He says nothing, taking it all in and thinking how crazy it sounds. Elves.

“Another Knight of the Word has helped secure a talisman for the Elves, but she is injured and cannot aid them further. So it is given to you to go in her place. The talisman must be put to use and those who use it protected and guided to where the boy who will lead you all will be waiting to take you to the safehold. To the old man of whom the boy has spoken. To the King of the Silver River.”

Logan has no idea what talisman she is talking about. But he knows there is no point in asking for explanations. “How am I to find the Elves?” he asks instead.

“Trim will guide you.” Her slender arm lifts and points into the distance. “Go south. He will meet you on the road. Go afoot. Go alone.”

“Trim?” he repeats.

“He is small but very durable. Trust in him to lead you.”

He wants to know more. “Who am I looking for among the Elves? Is it someone in particular?

Who possesses this talisman?”

Her smile dazzles him. “You will know when you have found who you are looking for. You will know it in your heart.”

Another enigmatic answer, but one that she seems to feel says everything. He shakes his head.

“What of these children I am leaving? Who will protect them?”

“As before, Logan Tom, they will protect themselves.”

She is shimmering now, a sign that she is getting ready to leave him. He wants to hold her back, to preserve the feeling of comfort and peace he always finds in her presence. But he knows he can do nothing to stay her, that he has no hold on her. He watches her begin to fade.

“Brave Knight,” she whispers to him.

He cannot speak. Then she is gone, and he is alone again, emptied out inside, bereft of something important. He clenches his fists and teeth and by doing so manages to keep himself from crying out his dismay.

THE SUN HAD BARELY RISEN, its golden orb hazy behind a screen of pollution and dust at the crest of the mountains east. Owl stared into the murky film and thought about what lay ahead. “Are you certain about this?” she asked him again.

Logan nodded. He was packing food and water into a backpack, enough for a week if he was careful with his usage. He knew how to provision for a trek like this, even if he hadn’t been on one for more than a year. He thought he was fit enough, though, and ready.

“But why would you be sent to us and then asked to leave before doing what you came to do?

Especially if Hawk is so important to everything. I don’t understand it.”