Part 21 (1/2)

He grinned impishly. ”Might make Brithanas take more notice of you.”

”He takes notice enough already.” She said softly, ”They're far enough ahead now to follow.” She loosened the thong over her knife.

Together, they toe-heeled it toward the camp, their feet almost silent on the ground. At the edge of the last turn, they dropped to a casual walk and came into sight of the gate guard.

”Aye, Ubo,” Payne greeted the pudgy man.

”Aye, neBentar, Black Wolf.” The man said speculatively, ”Didn't see you leave.”

Payne answered easily, ”Went out the other way and took the bridle path around. Lots of traffic,” he added. ”Never knew so many merchants to get up this early when they didn't have to.”

”You've the right of it there. Night guard said there's beenchovas coming and going like rasts in a fat bin.”

Payne looked past the guard. ”Shouldn'tChovas Murton be standing with you?”

Ubo shrugged. ”He didn't show for duty. Dirvan is getting his backup.”

Payne exchanged a glance with Nori. ”We thought we saw a couple of outriders come in right before us.”

”Aye. Twochovas from Vallier's train. They wanted to catch an early ring-runner on the road before we turned out for the day. Don't know their names, but they were headed into our quads, not their own wagon lines.” Ubo gave him a thoughtful look. ”That stuffy Rezuku and one of hischovas were asking after you two a bit ago.” Nori stirred, and Ubo glanced at her. ”Not you specifically, Black Wolf, but they wanted to know who was out. They seemed unhappy with the answer, as if they were expecting something different.”

Payne shrugged nonchalantly. ”They probably wanted to pick our brains for fireside.”

”Probably,” the guard agreed. ”Best watch yourselves, though, even on the bridle trails. It's a bad-luck spring all around.”

Payne grinned wryly. ”You've the right of it there. My thanks.”

”Anytime, neBentar. Black Wolf.” He waved them into the camp.

There were too many people already moving within the circle to see where the two men had gone. They started down the first wagon aisle just in case, noting who was up. A dog growled briefly as they approached the wagon he crouched under, but fell silent when Nori shushed him. Payne gave her a wry look, and she shrugged.

They slipped past the message wagon with the rookery. The message master was already perched on her box. Her eyes were half closed, and her bony, two-hundred-year-old frame was wrapped in a thick blanket of chancloth while her great-great-grandchildren prepped the harness. She nodded to them and closed her eyes again, trying to recall the messages she'd somehow misplaced.

”Split up?” Nori asked in a low voice.

”Are you crazy?” Payne retorted. He took her hand to pull her along. They caught curious glances as they pa.s.sed fireside, where five women were huddled around their morning mugs of rou, and Payne murmured, ”Let's stroll. Better yet, let's argue.”

Nori eyed the wagon line. ”About what?”

He snorted. ”I still think you ought to Test.”

She stiffened.

He grinned. ”That'll do it.”

She hid a sigh, but said obediently, ”We've been over that a dozen times.”

”A hundred, and it won't change my mind. If you don't Test, you can't Journey.” He nodded toward another stovefire where the breakfast meal was already going strong.

She caught only the usual scents of food and dnu and sleep sweat, and she shook her head slightly in answer. Aloud, she said, ”Test is to find out if you can survive on your own, and I've taught those cla.s.ses myself for years. There's no point in Testing myself.”

”Without Test, you can't get rank, and without rank, you're offered only the worst of the county jobs.”

He looked sharply left at a snapping sound, but it was just a st.u.r.dy woman in nightclothes struggling with a stiff window latch.

Nori tested the air again and listened for a second as they pa.s.sed another wagon. Almost automatically, she returned, ”Journey is not some sort of religious quest, Payne. It only started as a way to keep the gene pool diverse. Now it's just a way to make us leave our homes and spread our skills around.”

”I suppose you'll say next that rank is just a knot on the line, not anything important.”

She shot him a glance. It had been hard for him, watching his friends Test for rank before him. He'd had to endure a dozen challenges a year from youths who taunted him about it, others from men who pushed him as being only a poor copy of his father. It was Nori's fault. The one year they had been separated hadn't been a good one. After that, Payne had been held back from rank so that he wouldn't Journey before she finished school, pa.s.sed her third bar, and was free to travel with him. She said lightly. ”Rank isn't status, Payne. It's just a recognition that you've got enough judgment to leave home without putting others in danger. It's supposed to prove that you've learned enough, that you don't need a host of friends to save your rear end from some stupidity every time you set out on the road.”

”Ah, now I see why you avoid it.”

”Oh, spit in poolah's eye.”

He hid a grin. It might be a forced argument, but her voice was growing sharp. He glanced between a quad of wagons, then ducked his head and looked underneath them to see who was walking on the other side. He motioned a small circle with his finger for her to continue. ”If I want rank, I have to Test.”

”Hah. Test has never been required for rank. I've been offered rank without Test since I was twenty.

Last year, the elders were begging me to take it-” She broke off and looked narrowly at a wagon, then shook her head shortly and moved on.

”I just want you to have your own Journey.” He twisted, then walked backward a few steps to see who was up and around behind them.

”I'd rather tag along on yours,” she muttered.

”Fat chance the elders will let you do that.”

”Fat chance you'll get rank if you don't practice more-” She broke off.

Kevinel Runitdown opened his wagon door to the left, and shook out a blanket. ”Aye, Black Wolf, neBentar,” he greeted them cheerfully. A few wagons down, the caravan healer came out of Ed Proving's wagon, glanced around, nodded to the two scouts, then made his way swiftly back toward the cookfires. The curve of a bottle was clear in one of his pouches.

Payne spat to the side. ”There's an easier treatment for hangover. Just stop drinking.”

But Nori said slowly, ”I don't think Proving's as much a drunk as you think.” That healer had had uldori with him. The pungent painkiller was best taken orally, but it didn't go down or stay down well. Some healers mixed it with parskea or rootie or some other strong alcohol to make it more palatable, which would go far in explaining the flask Ed Proving always carried. ”You said he was good on the search.”

Payne nodded reluctantly. ”He's half the reason we stayed with your trail.”

”We should talk with him. He's still got sharp eyes, and he knows a lot of scouts. He might have seen-” She broke off and flicked Payne's sleeve. The slight movements two slots away had stilled as another cozar called a greeting. A second later, the people in the wagon began moving again, but almost too deliberately.

Payne walked closer, adding as if they hadn't paused, ”I'd practice more if you'd stop running around by yourself in the forest. The Hafell was fit to flog you for that stunt.”

She caught his determined gaze. ”I had other things to do,” she retorted.

Payne shot her a warning look.

”-And as usual, you were sleeping,” she amended. She scuffed her moccasin, then stopped, bent down as if to adjust the lace, and looked along the undersides of the wagons. She nodded slightly to Payne.

When thechovas B'Kosan stepped out around the back of the wagon with his toothbrush, they broke off as if uncomfortable. The outrider looked at Nori with undisguised appreciation. ”Out walking?”