MIDNIGHT FALCON by David Gemmell

Vorna took a deep breath. ‘Perhaps you should ask him.’

‘Maybe I will one day.’

She saw a touch of sadness cross his face. You are so young, she thought. Little more than a boy. But then another fear touched her. ‘What are you planning to do?’ she asked him.

‘Do? Why, I shall run the hunters ragged until they catch me.’ He gave a bright smile, but she held to his gaze.

‘Speak to me with truth,’ she said softly. ‘What are you planning?’

‘I have no plans, Vorna.’ He sighed. ‘Do you think my mother really liked me?’

‘What do you mean? Of course she liked you. She loved you. Why would you ask a thing like that?’

‘Sometimes she would look at me strangely, then she’d cry and tell me to get out of her sight. Once she even told me I was the cause of all her suffering.’

‘Aye, she could be thoughtless sometimes,’ said Vorna. ‘You were not the cause, Bane. Neither was Connavar. We are all victims of our own natures. Arian was not perfect. But she loved you. I know this to be true, and you know I would not lie to you.’

‘I know, Vorna. I saw the old hunter, Parax, yesterday. The king sent him to find me.’

‘If anyone could find you it is Parax,’ she said.

‘Yes indeed,’ he said. ‘He’s a canny old man. Very wise. Predicted my future. Anyway, I should be going. I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me.’

The fear in Vorna grew. Reaching out with her Talent she touched his mind. Grief, anguish and emptiness filled her, and with it a desire for death. ‘Wait!’ she said, as he walked to the door. ‘If you have no plans there is something I would like you to do for me.’

‘I’d do anything for you, Vorna. You know that.’

‘Find Banouin. Travel with him and keep him safe. It would mean a great deal to me,’ she added, as he paused in the doorway, ‘to know that you were together.’

Bane glanced out of the open door. ‘Ah, here they come,’ he said. ‘Riding like the wind! Time for me to go.’ Then he grinned, and Vorna relaxed, for it was the old Bane she saw now, bright and full of life. ‘Don’t worry about Banouin,’ he said. ‘I’ll find him and ride with him.’

‘I hoped that you would,’ she said. ‘But it does my heart good to hear you say it. Now go quickly.’

He gave a wide smile, stepped back into the room and hoisted her high, planting a kiss on both her cheeks. ‘You take care,’ he told her. ‘There are not many in this world that I love.’

Bane put her down. Vorna reached up and stroked his face. ‘Ride now!’

He ran from the house. Vorna stood in the doorway and watched as he thundered the grey across the meadow, leapt the three-rail fence, and galloped towards the southern hills.

The twenty hunters swung their mounts and gave chase.

‘You will not catch him,’ said Vorna softly.

Not for the first time Banouin reined in his chestnut gelding and looked back towards the north. Through a gap in the tall pines he could still just see the distant peaks. He glanced to the south, and the beckoning lowlands, and knew that as soon as he crested the last rise Caer Druagh would become but a memory. Sadness touched the young man, and this he found surprising.

Banouin had never enjoyed life among the Rigante. As a child he had loathed the boisterous play, the emphasis on physical strength, the feuding and the fighting. The Rigante, he had discovered to his cost, were a hot-headed, volatile people, quick to anger. And yet his spirit was heavy as he thought of his departure.

The day was bright and clear, the sun warm. Banouin pushed his hand through his dark, shoulder-length hair. I must cut it before crossing the water, he thought. Citizens of Stone wear their hair short, close-cropped. They also shave daily as beards or moustaches are for barbarians. His thoughts drifted away from the wild Druagh mountains, and he pictured the legendary city of Stone: the city of his father.

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