Part 48 (1/2)

Wora had dropped his bow point, but he'd kept the arrow nocked. Nori knew that, like Wakje, he could draw and fire in a second. She ignored him and looked only at the tracker. ”You don't belong with them.”

Broziah rubbed a grizzled chin. ”I took their silver. I'll want the rest they promised.”

She felt the snarl in her voice and steadied it. ”How much was the offer?”

His eyes glinted. ”Two silvers to go on the job, three coppers a day, plus gear costs-two silvers, three coppers-up front. A five-silver bonus if I managed to corner you.”

She raised one slim eyebrow. ”Steep.”

His grey eyes were shrewd. ”Black Wolf and two Tamrani?”

Slowly, she nodded. ”About six silvers then, still owed.”

”Aye, that's what I figure.”

”Stay here, and I'll pay it to you.”

Wora stiffened, but Broziah c.o.c.ked his head at her words. B'Kosan's eyes narrowed.

Nori kept her violet gaze on the tracker. ”Stay, and I'll pay your fee.”

Broziah didn't look at the Harumen. ”You'd have to do better than that. They'd want a break-duty fee, too.”

”Ten silvers.”

”Black Wolf bidding against the Haruman?” The tracker smiled faintly. ”Now that's worth a bit to the songsters.”

Her jaw tightened to a white line under the grime. ”Go with them then. You'll get what you bargained for.” Her gaze swept the Harumen. She took a step forward, menacing as a wolf. ”Go,” she said softly, ”but take this knowlege with you.” The blood on her face had smeared into a gruesome camouflage, and when her lips curled back, her teeth were too white against it. ”I know you now. Your voices, the way you move. I know your scents.” Her voice was chill, and even B'Kosan s.h.i.+vered as it caressed him in the growing shadows.

Hunt.Rishte's satisfaction was savage in her mind.Sniff him out. Man-sweat, man-scent. The easy trail at night.

Her hands clenched like paws. ”I give you free rein to run today, but follow me again, any of you, any Haruman; bring harm to me or mine, and I'll tear your ligaments from your joints and use them to tie on my gauntlets.” She took another step forward, and Payne breathed a sharp warning. She could feel the hot pulse of the wolf in her hands, her neck, her chest. She could feel the bile rise in her throat. ”Meet me on a trail, a road, a street in town, and I'll rend your tendons from your flesh and make baskets of your bones.” Not one of the Harumen moved. ”I know you now,” she snarled. She flexed her fingers as if they ended in claws. ”A glimpse, a scent, and I'll hunt you down like rast in the rotten timbers.”

The words hung on the edge of the cliff like their thin, threadbare safety.

”Wolfwalker,” Broziah breathed.

Her lips wrinkled back.

B'Kosan swallowed. Nori had been a target to him, someone to pursue and taunt, to keep on edge.

Now she had turned, and her eyes weren't those of the frightened rabbit or wary deer, but the wolf seeking challenge. He had to force himself to look away and go back to knotting the rope.

Wora kept his nocked arrow pointed at Nori, but his hands had tightened. Wolfwalker. There were legends about them. And Black Wolf had violet eyes.

Broziah watched Nori thoughtfully. She trembled, but it wasn't with fear, he realized. Even though the wolf was in her eyes, it wasn't the hunting rage that filled her. He rubbed at his aching hip and then stepped forward, toward the scout.

B'Kosan looked up and spat to the side. ”Cross us and go with her, and we'll hunt you down like a hare.”

The tracker shrugged and said over his shoulder. ”She's paying you a break-duty fee. Doesn't really matter to me, but I've never been good on rappel.” He walked to the side and sat down on a rock to watch.

Nori dug into her last belt pouch, counted out the thin silver coins, and tossed the four to Wora.

The Haruman didn't move. He murmured something, and one of his men reached out and picked the coins from the dirt. Behind them, B'Kosan and maSera began lowering the man with the bleeding calf.

Forty long minutes later, after the others had gone down, B'Kosan lowered himself down. Even with a leather pad, the rope began to chafe on the edge of the cliff, but it held as B'Kosan rappelled down.

Then only Wora was left. By this time, it was almost dusk. The Haruman looked at the wolfwalker. Then he slid his bolt back into his quiver and slung his bow on his shoulder, without taking his eyes off Nori.

Quickly he gripped the rope.

She stopped him with a sharp gesture. ”You could have taken my scout book,” she said. ”You could have taken the belt from the Tamrani almost anytime. Why hara.s.s the cozar and Elder Connaught? Why go after any of the others?”

She had the sense that he was surprised by her question, but the light was failing, and he was between her and the west horizon. She couldn't read his eyes. Then he smiled, and she knew.

She'd been right, but not right enough. It hadn't been about the cozar, or Nori and Payne, or the scout book or Tamrani papers. Those were barely the opening moves, the ones played out by secondary actors in short scenes on the sides. And Wora wasn't the only one chipping away at Ariye. He couldn't be. He was too sure of himself, almost smug in his certainty that she would never touch him. He was a man taunting the badgerbear because, behind him, out of sight of the beast, were a dozen ready archers.

She felt the edge of the wolf curl her lip and fought for control. There had to be more Harumen in Ariye, in other caravans, among other cozar wagons. More heading for Shockton and council.

”There are more of you moving up through the county.”

She didn't realize she'd spoken out loud till Wora's eyes shuttered. He didn't answer, and she recognized the ease of his own self-control. Wakje had tried to teach her that-to shutter her eyes, give nothing away. Wora had done this long enough that he wasn't even tempted.

”Why?” she asked again. Behind her, Payne and Hunter stared at the Haruman.

Wora shook his head slightly and smiled without humor as she tried to get him to answer.

”Is it to get to the elders?” she demanded.

He gripped the rope and prepared to step off the cliff.

She took a step forward. ”Is it the council?” She could swear his knuckles tightened for an instant. Her parents, her uncle Gamon, even a cousin was on the council. ”How many are dead?” she snarled.

He glanced at her. ”Not enough. Not yet.” His smile grew broader. ”You can't guard your back every moment, maDione. We know you, too, Wolfwalker.”

Rishte bristled in her mind. She let her lips curl in a feral smile of her own. She said softly, ”Woraconau.”

He stiffened almost imperceptibly as she used his full name. Then he turned and stepped off the cliff.

Nori stared after him for a moment. Then she dove for Kettre. She turned the woman gently, closing her eyes in relief when Kettre's eyes opened blearily. ”Nori-girl?”

”Aye, it's me.”

”Hurts like h.e.l.l.”

”Aye, it would.”

”You're always . . . so agreeable.”

Nori choked out a laugh. Then Payne was beside her with the bandages from his belt pack, and a handful of broad leaves. ”You'll be alright,” Nori told her friend. ”You've got a finger-long gash up here, but even on knock-headed humans, I'm a darned good hand with a needle.”