“Yes, lady. Wait three sunsets. If you not back, go tell Council.”
“Then wait for us here, Ugo. Do not follow. Rest and stay out of sight. we should be back in three days and if not, the message must reach the Council.”
“Yes, Lady. Ugo wait.”
“Do you really think the wight can get through the Wild Wood if something happens to us?” Cormac asked once they were out of earshot.
Shiara shrugged. “Probably not. But it gives him a reason to live and a sense of his own worth. We will be done in less than three days.”
“Much less, I hope,” said Cormac, scowling at the mountain jutting above them.
Evening found them above the tree line, halfway across a jumbled field of boulders. There was no snow but the air was cold and the wind keen and sharp. They used the faggots they had gathered on their climb through the forest to build a fire in a place where two great boulders leaned together and provided shelter from the winds.
“Our follower?”
“Camped down in the trees. He apparently plans to gain the summit in a single push tomorrow.”
“By which time, luck willing, we will have completed our business and be away.”
“Luck willing,” Shiara agreed.
Their evening meal was barley porridge flavored with dried meat. It was quickly eaten, but neither made a move to bed down. Instead they sat, staring into the fire and enjoying the warmth reflecting off the boulders.
“Light, would you have chosen this life,” Cormac asked her. “Could you have chosen freely, I mean?”
Shiara stared into the flames. “I do not know,” she said at last. “Being a wizardess is not a free choice. You are born gifted and you try to build your life around it.” She lifted her head and looked at him. “And you? Did you choose freely?”
He laughed easily. “Oh, aye. Even as a child I had a taste for trouble. Mine was a free choice.” He sobered. “As freely as any man can choose, at least. I had no hand for farming and I did not want to starve.”
“Do you regret it?”
Cormac shook his head. “We’ve had a good run, lass. We’ve had some fine times and our fame will live after us. But there are times I miss the things I have not had.”
“A home?” She asked with a little smile. “And children?”
“The rest, aye. And children, perhaps. I was an only child you know. My line dies with me.”
Shiara laid her fingertips on his shoulder. “That could still be,” she said softly.
“Perhaps. But I’m an old horse to break. I suppose it’s a matter of making choices and then regretting that in making them we give up other things.” He picked up a stick and poked the fire with it idly. “I chose the sword road because it promised honor and fame. I have had all that, so I cannot complain of a bargain unfulfilled.”
“Did duty have no role in your choosing?”
Cormac grinned. “Oh, a mite. But I remember the day you came to the parade ground seeking a guardsman to cover your back while you burgled some trinkety bit of magic. I saw you and decided none other would be your quest companion.” He shook his head. “There were one or two others who were minded to volunteer, but I convinced them otherwise.”
“So you presented yourself to me the next day with knuckles bloody.” Shiara smiled at the memory. “But was it only my beauty?”
“Well, I always have been a frippery fellow, Light. With never your fine, serious purpose.”
“Mock me if you will, but we do important work.” She sighed. “I do not know what I would have chosen had I been free to choose. But I had a talent for this and a head for the proper sort of spells. The job needed doing, desperately, so here I am.”
“And you regret it?”
Shiara shook her head and the ends of her silvery hair danced in the firelight. “No. My bargain has been fulfilled as well.” She smiled at him. “I have had all that and love as well.”