “I won't tell. But I have to find the castle. My family is there.”

Laura was trembling.

Heart touched her arm. “I won't tell. I promise.”

Laura took a deep breath. “Summer before last,” she whispered, “there were two girls hiding in the woods, Leah and Terrin. I took food to them.”

She paused, and Heart waited, glancing at the shop door.

“They were so hungry,” Laura said softly. Then she looked up. “They showed me the storybook. They even read two of the stories to me. It was like magic—the words on the paper—but then”—Laura's eyes closed—“then one day they were gone.”

Heart glanced at the door again. “Did they say anything about Castle Avamir?”

“Only that they lived there,” Laura whispered.

Heart felt her pulse pounding. “Why were they hiding?”

Laura leaned in close. “They were afraid of Lord Dunraven.”

Heart felt cold prickling on the back of her neck. “Dunraven? Here in Lord Levin's lands?”

“That's what they said,” Laura told her.

Heart clenched her fists. “Where is the castle?”

Laura hesitated. “I asked them that.”

Heart felt disappointment settle onto her shoulders. “They wouldn't tell you?”