Whisperings of Magic (14 page)

She froze.

“I have been watching you, Catryn, ever since you left Daunus. But you know that, don’t you?”

Catryn stayed as still as she could. Her mind was working furiously. She could not shift back to her own body as long as she was in the sack. And as long as she was in cat form, the full use of her powers was denied to her. She could not fight this man. She must get out somehow. Once out, surely she would be able to thwart him. She had controlled a dragon, had she not?

Her captor laughed. “You would like that, wouldn’t you? But I am not such a fool as to give you the chance. I have you just where I want you, and that is where I intend to keep you.”

He had read her mind! Even as the realization swept over her, he laughed again and the voice continued. The words were arrogant and sneering.

“Yes, I know what you are thinking. Have known ever since you left Daunus. It was amusing to watch you and Dahl make your plans. So sure of yourselves, weren’t you?”

For a moment Catryn raged, then she controlled herself. She must concentrate on masking her mind. He must not be allowed to see into it.

“Well done, Seer of Taun,” the man said as she closed her mind to him. “You learn quickly. But it will do you no good. Not unless you cooperate with me.”

What do you want?
Catryn threw the words out of her own mind at him.

“Much,” was the reply. “Oh, yes. I want much! And you will help me achieve it.”

Never!

“Do not be so quick to refuse me. You do not know what I have to offer you.”

Then tell me, Catryn sent back. Let me out of this bag and tell me.

“That I will not be so unwise as to do,” was the answer. “But I would talk with you.” He was silent for a moment. “I have it,” he said. “I know what we shall do.”

She heard sounds as if the man were searching around. What sounded like boxes and pieces of furniture being moved.

Finally the man spoke again. “Ah, here it is. I knew it was somewhere around here.” Fingers began to fumble with the knot that sealed the bag.

Catryn tensed every muscle in her body. When the bag was open … The moment she saw a glimpse of light …

She had no chance. A hand reached through the opening as soon as the knot was untied, but the other hand kept the opening wrapped tightly around the first. Catryn drew back as far as she could. The hand groped for her. She darted her head forward and bit. Her teeth closed on the soft patch of skin between thumb and forefinger.

The man cursed. The hand jerked back. Then it reached for her, grabbed her roughly by the neck before she could bite again and pulled her out.

Now! If she could just change back into human form! But before she could even begin to gather her power, she was stuffed into yet another prison. This time she found herself in a cage made out of twigs and branches. A cage such as a bird would be kept in. Bigger than the bag, with a bit more room for her, but still nowhere large enough for a person’s body. Frustrated, Catryn whirled to face her captor, arched her back and spit.

“Spit and hiss all you want. It will do you no good.” The face of her captor bent down toward her, smiling, tantalizingly close. She could see now that he was old. Lines were etched around a mouth that was drawn and cruel.

Catryn lashed out with a paw, all claws bared.

He pulled back with another oath. “If you would stay alive, Catryn, stop resisting me!”

Catryn stared, suddenly recognizing him.
Launan! You are Dahl’s uncle!
The man who had put the Usurper in Dahl’s place as a baby! Who had been the instrument of the forces of evil that had allowed the Usurper to enslave all of Taun.

“Yes,” he sneered. His mouth twisted with bitterness. “That is who I am. The one who gave the Usurper—as you call him—his power. And in so doing I lost mine.” He glared at Catryn. “He betrayed me. Would have destroyed me, but now I am even more powerful. To be feared even more.”

Catryn stared at him. Was this really the sick, dying man she had seen but once before, when Dahl had discovered him chained and starving in the dungeons of the Usurper’s palace?

“Oh, yes, Catryn, I am.”

In her astonishment she had opened the door of her mind again.

“There is a force in this land that is mightier than you can imagine, Seer though you might be, Catryn of Taun. Mightier even than the Elders who support you. That force empowered me when I stole Dahl’s kingdom from him, and that force has seen fit to use me again. Wizened and bent I may look to you, but you are no match for me, Catryn. You never will be! And I shall destroy Dahl.”

But why? Dahl spared you. He set you free. Why should you seek to kill him?

“Spared me?” He fairly spat the words out. “For what? For a life of poverty and toil? I want much more than that!”

What, then? What is it that you want?

Launan spun away from her, took two paces, then whirled back. His face was contorted with wrath.

“Revenge!” he cried. “I want my revenge, and I have been plotting it for every single moment of these past three years. I have thought of nothing else.”

Revenge on Dahl? Catryn still did not understand. Dahl did you no harm.

“Not Dahl! Not revenge on your weakling of a king. But revenge on the one I made powerful. The one who repaid me with torture and imprisonment. The one who lives still deep within your king. And if I must destroy Dahl in order to destroy him, so be it.”

The Usurper!

“Yes.”

She had left her mind unguarded again. She cloaked it hurriedly. Launan did not seem to notice. He began to pace again, almost in a frenzy.

“The one you call the Usurper will feel the flames of my wrath. He will pay for what he did to me. He will watch through the eyes of your king as I conquer his villages one by one and enslave his people—far, far more effectively than he did. They will serve
me
now, and he will watch, helpless to stop it. Finally, Daunus itself will be mine. Only then, when he has seen the extent of my triumph, will I destroy him. I will let the beast who obeys my commands have him. She burns for revenge against your king for slaying her child. She will kill him and in so doing kill them both. Then my revenge will be complete.”

Catryn fought to think, yet not let Launan see her thoughts. She must warn Dahl—but what could she do? How could she escape?

Launan stopped his pacing and came to stand in front of Catryn’s cage. His face calmed, became sly. He looked at her appraisingly, then spoke again. “Think you that Dahl can control the evil within him, Catryn? Do you not fear that the Usurper will eventually find a way to regain his power? Have you not worried about this?”

Unbidden and unshielded, the vision of Dahl’s dragon scar, scarlet and angry, filled Catryn’s mind. How often had she seen it flare when the Usurper stirred within Dahl? How often had she seen the Usurper himself peer out at her from Dahl’s own eyes. And how often had she drawn back, afraid in spite of herself of that hidden evil?

Launan leaped upon her unguarded thoughts.

“You see? You do doubt him! Dahl
must
die, Catryn. It is the only way to slay the Usurper. Abandon Dahl while you can. Help me and we will assure the future of Taun.
This
is the way.”

Catryn thrust the doubts out of her mind and threw up the cloak again, but it was too late. She had let Launan see her most secret, hidden fears. Fears she had not even acknowledged to herself. But they were groundless, she knew that! She knew well that Dahl could live with the fate he had chosen. Dahl’s struggle had taught her that a whole being is, of necessity, evil as well as good. As was she herself.

I have faith in Dahl, she told herself fiercely. I
do
trust him. The Usurper will never win over him. And he has the sword. The one weapon that will kill Launan.

She returned Launan’s challenge with a glare.

Never!
She sent all the fury she could summon streaking toward him.
I will never abandon Dahl!

“You have already abandoned Dahl,” Launan answered. “You abandoned him the moment you left him alone. And there is nothing now that you can do about it.”

With that he left.

The room in which Catryn was imprisoned was dank and dark. A small slit of a window high above let in only a sliver of light. When Launan left, carrying his candle with him, the shadows took over. Then, finally, even that small amount of light faded, and Catryn realized night had fallen. Launan did not return. A maidservant came in and thrust a few bits of meat and a small dish of water between the cage bars. But when Catryn tried to reach the girl’s mind she found only emptiness. The nothingness of the girl terrified her. What power was it that stole the very essence of these people? She ignored both the food and water and circled the small confines of the cage frantically, her thoughts bent on escape. She gnawed on the bars of the cage, but the twigs and branches were fashioned from wood as hard as iron—her small teeth could not make a dent in them. There was a latch, but it was securely fastened on the outside; besides, her cat paws could not possibly open it. Then she forced herself to sit and she conjured up every unbinding spell she had ever learned, but all to no avail. Either they would not work while she was in cat form or, and this last was a frightening thought, Launan had binding spells far stronger than hers.

When she tried to cast her mind throughout the palace she found she could not. So Launan was powerful enough to block her in that way, too. In desperation, she tried again to summon the Elders, even though she knew it was useless. She was far beyond their reach now. Had Sele the Plump heard her cry for help? Had he been able to return to Dahl? What if he had not? Launan’s words tormented her. She had to warn Dahl, tell him what she had learned—but how could she?

She had left him. She had allowed herself to be captured.

She had failed him.

Then, the next morning, the door to the room in which she was kept opened again.

“I have a surprise for you, my puss.” It was Launan.

Catryn sprang to her feet. She started to arch her back defiantly, then shock flattened her down onto the floor of the cage. Unbelievingly, she stared at the heavily cloaked figure who had entered the room just behind Launan.

“I see you recognize our new friend,” Launan said. “Will you not greet him nicely?”

Bruhn!

Bruhn looked at her, a puzzled look upon his face. She sent a questing tendril toward him. His mind was there, she could feel it, but clearly he did not hear her.

“He does not recognize you,” Launan smirked. “Indeed, how could he be expected to? A scruffy, bedraggled, sorry-looking specimen such as you bears little resemblance to the proud Seer of Taun.”

“Is this really she?” Bruhn’s voice was unbelieving.

“It is. Do you see now what I told you? The Seer of Taun has no power here. It is as I promised you—Dahl’s quest is hopeless. You do well to throw in your lot with me.”

What do you mean? What is going on here? How did you take Bruhn prisoner? Catryn sent her thoughts searing out to Launan.

“Oh, but he is not a prisoner, are you, Bruhn? He came here quite readily. He knows which side is the winning one—a clever young man such as he is.”

Catryn felt something die within her. This was what she had feared, but never really believed, would happen.

“How can I know for certain that is Catryn?” Bruhn asked Launan. He was holding himself stiffly, with a kind of defiant arrogance, but his voice was taut with strain. “It looks like the most ordinary of cats to me.”

Catryn stared straight into Bruhn’s eyes. She yowled. A piercing, furious caterwaul.

Bruhn’s pose faltered. He dropped his eyes. Good. He recognized her all right. Oh, if only Dahl had paid heed to her warnings!

“Catryn it is,” Launan said with a laugh. “And she is not thinking very pleasant thoughts about us.”

“You can hear her thoughts?” Bruhn asked.

“I can. Perhaps it is just as well you cannot.” He draped his arm around Bruhn’s shoulders.

Bruhn looked at Catryn from within Launan’s embrace. He tried to smile, but his lips twitched. His eyes darted back and forth between her and Launan.