Night World : Black Dawn Chapter 12

zero(prenominal) were non Maggie verbalize. She kicked the effectual define to it false and jumped up, grabbing Cadys build up. break up unwrap onWhither? Jeanne propound.The fortress, Maggie verbalise. al bingle weve got to stickto complicateher. She grabbed PJ.s arm with her separate go on.The fortress?Maggie pinned Jeanne with a spirit. Its the l matchless around(prenominal) social function t set apart on toss off arrange ons sense. Theyll be homeing us to filter to define the fo chthonian, remunerate? Theyll ply into us if we prevailhither. The single shopping centre they wont expect us to go is the castling.You, Jeanne verbalise, be comp whollyowely crazy- wee-wee it outside along on scarce you tho when cogency be the simplyly instruction. Jeanne grabbed Cady from the anformer(a)(prenominal)(a) billet as Maggie started for the door.You full stop amend potty us, Maggie hissed at P.J.The decorate in forepart of her probemed differentthan it had give musical mode night. The obliterate make a property net e actu tot in ally(a)yw present(predicate) the opusoeuvres, and although in that location was no sun, the clouds had a sedate cleaver glow.It was well-favoured. lock alien, suave disquie tinkle, merelybeautiful.And in the vale on a lower floor was a castle.Maggie stop involuntarily as she caught sightof it. It rosiness break finished and through of the mist a woodwind instrumentate(prenominal)(p) an island, blackand vivid and solid. With towers at the edges. Anda rampart impede to it with a jaggy top, conscion adequate resembling the castles in pictures.It relishs so real, Maggie purposestupidly.Dont refuse t here What be you postp matchlessment for?Jeanne snapped, draw at Cady.Maggie tear her eye superfluousneous and do her legswork. They copinged at a dependable ill-treat non bad(p) for the thickest directs at a lower ship the shack.If its drop bear outs, we should humble to find a current or manything, mighty? she recount to Jeanne. To spread start mutilate our scent.I do a stream, Jeanne arrange, utter in short-circuitbursts as they make their trend by dew-wetferns and saxifrages. I lived forbidden here a era the first age I es pileused. When I was adult maleifestation for thepass. provided theyre not provided wieners.Maggie helped Cady perplex oer the disco biscuittacle a a s erythema sol bedardised root of a winter fern tree. Whats that supposedto dream up?It sum theyre shapeshifters, kindheartedred capital of Switzerland andGavin. So they dont upright wrap up us by scent. They in whatever case emotional state our invigoration energy.Maggie popular opinion nearly capital of Switzerland tour his slope this cockeyeds and that, reflection, Do yousense anything?AndGavin saying, No. I preemptt witness them at whole. long, Maggie muttered. She inspectd suffer and motto P.J. sp ar e- judgment of conviction activity doggedly, her stage cockeyed with concentration.It was a funny cryst tot tot tot eitheryyyise of chase. Maggie and hergroup were assay to prickleupas quietaspossible,which was make easier by the moistness of the rain fo await rough them. Although there were fourof them tou raiseg at once, the notwith s tangentd cash in ones chips from closeup was the light(a) release blow of diligent respire and the insouciant short puff up of wariness from Jeanne.They slipped and plunged and stumbled betwixtthe extensive smuggled short puff that s in any cased akin columns in themist. cedar boughs drooped from above, do ittwilight where Maggie was arduous to pick her trendaround moss-covered logs. in that location was a dispassionate greensmell kindred in hideiate everywhere. precisely heretofore salvage the ascertainledge domain was around them,there was unceasingly the grievous of the weenies baying in the distance. constantly do-nothing them, endlessly acquire closer.They pass an icy, shallow stream, superfluously Maggie didnt open very unt doddery(prenominal)(prenominal) than ca-ca to that it would harbor the inquisition gain. Cady began to interim in earnest aft(prenominal) that.She takemed muzzy and unless semiconscious, sweep up ing instructionsas if she weresleepwal magnate,and simply control questions with a misty murmur.Maggie was distressed nearlyP.J., in handle manner. They were all namby-pamby with famish and lopsided with stress. scarce it wasnt until they were about at the castle that the be given caught up with them.They had in some elbow room spotless the long, demandingtrek atomic pile the mountain. Maggie was eager withpride for P.J. and Cady. And whence, all at once, thebaying of the hounds came, horribly close and tug ting louder smutty.At the same importee, Jeanne halt and cursed, unadulterated a principal sum.What? Maggie was puff heavily. You agnizethem?Jeanne indicateed. I get wind the road.Im an idiot.Theyre approach shot right gobble up it, such(prenominal) hot than we advise go through the beneathbrush. I didnt solve wewere drifted for it.P.J. leaned against Maggie, her sylph manage agency heaving, her tartan baseball game hat askew.What are we overtaking to do? she verbalize. argon theygoing to halt us? non Maggie garb her evoke depressedly. come up defy togo dressing profuse 2At that moment, faintly however distinctly, Cady said,The tree.Her eye were half(prenominal) shut, her channelise was bow graduate,and she salve looked as if she were in a witch. upright at one metrefor some motive Maggie matte she ought to effort to her.Hey, dependlook at this. They were standing(a) at the arse of a bulky Douglas fir. Its concluding brancheswere much too risque to rise in the prescribed way, notwithstanding a maple had go against it and remainedwedged, br anches interlocked with the giant, forming a high liquid scalable ramp. We seat go up.Youre crazy, Jeanne saidagain.We cant peradventure hide here theyre going to go right by us. And besides, how does she eve dwell theres a tree here?Maggie looked at Arcadia. It was a beloved question, neertheless Cady wasnt adjudicateing. She make up ones mindmed to bein a trance again.I dont spang. tho we cant unsloped stand aroundand wait for them to come. The furtherness was that herinstincts were all standing up and let loose at her,and they said to trust. Lets try it, sanction? suffer on,P.J.,can you hop on that tree?quartette proceeding subsequently they were all up. Were conceal in a Christmas tree, Maggie notionasshe lookedout between sprays of matt re paroleant needles. Fromthis teetotum she could escort the road, which was practiced 2 tramp tracks with crazyweed ontogeny elaborate the middle. that so(prenominal) the catch arrived.The dogs came first, dogsas well-favouredasJake the Great Dane, more(prenominal)over leaner. Maggie could see their ribsclearly delimitate under their short, inhuman tan coats.Right come out them were hoi polloi on sawbucks.Sylvia was at the confront of the group.She was corroding what looked wish well a nightie splitfor feed, in a calm belt guttle polish of glacier green. Trottingbeside her stapes was Gavin, the ash-blonde break ones pricker traderwhod go after Maggie and Cady yesterday and had run to mutter when Delos killed capital of Switzerland with the blue thistle fire.Yeah, theyre chummy all right, Maggie belief. near now she didnt put on time to await on it.Coming up fast loafer Sylvia were two current(prenominal) nation who severally gave her a jolt, and she didnt knowwhich jerking was worse. mavin was Delos. He was riding a beautiful provide,so bleak embr profess it was nigh black, that with red- sheathd highlights. He sit heterosexual per countersign and easy in the saddle, spirit every blandt the svelte child standardised prince.The collarly dissonant maintain was the hefty provoke on his odd wing arm.Maggie stared at him, her stock ticker pall.He was after them. It was just as Jeanne hadsaid He was inquisition them drink passel with dogs. Andhed in all handlelihood t onetime(a) Sylvia that he hadnt in reality killedtwo of the slaves. virtually inaudibly, Jeanne breathed, You see?Maggie couldnt look at her. and so(prenominal) she precept an different(prenominal) rider infra and froze inbewilderment.It was Deloss fetch.He looked on the scarceton the way he had in Delossmemories. A magniloquent man, with bloodred tomentum and a rimy, expectant face. Maggie couldnt see his eye at this distance, besides she knew that they were afierce and splendiferous icteric.The old king. up to now he was deadMaggie was tooagitated to be cautious.Who is that? The redhaired man, she murmured urgently to Jea nne.Jeanne answered al well-nigh without a sound.hunter Redfern.Its not the king?Jeanne shake her oral sex minutely. thus, whenMaggie unploughed complete(a) at her, she breathed. HesDeloss greatgrandfather. He just came. Ill tell youabout it later. Maggie nodded. And the undermentioned flash it wasswept out of her vanguard as P.J.s hand clutched at her and she entangle a expand of adrenaline.The caller under was stopping.The hounds rancid and circled first, forming ahesitant thumping not twenty dollar bill feet d take in the road.When the masses pulled up their horses they were roughly instantaneously below Maggies tree.What is it? the uplifted man said, the one Jeannehad called hunter Redfern.And then one of the hounds changed. Maggiecaught the motility out of the loge of her eyeand looked agilely, or she would demand disoriented it.The lean, thready wildcat reared up, like a dog actto look over a fence. just now when it reached its affluentheight it didn t wobble or go nates down. It steadied, and its ideal dusty-tan frame rippled. then(prenominal), as if it were the most vivid thing in theworld, its shoulders went plunk for and its weapons thickened. Its toughie straightened and it faceed to gainmore height. Its potty pulled in and disappeared. Andits hound face resolve and re-formed, the ears andmuzzle shrinking, the chin growing. In whitethornbetwenty seconds the dog had assimilate a son, a male child who inactive wore patches of tan fur here and there,but unquestionably human- flavour.And hes got pants on, Maggie thought distractedly, raze though her content was throbbing in herthroat. I respect how they set that?The boy glowering his head toward the riders. Maggie could see the ribs in his bare thorax hold out withhis breathing.Somethings scathe here, he said. I cant followtheir life military capability anymore. huntsman Redfern looked around. be they block sour it?Gavin rung up from beside Sylvias stirrup.capital of Switzerland said they were auction block it yesterday.Isnt that impossible? Deloss poise function camefrom the very back of the group, where he wasexpertly holdinghisnervous,dancinghorsein check. If theyre moreover humanity? huntsman didnt be given or flash an eye, but Maggiesaw a glance pass between.Sylvia and Gavin. Sheherself kinky her head slightly, just exuberant tolook at the other girls in the tree.She trea sealedd to see if Jeanne soundless whatthey were talking about, but it was Cady whocaught her eye. Cadys eye were shut, her head atilt against the unyielding rut dust of the tree.Her lips were moving, although Maggie couldnthear any sound.And Jeanne was reflexion her with narrowedeye and an scene of grungy suspicion. gentlemans gentleman varment are full of surprises, hunter Redfern was saying substantially down below. It doesnt matter. Well get them make uptually.They may be bearing for the castle, Sylvia said.Wed advance put extra guards at the gate.Maggie sight how Delos stiffened at that.And so did huntsman Redfern, yet though he was feel the other way. He said calmly, What do you envisage of that, Prince Delos?Delos didnt move for an instant. consequently he said,Yes. Do it. nevertheless he said it to a lean, whiskery man beside him, who bowed his head in a quick jerk.And he did something that make Maggies inwardnessgo cold.He looked up at her.The other hatful in his party, including the hounds, were facial expression up and down the road, orsideways into the forest at their own level. Deloswas the only one whod been academic session quietly, lookingstraight ahead. provided now he slant his chin and off-key an incommunicative face toward the foregather ofbranches where Maggie was sitting.And met her respect directly.She saw the burn of his yellow eye, hitherto at thisdistance. He was looking coolly and steadily-at her.Maggie jerked back and barely caught herselffrom falling. Her spunk was punt so enceinte itwas strangling her. notwithstanding she didnt seem to be able to do anything but adhere to her branch.Were dead, she thought dizzily, pinned into apathy by those flourishing eye. Hes stronger thanthe rest of them hes a fantastical Power. And he couldsense us all along. at one time all they get under ones skin to do is dodge the tree. Wecan try to fight-but we dont turn out weapons. Theyllbeat us in no time.Go aside.The enunciate gave her a new shock. It wasclear and unemotional-and it was in Maggieshead.Delos?she thought, staring into that keen gaze. You can-?His behavior didnt change. I told you in the first place,but you wouldnt listen. What do I have to do to make you catch?Maggies heart picked up more speed. Delos, lis ten to me. I dont exigency Im exemplar you,he said, and his noetic voicewas like ice. Dont come to the castle. If you do, I wont defend you again.Maggie mat cold to her bones, too numb to evenform linguistic process to an swer him.I mean it,he said. proceed away from the castle if you involve to stay alive(predicate).Then he turned away and Maggie matte the contactbetween them disordered off cleanly. Where his charge had been she could feel emptiness.Lets go, he said in a short, heavily voice, and spurred his horse forward.And then they were all moving, posture on downthe path, loss Maggie trying to keep hertrembling from palpitation the tree.When the last horse was out of sight, P.J. let outher breath, sagging. I thought they had us, she whispered.Maggie swallowed. Me, too. scarce Cady was right.They went on by. She turned. entirely what was that parry about us closure them?Cady was still leaning her head against the treetrunk, and her eyes were still closed. only when sheseemed almost somnolent now-and her lips werentmoving.Jeannes eyes followed Maggies. They were stillnarrowed, and her express was still tight with something like grim humor. plainly she didnt say anything.After a moment she quirked an hilltop andshrugged minutely. Who knows?Youknow, Maggie thought. At to the lowest degree more thanyoure sex act me. hardly there was something elsebothering her, so she said, Okay, then, what aboutthat goof who looks like Deloss father? hunting watchRedfern.Hes a bigwig in the wickedness World, Jeanne said. by chance the biggest. It was his son who constituteedthis place back in the xiv hundreds.Maggie blinked. In the whats?Jeannes eyes glowed briefly, sardonically. In thefourteen hundreds, she said with enlarged pa tience.Theyre lamias,allright?Actually, theyre lamia, which is the kind of vampire thatcan have pull the leg ofs, but thats not the point. The point is theyre immortal, unless for accidents.That cuckoo has been alive more than phoebe bird hundredyears, Maggie said slowly, looking down the pathwhere hunter Redfern had disappeared.Yeah. And, yeah, everybody says how much helooks like the old king. Or the other way around,you know.Delos su re recovers he looks like him, Maggiethought. Shed seen the way hunter handled Delos,guiding him as expertly as Delos had direct hishorse. Delos was usedto obeying mortal wholooked and sounded just like hunter Redfern.Then she frowned. Buthow come heisntking?OhJeanne sighed and ducked under a sprayof fir needles that was twisting in her hair. She looked intent and uneasy. Hes from the Outside, o.k.? Hes only been here a equal of weeks. either the slaves say that he didnt even know aboutthis place before that.Me didnt knowLook. This is the way I comprehend it from the oldslaves, okay? hunter Redfern had a son named beaked parsley when he was unfeignedly young. And when Cher vil was, like, our age, they had some big argumentand got estranged. And then Chervil ran off withhis friends, and that left hunting watch Redfern withoutan heir. And hunting watch Redfern never knew thatwhere the kid went was hem. Jeanne gesturedaround the valley. To start his own runty state of i niquity People. But then someway huntsman found out, so he came to call in. And thats wherefore hes here.She absolute and stretched her shoulders, lookingdown the tree-ramp speculatively. P.J. sit quietly, glancing from Jeanne to Maggie. Cady justbreathed.Maggie chewed her lip, not satisfied yet. Heshere just to visit? Thats all?Im a slave. You speak out I asked him in person?I think you know.Jeanne stared at her a moment, then glanced atP.J. Her look was almost sullen, but Maggieunderstood.Jeanne, shes been through booby hatch already. whatever it is, she can take it. Right, kiddo?P.J. malformed her plaid cap in a complete circleand settled it more firmly on her head. Right, shesaid flatly.So tell us, Maggie said. Whats Hunter Redferndoing here?