A Blackbird In Darkness (Book 2) by Freda Warrington Page A

losing his own family in the Serpent’s first attack, he had been virtually adopted by Estarinel’s. And of course there was Arlena – he should have realised that Falin had as much cause to be in despair as he had.
    ‘Falin, I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have appeared out of nowhere like this. I was only thinking of myself...’
    ‘I dreaded having to tell you,’ said Falin. ‘I don’t know what made me think you’d come to me before you even went to see your own family, especially as you wouldn’t have known where I was living. It only happened a few days ago; I’ve been too confused to think straight.’
    ‘Tell me what happened,’ Estarinel said gently.
    ‘Well, your father,’ Falin swallowed hard, ‘he died not long after you left. They told us when we arrived back from our voyage. It was the fever that the Serpent brought, it’s nearly always fatal. But there was no warning of what would happen to the farm. It was as though the Serpent’s poison seeped through the ground and dissolved the mortar; it must have fallen so suddenly that your mother and sisters had no chance to escape. Lilithea woke in the morning and it had happened. She rushed to the village to tell us. We were able to get into the ruins and bring their bodies out, but soon afterwards the Serpent’s venom flooded in covered everything. We can’t get rid of it. It seeps out of the very ground. It kills. Oh, if only I’d been with them they might not have died!’
    ‘Falin, it’s all right,’ Estarinel said, grasping his friend’s hand. ‘More likely you’d have died too. Where is Lilithea? Her cottage was empty.’
    ‘She’s all right. She went south, to rejoin her own family.’
    At this, Estarinel sagged with relief. At least she and Falin had been spared so far.
    ‘On the voyage back from the House of Rede,’ Falin went on, ‘Arlena and I were together most of the time. We decided that the Serpent mustn’t win, and the best way to defeat it was to go on living and making the very best of life. We were going to be handfasted in a couple of weeks’ time...That creature won’t rest until we are all dead, will it?’
    Medrian stood up as if a hot ember had leapt out of the fire and burned her. She paused, then said quietly, ‘Do you have somewhere I can rest?’
    ‘Yes – yes, of course,’ said Falin, getting hurriedly to his feet and opening one of the doors. He showed her along a short corridor to a room with rugs strewn on the floor and a patchwork cover across a low bed. Again Falin wondered what she and Estarinel had been through together since he had stood among the cold mountains of the Southern Continent watching them, with Eldor and Ashurek, dwindle to nothing in the Antarctic half-light. He lit a lamp for her.
    ‘The earth-closet is in there, and fresh water for washing,’ he said, indicating a side-room. ‘At least the Worm’s poison hasn’t yet polluted our deep wells… Would you like something to eat? I’m sorry, I should have asked before.’
    ‘No,’ she said, staring at him with those heartless eyes. She hesitated, but added only, ‘Thank you.’
    Falin rejoined Estarinel and sat in the opposite chair with a sigh. Perhaps Medrian was just being tactful; he certainly felt more at ease with her gone.
    As if reading his thoughts, Estarinel said, ‘Don’t think ill of her. She’s had a great deal to bear.’
    Falin nodded, thinking that he had no right to pass judgment on Medrian. ‘How long can you stay?’ he asked.
    ‘Only tonight. We return to H’tebhmella in the morning. Did Medrian tell you?’
    ‘She told me a little. Not much. I realise the Quest is not over.’
    ‘No, it isn’t. Falin, I should not have come back; it was wrong of me. It will only raise new fears and perhaps false hopes, for you at least, even if no one else knows I’ve been here. I just had to know how things were.’
    Falin looked at him, noticing that his friend looked older, world-weary and haunted. There were