It was fully dark now. She was very nearly blind.But shecould sense the vast emptiness of the valley in front of her, and the solidity of the mountain at her back.
And she should have felt relieved, to be outsideand not caught-but instead she felt strangely stifled. It took her a moment to realize why.
There was no sound at all. No footsteps, novoices, and no animals, either. And that was whatfelt eerie. It might be too cold at night for mosquitoes and gnats and flies, but there should have been someanimal life to be heard. Birds heading intothe trees to rest, batsheadingout. Deer feeding.Bucks charging around-it was autumn, after all.
There was nothing. Maggie had the unnervingfeeling that she was alone in a strange lifelessworld swathed in cotton, cut off from everythingreal.
Don't stick around and think about it, she toldherself sternly. Find Cady. Now!
Gritting her teeth, she thrust the water bag intoher jacket and started back. By keeping close to the mountains bulk on her left and feeling ahead with her foot before each step, she could find her way in the dark.
When she reached the ledge, her stomach tightened in dismay.
Terrific. Going down in pitch darkness-there's going to be no way to see the footholds. Oh, well, I'll feel for them. The worst that can happen is I fall a hundred feet straight down.
"Cady," she whispered. She was afraid to talk tooloudly; the hunting party might be anywhere andsound could carry surprisingly well on a mountain slope.
"Cady? Are you okay?"
Her heart thumped slowly five times before she heard something below. Not a voice, just a stirring,like cloth on rock, and then a sigh.
Relief flooded through Maggie in a wave that wasalmost painful. Cady hadn't died or been abducted. because Maggie had left her. "Stay there," she whispered as loudly as she dared. "I'm coming down.I've brought water."
It wasn't ashard going downas she'd expected. Maybe because she was still high on adrenaline,running in survival mode. Her feet seemed to findthe toeholds of their own accord and in a few minutes she was on the boulders.
"Cady." Her fingers found warmth and cloth. Itmoved and she heard another little sigh. "Cady, areyou okay? I can't see you."
And then the darkness seemed to lighten, andMaggie realized that she couldsee the shape shewas touching, dimly but distinctly. She glanced up and went still.
The moon was out. In a sky that was otherwisecovered with clouds, there was a small opening, a clear spot. The moon shone down through it like asupernatural white face, nearly full.
"Maggie." The voice was a soft breath, almost awhisper, but it seemed to blow peace and calm into Maggie's heart. "Thanks for letting me rest. I feel stronger now."
Maggie looked down. Silver light touched thecurves of Cady's cheek and lips. The blind girllooked like some ancient Egyptian princess, herdark hair loose in crimped waves around her shoulders, her wide, heavy-lashed eyes reflecting themoon. Her face wasas sereneasever.
"I'm sorry it took so long. I got some water,"Maggie said. She helped Cady sit up and put thewater bag to her lips.
She doesn't look as feverish, she thought asCadywas drinking. Maybe she can walk. But where?Where can we go?
They would never make it to the pass. And even if they did, what then? They'd be high on a moun tain-some mountain-in the dark and cold of aNovember night.
"We need to get you to a doctor," she said.
Cady stopped drinking and gave the bag back. "Idon't think there's anything like that here. There might be some healing woman down there in thecastle - but. .She stopped and shook her head. "It's not worth it."
"What do you mean, it's not worth it? And, hey, you rereally feeling better, aren't you?" Maggieadded, pleased. It was the first time Cady had gottenout more than a few words. She sounded very weak,but rational, and surprisingly knowledgeable.
"It's not worth it because it's too much of a risk. I'm too much of a risk. You have to leave me here, Maggie. Go down and get to shelter yourself."
"Not this again!" Maggie waved a hand She really couldn't deal with this argument anymore. "IfI left you up here, you'd die. It's going to get freezing cold. So I'm not going to leave you. And ifthere's a healing woman down at the castle, thenwe're going to the castle. Wherever the castle is."
"It's the place all the Night People are," Arcadiasaid, unexpectedly grim. "The slaves, too. Everybody who lives here is inside the castle gates; it'sreally like a little town. And it's exactly the placeyou shouldn't go."
Maggie blinked. "How come you know so much?Are you an escaped slave like Jeanne?"
"No. I heard about it a year or so ago from someone who had been here. I was coming here for a reason-it was just bad luck that I got caught bythe slave traders on my way in."
Maggie wanted to ask her more about it, but anagging voice inside her said that this wasn't thetime. It was already getting very cold. They couldn't be caught on the mountainside overnight
"That road the cart was on-does it go all theway to the castle? Do you know?"
Cady hesitated. She turned her face toward the valley, and Maggie had the strange sense that shewas looking out.
"I think so," she said, at last. "It would makesense that it does, anyway-there's only one placeto go in the valley."
"Then we've got to find it again." Maggie knewthat wouldn't be easy. They'd run a long way fromBern and Gavin. But she knew the general direction. "Look, even if we don't get to the castle, weshould find the road so we know where we are. And if we have to spend the night on the mountain,it's much better to be in the forest. It'll be warmer."