Part 7 (2/2)

empty lands they ran to, and they're too afraid to go back to where the game is.”

”Why?” I asked with a frown, stopping behind the crowd of food buyers to look up at her. ”Why should they go to a place to starve, and what happened to your man?”

”Died in the fight with the Wolf tribe,” she said, her shrug putting the whole thing beyond anyone's ability to change. ”Wolf tribe wanted everybody else's land, so they started a war. We were the third they fought with, and we didn't do any better than the rest. Our men died where they stood, and the rest of the tribe ran till they got to the empty land. Nothing left but women and kids and old ones, nothing that could face me Wolf tribe. If they went back the Wolves would take the women and kids and kill off the old, and they don't want that. Without men to fight for them, they have no choice- Wanted to go with my man to stand against me Wolves, but he said no. Didn't want me dead, he said. Dead wouldn't have been as bad as he thought.”

Her dark eyes were still calm as she merely stated facts, but / could feel the hurt she wasn't showing. People still enjoyed themselves all around us, but a little of the warm brightness was gone from the^day. I looked down at the piece of silver in my hand, then back up to the big hunter.

”After this quest is over, maybe you'd care to join me on another trip,” I suggested, weighing the coin in my hand. ”I think I'd like to meet that Wolf tribe.”

”Won't like meeting you,” was all she said, but the grin she suddenly showed was full of antic.i.p.ation, not to mention the first of its kind to be seen on her. The big woman didn't seem to be the sort to grin much, and I could understand that. Apparently I'd found something she could grin at, which I could understand even better. No, the Wolf tribe would definitely not enjoy meeting me.

The lines in front of us finally thinned enough for us to reach the stall, and the wait turned out to be worth it. The stall people were selling meat pies, vegetable pies and fruit pies, all of them composed of the lightest, most delicious crust I'd ever tasted. AH the fillings were just as special, and I was glad I'd bought one of each for each of us. We stood at the side of me stall eating the delights one after

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the other, trying not to burn our mouths but making no effort to wait until they cooled, and it didn't take long to realize what we were missing. I licked up the last of the crumbs on my hand, then glanced over at my companion.

”After that, Targa Emma Su Daylath, we need some- thing cold and wet,” I announced, already beginning to look around at the other stalls and tents. ”If you'U tell me what you'd like, we'll go and find it.”

”Always been partial to ale,” she answered, brus.h.i.+ng her hands together to get rid of her own crumbs. ”Pa.s.sed an ale tent on my way here, should be in that direction.

And you can call me Su. My man was Targa Emmen Vad Areth, Vad and Su the hunters, for the Hawk tribe.”

”Su, then,” I said with a nod and a smile. ”I'm Laciel, and ale it is in that direction.”

We left the stall and headed toward where me ale tent would be, happily filled and looking forward to quenching our thrist before rejoining me others. People moved every- where and in every direction, making us thread our way through them until we reached a reasonably uncrowded alley between two lines of tents and stalls. With gambling going on inside some of the tents and dancers putting on their shows in others, most of the foot traffic was already under canvas. Su and I, able to breathe again, strolled up me alley looking at what could be seen of the doings in the tents, and were surprised when three men suddenly materialized in front of us. They wore old and dirty leather- high, scuffed boots, plain, worn swordbelts-and two of them had beards. The two with beards were straight-faced, but the shaven one was grinning.

”You girls looking for a good time?” he asked, letting his eyes move back and forth between Su and myself, his book-end friends standing slightly behind him. ”You just come along with us, and we'll show you the best time you ever had.”

”We're not looking for anything you could help us with,” I told him coldly, letting him see I wasn't joking.

”Just get out of our way and find someone else to show a good time to.”

”Now, that's not being very friendly,” the beardless man complained, his dark eyes finally settling for me, his

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grin undisturbed. ”You're the only one at this whole fair who interests me, and 1 won't take no for an answer.”

He moved one step toward me, raising his hand to take my arm, but before he could touch me or the step was completed, he was stopped by a big hand in the middle of his chest. The man was barely an inch taller than me, which made it necessary for him to look up at Su, the one whose hand had stopped him.

”Wouldn't do that if I were you,” she said in her calm, easy voice, unimpressed by the way the man's grin faded to a scowl. ”Better find somebody else, the way she said.”

”And I said I didn't want anybody else,” he contradicted with a matching evenness, then without warning dropped a wide shoulder to knock Su away from me. The next instant he and his friends were close and grabbing for me, and that got me almost as angry as what he'd done to Su. 1 snapped out a word of power meant to drop them in their tracks-then felt my jaw drop when they did no more man s.h.i.+ver before closing in to grab me. They were under the protection of some sort of warding spell, which probably meant they did that kind of thing on a regular basis. I could have countered their warding spell if I'd known its details, but I didn't know and didn't have the time to find out. They all had their hands or a.n.u.s on me, and despite me way I was kicking and struggling, they were beginning to force me back up me alleyway.

And then a sound came that no one could miss, the sound of a sword being freed of its scabbard. The beard- less man and one of his helpers whirled away from me as they drew their own weapons, paying no attention to the small clumps of people who had appeared from some- where to stare and point and ask each other what was going on. The only one they looked at was Su, her sword in her fist as she stood waiting for them. The third one still had his left arm around my waist and his right hand clamped to my right arm, my kicking doing nothing more than making him curse. I twisted in his grip but couldn't get loose-and then the other two had closed with Su:

The sound of metal on metal turned me more desperate man I had been, especially when I saw that Su was good enough with a sword to hold her own against the two men

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