Wolfwalker - Wolf In Night Part 18

"Aye. Raiders at Bell Rocks, raiders on the road, and now raiders inside the circle? Something's bringing them out like wind on flames." He scowled as he rummaged through his half-empty duffel, tossed it aside, and dragged out his extra gear bag. He finally emptied his gear on the gate, found his extra clothes, and yanked his b.l.o.o.d.y shirt off over his head.

Nori sat down on the gate, but she couldn't relax. She started when Payne plopped down beside her.

At least she wasn't the only one. When three girls tried to sneak past the wagon, Payne almost grabbed for his knife. "Girls," he said sharply.

The three jumped, squealed, and whipped around, clutching each other.

"Best get back to fireside," he told them. "It's not safe in the circle tonight."

"It's The Brother," one whispered. "And Black Wolf."

Nori resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Aye?" he prompted.

"Aye," they chorused. They scurried back between the wagons.

Nori's voice was dry. "Why not just tell them about the attack?"

He twisted and tossed his toiletries bag back into the now cluttered wagon. "They get the picture now."

"And the myth of The Brother grows."

He grinned, stuffed his gear bag behind him, and leaned back.

Like most cozar wagons, this one could collapse down to a buckboard or be expanded into a shipping transport, or even a trade stall, in six configurations. Empty, it was light enough that four dnu could pull it at a trot all day and hardly know it was there. Payne knew that for a fact. He'd driven harness all his life and even won a few times in the races. Unfortunately, light weight meant little padding, and he shifted uncomfortably as a corner of something poked into one of the new bruises on his back.

Nori didn't notice. She was thinking back to Hunter's words, that he'd recognized one of the raiders on the road. "Tell me more about Hunter," she ordered as he settled in on the gate.

He slanted her a glance. She'd already asked more questions about the Tamrani than he'd known her to ask about anyone. "Before he went to the western counties, there was a bad patch for the family," he finally answered. "Lots of scandal, a fire, his father dead of a heart attack, and him taking off for the west. His mother's now in charge in Sidisport. She's sharp. She's expected to last six or seven more decades before she thinks about bowing out. It's speculation as to why Brithanas hasn't taken the family name as First Son, but he's not lost anything by doing so, not judging by the cost of that shirt you hung up."

She scowled and wished she'd shoved Hunter's shirt back behind another one to dry less visibly.

Payne tugged a handful of undergarments from the bag behind him, then the offending pack of sharpening stones. He tossed both carelessly over his shoulder.

"Moonworms, Payne. Can't you put anything away?" She leaned back and plucked his unused underwear off a box of swords. "Uncle Wakje will use these as polishing rags."

"They go in the second bin."

"I know where they go. Why don't you?"

"Because," he drawled, "I was distracted by a nice little raider you decided to play with after your shower. Before that, I was busy saving your b.u.t.t on the hedge line on the road. And before that, I was leading a search for a missing sister. I didn't have time to worry about cleaning up the wagon."

Nori swallowed her retort and climbed silently back into the home. Holding the offending garment by two fingers, she pulled his duffel out from behind him and started to repack it.

Payne tossed a pair of rolled-up socks at her feet, along with a bota bag. Silently, she put the bota in its slot, but she stuffed his socks in by his fuel bottle. It would serve him right if they rotted. At the very least, it might teach him to put them away himself. "If Condari's so good," she said, "why haven't I heard of him like his father?" With her back to him, her voice was m.u.f.fled. She barely caught the water filter he tossed in her direction.

"Because-" Payne explained as if she were a child, knowing it would irritate her further. "-you've a blind spot when it comes to men. Because Brithanas has been out in the western counties for most of the last four years, and because they still talk about Ranakai Ao as if the old man walked on water." Nori gave him a dirty look at his overly patient tone, and Payne hid his grin. He tossed his moccasins into her hands. "Because you never hung around with the city snooties like I did, scooping up the council gossip.

And because you're so afraid of what comes out of Sidisport that anyone who lives there is less than a rast in your eyes. h.e.l.ls, Nori-girl, if the Ell called me on it in council, I'd have to swear by the second moon that you couldn't tell a man from a mudsucker."

Nori flushed. "I'm not so blind that I can't tell a man from a mudsucker, worlag, or lepa."

"No," he answered. "You don't worry whether they're mudsuckers or lepa. You just reject them all."

She stilled.

"Oh, h.e.l.ls, Nori. I didn't mean that the way it came out."

Her voice was quiet. "I do have friends, Payne. Kettre, Surah, Zdravko."

"I know. You just . . ." He shrugged helplessly up at her. "You just don't have very many. Once in a while, try meeting someone new."

"The friends I have think of me as Nori, not just the Wolfwalker's Daughter. And they rarely get me into trouble, unlike some people's friends," she added archly. "Who help them into enough hot water that they're known to half the councils."

"My friends aren't that bad," he protested. "Besides, I can't ride with just one person a year. I'd go batty."

"To each his own, big brother." She dropped back down beside him and let her legs swing absently as she chewed her lip. She stilled as someone paused on the other side of their wagon, but whoever it was moved on. She thought she was hearing Rishte again, too. She poked her head around the side of the wagon and looked toward fireside. She'd have to sneak dinner while others were cleaning up, then snag some sc.r.a.ps for the Grey One. She could take off then, meet the yearling, and work her way back into the forest. "Tell me about the other one, Fentris Shae," she said. Two young women tried to catch Payne's eye from the end of the aisle, and he waved jauntily at the women. She added dryly, "You can flirt with the elders' daughters later."

"Don't think I won't." He grinned slyly. "Those girls can teach a man a lot. I could lecture Papa on politics now."

"Sure, it's all about politics."

He poked her shoulder. "You could take a few lessons yourself, Nori-girl."

She swatted him aside. "Not while you're there to do it for me. Fentris Shae."

He answered obediently, "Fentris Shae, also known as Fentris the Fop, also a First Son, out of Kamaikin House. Memory Dahl says she's seen his men as far east as the territories. He's still here, by the way."

She shot him a sharp look. "I thought he was going on to Shockton with whatever riders he could hook up with."

He shook his head. "He's made some sort of a deal with Brithanas. They'll probably join a faster group once they rest up for the day. I wouldn't have done it, the deal," he added darkly. "The fop is supposed to have stabbed his own brother in the back to become First Son. It never came to the trial block.

Rumor has it his father bought him out before disowning him. He's refused every challenge over the insults. Memory Dahl says he's probably twice as rich as Brithanas, but he'll never be able to flaunt it.

His wealth makes him acceptable in city society, but half the county thinks he's a coward."

Nori frowned. There was something in the Tamrani's movements that made her think of her uncle Ki.

Fentris had killed, she agreed, but she doubted it had been his brother unless his brother had tried to kill him. There was more darkness than guilt in him, as if he'd lost his faith, not his ethics. But she said only, "Let me have my scout book? I want to put in some of our notes before fireside breaks up."

He handed her the punctured book. She gave it a wry look as she poked her finger through the hole left by the war bolt. "That's a lot of rewriting just to make up for saving your ribs."

"And here I thought you loved me like a sister." He grinned faintly. "Besides, I'd say we're even, seeing as how I tackled a raider for you."

She got out Hunter's map and began making the detailed notes she hadn't had time for before.

Coordinates, the cliff, the surrounding trail, the bodies in the meadow-everything she could remember as she referred to the map. Then she gleaned what she could from the papers she'd stolen from the raiders, and copied down the raider code. Or rather, she copied what was left of the three lines after the war bolt had punched through them.

Payne watched her for several minutes. "Nori-girl, is there any chance the raiders at Bell Rocks could have survived the worlags?"

She kept her hands steady as she finished her notes and erased her faint marks from Hunter's map. "All three were armed and jumping up as fast as the fourth moon. There were only six or seven worlags. They could easily have lived."

"They would have seen you clearly."

"It was night and firelight."

"There were four moons, and you look like Mama, just younger."

She didn't answer, but he noted that her fingers tightened on the pen.

"Nori-girl," he started.

"It's done, Payne," she said flatly. "There's no help for it."

"And if they come at you again?"

She tucked the papers back in the book. "They weren't the archers who attacked on the road.

Besides," she added, "Hunte-I mean, Condari, recognized one of them from his own caravan."

Payne blinked. "You think they followed you to get to Brithanas, not us?"

"I don't know, but Hunter is protecting something. He was too cautious when we met, as if I would be a danger to him." She glanced around and lowered her voice. "He said Fentris had joined them only a few hours earlier last night. Why would Fentris, a Tamrani rich enough to afford a dozen council ring-runners, ride so urgently himself to meet Condari if he didn't carry something so secret that it had to be delivered in person?"

Payne finished slowly, "And then Brithanas left his group in the middle of the night with the Wolfwalker's Daughter."

She nodded. "It was as if he was just waiting for an excuse to escape someone's prying eyes. Today-"

"Today, you and I, or rather a man and a woman, were attacked on Willow Road. We're both tall, Brithanas and I. We're both dark-haired. We're both wearing scout clothes, even if his cost half a fortune more than mine, but they wouldn't know that until they were close. The timing fits." He nodded to himself. "You hit Willow Road at dawn. You had to have been seen by any number of riders while you waited on the verge. I didn't catch up to you for three more hours. There was plenty of time for someone to figure out that you two were out on the road, alone."

"But we weren't alone," she pointed out. "Fentris was with us, and you, and Uncle Wakje and Uncle Ki, Kettre. There were two entire search parties."

"They couldn't know when we'd reach you after the search was called off," he countered.

Nori shook her head. "We're guessing out to the sixth moon, Payne. Condari's been with his caravan since they left Sidisport. Why follow him to kill him here if they've had him in their sights for days?"

"Shae hadn't caught up with him yet."

"Neither had I." She frowned down at the scout book. "And then there's the attack on Connaught. And the rope being ruined. And now there's the raider code-" She broke off abruptly as they heard a m.u.f.fled, "My apologies. I didn't see you."

"It's alright," came the low reply. "Just tightening the laces."

Nori's mind sharpened like a knife. With Rishte still on the edge of her mind, his attention speared back with the predator's single-minded focus. She'd slid her knife from her sheath and slipped off the gate in a single movement. Payne was right beside her. Like two shadows, they moved around the neighbor's wagon toward the other aisle.

They moved swiftly, but in the dark, by the time they took those several steps, they couldn't tell who it had been. A burly man and a slender woman were standing together, their heads bowed toward each other, their fingers linked as if in intimacy. The man was inchovas gear, but the woman with him was cozar. They broke apart as they noticed Nori, nodded in embarra.s.sment at the wolfwalker, and wandered away toward the food line. Nori frowned after them.

Payne's voice was soft. "Listeners?"

"Who?" she whispered dryly in return. A pair of men were walking away in one direction, a mixed threesome were going the other way. Two women stood near Repa Ripping White's transport, and three outriders threw stars and moons by Nonnie Ninelegs's cook post.

"Do you know any of them?"

"With three caravans camped together and fireside just broken up?" Nori peered through the elongated shadows thrown by the cozar lanterns. "That one there, on the left, walking away. That's Felor Fasthand.

No one else could move that way. The others . . . I don't know. The man on the left greeting Denby Handsome-I think he's Tika's friend."

"Tika Reading?"

"Tika Long Way 'Round," she corrected. "She's been hanging out with a couple of the Sidisport chovas. "

He slipped his knife back in its sheath. "I'll talk with her tonight, and with Felor, and see if they saw anyone near us."

Ki's daughter saw them at the edge of the quad and waved, and Nori waved absently back. The girl quickly put down her pitcher and took a plate from the pile of freshly washed dishes. Nori muttered as they returned to the wagon gate, "So much for a few quiet moments. What did you do, tell Leanna that the minute I woke up, she should feed me?"

"I never said a word," he protested virtuously.

She snorted. "You wouldn't have to. You probably just gave the poor girl that wicked grin, then said how much you envy Mye and Liam for the days when it's her turn to cook."

"It worked for Papa when he was sparking Mama."

"Mama wasn't that young or gullible, and Papa was going to Promise her. Besides, Mama carried a sword, not just a kitchen knife. She could back up her own desires."

Payne glanced at fireside. "Speaking of weapons, after your bow and our rope, there's something I want you to look at." He went into the wagon, closed the door after Nori joined him, and turned the lanterns up high. Silently, he handed her his bow. She found nothing wrong with it, nor with Wakje's bow or quivers. She was on the last of the arrows when Payne handed her the quiver of war bolts he'd taken with him that afternoon. She examined the first one and ran her hand over the fletching. "That's odd. I'd swear . . ." She peered at the fletching. "This can't be right."

Payne watched her closely. "Last night, when I packed it, there was something I couldn't put my finger on, but I didn't find anything wrong with the glue or the bindings."

"It's not either one." She held the bolt close to the lantern. "It's the fletching itself. Look at the c.o.c.k feather. It's from a left wing. The other two are from a right wing. These arrows would tumble in flight."

He let out a low whistle. "I see it now. Moonworms out of a poolah's a.s.s, but the feathers are mixed on every one of these shafts. I'd never have noticed it by lantern light if I wasn't looking for it." He handed her the quiver of hunting bolts he'd taken with the war bolts. A moment later, she confirmed the same thing about those.

She fingered the last bolt with a thoughtful expression as Payne asked, "You bought these from Thrask, didn't you?" She nodded, and he said, "I thought so. You always did like the best."

She handed back the botched bolt. "I'm rethinking that right about now."

"You wouldn't believe that Thrask could have made a bad batch of war bolts?"

"And hunting arrows, too? One of the best arrow makers in Tume?" She snorted.

"I didn't think so, either." He slid the bolts back in their quiver. "So someone switched our arrows with ones that could pa.s.s for Thrask's."

"That would cost a pretty silver, Payne."

"Was there ever an ugly one?"

He met her troubled gaze. If the switch had been made after she went missing, someone had taken advantage of her absence to sabotage Payne. If before, it could have been aimed at either one. Either way, there were raiders inside the circle. Payne carefully hung the quivers back up. "Best not to let on till we can replace them," he said in a low voice. "We'll tell Wakje and Ki, of course. And Kettre. No one else."

She nodded, took the scout book from her belt, and started to tuck it away in her saddlebag. It might have been the chill from knowing that someone had sabotaged their gear, or it might have been the warning growl of the grey in her mind, but she halted. Then she turned, took a length of beading line, bound the book, and, while Payne watched, got some glue from the repair box and put a few drops on the back cover. Then she picked up her guitar, loosened the strings till they sagged like an old man's jowls, and slid the slim book inside the sound hole. She held it for a few seconds till the glue set.