Part 30 (1/2)

She bit her lip. ”Yes, Uncle Ki.”

Hunter broke in. ”They might not be raiders you're tracking.”

Ki gave him a sharp look.

”They might be Harumen.”

The ex-raider studied the Tamrani for a long, cold moment. ”Harumen,” he said softly. ”I know them.

They're out of Sidisport.”

Hunter met his gaze without flinching.

Ki nodded toward Nori. ”You have connected her to them, through you?”

”Yes. It was unintentional. But she is now a target.”

”How much lead do they have?”

Hunter pursed his lips, thinking. ”Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty, but the archer has a knife through his forearm. He'll have to stop to tend it.”

”I never did.” Ki's lips stretched in what was supposed to be a grin, and Hunter caught his first real glimpse of the ex-raider in those eyes. He glanced at Nori warily. This was the ”nicer” uncle? She had six more of them to watch her like hawks, not to mention two adopted aunts who were said to be as venomous and cold-blooded as desert snakes. That didn't even count the blood-kin who had their own reputations as lepa. Perhaps it wasn't Payne protecting his sister at all. It might be her protecting the county from the rest of the Wolven Guard.

Nori's gaze flickered as her brother ran toward fireside. ”I'll tell him,” she said quickly to Ki, as she saw Payne throw a question at someone, then veer off toward the healer's wagon. She didn't look back at Hunter as she slipped away.

Ki looked at the Tamrani for a long moment. ”You were . . . walking?”

Hunter started to shrug, but the healer gripped his shoulder in a vise and forced him to be still, and he sucked in his breath instead.

Ki gave him a long look for another chilling moment, then jogged away to the corral.

XXV.

The knife at your throat is not the real danger; The claw at your back is more sly.

-Diton saying The tavern was noisy as a concert of drunks. Even in the back room, Nori could hear more than she wanted. She looked at the map spread out before them, then around at the group at the table. She s.h.i.+vered. There was enough steel at this one table to take over half of Shockton. With Nori were Wakje, Payne, Hunter, Fentris, and Kettre. Hunter had given up his tooled but bloodied jerkin for a simple cozar one, and with the weathering he'd gotten in the last few days he now looked like a tall Ariyen. Fentris, with his embroidered tunic and tooled boots, his House ring and styled hair, was the only one who looked out of place, but all of them were heavily armed. With Ki and his sons away hunting raiders, the only one missing was Leanna. Wakje had simply said ”No” when she made to join them. The girl had accepted it, but Nori didn't think that would last. Leanna was fifteen, with all the stubborn blindness of adolescence. She wouldn't tolerate being kicked out of the family meetings for long.

In spite of the privacy of the room, all of them leaned in to keep their voices down. Wakje looked around the table then said shortly, ”Let's lay it out.”

Nori glanced at the others, then picked up the pen and started marking. She didn't need to glance at the notes in her scout book. Every fear was sharp in her mind. ”Two ring-runners, killed two days ago in Gambrel Meadow, a ways off Ironjaw Trail. Four raiders at Bell Rocks. Yesterday, onWillow Road , three raiders in an open attack-”

”Three Harumen,” Hunter cut in as he s.h.i.+fted his shoulder again. He just couldn't get comfortable. ”I believe they were Harumen.”

She glanced at him. ”Harumen,” she corrected, ”in broad daylight after Payne and me, including one whom Hunter recognized. One Haruman atCohenton Circle , after ElderConnaught . That raide-Haruman after Hunter and me in the verge park, with Murton, from our own caravan.”

Payne picked up the pen and marked four ticks at theCohenton Circle . ”Possible listeners while Nori and I were talking. Two suspicous men at theCohenton Circle at dawn, outside the gates. One of our climbing ropes was sabotaged. One of Nori's knives may have been deliberately fatigued. Our hunting bolts were swapped out for poor ones that would tumble in flight. And there was a woman in our wagon.”

Fentris raised an elegant eyebrow at Payne.

He said impatiently, ”Not that kind of woman. Someone who went in there without any of us around.”

Nori added, ”And then there is Rezuku.”

Fentris c.o.c.ked his head at her.

”Merchant,” Payne explained. ”Joined us in Adamstan. Nori doesn't like the feel of him.”

”Then shouldn't Mato make the list?”

He snorted. ”Mato's a buffoon. He'd never be smart or subtle enough to pull together so many threads.

Besides, he's nowbokat among the cozar, and I can't see a smart man p.i.s.sing away so many potential allies.”

They went down the list. Hunter added four people, and Nori waited for him to add a few more, but he didn't. She watched him carefully enough that he raised an eyebrow at her, and she quickly looked away.

Fentris and Kettre added four names from the latest Sidisport gossip. Then they began listing accidents: Ell Tai's broken ankle, Rocknight Styne's broken axle, the weibers getting loose, and even older notes from Nori's punctured scout book. When they were done, the map was heavily dotted along the three main trade lines.

Payne murmured, ”Either this is one h.e.l.l of a bad-luck spring, or someone's declared war on the cozar.”

Hunter studied the map. ”Almost every caravan has been delayed one way or another. If this keeps up, the Journey youths will be scattered across the counties even at the end of the Test ninan, not to mention the elders who will still be on the road. Your Lloroi will be lucky to pull half a council together.”

Kettre ran her finger along the trade lines. ”All of us, so close together.”

Payne nodded. ”It's as if someone aimed a knife at the cozar's throats.”

The hazel-eyed woman frowned. ”Can you pa.s.s word to the Ells? If the cozar are being targeted, there has to be some way to let them know without starting a general panic.”

”I could do that,” Nori volunteered.

Payne nodded. As a ranked ring-runner for the council, she could get the message codes for any Ell or elder. ”But there's no way to keep that secret. The Ells would tell their Hafells; the Hafells would have to warn the gate guards at each circle . . .” He shrugged. ”It could drive the raiders-or Harumen-” He added with a nod at Hunter. ”-underground before we've identified them all.”

Nori frowned. ”We should at least let the Lloroi know.”

”Aye, if he hasn't heard already.” He nodded as she raised an eyebrow. ”Even allowing for the normal hazards of travel, we've had far too many accidents.”

Kettre stared at the map. ”But who would hit the cozar so consistently? I mean, look at us, we're just not that important-”

Fentris cleared his throat. ”Excuse me, but you're not cozar.”

Wakje gave the Tamrani a sharp look, and Payne frowned. ”What?”

”You aren't cozar,” the slim man repeated.

Hunter c.o.c.ked his head at him while the others stared.

This time, Fentris spoke slowly. ”None. Of. You. Is. Cozar.” He nodded toward Wakje. ”You and Ki, you're Wolven Guard, ex-raiders, out of Bilocctar, by way of Ariye. For all that you've ridden with the cozar for twenty years, you've never taken more than achovas berth. You-” He nodded at Payne.

”-arekeyo orchovas -as you and your sister said so pointedly at the fireside. You might think of yourselves as cozar, but when it comes down to it, you're really Randonnen, with a bit of Ariyen thrown in.” He nodded at their dawning comprehension. ”Hunter and I are Tamrani. ElderConnaught is a Yorundan councilman. For all that he travels with the cozar every summer,Connaught also still takes a keyo berth, not a cozar place in the line. That other elder who left the train in Sidisport-I'll bet he wasn't cozar, either.”