Chapter 50: Vivianne – A Little Wolf Told Me
When Vivianne woke up again, Coalim was sitting by the bed. Vivianne reached out to him, but the pain in her leg anchored her in place. He straightened up, but didn’t turn to her.
‘Coalim, you’re alive. Who else? Anyone else?’
‘Clément,’ said Coalim, ‘and two soldiers. There was a third soldier, but he perished in the way, we buried him on the road.’
‘Is Clément here?’ asked Vivianne. ‘Where is here?’
‘We’re in an inn called The Plume, in Tuen. Clément is at the Rock.’
Tuen?
‘How did we end up in the middle of Baynard?’ asked Vivianne. ‘Does anybody here know who I am?’
‘People from the Caravan knew, and Pierre asked them to keep it a secret. Rimbaud spoke to each of his people personally and so far I have seen no hint that anybody here knows who you are.’
‘We need to get back to Lune. Where is the Caravan?’
‘You broke your leg in three different places and had a cuncussion. You must recover before you try to move. The Caravan only came here at Pierre’s request, because Tuen was closer to Lune and we neede medical care.’
Vivianne had never seen Rimbaud change his route on anybody’s request.
‘Pierre saved the Caravan,’ said Coalim. ‘They all saw the dragon attacking our camp. There was nothing left but us few who ere close to you.
‘The Wraith’s magic protected me,’ she said.
‘Then the dragon saw the Caravan and charged. Líran, wouldn’t you like to tell the story?’
Only then did Vivianne notice tha storyteller standing behind Coalim. She was still and looked liks a shadow. On her head was a purple hat with a daisy, identical to the hat tha clown without arms from the Caravan wore when he came to Lune. Before Vivianne could say anything about the hat, Líran’s voice changed the room into a road, and a hundred people ran in despair, horces neighed and tried to get rid ot their briddles. A wagon turned on its side, the horses that pulled it fell with their legs in the air.
Following the road there was fire and from the fire emerged a dragon. Its wings close to its body, the dragon ran like a red lightning on the greens of Deran.
Vivianne wanted to run away, but in that moment she saw a man. He seemed to move slower than everything else, the eye of a hurricane. This man walked in the opposite direction of those who ran; he walked toward the dragon.
When dragon met man, the beast stopped and reared, opening wings of feathers so white they stung the eye. The man was tiny, but his voice reached Vivianne, even though she couldn’t make out the words. The dragon roared, squirmed and took flight.
The chaos around Vivianne eased slowly. Fear still made hearts beat faster, horses still screamed, people still cried, but the man was coming back and people’s breathing began do calm until a deep silence was reached. The man was standing before the Caravan.
‘It’s him,’ said Vivianne. ‘The same man I saw in the other story, with the gray wolf.’
‘He is called Pierre,’ said Coalim.
‘Master Rimbaud,’ said Pierre, ‘with your permission I’d like to assemble a search team.’ He pointed at Clément’s camp. ‘There migh be survivors.’
‘When Pierre reached our camp, he foud Queen Adelaide,’ said Coalim. ‘You remeber she was already on her way. Like the Caravan, she witnessed the attach and hurried to search for her son.’
Coalim didn’t have to say anything else. Vivianne knew Adelaide well. When the queen saw her son in danger, she rescued him alone and left the others behind. That was why the Caravan had to pick up Vivianne, Coalim and the three soldiers. For a moment, she was furious, then she thought of how furious Marcus would be.
‘How long have I been here?’ she asked. ‘I have to tell my brother that I’m fine.’
‘Pierre sent a messenger to Lune,’ said Coalim. ‘We know her, but I didn’t know who she really was. It’s that woman who sells books and has a spotted horse that hates every human except his owner.’
Vivianne couldn’t remeber the bookseller’s name and she didn’t waste time trying. She had problems to deal with. In Baynard, she’d never be safe and she was putting Coalim’s life in danger, as well as the lives of the two other survivors. She had to leave and the safest way was to ride with the Caravan.
She opened her mouth to ask Coalim about Rimbaud, but at that moment he stood up and turned to her. Vivianne just sat there, gaping. Half of Coalim was burnt, melted and scrunched; half the head was dead skin, the other half still had red hair. He shrugged.
‘I’m alive and I know Clément is alive. With luck, he got less burnt than I.’