The Conquest Read online

  She was still shaking when the woman reappeared at the foot of the bed. Her face wore a look of urgency as she motioned to Zared to follow her.

  Zared shook her head no. She was not going to go with a ghost. No doubt it was a Howard ghost who knew that she was a Peregrine.

  The woman's mouth opened, and Zared put her hands up as though to protect her face. Would fire come out of the woman's mouth?

  After some time Zared lowered her hands, and the woman was still there. She had a soft, patient look on her face.

  "W-who are you?" Zared managed to ask. "What do you want of me?"

  The woman held out both of her hands, palms up, in a pleading gesture.

  Zared shook her head again. "No," she whispered. "I do not want to go with you."

  The woman's face took on a look of urgency, pleading.

  "No!" Zared half yelled. "I will not."

  At that the woman looked about the room as though searching for something.

  Zared didn't know if she was going crazy, but she was growing used to the woman. "What do you seek?"

  The woman looked back at Zared, then pointed at her hair.

  "Aye, it is short. I had to cut it again to be able to come to my husband. It will grow longer."

  The woman pointed again and again, this time with some urgency. Zared tried to figure out what she meant, for she was beginning to realize that the ghost was not going to leave until she had something from Zared. She searched her mind to figure out what it was about her hair that intrigued the woman.

  "This is as bad as the riddle," Zared muttered, and at that the woman began gesturing frantically.

  "The riddle?" Zared asked, and the woman nodded her head vigorously. "You have something to do with the riddle?" Again the woman nodded.

  Softly Zared repeated the riddle, and when she came to the last line she looked hard at the woman, seeing the small oak table through her. " 'Then shall you know,' " she said, and her face lit up. "My husband's brother is dead, and he is now the one."

  The woman nodded, and her face showed her relief at Zared's understanding.

  "You are here to tell me."

  The woman again nodded.

  Zared leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes. The solution to the riddle was within her grasp. The solution to who owned the rich estates was near to her, yet all she could think of was, God, why have You chosen me? If the solution was given to Rogan or Severn, they would know just what to do, but Zared didn't know. If it was found that the estates belonged to her brother, should Zared take them from her husband and give them to her brother? Or did her love as well as her loyalty belong to her husband? Could she take away the estates from her husband? She had told Tearle that Rogan had changed, that some of his hatred was gone, but had she been telling the truth? If Rogan had proof that the estates belonged to him, would he take them from Tearle and leave him a beggar?

  She opened her eyes and saw that the woman was still there, patiently waiting for her to come to a decision.

  Zared sighed. It was no use agonizing over what was. For some reason she had been chosen to be the one to settle the feud.

  Slowly she got out of bed and began to dress in her boy's clothes. It was, perhaps, better to know than not to know.

  At last she turned and looked at the woman, who was still waiting for her. Zared took a deep breath. "I am ready."

  The woman looked Zared up and down, and at first she thought maybe she disapproved of her clothes, but then Zared realized that the woman was probably a relative of hers, of hers as well as Tearle's, since she and Tearle were cousins, so perhaps the woman was studying her descendant. Zared was glad the woman had never seen her before, because that meant she hadn't been sneaking about spying on her.

  The woman slipped through the oak of the door, but Zared quietly opened it and looked into the hall. There was no one about, but there were torches in iron holders on the walls, and the corridor was brightly lit.

  Zared tiptoed out of the room and into the corridor, following the ghostly shape of the woman as she floated ahead of her.

  After a while Zared's fear and her pounding heart made her feel that she'd followed the woman down corridors for hours. She had some trouble when four dogs came running from a dark alcove and, teeth bared, made straight for Zared.

  Before she could run the woman appeared and put herself between the dogs and Zared, then the dogs, with fear on their faces, turned and ran the other way. For a moment Zared's knees were too weak to allow her to walk, but the woman gave an impatient look, and Zared managed to follow.

  Zared followed her down corridors past brightly lit rooms and into the oldest part of the vast castle. There the rooms were not lit at all, and from the dirt and debris it seemed they were not used very often. A rat scurried under Zared's feet, but she hardly noticed it. What were rats when one was following a ghost?

  At last the woman stopped and pointed at what Zared thought was a door. It was so dark in the corridor that she could barely see her hand in front of her face. Had it not been for the glow of the woman's body she could not have followed her.

  Zared looked where the woman pointed but could see nothing. Then, as Zared watched, her mouth open in horror, the woman began to turn about in a circle, moving faster and faster. As she twirled about the glow of her body became brighter and brighter. When the woman stopped her body was as light as though sunlight were shining on it.

  The woman smoothed back a strand of hair, then looked at Zared, who could feel her knees giving way under her. The woman reached out as though to touch Zared, but her hand slid right through Zared's arm.

  That, added to what she had just seen, was almost the finish of Zared. She felt herself sinking to the floor and would have fallen had not the woman looked so annoyed with her. She started pointing in a vigorous way to the door that could now be seen quite plainly.

  Zared did the best that she could to regain control of herself and put out her shaking hand to touch the latch of the door. The old door opened rather easily, and with a trembling body Zared entered.

  It was a dirty old room, one that looked as though it hadn't had a human visitor in years. Great cobwebs hung from the shattered silk of the bed hangings. There were bats hanging in one corner of the room, and wind whistled in the broken glass of the large window.

  Zared looked at the woman, who, now that they were in the room, was losing her eerie glow. She wasn't sure, but she thought there were tears in the woman's eyes. Could ghosts cry? she wondered.

  The woman seemed to straighten herself, then she tightened her lips. She waved her arm and, to Zared's further horror, the room instantly changed. It was no longer dirty and dim and faded but was restored to its former glory. The bed hangings were once again a brilliant crimson, and the floor had fresh rushes on it. There were murals on the walls as well tapestries.

  Zared's first instinct was to climb into the bed and hide under the covers, but something told her that it was just an illusion and that the bed was still covered in spiders and rat droppings that were quite real.

  She took a deep breath and turned to the woman. "What do you want to show me?"

  She watched the woman float toward the tapestry and point to it, and it took Zared some time to figure out that the woman wanted her to lift the tapestry. As soon as she touched it it fell off the wall. It looked clean and new and strong, but in reality it had decayed in the dampness.

  Zared dropped the tapestry and kicked it aside. The woman floated toward the wall and put out her hand. To Zared's eyes there was only solid wall there. "Is something under here?"

  The woman nodded.

  "I don't see anything."

  At that the woman began to turn about again, and Zared somehow knew that she was again going to turn until she became a human torch. "Please don't," Zared said. "I will look."

  The woman seemed to understand and stopped turning about while Zared ran her hands over the wall looking for an opening. It was some time before she found