Valdemar Anthology - [Tales of Valdemar 02] - Sun in Glory and Other Tales of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey Page B

she didn’t, he would lapse back into his state of wide-eyed immobility. But she didn’t believe it.
    â€œWill you take him into safety, Herald—”
    â€œCall me Kayla. Kayla Grayson.”
    â€œWill you take him into safety, Kayla? Or into danger? If you ride toward the capital, you will find this . . . disease . . . is far more prevalent as you approach the palace. We have had care of him for two weeks, and we are prepared to care for him until—”
    â€œUntil he falls victim to the terrors once again? No. If I take him into danger, I take him with me, and I know—I know how to comfort a child.”
    â€œYou will have your duties.”
    â€œWhat duty is more important than this? I will protect him. But—”
    And a head appeared in the doorway; a white, large head, with deep blue eyes the size of palms and a long, straight muzzle wearing a silver-and-blue strap and bells. Companions had no words to offer anyone but each other—and their Heralds—if the stories were true, but Darius did not need words; he butted the priest gently in the chest, and met his eyes, unblinking.
    It was the priest who looked away.
    â€œI won’t abandon you,” she said softly, and hesitantly, as Riverend flashed before her eyes. “But . . . but I think I understand now why I was called.”
    â€œWhat are you, child?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    :Tell him your Gift is Empathy.:
    â€œDarius says my Gift is Empathy.”
    The priest closed his eyes. “Then he is taking you to an unkind fate, Kayla.”
    â€œWhy do you say that?”
    â€œThe Empaths, the greatest of the Empaths, were the first to fall.”
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    The town’s many inns offered food and wine and water when Darius entered their courtyards. But they were silent as they made their offers, and the fear that she had sensed in the infirmary had extended outward in an echo that was terrible to witness. On impulse, she said, “I have with me one of the children who was in the cathedral infirmary. He’s not very talkative,” she added, as the boy shyly turned his face into her shoulder, “but he’s recovering. I know it’s been bad on the town, but as an outsider, I’m amazed at the way the town has come together to help the fallen, even when they don’t understand the disease.
    â€œThere’s hope,” she added softly.
    And the innkeepers, their wives, their guests, leaped at the words that she had spoken aloud, a clear indication that eavesdropping was a way of life in any place, be it small hold or large town.
    They might have called her a liar, but she was astride a Companion, and the Heralds did not lie.
    So they breathed a sigh of relief instead. “We’ve been pleading for help,” the innkeeper’s wife said, as she added four extra pies to their load. “But the only help the King sent lies in the infirmary with the others. We didn’t know—” She ran the back of her hand across her eyes. “My brother’s in back, same as them that you saw. Thank you, Herald.” Kayla had given up telling people that she wasn’t. The woman composed herself, although the redness of her eyes spoke of unshed tears. “You’ll want a blanket for the boy; it’s chilly on the hills in these parts.”
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    The boy ate like a pig. Which is to say, he ate everything they put in front of him, and he ate it in a way calculated to leave the most food on his clothes. The innkeeper’s wife—a woman, and a mother, who therefore thought of these things—had seen fit to pack him extra clothing; Kayla was grateful for it.
    She did not let the boy leave her, and he did not wander farther than her hand could reach. But his ordeal had left him easily tired, and he slept frequently, his back against her chest, her arms on either side of his upright body to stop him from plunging the distance between Darius’ back