Dreamer's Pool by Juliet Marillier Read Free Book Online Page B

felt right; it had in it the idea of what I was now, walking under a shadow and all prickles.
    ‘Mm-hm.’
    That was all he said until I had finished both soup and bread, and had warmed up sufficiently to stop shaking and begin yawning, the food and the fire conspiring to draw me toward sleep. Then my companion spoke again. ‘I have a bag here for you, with a change of clothing and some items for the journey: a knife, a flint, way-bread and so on. When you reach Winterfalls there will be other supplies ready. Not much; only sufficient to get you started. And you’ll be wanting to bathe. My folk will bring warm water shortly, and will ensure that you have privacy. That is for tonight only, Blackthorn. From tomorrow you’ll be relying on your own resources.’
    I understood he was not planning to stay, which was just as well if I was supposed to strip and wash here under the trees. Out of the myriad urgent questions, I chose what seemed the most important right now. ‘Winterfalls. I don’t know the place – where and what is it?’
    ‘Winterfalls is a holding in the north-east, near the coast of Dalriada. It’s the residence of Prince Oran, only son of the Dalriadan king. Quite a young man, I understand, and establishing his own household for the first time. There’s a sizeable settlement there and many small farms. They don’t have a local healer, so there’ll be no shortage of work.’
    ‘Are you telling me I’ll need to live in this settlement?’
    Conmael smiled. ‘You loathe that notion so much, Blackthorn?’
    ‘Let’s just say it would add to the difficulty of keeping your conditions.’
    ‘I know you better than you realise,’ he said. ‘There is an old cottage some miles from Winterfalls settlement, on the edge of a wood. The local folk can walk or ride there quite easily; there’s a path through Dreamer’s Wood and another that skirts it. The place will be highly suitable for you, though it’s run-down. You’ll need to do some work on it. People can get to you if they need help, but you’ll have plenty of time in your own company. There are the makings of a garden; the house was tenanted by another wise woman some years ago. You’ll be able to gather wild herbs in the woods. And my folk are nearby.’
    ‘To keep an eye on me.’
    ‘To watch over you.’
    ‘And to slap another year on the sentence if I make even the tiniest error.’
    ‘You think my terms harsh. But you have received your life back in return. Besides, learning can be very harsh indeed. And long. You know that already.’
    ‘Conmael.’
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘Did anyone else get out of that place? When you did what you did?’
    When he did not answer straight away, I wished I’d kept my stupid mouth shut. After a while he said, ‘My interest stretches only as far as yourself. What became of those incarcerated with you, I have no idea.’ He gave me a very direct look, then added, ‘I did not believe you could surprise me, Blackthorn, but you just did.’
    ‘What, because I asked after my wretched cellmates?’ What if Grim had lifted me up to the light, waited until I was safely out, then fought an impossible battle, one man against ten, twenty, thirty of Mathuin’s men-at-arms? The whole wretched bunch of them, Strangler, Frog Spawn and the rest, might now lie crushed beneath those stones. Conmael had made it happen and he didn’t even seem to have thought about that. ‘For them, maybe death was a kindness,’ I muttered. An hour ago, before the fire and the soup, I would have believed my own words. Now, I was not quite so sure.
    ‘I’ll leave you.’ Conmael rose to his feet. ‘Enjoy your bath. It will be safe to sleep by the fire here. You will not see my people, but they will guard you.’ He did not wait for me to reply, but with a sweep of his grand cloak simply vanished.
    Perhaps the bath had been there all along; if not, invisible hands had delivered it at some moment when my gaze was elsewhere. A wooden tub