Kalin’s Height – 1301 – Spring – Morning
(Two days later.)
Talana is gone.
I
No. I must set it down.
It was sometime this morning. I woke before dawn as I usually do, and went down to the kitchen, which is quiet at that hour. But as I arrived, Enaid came running from outside, out of breath. I could swear she looked at me with fear, before that was replaced by her usual expression of disapproval.
“My lady,” she said. “The child is gone.”
There are a few children who linger about Kalin’s Height, but of course I knew at once who she meant. It came out that Trefor, who works in the stables, saddled her horse for her not long before I woke. Enaid advised boxing his ears and then sending him away, but I was too distracted to do more than note that the stableboy had not hesitated to take orders from a nine-year-old girl.
Owen said I should send men out to search, and I did that, but they will not find her. I cannot explain to Owen how I know. There are no words in his language.
I will go in search of her myself. Enaid says I should not, that I must wait at home in case she returns on her own. I would consign Enaid to one of the nine hells these people believe in, or anywhere else so long as she ceases to trouble me.
I am sick. I will go.