Free 03 - Death's Legacy by Sandy Mitchell - (ebook by Undead)

might harm Hanna by breaking
the link. Magic was a strange and capricious thing, he knew, and far beyond his
comprehension.
    “She’s tougher than she looks,” he said truthfully, evading
the issue. If Hanna thought that telling Gofrey about the stone was a good idea,
she could do it herself when she woke.
    “Evidently.” The healer pressed a hand to the girl’s
forehead, exactly where Gerhard’s talisman had been, murmuring something under
his breath. Alarmed, Rudi started forwards, but before he could intervene, Hanna
sighed deeply, and her eyes flickered open.
    “Who are you?” she asked, sounding puzzled rather than
afraid. Rudi remembered she could recognise another magic user by sight. She sat
up, awareness returning to her features, compensating for the rocking of the
hammock with small, precise movements, and smiled at Rudi. “We made it then.”
    “This is Gofrey,” Rudi explained. No point telling her where
they were, she’d obviously recognised the hold of the Reikmaiden instantly. “He’s a healer, like you.”
    “Not quite,” Gofrey said. He nodded formally. “My powers are
far more limited than yours appear to be.” He turned to Rudi, and pulled some
dried leaves from his bag. “Could you take these to Yullis, and ask him to
infuse them for me? He must have boiled the water by now.”
    Torn between the desire to help and reluctance to leave Hanna
again, Rudi hesitated. The girl nodded.
    “I’ll be fine,” she said. As he climbed up the companionway
into the open air, the two mages began a hushed and urgent conversation behind
him, none of which he could hear.
    Rudi hurried through the errand as quickly as he could, but
Yullis insisted on taking the time to infuse the leaves properly before they
left his galley, and several minutes had passed before he was able to return to
the hold. When he did, he was just in time to meet Gofrey emerging from the
hatch.
    “See that she drinks that,” the healer said. Turning away
from Rudi, he waved at Shenk. “Just going ashore,” he called. “I’m sure I’ve
delayed you quite long enough!”
    “We’ll make up the time,” Shenk assured him. With a final
round of waving and shouted farewells, Gofrey hobbled down the gangplank, and
Pieter and Ansbach began to unship the hawsers holding the riverboat in place.
Having nothing better to do on deck, and anxious about Hanna, Rudi negotiated
the narrow steps as best he could with a steaming mug in one hand and handed the
drink to her.
    “Thank you.” Hanna was out of the hammock, and sitting on one
of the barrels stowed all through the hold. She sipped the fragrant brew
carefully, and regarded Rudi through the steam with narrowed eyes.
    “Did he tell you he’d seen Greta?” Rudi asked.
    “Yes,” Hanna said, nodding, as if it wasn’t really of any
importance. Rudi felt a faint stirring of irritation.
    “Did he say anything else?”
    “We discussed my symptoms,” Hanna said, in a curiously flat
tone that warned Rudi not to pursue the matter.
    “I see.” Vaguely disconcerted, Rudi shrugged. “Would you like
some fresh air? We’re just getting under way.”
    “I’ll join you on deck when I’ve finished this,” Hanna said.
Taking the hint, Rudi climbed out of the hold again, leaving her to her
thoughts.
    The air outside was crisp, and the sun strong on the open
water, but his spirits refused to lift. By the time he found himself able to
relax again, the riverside settlement and its enigmatic healer were both long
out of sight.

 
 
CHAPTER SIX
     
     
    The next week or so passed without incident, the sturdy
little riverboat forging its way upstream while the landscape beyond the rail
changed slowly into something more familiar. The ever-present swamp and
heathland began to be dotted with trees, isolated specimens at first, stunted
and windswept for the most part, and then clustering into copses of gradually
increasing size. After the first couple of days Rudi