Raven's Strike (Raven #2)(66)

"Are you all right?" Tier asked. "Are you getting sick?"

Jes shook his head. "Lehr got it first, and the Guardian cleaned the shadow from me when he cared for Lehr. Just tired. Too many people inside."

"You can stay outside," Seraph told him. "Brewydd told us we needed to find Colossae, so we're going to get out those maps and see if we can figure out where it is."

"I'll come in," he said. "The Guardian sometimes knows things that I don't."

Seraph opened the case and, with the help of a dozen rocks to weigh down the corners, laid the maps out on the table where everyone could see them.

Brewydd had told the boys that they needed to find Colossae if they wanted to save Tier and Phoran, though she hadn't been certain just what it was in the city that would help them.

Looking at the maps, Seraph was less optimistic than she had been. Other than the city map, there were four maps that had Colossae on them in the satchel Rinnie had found. Three of them were normal-looking, but the fourth was covered with so many lines it was hard to tell what was road and what was city. Even on the maps that were easily read, the roads and landmarks were a thousand years out-of-date.

Tier surveyed his troops.

"Between all of us," he told them, "we've ridden over most of the Empire. We're going to study these maps and see if anyone finds something familiar."

Jes sat down next to Hennea, but rose almost immediately to pace behind Hennea's side of the table until Rinnie recruited him to help her make dinner. She gave him a few things to do, but when he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, she let him be. Good girl, thought Seraph.

Lehr had retreated to the loft, and not even the noise of all the people in the room below him seemed to disturb his slumber.

Phoran and his men argued quietly over the resemblance of a hill near Taela though nothing else on the map seemed to fit.

Hennea, who had spent much of the last week searching through these maps, was composed and silent, much like Seraph herself, but Jes hadn't been able to stay near her. Seraph wondered if the death of Benroln's clan made her angry, too.

Rinnie, who knew the Travelers only from stories, kept her eye on the boys while she cooked. She'd just gotten her brothers back and wasn't going to chance losing them again.

Seraph turned her attention to the map Tier had. After a while, with a few glances at the other maps, she picked out the slightly thicker lines that were the roads.

"Maybe if we used Willon's map," said Tier. "It doesn't have the whole of the Empire, but it covers a good two-thirds. And it's mostly accurate as far as we've used it."

"What if this city isn't in the Empire?" asked Rufort, the older of Phoran's two guards.

He was, perhaps, a year younger than Jes, and nearly as big as Toarsen's comrade Kissel. Like Kissel, he gave the impression of a life hard-lived, but Seraph could see why Tier liked him so much.

There was something solid about Rufort, as if he were a person who, once having given his word, would keep it at considerable cost to himself. This past week, he'd turned a willing hand to any of the farm chores Tier had give him.

"Tradition places Colossae in the Empire," said Hennea, without looking up from her map. "Unfortunately, there's at least a six-century gap between the time when the Elder Wizards left the city and the founding of the Empire, so we can't count on that."

The younger guard, Ielian, looked at the maps and shook his head. "What is this supposed to accomplish? Phoran came to you for help. Not to be dragged around the Empire on a seek-and-find game looking for a city that might never have existed. You don't even know that there is still a city - or ever was one for that matter. It is just a story on the tongues of a couple of women." He didn't add the adjective silly to women, but it was in his voice.

His eye caught Seraph's, and he saw what she thought of his disparagement. Instead of backing down, he just got angrier. Since Seraph always did the same thing when she said something stupid, she had a certain amount of sympathy for him.

"I thought we were waiting for the healer - " He aimed his accusation at Seraph. "But now your son says she is dead. If we do find Colossae, I suppose you will want us all to go there. But how does that help us kill this Shadowed, who needs to die to free the Emperor from your Traveler's curse?"

He knew a little more about Phoran's problem than Phoran had thought - or maybe Phoran had explained it to Ielian and Rufort sometime this week.

"It's not a Traveler's curse," Seraph told him in an almost-gentle voice. "I could demonstrate the difference for you if you'd like."

"Behave, Seraph," Tier said, and she was certain she was the only one who heard the amusement in his voice. He didn't think she was serious. Perhaps he was right.

"Ielian has reason for his worries." Tier pushed his stool a little back from the table so he could see Seraph and Ielian at the same time - like a referee at one of the Harvest festival wrestling matches. "He doesn't know Brewydd or Traveler magic, and we haven't taken the time to explain them."

Seraph tapped her foot, but Tier had a point. She just wasn't used to justifying herself - or being referred to as "silly" even if only by implication.

"Fine," she said. "First, the city exists beyond the legends. I am Raven, Ielian, and one of the things I can do is touch an item and get a feel for its history."