Hidden Warrior Read Free Page B

Arkoniel behind him with poor Ki,” said Nari. “Scared me almost to death, just like that day your father brought your—”
    “Ki?” Tobin’s head reeled as another memory struggled to the surface. In his fevered dreams Tobin had floated up into the air over Lhel’s oak and found himself looking down from a great height. He’d seen something in thewoods just beyond the spring, lying on the dead leaves—“No, Ki’s safe in Ero. I was careful!”
    But a cold knot of fear took root in his belly, pressing on his heart. In his dream it
had
been Ki lying on the ground, and Arkoniel was weeping beside him. “He brought the doll, didn’t he? That’s why he followed me.”
    “Yes, pet.”
    “Then it wasn’t a dream.” But why had Arkoniel been weeping?
    It was a moment before he realized that people were still speaking to him. Nari was shaking him by the shoulder, looking alarmed. “Tobin, what is it? You’ve gone white!”
    “Where’s Ki?” he whispered, gripping his knees hard as he braced for the answer.
    “I was just telling you,” Nari said, her round face lined with new concern. “He’s asleep in your old toy room next door. With you so ill and thrashing about in your sleep, and him hurt so bad, I thought you’d rest easier apart.”
    Tobin clambered across the bed, not waiting to hear more.
    Iya caught him by the arm. “Wait. He’s still very ill, Tobin. He fell and hit his head. Arkoniel and Tharin have been tending him.”
    He tried to pull free, but she held on. “Let him rest. Tharin has been frantic, going back and forth between your rooms like a sorrowful hound all this time. He was asleep by Ki’s bed when I passed.”
    “Let me go. I promise I won’t wake them, but please, I have to see Ki!”
    “Stay a moment and listen to me.” Iya was grave now. “Listen well, little prince, for what I tell you is worth your life, and theirs.”
    Trembling, Tobin sank back on the edge of the bed.
    Iya released him and folded her hands across the doll in her lap. “As I said, you were never meant to bear this burden so young, but here we are. Listen well and sealthese words in your heart. Ki and Tharin don’t know, and they
mustn’t
know, about this secret of ours. Except for Arkoniel, only Lhel and Nari know the truth, and so it must remain until the time comes for you to claim your birthright.”
    “Tharin doesn’t know?” Tobin’s first reaction was relief. It was Tharin, as much as his father, who’d taught him how to be a warrior.
    “It was one of the great sorrows of your father’s life. He loved Tharin just as you love Ki. It broke his heart to keep such a secret from his friend, and it made the burden all that much harder to bear. But now you must do the same.”
    “They’d never betray me.”
    “Not willingly, of course. They’re both stubborn and stouthearted as Sakor’s bull. But wizards like your uncle’s man Niryn have ways of finding out things. Magical ways, Tobin. They don’t need torture to read a person’s innermost thoughts. If Niryn ever suspected who you really are, he’d know just whose heads to look into for the proof.”
    Tobin went cold. “I think he did something like that to me the first time I met him.” He held out his left arm, showing her the birthmark. “He touched this and I got a bad, crawly feeling inside.”
    Iya frowned. “Yes, that sounds right.”
    “Then he knows!”
    “No, Tobin, for you didn’t know yourself. Until a few days ago, all anyone would find inside your head were the thoughts of a young prince, concerned only with hawks and horses and swords. That was our intent from the start, to protect you.”
    “But Brother. The doll. He would have seen that.”
    “Lhel’s magic protects those thoughts. Niryn could only find them if he knew to look for them. So far, it would seem he doesn’t.”
    “But now I
do
know. When I go back, what then?”
    “You must make certain he finds no reason to touchyour thoughts again. Keep the