I am ready.
She opened her eyes, but kept the link open. She could feel the grey lapping at her mind like a sea. It didn’t rush to drown her, but held back with Rishte till she needed its speed in her hands. She let herself get used to the sense of it, then moved slowly toward Hunter until her dnu was almost against his.
She blew experimentally on the wooden caller just once. The sound was a faint scream of metal and air, and she adjusted it against her lower gums. She was beginning to focus, to reduce all movement and sound to the small point that was Hunter’s neck. A spark of yellow flickered beneath the grey, and Rishte paused. The packsong seemed to split in Nori’s mind, as if it met a strong current. No, she sent sharply. Stay with me. Me. Mememe . . .
Nori opened her arms to ready herself for the tano, and then blew across the caller. It was a soft shriek of metal and woman’s voice, like a creature being torn apart. Brean shuddered, and Nori blew again.
Facing forward, Hunter couldn’t see what she could: that the tano’s eyes now gleamed wide open. That they centered now on Nori. Its thighs began to flex so slowly, it took Payne a moment to realize it was happening. Hunter felt the tension like a knife carving away at his flesh. The sound was continuous, like a scraping on his nerves. Then he felt the tano’s claws stab deep.
The creature launched itself like a war bolt. Nori’s hands flashed. Claws reached toward her chest and neck, and her dnu jerked instinctively. The tano hit her sternum like a shot, and its claws tangled in the towel’s pile. It yanked, but even as it tore one limb free and dug into thick leather, she caught its neck like a vise. Her fingers pinched. Its mouth opened soundlessly; the tano’s body went limp.
Hunter stayed frozen.
“Have you got it?” Brean snapped.
She shook her head. Her gloves were too thick to detach the tano’s claws, and the wooden caller kept her from speaking. She adjusted her grip cautiously.
“Now?” Brean demanded.
“I’e got it,” she finally answered around the caller.
Hunter let out his breath. Carefully he raised his hand and rubbed at his bloody neck. “I thought I’d wear that thing to my grave.”
“You might have,” Payne agreed dryly. He reached over warily and disentangled the beast from towel and jerkin while it hung half paralyzed from Nori’s hands. Then he held the cage door open till she popped it in.
Quickly, she started to latch the cover. “Da’ it,” she muttered. She fumbled with the latch. “Wha’ is the ’oblem with this—” she cursed around the wooden caller.
“Hurry up,” Payne said sharply. “I don’t want this thing loose on me or mine.”
“I need a ’iece o’ ’ire,” she said over her shoulder to Wakje. “Q’ickly.”
Wakje snapped open a saddle pack, drew out a small roll of wire, and cut a piece off. He reined up and thrust it into Nori’s hand. She tried to wind it around the latch, but gave up after a moment. “We need to get this ’own to ground.”
The Hafell swung off his dnu and, with Wakje and Payne, eased the cage to the road while Nori held the door shut. The tano hissed and clutched its perch branches, but didn’t try to escape. Carefully Nori threaded the wire through the latch hole, then back out through the side of the cage, till she could twist it into a crude lock.
“Done?” Payne asked sharply.
She sat back on her heels, removed the caller, wiped it off, and tucked it back in her pocket. “Done as best I can. Wait a minute.” She ran her hands over the joints of the cage. The Hafell didn’t interrupt her until she nodded to Payne to lift the cage away and secure it on Wakje’s dnu. When she started to rise, Hunter would have helped her up, but the Hafell reached out instead. He gripped her arm for a long moment. “The Choice was made, the task is done. The Choice returns to me.”
“I return the Choice as is right.”
Brean nodded.
Nori forced her face to be expressionless, but she couldn’t help holding her breath. Brean could give her judgment now, or make her stand before the cozar council. From the hard look in Wakje’s eyes, the ex-raider hadn’t realized she’d taken the Choice from Brean. Wakje’s hand was already on the hilt of his sword as if to attack should it go badly for his niece.
The Hafell ignored the ex-raider. He met Nori’s violet gaze and said quietly, “With challenge, you chose to act in my place. With hindsight, you have been judged. No harm has come from your actions; harm has been averted and this man’s life was saved. Be at peace, Wolfwalker.”
She let her breath out almost audibly.
Brean nodded. “You did well, Black Wolf.” He glanced at Wakje, then Payne. “In spite of the fact that I don’t believe you knew what you were saying till after the words were out.”
She flushed, and Payne knew the man was right. Wakje nodded curtly to the Hafell, then trotted away with the tano. If it had been his choice, he’d have killed the damn thing on the Tamrani’s neck, then buried both of the bodies.
Payne watched him go. “That latch was broken,” he said softly.
“Aye,” Nori agreed. “The metal was torn right out of the wood.”
Brean looked from one to the other, then at the blood trails that ran down Hunter’s neck. He glanced back toward the caravan that was only now getting underway. This had not been just a mishap. There were three wagons damaged, one destroyed; at least five of the dnu were injured. Ki’s driver was lucky not to have broken half his bones, and Nonnie Ninelegs was still unconscious. To have a wagon of exotics wasn’t all that unusual, but to have one cared for by a child? He’d taken the chance, since Mian was Nonnie Ninelegs’s daughter, and since Black Wolf was among them. It had not been a good decision. His usually mild voice was hard as flint. “Mian is supposed to maintain the cages, not just the beasts within. There will be Trial tonight at fireside.”
“Hafell,” Nori cut in. “I didn’t see anything wrong with the wood. I felt it when I pushed the wire through. It’s firm enough, not rotted.” He opened his mouth to retort, but she added, “What I did feel were some gouges by the latch, like the kind made by a prying tool.”
“What are you getting at?”
She glanced at Hunter, but the Tamrani said nothing. She realized with surprise that he was leaving the decision to inform the Hafell up to her. She looked at Payne, who shrugged almost imperceptibly, then said to Brean, “I think the latch was deliberately loosened. It was only a matter of time before the tano got out. In fact, it probably would have happened last ninan when the weibers broke free and all the animals panicked, but Mian had the tano in its grazing cage at the time.”
“That’s a serious accusation, Wolfwalker. The only reason to let a tano out is to kill, and there are no grudge hands among us. I know almost every family, even the ones who joined us on the coast. There are two families I’ve never driven with, but they were in my grandfather’s train last year and came with references. They’re solid.”
Hunter was wiping his neck with a damp cloth, and he paused. “Did you check with your grandfather yourself?”
The Hafell barely glanced at the Tamrani. “Including you and your brother,” he went on to Nori, “there are also only eight keyo with us. I know almost all of them. None of them would have done this.”
“What about Murton and his partner and Hoinse?” Hunter asked sharply.
The Hafell said irritably, “Murton and his partner, and the man from your own caravan, were chovas, not cozar and not keyo. They’re hired-ons. We’re not like traders traveling with unknown companions who don’t have references, Tamrani. We’re not strangers working solely for gold, with our loyalties easily bought. We’re family groups. We choose to travel together to share safety and ease trade. We agree to certain guidelines, we live with certain rules. Issues are raised and dealt with at fireside, as they are at your breakfast tables. Among us, they’re settled long before they become deadly, or the caravan is split. There have been only two challenges since we set out.” He glanced meaningfully at No
ri, and she had the grace to look faintly guilty at the reminder of the puffball fight. “Neither of which was serious,” he continued. “Conflicts that can’t be settled that way are worked out by me or the Ell if it goes beyond the council.” He turned back to Nori. “If there’s a grudge hand now among us, it’s from among the chovas, the Test youths, or the Tamrani you brought here.”
Hunter was clearly irritated, and Nori murmured, “He’s testing you. You’ve brought him trouble, as have we. He wants to know if you’re worth it.”
Hunter scowled at her. “I’m beginning to wonder myself.”
Brean gathered the reins of his dnu. “At least I can take Mian off Trial Silence.”
“Hafell.” Payne caught his attention. “If you’re willing, there is another option.”
Brean glanced from Nori to Payne. The brother and sister had changed on this trip, he realized. Black Wolf had stood up to him twice, and The Brother was looking more serious than he had ever seen. He said slowly, “The Brother has always been welcome to offer his opinion.”
Payne’s jaw tightened for an instant, but he said, “Keep Mian on Trial Silence. Say nothing about the cage. Let it come out at fireside. Let us bring it up.”
The Hafell glanced at the approaching train. “You’re talking about a child at Trial, neBentar. There’s a burden of compassion, not just truth here.”
“Aye.”
But Payne didn’t turn a hair, and Hunter suddenly realized that there was one thing the songsters never seemed to mention: Payne had been raised by raiders.
The Hafell studied the brother and sister. “There could be Trial for you as well.”
Payne nodded. “If Mian wishes it.”
Brean said flatly, “You’ve played too much with girls, neBentar. You know she’ll be so grateful at the verdict that she won’t blame you for putting her through that. Black Wolf, what do you say?”
He was deferring to her like an elder, and she hesitated. “There is more going on—” She broke off as both Hunter and Payne flashed her warning glances. She shook her head at them both. The Hafell didn’t miss it.
His voice was cold. “Black Wolf?”
Nori met his gaze without flinching. “Whoever did this has been among us for some time. There have been more . . . incidents than you know of. We believe we can flush out some of the doers at Trial when they hear what we have to say.”
“And for this, you want Mian to suffer.”
She glanced at Payne, but said softly, “Aye.” She hesitated. “Hafell,” she began. “I respe—”
“No, Black Wolf.” He cut her off with a sharp gesture. “This Choice is mine. I just want to know why I should make it at all.”
She felt her stomach untense with relief. One Choice had been enough for her. She glanced at Payne one more time, but he didn’t stop her as she answered, “Weapons have been sabotaged, Hafell. Gear has been ruined in ways that might not be noticed before it was used. I found two ring-runners dead on the trail to Bell Rocks, where raiders were camping out. Last night, well, Condari didn’t fall into the shrub line. He was shot, and possibly by Harumen, not raiders. The wolves . . .” She took a breath. “The wolves themselves are uneasy, and I cannot tell you why.” Would not, she added silently.
Brean regarded her thoughtfully. “Three questions, Black Wolf. Three answers.” Payne took a half step forward, but the Hafell held up his hand to stop the younger man. “If you leave the caravan, does this trouble leave with you?”
Nori hesitated again. She didn’t look at Hunter. “This trouble is countywide, Hafell Brean. It will not stop with us.”
He leaned across the saddle horn and asked harshly, “Black Wolf, are you bonding?”
It was unexpected, and she stared at him. Rishte growled in her mind. She couldn’t seem to move her lips, but her bared teeth and her silence were their own answer.
“If I hold Trial at fireside, you believe that, through the wolves, like your mother, you can feel out the raiders?”
Again, she couldn’t answer. Finally, she jerked a nod.
“So be it.” He straightened. “Be ready at first flame, Wolfwalker.”
He started to rein around, but she stopped him. “Hafell, if you’re willing, don’t call me that. Not here, not yet.”
He studied her, then Payne. She had always been reserved, distant even from the cozar, and he had wondered sometimes if she was even half connected to the humanity she so avoided. Now he saw something in her violet eyes that made him think she was too connected. Emotions churned there like a plunging river. With the wolf, she could no longer hide it. He glanced at Payne and saw the set of the younger man’s jaw, and the way his hand rested on his knife. So. The Brother was still protecting her, though why the title she deserved should make her fear come out . . . He shook his head to himself, but nodded curtly. “Black Wolf,” he acknowledged. Then he reined around sharply and cantered back to the wagons.
Hunter murmured down at her, “He must respect you two a great deal to take that.”
Payne frowned. “Take what?”
“You telling him what to do so flatly when it goes against the grain.”
The younger man scowled. “We didn’t tell him what to do. We made a request.”
Hunter’s voice was dry. “It must be the cozar way, to be that direct when asking. If a tondi servant made a request like that, he’d be looking for other work.” He rubbed at his neck, looked at the blood on his fingers, then back down at Nori. “I didn’t say thank you yet for saving my life.”
She shrugged. “I’m a vet and a caller. It was mine to do.”
“No, it wasn’t. Not when they loosed a tano at us.”
“That can’t have been aimed at us. No one could predict whom the tano would attack once it got loose. And it’s pure luck I was close enough to help.”
“You weren’t that close at first, and it was more predictable than you think.” He nodded at her frown. “As you say, you’re an animal healer. According to fireside gossip, you’ve taken the duty position, even if it’s unacknowledged. And you spend a lot of time with that girl, teaching her to care for her pets. All a Haruman would have to do is wait till you’re in with the girl, then startle the animals.” Payne gave him a sharp look, but he kept his eyes on Nori. “The tano would break out. You’d try to catch it. It would have bitten you like a mudsucker, and there’s the end of Black Wolf.”
“It might not have bitten me,” she said sharply. “And don’t call me that.”
“The cozar do.”
“They’ve done it all my life. I don’t notice it from them.”
“But you do from me?” He smiled slowly. “How very interesting.” He leaned close and kissed her, quick and hard. He let go almost before she jerked back. He grinned down at her. “Interesting indeed. I look forward to fireside.” Then he mounted his dnu and trotted down the road.
Nori scowled darkly after him, but he didn’t look back.
Down the road, Wakje gave the Tamrani a hard look as he trotted past, but the Tamrani merely raised an eyebrow and went on by. Wakje looked back at Nori. It was the first time he’d seen her take a kiss. She could have dodged the Tamrani before he grasped her chin. She could have taken Brithanas down completely before the man had actually kissed her. But she’d stood there like a four-legged deer with three of its legs in a rast hole. And that wasn’t all. She’d taken a Choice. He’d never heard her do that. She was changing, he realized. Changing to be like her mother. He followed her gaze toward the forest and knew she was reaching for the wolf to steady herself. Soon, she would no longer need him.
Nori couldn’t meet Wakje’s eyes, or Payne’s. Instead, she pretended to listen for Rishte as the wolf loped back from the road. It was an excuse that couldn’t last, and she finally turned and took her own reins from a brother who was carefully trying not to grin. She was swinging up into the saddle when he teased in a whisper, “Big, bad Black Wolf. Can’t hit a Tamrani when he’s right in your face.”
; “Leave it alone, Payne.” But she could feel her face burning. She nudged her dnu into a fast-paced trot, and left Payne chuckling behind her.
XXIX
Lady Sinial looks at the mess of tangled dnu and
wagons. “Who did this?”
Grasp looks guiltily down.
“Was it you?” she demands.
He shakes his head.
“Was it you?” she demands again.
He looks up. “No, Madam. It was my arm, and aye,
My wrist, and even my hand on the blade,
But it was not I who did this.”
—from Playing with Swords, traditional staging
The cozar wasted no time on the road. The caravan had already snaked its way to meet them as they rode back. Cy’s lamed dnu was tethered behind his wagon, and its thin middle leg was drawn up tightly against its body in a quickcast. Extra mounts were harnessed in place to replace teams that were bruised or damaged. Repa’s wagon and goods had been broken down and packed onto other wagons. Repa, Nonnie Ninelegs, and Ed Proving, who’d broken his wrist, had been seen to by the healer.
Ki’s wagon had suffered little damage, considering the force with which Cy had hit him. Ki’s gear and goods had had to be repacked around the splintered back corner of the wagon, and a broken shaft replaced, but that was all. Ki’s driver, bruised and scraped as he was, went on with Leanna beside him.
On the Ell’s wagon, where everyone approaching the caravan could see her, young Mian sat silently beside the old Ell. Trial Silence had been invoked, and she would not speak or be spoken to until the cozar held their council. The sick expression on Mian’s young face was visible even from where Nori rode. The Hafell reached over, tucked the girl behind him in the saddle, and rode her, crying now, back to her own wagon. He could do that, at least. Even though her parents couldn’t speak to her, she could stay inside their wagon.
Nori, Payne, Kettre, and Wakje rode in a tight knot far to one side of the wagons. They spoke little, listening instead to the cozar and chovas around them. Sober faces, tense drivers; even the wagon banners seemed to hang flat, as if they were afraid to wave and flutter.
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