The Unicorn Hunters: A Novel(97)

Isabeau clasped her hands together but Anne sobered her with a look. “If I dare this, then the lady of the korriganed will take you in secret to our castle Guérande by the sea. And there you will live quietly for a time, in secret, with Henri as your guardian. And meanwhile Louis and I”—she swallowed—“Louis and I will go deep into the Lost Lands, in search of the drowned city of Keris. If he and I can do what the sorcerer could not, and bring this city back—then I will be able to return to Brittany. But there is every chance that we will not succeed.”

A light had dawned in Isabeau’s face. “Yes, you must go,” she said at once. “And you will succeed.”

“Think of it a moment longer,” said Anne. “If I am not successful, you will never see me again.”

“That will happen anyway, if you marry Charles or Maximilien,” said Isabeau, fierce. “But I don’t think you will fail. You will win, and you will be queen. I always knew something like this had to happen.”

Anne turned to look a question at Louis.

“Do you need to ask?” he said to her, low. “I forfeited my life by striking the king of France; I think it is only the queen of Armorica who can spare me now. Besides”—he touched the blue sword—“blades like this must be earned.”

Henri said, “I too should like a hopeless quest in the Lost Lands.”

“I am sorry, brother,” said Anne. “You must safeguard Isabeau. And Elesbed, who saved your life.”

“Could I do anything else?” said Henri resignedly. “Even if that brat did so by kicking my shins.”

Elesbed squeaked with indignation.





Chapter


33

    They must go immediately. There was an inertia to the Lost Lands, the queen told Anne. The longer you were there, the longer you wished to stay and the more strangely time crawled by.

“Please,” Anne whispered to the lady. “Keep your word and keep my family safe.”

“I cannot break oaths any more than I can lie,” said the lady. She did not bid them farewell. Perhaps that was not done among the korriganed. Henri, Elesbed, and Isabeau took the queen’s gnarled hands and walked straight into a bar of pure clear light, like the seashore at dawn, and disappeared.

Anne and Louis stepped cautiously out of the castle of Never-Was and into a different place altogether. It was dusk on a lonely hilltop, and when they turned back to the castle, they saw only a heap of moss-colored stones. Anne could see the castle if she concentrated, standing in a different layer of light, but that was all. The sky was every shade of lavender and plum and heliotrope, and the first stars had come out in unaccustomed places. The wind lifted her hair. There was certainly no lost city in view, nor any glimpse of the sea. There was nothing but the two of them, and it felt to Anne like standing on the edge of the world.

“You’d think that our fine korrigan-queen would offer her guests beds before flinging them into the wild,” muttered Louis.

“She promised her help, and we are here. There must be a reason,” said Anne. “Where are we?”

A cold wind tangled her hair, and Louis, without speaking, drew off his short cloak and put it over her. He had acquired a scabbard and sword-belt after the feasting, so he need not carry his sword. But nothing else had they been given, no clothes, no food. Anne’s teeth were starting to chatter.

She peered stubbornly down the stony brow of the hill and said, “That is smoke, I think. Can you smell it?”

Louis breathed and frowned. “Yes.”

“Perhaps whoever built that fire is friendly.”

“Or perhaps not,” Louis rejoined.

“But we can’t stay here. I think we must brave it.”

He looked dubious. “How far can you walk?”

She considered. “I do not think I can go far.” She ached badly from walking and running in the castle of Never-Was.

He nodded. “All right. Come on, one step, then another. I dare not try to carry you down this ridge in the dark.”

Anne never forgot the climb down from that hilltop. It was nigh impossible with her tired limbs trembling and the light failing fast. It was as well that Louis had been a soldier and a commander of soldiers, for the cheer in his voice never wavered as they picked their way cautiously. Toward the end, Louis simply placed each of her wavering feet in turn onto the proper rocks, and finally they reached the abyssal black beneath the trees.

Anne discovered to her chagrin that she could go no farther at all.

But there was firelight between the trees. She summoned her last reserves, leaned on Louis’s unwavering arm, and made her way toward it. Finally they found themselves in a tidy yard with a woodpile and the smell of a byre. It seemed like a human place. But the stars overhead made constellations that Anne didn’t know.

Anne whispered, “If there are dangers in there, I cannot run away.”

“No, indeed,” said Louis, calmly. “But you wouldn’t need to. I have my sword.” With a hand on his sword-hilt, he roared, “Ho there, the house!” This was called in a voice calculated to reach charging cavalry upon the battlefield.

Anne stood stiff, listening.

Suddenly an old man in a leather apron came to the door and called, “Who’s there?” He did not look like a korrigan.