Part 30 (2/2)

”No,” Kettre said slowly. ”He wasn't.”

Hunter leaned back in his chair and regarded the other Tamrani with an odd expression.

Fentris ignored him and pointed to the list. ”What about this woman, this Hael?”

”She's a scout out of Ramaj Diton,” Nori answered. ”She usually rides with a few of her students, but she's good enough that any Ell would gladly give her akeyo berth.”

”As I said,” he finished quietly. ”A guest berth. None of you is cozar. In fact, I'd wager that at least half the names on your list aren't actually cozar.”

”Dik spit.” Payne stared at the slim man.

”But the caravans,” Nori protested. ”The accidents. Ell Tai's broken ankle.”

”Oh, you're being hara.s.sed,” Fentris agreed. ”You'd be foolish to think otherwise. I just don't think it has anything to do with being in the wagons. You'd be traveling to Shockton one way or another-that's the one thing nearly everyone does do in a Test year.” He glanced at Wakje. ”In fact, the cozar have probably made it easier, not harder, to see that you have needles in the silk.”

Nori shot Kettre a questioning look. ”A rast on your tail,” the other woman whispered. ”It's a Sidisport thing.”

Fentris looked around the small circle. ”Let me ask one question: What would happen if all of you were delayed from reaching the Test town?”

There was silence for a moment. Payne snorted. ”Nothing,” he answered. ”The meetings would be held without us, the Tests would go on, the Journey a.s.signments would be handed out. None of us is so important that the Test ninan wouldn't happen. In an extreme year, they might delay a few Tests so we could finish up late. That's about the worst.”

Wakje watched Fentris closely. Even Hunter found himself considering the other Tamrani's words closely. Fentris ignored them both and persisted. ”So there's no reason to delay you? To put you all out of action?”

Nori and Payne exchanged glances.

”What?” Hunter asked sharply.

Nori shrugged uncomfortably. It was Payne who answered. ”Sometimes we're targeted by people who want to get to our parents, but that wouldn't explainConnaught or Hael or the others.”

Fentris said softly, ”Then what do you all have in common? What do you all know? What have you all seen?”

This time, the silence was longer.

”Think about it,” Fentris told them. ”Because that's what the reason is.”

Hunter ran his hand through his hair. ”Perhaps a better question is, what are we going to do about it, if we're now a set of targets?”

Kettre turned her bracelet absently on her wrist. ”Three ways to deal with being hunted: siege up, go to ground; fight back; or flee.”

”I'm beginning to be a big fan of fleeing,” muttered Payne.

Wakje shot him a sharp look, and the younger man subsided. ”We'll think on it,” the ex-raider said flatly.

As Wakje rode away with Nori and Kettre, Payne paused on the tavern porch. He ignored Fentris and rested his arms on the banister to study the taller Tamrani. Hunter was watching the wolfwalker, and Payne's voice was soft. ”What's your game, Tamrani? What have you dragged us into?”

Hunter didn't even glance at Payne. ”Nothing you shouldn't already have seen,” he answered. ”Nothing that wouldn't already be considered your duty as the son of Aranur.”

Payne's voice was flat. ”You sound like an elder, Ranakai Ao.”

”And you sound too defensive.”

”I've had practice.” The younger man straightened and stalked down the steps. He took his dnu from the hitching post and mounted in one smooth movement. ”Enjoy the rest of your evening, Tamrani. I doubt we'll see you much longer.” He reined around sharply and spurred his dnu after Wakje.

Hunter watched them disappear with cool green eyes. ”You might be surprised,” he murmured. ”I think we could share a few secrets.”

”But you didn't,” Fentris reminded him quietly out of the dark. ”You kept it to yourself about the s.h.i.+fts of power we've seen.”

”As did you,” Hunter returned.

”I said enough.” Fentris broke off as two men wandered out of the tavern and headed vaguely toward the stables.

Hunter rubbed his jaw and leaned on the wooden banister as Payne had done before him. Like the tavern, the wood was rough and unfinished, and somehow appropriate for their meeting. This whole trip seemed rough and unfinished, as if he was constantly looking the wrong way, blind to the real danger.

”You think they'll leave the caravan?”

”Maybe. The wolfwalker seemed inclined.”

”She's been inclined to do that since I met her.”

Fentris shot him a look and Hunter actually chuckled. ”No, I think I intrigue her in spite of herself. It's the uncle who's unpredictable.”

”He's a raider.”

”Ex-raider,” Hunter corrected.

Fentris started to lean on the banister beside him, noted the stains on the wood, and changed his mind.

”He's still a raider, Brithanas. He thinks like a raider, and he'll act like a raider when pushed. There were rumors about him in Tume.”

In the dark, Hunter watched Fentris closely. Their deal was to share information, but neither one was comfortable enough to offer anything else. ”Rumors?” he prompted carefully.

Fentris didn't meet his eyes. Instead, he looked out toward the darkness and spoke as if commenting on a neighbor's choice of dress. ”About four years ago, the girl was stalked at the university by another scout. She nearly killed the man and herself in the process, and was unconscious for a ninan afterward.

Then the stalker turned up dead. All the man's wounds were made by worlags, but they said it was rare to see so many gashes in one body.”

”There was no proof, of course, of anything.”

”Not against Wakje or his partner. Both uncles were accounted for the night the man disappeared. But it's said that, if you dangled a man in a worlag den, that's about the way he'd be hauled back out. That, if the Wolven Guard had their way, that's what they'd have done to him.”

Hunter considered that. ”Wakje won't want to leave the caravan until he's identified everyone he can.

Then he'll send the boy and girl away, and start taking the Harumen out, one by one.”

”Were you thinking to help?”

”The uncle or the girl?”

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