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.Why would I do that? What possible reason could I have? Go on, tell me! Garet Jax snatched up the Valeman s cloak and blanket and shoved them at him as they went. Don twaste your time telling me what I think, he replied calmly. I ll tell you what I think when I m ready.Together they disappeared into the trees, following the trail that led east along the banks of the SilverRiver.Slanter watched them until they were out of sight, his rough yellow face twisting with displeasure.Then, picking up his own pack, he hastened after, muttering as he went.12 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlFor the better part of three days, Brin Ohmsford and Rone Leah rode north with Allanon toward theKeep of Paranor.The path chosen by the Druid was long and circuitous, a slow hard journey throughcountry made rugged by steep slides, narrow passes, and choking forest wilderness.But at the same timethe path was free of the presence of Gnomes, Mord Wraiths, and other evils that might beset the unwarytraveler, and it was for this reason that Allanon had made his choice.Whatever else must be endured ontheir journey north, he was determined that in the making of that journey he would take no furtherchances with the life of the Valegirl.So he did not take them through the Hall of Kings as he had once done with Shea Ohmsford, a matchthat would have forced him to leave their horses and proceed afoot through the underground caverns thatinterred the kings of old, where traps could be triggered with every step forward and monsters guardedagainst all who trespassed.Nor did he take them across the Rabb to the Jannisson Pass, a ride throughopen country where they might be easily seen and which would take them much too close to the forestsof the Eastland and the enemy they sought to avoid.Instead; he took them west along the Mermidonthrough the deep forests that blanketed the lower slopes.of the Dragon s Teeth from the Valley of Shaleto the mountain forests of Tyrsis.They rode west until at last they reached the Kennon Pass, a highmountain trail that led them far into the Dragon s Teeth to emerge miles further north within the foreststhat bound the castle of Paranor.It was at dawn of the third day that they came down from the Kennon into the valley beyond, a dawngray and hard as iron, clouded over and cold with winter s chill.They rode in a line, traversing thenarrow pass through mountains bare and stark as they loomed against the morning sky, and it was as if alllife had ceased to be.Wind swept the empty rock with fierce gusts, and they bent their heads against itsforce.Below, the forested valley that sheltered the castle of the Druids stretched dark and forbiddingbefore them.A faint, swirling mist hid the distant pinnacle of the Keep from their eyes.As they rode, Brin Ohmsford struggled with an unshakable sense of impending disaster.It was apremonition really, and it had been with her since they had left the Valley of Shale.It tracked her withinsidious purpose, a shadow as murky and cold as the land she rode through, an elusive thing that lurkedwithin the rocks and crags, flitting from one place of hiding to another, watching with sly and evil intent.Hunched down within her riding cloak, drawing what warmth she could from the bulky folds, she let hermount choose its path on the narrow trail and felt the weight of the presence as it followed after.It had been the Wraith mostly, she thought, that fostered that premonition.More than the harshness ofthe day, the dark intent of the Druid she followed, or the newfound fear she felt for the power of herwishsong, it was the Wraith.The Druid had assured her that there were no others.Yet such a dark andevil thing, silent in its coming, swift and terrible in its attack, then gone as quickly as it had appeared, withnothing left but its ashes.It was as if it were a being come from death into life, then gone back again,faceless, formless, a thing without identity, yet above all, frightening.There would be others.How many others she did not know nor care to know.Many, certainly-allsearching for her.She sensed it instinctively.Mord Wraiths-wherever they might be, whatever their otherdark purposes-all would be looking for her.One only, the Druid had said.Yet that one had found them;and if one had found them, others could.How was it that that one had found them? Allanon had brushedaside her question when she asked it.Chance, he had answered.Somehow it hid crossed their trail andfollowed after, choosing its moment to strike when it thought the Druid weakened.But Brin thought itequally possible that the thing had tracked the Druid since his flight from the Eastland.If that were so, itwould have gone first to Shady Vale.And to Jair! Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlOdd, but there had been a moment earlier, a brief, fleeting moment as she wound her way down throughthe grayness of the dawn, alone with her thoughts, wrapped in the solitude of wind and cold, when shehad felt her brother s touch.It was as if he had been looking at her, his vision somehow reaching past thedistance that separated them to find her as she made her way out of the great cliffs of the Dragon sTeeth.But then the touch had faded, and Jair was as distant once more as the home she had left him tokeep watch over.This morning she was worried for Jair s safety.The Wraith might have gone first to Shady Vale andfound Jair, despite what Allanon said.The Druid had dismissed the idea, but he was not to be trustedcompletely.Allanon was a keeper of secrets, and what he revealed was what he wished known-nothingmore.It had always been that way with the Ohmsfords, ever since the Druid had first come to Shea.She thought again of his meeting with the shade of Bremen in the Valley of Shale.Something had passedbetween them that the Druid had chosen to keep hidden-something terrible.Despite his assurances to thecontrary, he had learned something that had disturbed him greatly, had even frightened him.Could it bethat what he had learned involved Jair?The thought haunted her.Were anything to happen to her brother and the Druid to learn of it, she felt hewould keep it from her.Nothing would be allowed to interfere with the mission he had set for her.Hewas as dark and terrible in his determination as the enemy they sought to overcome-and in that hefrightened her as much as they.She was still troubled by what he had done to Rone.Rone Leah loved her; it was unspoken between them perhaps, but it was there.He had come with herbecause of that love, to make certain that she had someone with her whom she could always trust.Hedid not feel Allanon was that person.But the Druid had subverted Rone s intentions and at the same timesilenced his criticism.He had challenged Rone s self-designated role as protector; when the challengewas accepted, he had turned the highlander into a lesser version of himself by the giving of magic to theSword of Leah.An old and battered relic, the Sword had been little more than a symbol Rone bore to remind himself ofthe legacy of courage and strength-of-heart attributed to the house of Leah.But the Druid had made it aweapon with which the highlander might seek to attain his own oft-imagined feats-at-arms
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