across the plains, speeding away from the Westland forests, the
Creepers, the Federation army, and the Elves. She watched ev-
erything disappear gradually into the sunset and then into shad-
ows, mght descending in a hazy, gray light. They flew into
darkness, following the line of the Mermidon into Callahom,
past Kern and Tyrsis, down through the grasslands south.
Midnight came, and they descended to a darkened flat on
which a wagon and horsemen waited. How they had come to be
there. Wren didn’t know. The men were black-cloaked and bore
the wolf’s-head insignia of Seekers. There were eight, all dark
and voiceless within their garb, wraiths in the silence of the
night. They looked as if they had been expecting Tib Ame and
Gloon. Tib gave the pouch with the Elfstones to one, and two
others lifted her from Gloon and placed her inside the wagon.
No words were spoken. Wren twisted about in an effort to see,
but the canvas flaps had already been drawn and secured.
Lying in blackness and silence, she heard the sound of
Gloon’s wings as he rose back into the air. Then the wagon gave
a lurch and started forward. Wheels creaked, traces jangled, and
horses’ hooves clumped in steady rhythm through the night.
She was on her way to Southwatch and Rimmer Dall, she
knew, and felt as if a great hole had opened in the earth to
swallow her.
XXVII
^^•t was nearing dawn when Morgan Lean saw the wagon
I and nders come out of the grasslands west, slowing to
W begin the climb into the hills that led to Southwatch. He
stood on the bluff south, his watch post for three days pas*^
now, staring out across the awakening land. Stars and moon
were fading in a cloudless night sky, but the hills were thick;
with patches of mist that clung to the hollows and draws. The
earth was a repository for predawn shadows melting into the
gray of the disappearing night, still and lifeless husks that
would be swallowed whole when morning arrived.
Except, of course, for the wagon and the horsemen, shadows
of substance whose movements stood out against the froze”
dark. Morgan watched them silently, motionlessly, as if any
sound or movement on his part might cause them to vanish in
the haze. They were still a fair distance away, nearly lost in the
gloom, shimmering like dark ghosts against the night.
They were the first sign of life he had seen since he had be-
gun his vigil. They were, he knew instantly, what he had beer-
waiting for.
Three days gone, and no one had gone into or come out of
Southwatch. No one had even gone near. The land might have
been devoid of life but for a handful of birds that sped in and
out of view with single-minded concentration. There had been
skiffs upon the Mennidon and the Rainbow Lake, but all had
passed south, well clear of the Shadowen citadel, well away
from any contact. Morgan had watched long and carefully for
signs of life within the obelisk, but there had been none. He
had slept in snatches, staying awake a portion of the day and
318
The Talismans of Shannara 319
nieht both so that he could minimize the chance that some-
thing might get by him. He had watched and waited, and noth-
ing had appeared.
But now there was a wagon and horsemen, and he was
certain already that they were bound for Southwatch.
He studied them further and knew as well that they were
Seekers. He could tell from the black cloaks and hoods, from
the way they held themselves, and from the dark secrecy of
their approach. They came in stealth and under cover of night,
and whatever they were about they did not want it known.
There were six riders, four in front and two behind, and there
were at least two drivers. In the odd hush of night’s leaving,
they were a whisper across the empty land, creeping in and out
of the haze and shadows, inching toward the coming light.
He took a deep breath. They were, he repeated, what he had
been waiting for. He did not know why. He did not understand