Part 35 (2/2)
He nodded once, a small motion. Then he glanced at Wakje and caught the older man's attention. The ex-raider nodded in turn. Kettre was with a group ofchovas, he noted, watching two other outriders.
Hunter was in front of a group of elders, and Fentris was now idly scanning the crowd with apparent boredom as he listened politely to a pudgy man tell jokes. Payne couldn't see Leanna, but she should be keeping an eye on the outside of the circle, watching to see if anyone left. Payne nodded back at his sister.
When Brean called Mian, the girl stood and then looked as if she would throw up. The judges were silent, and the crowd's expression was closed and angry, as if the girl had somehow betrayed them. A few more minutes, Nori told herself, and then all of them would know.
”Declare yourself,” Brean stated flatly.
The girl's voice was reedy and thin. ”I am Mian Enna maB-Brekiat,” she stumbled. ”D-daughter of Nonnie Ninelegs and Cy Windytrack. I am cozar-born and cozar-raised. I accept cozar law, and so stand before the c-council.”
”Do you understand why you are here?”
Her voice dropped to a whisper. ”My tano got loose. It caused the wrecks, it almost killed Repa and Bere and my mama. And the Tamrani,” she added belatedly.
Brean turned to a woman and nodded. The white-haired elder stood and read from a long list: ”Repa Ripping White's wagon, almost fully destroyed. One wheel, eight panels salvaged. Damage: fifty-six gold.
Goods damaged, sixteen gold, eight silvers.Keyo Ki's wagon, splintered side and back, and bottom of the wagon damaged: eight gold, three silvers . . .” The list went on in that calm, steady voice, and Mian seemed to shrink with each word. ”. . . Eight dnu injured. Two broken legs and numerous gashes and punctures, four gold, nine silvers for treatment and medications. Lease of replacement dnu for teams and for riding, four coppers a day per riding dnu, one tenpiece a day per harness team . . .” The tally grew.
Then came the injuries. ”Repa Ripping White: sprained wrist, one deep gash, bruises and sc.r.a.pes.
Nonnie Ninelegs: concussion, open gashes, bruising. Kened Catchall, severe bruising on his right arm and a sprained wrist. Gallo Cantaway Soon, kicked by a dnu in the thigh. Bere Quiet, dislocated shoulder, drag-burns on the arms, extensive bruising.” And Frecka Wrongway, Ed Proving, Jeri Dancing Mad, four others, and two Yorundanchovas. And finally, the Tamrani. The woman's voice grew darker.
”Condari Rahnbada neKeatus Brithanas, Tamrani, First Son, First House, Sidisport, Ramaj Eilif, punctures on the shoulders and neck and threat of death by venom.” The list finally ended. The woman glanced at Mian with an expressionless face and sat down.
Brean asked, ”Do you dispute any of these damages or injuries?”
”No,” the girl managed.
She might be over the age of Choice, but she was still before the age of Test, and Brean asked sternly, ”Does your family dispute any damages or injuries?”
The girl's father stood up. Cy's mate was sedated in the healer's wagon, unable to move without pain.
Now his daughter stood before the council, and he had to let her stand alone. His voice was tight. ”No.”
Brean had not taken his eyes from Mian. ”Do you understand the extent of the damages and injuries?”
The girl's eyes flew to her father's. ”Yes,” she managed.
”Do you understand the danger the caravan was in? Do you understand the danger to the cozar?”
She whispered, ”They could have died.”
Brean continued flatly, ”What is your statement, Mian?”
The girl answered shakily, ”I brought the tano into the train. I did not check the cage often enough, and it rotted and broke open. The tano-dyen p'ya jen ai.Its release is my f-fault alone. The damages and injuries are my fault alone.” She sucked in a breath. ”It's my fault,” she burst out. ”I almost killed them.
My mama's almost dead, and it's all my fault.” Her voice broke.
Nori stood abruptly. ”May I speak?” Her voice cut across the circle.
Heads turned. No one missed the fact that the Hafell did not rebuke her for interrupting. There was speculation in many faces.
Ell Tai took Mian's hand firmly, and the girl choked in a breath. The old man pressed her back in her seat and murmured something to her.
”Black Wolf,” Brean acknowledged.
She said without preamble, ”I have examined the cage. It did not break open by accident.”
There was dead silence. Then Cy was on his feet. ”How dare you. What, by the eighth h.e.l.l, are you sa-” One of his friends clamped a hand on the man's forearm to keep him quiet. His face twisted, but he broke off. The air tasted of violence.
Payne's dark eyes glittered as he studied the faces around the circle. Hunter's cool green gaze met Payne's for an instant, then slid on past in his own scan. Someone there would not be surprised at what the wolfwalker had discovered. Someone had to be thinking now of how to react or how to hide his face.
Brean didn't look at the girl's father. ”Explain,” he ordered Nori.
She answered flatly. ”I looked closely at the latches to see how the tano had broken out. A prying tool had been used to distress the wood where the latch screws were sunk.”
”But that's-” Cy's friend gripped him hard, but an ugly murmur grew up around them. Payne, his gaze on Rezuku, saw nothing in the merchant's face. Like Fentris, the merchant looked bored at being required to sit through another cozar event. But when Payne s.h.i.+fted his gaze to the woman beside Rezuku, for an instant he thought he saw fury on the outrider's face. MaSera, he recognized thechovas.
That's one, he said to himself.
Brean waited till the noise began to subside, then questioned, ”If Mian had checked the cage, would she have noticed this damage?”
”Aye, if she had rattled the door sharply.” The girl blanched, and Nori glanced her way. ”But I checked the cage myself when she bought it in Sidisport. I checked the cage again two days ago when I was teaching her how to transfer the tano from one cage to the other. There was no damage to the latch screws then. There was also no reason to check the cage for another ninan. Once a ninan during cleaning is considered more than adequate for safety. Many do it only once a month.”
Brean gave no indication that he had heard any of this before, and Nori admired his control. Her own control was slipping. She could almost feel the animal within the crowd, the fury of the cozar that their own had been harmed deliberately, and that another one of their own-and a young girl, by the moons-had been singled out for blame. The sense of the beast roused the wolf in her, and she found her gaze held first by B'Kosan's dark, angry eyes, and then by thechovas beside him.
The Hafell barely got her attention back. ”Two days ago,” he prompted. ”How closely did you examine the cage?”
She forced herself to look back at Brean. ”Closely, Hafell. I wanted to show her how to look for damage from the tano's claws.”
”Could not the damage have been made by exactly that, the tano's claws?”
Payne was no longer visible, and Nori knew he'd seen something and had slipped back in the crowd to follow someone or change his line of view. The wolf in her began to sharpen. ”No, Hafell,” she answered tautly.
”Why not?”
”Chisels leave flat marks with a beveled tip where the chisel point meets the wood. A tano's claws are tapered, curved and round. The marks they leave are also like that. Also-” She looked beyond Brean and met the gaze of the outrider beside the man. Her violet-grey gaze locked on to his and hinted of something violent. ”-the marks were beneath the latch, where the screws bit into the wood. The latch had been replaced to hide them.”
There was silence for a moment. Brean stood before the cozar could erupt. ”Black Wolf.” His voice was sharp. ”Do you have any other statement?”
The outrider's eyes bored into hers.
”Black Wolf?”
”No, Hafell.” She brought her gaze back to Brean. ”What is needed has been done.”
Brean resisted the urge to turn and see where she was looking. He'd set two of his best people to watch Payne and Wakje. Then he'd set his own mate to note anyone that Black Wolf took interest in. If anyone had sharper eyes than his mate, he'd never met them yet. He looked around fireside. ”Is there anyone else who would speak?”
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