‘We will need to find some food,’ said Waylander, ‘for our supplies are low. I doubt we’ll find a village unburned, so it means hunting meat. You may have to forget your principles, priest, if you don’t want to collapse from hunger.’
‘May I speak with you?’ asked Dardalion.
‘An odd request. I thought we were speaking?’
Dardalion moved away from the fire and Waylander sighed and removed the copper pot from the heat before joining him.
‘Why so downcast? Are you regretting saddling us with the woman and her get?’
‘No. I … I need to ask a favour of you. I have no right …’
‘Out with it, man. What is wrong with you.’
‘Will you see them safely to Egel?’
‘I thought that was the plan. Are you all right, Dardalion?’
‘Yes … No … I am going to die, you see.’ Dardalion turned away from him and walked up the slope to the crest of the hollow. Waylander followed. Once there Dardalion told him of his spirit meeting with the hunter and the other listened in silence. The ways of mystics were closed to him, but he knew of their powers and doubted not that Dardalion was speaking the literal truth. He was not surprised that the hunters were on his heels. After all, he had killed one of their number.
‘So you see,’ concluded the priest, ‘once I am gone I was hoping you would still guide Danyal and the children to safety.’
‘Are you so well trained in defeat, Dardalion?’
‘I cannot kill – and that is the only way to stop him.’
‘Where was their camp?’
‘To the south, But you cannot go there – there are seven of them.’
‘But only one, you think, with the Power?’
‘As far as I could tell; he said he would kill me just after dark. Please don’t go, Waylander. I do not wish to be the cause of anyone’s death.’
‘These men are hunting me, priest and I don’t have many choices. If I promise to stay with the woman, then they will find me anyway. Better that I find them and fight on my terms. Today you must stay here. Wait for me. If I do not return by morning, set off for the north.’
Waylander gathered his saddlebags and gear and rode away to the south just as the dawn was breaking. Swinging in the saddle he called out, ‘And kill the fire – the smoke can be seen for miles. Don’t light it again until dusk.’
Dardalion stared gloomily after him.
‘Where is he going?’ asked Danyal, coming to stand beside the priest.
‘He is going to save my life,’ said Dardalion, and once more he told the story of his spirit travels. The woman seemed to understand and he saw the pity in her eyes. He realised in that moment that he was engaged in confession and knew that he had compromised himself badly. In telling Waylander he had forced the man to fight for him.
‘Don’t blame yourself,’ said Danyal.
‘I should have said nothing.’
‘Would that not have doomed us all? He had to know they were hunting him.’
‘I told him so that he would save me.’
‘I don’t doubt it. But he had to know. You had to tell him.’
‘Yes. But there was only selfishness in my mind.’
‘You are a man, Dardalion, as well as a priest. You are too hard on yourself. How old are you?’
‘Twenty-five. And you?’
‘Twenty. How long have you been a priest?’
‘Five years. I was trained as an architect by my father, but my heart was never in it. Always I wanted to serve the Source. And as a child I would often have visions. My parents were embarrassed by them.’ Dardalion grinned suddenly and shook his head. ‘My father was convinced I was possessed and when I was eight he took me to the Source temple at Sardia to have me exorcised. He was furious when they told him I was merely gifted! From then on I attended the temple school. I should have become an acolyte at fifteen, but father insisted I stay at home and learn about business. By the time I had talked him round, I was twenty.’