“All right, all right, a silver a day, but if the load is lost, then you don’t get nothing, and if those are coming along, you better consider adding to the pot.”
Canis turned back to the man with Cepheid at his shoulder and the four Wulfen arranged on either side of him. “It is a deal.” He strode the rest of the way out of the inn.
The foreman muttered as he turned back to his drivers. “He didn’t give me a chance to tell him where the wagons were. If he don’t show up, I’ll have to find him. Bloody wolves in town. Damn big suckers, too.”
Outside, Canis collected his sled and cocked his nose in the air. He would have no trouble finding the wagons that belonged to those men. They took far too few baths.
He found six wagons and they all looked overloaded to him, but they looked to be in good repair and the rims of the wheels were extra wide. He knew little of wagons; his only memory was that of a child and Patro’s wagons. His wagons bore little resemblance to these heavy things.
He introduced the horses to the Wulfen. The horses were calm enough, though they showed the whites of their eyes and snorted somewhat. The two would never become friends, but he couldn’t afford to have the horses bolting every time the Wulfen came into sight.
By the time the drivers showed up, Canis had his sled strapped to the side of one of the wagons, their snowshoes strapped in another location so they would be easy to reach if they needed them, and their bedroll was at his side ready to be stowed wherever they said. The rest of their belongings were pinned in their sled against the wagon.
As he watched the men approach, he turned to Cepheid. “They will likely travel faster than the other wagons with the slaves. If you cannot run to keep up, you’ll have to ride with one of them.”
“I’ll run,” said Cepheid grimly. She had never done much running, but their trek over the mountains had hardened her. She had learned many things since traveling with Canis; she would learn to run too.
“Where are your horses?” asked the foreman when he had reached them.
“I never learned much about horses,” said Canis.
The man looked at the Wulfen who lolled in various poses around him. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t. I still expect you to do what I hired you for, so you better keep up.”
“We will keep up,” said Canis.
They did move faster, the draft horses’ long-legged walk was still faster than a man’s, and the roads were frozen and hard. Walking in snowshoes almost year round wasn’t the same as running in them, but Canis had no problem keeping up. His ground-covering trot allowed him to range around the wagons at will, but shorter Cepheid was forced to run on the hardened road in their wake to keep up.
They paused briefly at midday in order to pass out a cold lunch then they moved on. Cepheid rode beside the driver of the last wagon and she was not happy about it, but she didn’t think she would have been able to take another step let alone run. It was some consolation that Nnarr ran close beside the wagon while she rode. The driver, Kostus, was very polite and she had the puppies to distract her.
It took them four days to reach the first farming community, and every night Canis presented the cook with an assortment of rabbits, quail, and pheasants. He even brought in a small deer once.
“You’s supposed to be guarding the wagons, not off hunting,” growled the cook when he had to clean the deer.
“The wagons are guarded. There are five hunters here,” said Canis as he strode off to where Cepheid was making their camp. He spent very little time in her company, but he still liked to be close to her when he could. He took his work very seriously and wasn’t about to assume that, just because their day had been peaceful, their night would be too.
He slept until supper was ready, then after eating, he disappeared into the night, leaving Rrusharr with her puppies, in the camp. He found a location where he could watch the camp with his eyes as much as his nose, then he settled down to doze. Every couple hours, or if the wind shifted, he would scout around the camp before settling down again. With snow falling almost every day, any trails in the area were fresh and any scents would be fresh too.
They spent their fourth night in the small farming community of Pine Bluff. It was little more than a collection of farming families huddled together for protection, but the place sported an inn. Canis treated himself to a bath then went out to guard the wagons. Despite the fact that the drivers told him to take a break and enjoy his woman for a night, he spent the night curled up on one of the seats. The Wulfen kept out of sight of the farmers. If trouble came from here, Canis didn’t want to advertise his advantage.
On their next night along the road, the lead driver, a man by the name of Kolar, pulled Canis aside. “Lighten up. You’re going to burn yourself out.”
“I was hired to guard. My endurance is not your concern. Are you telling me there is no point to my job?”
“Not that; there’re plenty of bandits wandering around out here, but you’re only one man and it’s two months to Lincoln. If you keep pushing yourself like this, you won’t be worth anything when bandits do come.”
“Tell me something, you are hauling ice. What is it that bandits find so valuable?” asked Canis.
“The ice is valuable enough; water ain’t all that common away from this creek, but there’s also our supplies and our stock, those can be weighed in gold out here.”
Canis nodded. “Then I will continue to guard.”
The next night was spent in the small village named Kimball, after a prosperous rancher that owned much of the surrounding land. The sun rose to find a man strung up by his wrists from the bracket that supported the lantern outside the inn; he had no clothes on. Since it was early in the winter the nights were quite cold; the man was shivering uncontrollably.
As the citizens of the village began to gather, Canis unwound from his place on the wagon seat. He strode up to speak to the man. “You will confess what you have done and I will cut you down. If not, your friends can cut you down after we leave.”
“What did you do, Bender?” said the innkeeper.
The man, Bender, tried to speak through his shivers. “Didn’t…do…nothin’… Bastard…”
Canis turned back to the wagon to roll up his fur.
“I din’t…know…she was…his…woman. I…swear, I din’t…know,” said Bender desperately.
Canis turned back and cut the rope holding Bender suspended. Before the man could pick himself up and cover himself for modesty, Canis whispered in his ear, “That was not good enough, but I think everyone understood what you meant.”
The man hunched away from him and hurried into the inn.
Kolar pulled Canis aside. “What did he do?”
“If he had done more than lay hands on her, he would be dead,” said Canis.
“I thought she was in the inn last night,” said Kolar.
Canis smiled at him. “I do enjoy my woman from time to time, but I do not share very well.”
Chuckling, Kolar went off to harness his team. He had a grin on his face for most of the rest of the day.
Attack
The sun was setting on the end of their second day out of Kimball when Canis was given his first opportunity to earn his keep. They were just beginning to slow down to camp as the daylight was dimming. Upward of twenty men swarmed out of the surrounding snow-covered brush. Many of them were mounted double and they headed directly for the wagons. The seconds were dropped off at the wagons where they did their best to gain control.
“Clear the wagons,” said Canis sending the Wulfen up onto the wagons to protect the drivers while he moved among the rest like a whirlwind. He felt Rrusharr flow up and over the seat and driver of one wagon, and he felt her carry a screaming man to the ground. He tasted hot blood in his mouth as she turned to find another target. The mere presence of the Wulfen sent the strange horses into a panic and few of the riders retained their seat as they pitched and bolted from the area by the easiest and fastest route.
Men died when they came too close to his blade as carnage flooded his mind from four other points of destruction. Their longer blades caused their share of damage as well, but he scarcely felt any of it. Moments into the fight, he picked up one of those longer swords and consequently took less damage.
When the last of the bandits ran, many were left lying quite still in the red-stained snow, and the night’s darkness was almost upon them.
Canis found Kolar helping the drivers to sooth their teams. “If you will allow, I think we should keep moving through the night. We can stop early tomorrow.”
“It’s too dark to travel at night,” protested Kolar, though he didn’t really want to stay in this place.
Canis looked up at the star strewn sky. “You have eyes for the night.”
Kolar looked at Canis closely then spoke softly, “Are you saying you can see in the dark?”
Canis didn’t answer the man’s question directly. “Will you allow it?” he asked.
“Yes. Let me check on the horses and tell the men. We’ll need to move slowly.”
While Kolar spoke to the other drivers and checked over the horses and their harnesses, Canis went to Cepheid. “Are you injured?” he asked as his hands caressed her face scarcely able to refrain from trembling. He had seen one man fall to her knife.
Cepheid looked up into his face. She could still see the effects of the fight in the tightness around his eyes and mouth. Even the way he strode up to her spoke of ‘hunt’ and ‘kill’. “I am unhurt,” she said, “but you have several wounds. We should…”
“Not now. We are moving ahead through the night. I will be fine until we stop. Take this.” He handed her his sword and its belt. “You remember your lessons. If you must use it, think of those lessons. Do you understand?”
She took the belt and looked up into his glowing eyes. They were intense. They were dangerous.
“Answer me; do you understand what I am telling you?” He gave her shoulders a gentle shake.
“Yes, I understand, but what about you? How can you disarm yourself like this?”
Canis showed her the other sword he’d picked up. It too was straight and double-edged, but its length was easily twice that of the sword Cepheid now held. “I am not disarmed. Go back to your wagon. Watch over the babies.” He watched to insure she started back to the wagon then began searching among the bodies looking for the sheath to the sword in his hand. He was just unbuckling its belt when Kolar found him.
“You’re not robbing the dead are you?”
“A dead man has no need for a sword. I do. Are we ready to go?”
Kolar struggled not to cringe away from the look in Canis’s eyes. “I have two injured drivers, but they’re not bad. We’re all anxious to be away from…this.”
“Good, tie the lead team of each wagon to the back of the wagon in front of them. We will move as soon as this is done.” While this was being finished, Canis sought Ggrrawrr who had followed the retreating bandits. “Do they run?”
“They do not seem interested in returning to the fight,” he said.
“Then come on back. We will need all of our eyes to move during the night.”
“Coming.”
Canis worried about their injuries as he strode to the head of the line, but Rranggrr said, “Scratches can wait. We are ready.”
The others agreed so Canis strode to the lead team, and at a nod from Kolar, started to lead the horses down the road. In the dark, under his long coat, no one saw the blood that was seeping to stain his pant leg and down into his tall boots. He himself refused to acknowledge it. They needed to be away from this place. The scent of so much blood would draw other hunters, and hunters drawn by the scent of blood would not be easily deterred.
Their start was rocky, but once they were underway, they made good time. The Wulfen ranged to the sides, alert for another attack while Canis wondered how the bandits could get so close without him knowing. Somehow, he had made a mistake and he didn’t want to repeat it.
The night went without anything much more than one of the horses slipping on the mud-covered ice and straining a tendon. Kolar called a halt when the sun cleared the horizon.
Canis went among the injured and healed them. Most of the injuries were cuts and bruises, but one of the drivers had a broken arm. When all was done, he prepared to whip them into motion again. He was not comfortable stopping yet.
Kolar stopped him. “You’ve healed everyone else and even those of the animals that were injured. You should take care of yourself too, and then you need to rest. You look wiped out, and I know you couldn’t have come away from that fight unscathed. I didn’t know you could heal too. Wait till the boss hears about this. He might even give you a raise. To have a guard who is also a healer. That’s if you have a license.”
“I do not think I can heal myself,” said Canis, interrupting Kolar’s dreams of having him continue to work for his boss.
Kolar was surprised, but he rested a hand on Canis’s shoulder, belatedly thinking that the move might not be too healthy, but doing it anyway. “I don’t know how it works, but if you don’t try, you’re not going to be any good to the rest of us. You sit down right here and try. We’ll wait.”
Canis stood and watched Kolar go back to the wagons. He watched as some of the drivers were bringing water to the horses from the creek in buckets. He shook his head and looked for a place to sit that was above the snow.
Along the edge of the road, a small river cut its way through the winter landscape, and along the river grew a ribbon of large trees, and wherever trees grew, there was bound to be some deadfall. Canis found a log near the wagons scoured of snow by the wind and pulled his legs up under him. He watched Cepheid where she stood over the puppies as they played in the snow on the side of the road. He opened his coat and shirt and rested his hand on the worst of his wounds then he closed his eyes. With everyone else, it had always just happened, all he needed was intent. He truly had no idea how to heal himself.
He woke to find himself wrapped in his bedroll atop the lead wagon and the sun was setting. He sat up and had to grab the load as the world spun sickeningly.
A hand gripped his shoulder and pushed him back down. “Stay down, you fool,” said Kolar.
“What happened?” asked Canis.
“You were bleeding to death. If you hadn’t healed yourself, you would probably be dead by now. You just stay lying down, we’ll be stopping soon.”
“You take too many chances, guardian of my soul,” said Rrusharr. She was pleased he was awake, but he could feel her worry.
“I am sorry. I did not realize,” replied Canis.
“Well, take it easy,” said Kolar. “I would hate to lose you.”
Canis closed his eyes. He woke again briefly as he was taken down from the wagon and laid near the fire then woke again when Cepheid brought him something to eat.
When he attempted to rise and go about his patrol, he was roundly denied. Both Cepheid and Kolar refused to let him move from the fire and Rrusharr reminded him of another time when she had pinned him down in order to keep him in bed. Finally, he promised to sleep if the others stood guard in his stead.
Cepheid took the night watch and did the same thing he would have done; she found a lookout point down wind from the camp and dozed.
Kolar watched too. He paced among the wagons and checked the horses often. Watching the surrounding darkness and keeping the fire burning, he had no idea where the girl or the wolves were. He felt watched over, but at the same time, he felt vulnerable with Canis stretched out by the fire. He had made this run for several years, and he had had some very good guards, but under Canis’s guard, he had felt safer than ever before.
The next morning, Canis was moving slowly and stiffly, but he was moving. They were just beginning to hitch the horses to the wagons when Canis got the alarm from both Rrusharr and Ggrrawrr.
“Defend close,” said Canis, calling the Wulfen in close to the wagons to guard the loose horses. Then h
e ran toward where the alarm had come from.
Kolar was stunned to see him run by, especially since he had seen how much blood he had lost, but everything about him said something was up, so he and the other drivers prepared to defend their cargo and their stock. They were vulnerable sitting in camp like this. It was too easy for the horses to become scattered.
Canis met the bandits before they had scarcely started their attack and charged into their center causing the horses to scatter and dance. There were eight of them and they had three of their horses left.
The four Wulfen had converged on him instead of staying by the wagons and they went for throats where they could, as did Canis, though not with his teeth. They were finished in less than five minutes, but Canis wasn’t satisfied. He sent the Wulfen to circle far around while he fought to regain his breath and gather up their horses. The horses had scarcely begun to attack and it was all over so quickly that they hadn’t had the chance to get worked up enough to bolt.
He was still gasping for air when he led them back to the wagons. Kolar took the horses while Cepheid stepped in front of him. “Heal yourself. You did it once; you can do it again. Did you take any further damage?”
“No, I took no hurt this time,” said Canis, his breath was coming too hard. He went to his bedroll where it still rested by the cold fire. His healing left him coughing and gagging, but he was still sitting up when he came to himself. Once again, he rode on the wagon, though this time he was sitting on the seat. He refused to lie rolled up in his bedroll utterly helpless any longer.
As they traveled, Canis watched Cepheid learn how to ride one of the captured horses. One of the drivers had adjusted the stirrups of the saddle to her shorter legs and was giving her pointers as they moved. She picked it up quickly and used the animal to pace the caravan and scout its horizons. Canis watched her anxiously.
They spent the night in the town of Sidney, and Kolar rounded up a healer for Canis. The man did a healing that night and again the next morning and Canis felt much better for it.
Half-Breed Page 27
