Fortress Draconis (11 page)

Crow, who was just finishing up bandaging Sephi’s forehead, took the news with a nod. “If we are lucky, the horses ran off and will find their way to the meadow below Rivenrock.”

“And if we aren’t?”

“They won’t fill the temeryces’ bellies completely, so the frostclaws will be back looking for another meal.”

Resolute looked up from the dead huntsman he was searching. “These bodies should suit them just fine. Can she sit a horse?”

The older man nodded as he pulled a blanket over her.

“If she wakes up. Otherwise we’ll have to tie her into the saddle.”

“She doesn’t have much time, so you’d best get her dressed and ready to go.” Resolute untied the belt on the corpse and slid buckskin trousers off him. Despite some blood, they seemed to be in good shape. “Put these on her. They’ll be big, but warm. Boy, look through their baggage, see what you can find.”

Will bent to the task he had been given immediately, for two very good reasons. First, it appeared Resolute was content to deal with bodies and Will really didn’t want to do that himself. Second, he was hoping that in the baggage he would find reasons why Distalus and Sephi hadn’t made it to Yslin.

He started by gathering up and going through Sephi’s things. The clothes that remained in her baggage had all been folded neatly, and having been dumped from the back of a bucking packhorse had done little to disturb that arrangement. He found a small wooden box that contained pens and ink and some paper, but none of it had any writing on it. That wouldn’t have mattered since Will couldn’t read more than a word or two, anyway. A small, flat piece of cedarwood with a groove at one narrow end had been tucked inside the bag and smelled pretty good—and Will had seen similar things in chests in the city, so he knew it was there to keep bugs out.

Deciding he’d seen all there was to see in her stuff, he started through Distalus’ bags. He wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that the old man’s things had been untouched by the gibberers. The fact that his clothes had been similarly folded suggested that Sephi had packed for both of them. He found another box of writing tools and a leather-bound journal. He opened it and found faded brown ink on the tan pages. Some drawings decorated the pages, including birds and plants, but a lot were of cities and towns. The words eluded Will, but at the point where a slender wooden slat had been used as a bookmark, he thought he recognized a sketch of Stellin. He also found another of the cedar pieces, again with a groove in the narrow end.

Of considerable interest to him, though, was a pouch heavy with coins—some gold, most silver. He opened it and spilled a number out. Several were from Alcida, a few more from Savarre, and even one from Helurca. Another random lot selected from the purse yielded coins from Naliserro and Salnia, Jerana and Saporicia.

Will frowned. It struck him as very odd that he didn’t have any coins from Oriosa. While it was true that relations between Oriosa and Alcida were coldly cordial, Oriosan silver could still be easily found in the purses he pinched in Yslin. Oriosan coinage was common enough that the barman in Stellin hadn’t blinked when Crow produced a gold crown and Distalus had seemed quite familiar with it.

He bounced the octagonal Jeranese silver piece in the palm of his hand. It had striations along the edges, and the image of the sailing ship seemed correct, but something was just not right about the coin. Will thought for a second, then pressed the coin up against his right eye. By squinting, he caught it between cheek and eyebrow, holding it easily in place.

Will widened his eyes and let the coin drop with a clink into the pouch of coins. He fixed it to his belt, then tossed most of Distalus’ clothes out. In that half of the saddlebag pair he stuffed the book and piece of cedar, as well as some bags of meal and jerky that had fallen from a rent sack. He added more food to the other side, supplementing what Distalus had already carried, then knotted the saddlebags securely.

He restocked the provisions in Sephi’s bags, then brought her bags over to where Crow was slipping her into a dark brown leather tunic. He set them down next to her. “I’m going to take the rest of their provisions and restock our bags. Should be ready to go pretty soon.”

Crow nodded. “Good idea. Move things around so she can have the black mare. Saddle over there should fit.”

Will laid Distalus’ bags on the back of his own horse, then moved things around. Resolute came over, and gave him a hand. While they worked, Will reported what he’d found, though he did underestimate the coin count and didn’t tell Resolute he thought the Jeranese coin was a counterfeit based on its size. The Vorquelf, for his part, did not make any pretense at concealing the things he’d taken from the bodies: some coins and nine of the gibberer longknives. The youth smiled. “If you want, I can wash up the bladestars and resharpen them for you.”

Resolute shook his head. “No, leave them there, Crow’s arrows as well. We do that. It lets Chytrine know who it is who has killed her motley bands. Crow has picked the habit up from me. You killed two, did you, boy?” Will nodded. “Bladestars, both.”

“Yes, I saw the one who greeted death with an open hand. You were very lucky.”

The young thief blushed. “I know.” The Vorquelf glanced back at the bodies in the bowl. “I killed four—five if you count the one Crow shoulder-shot. He feathered another one, which leaves us one unaccounted for. The hunters died in the initial shot from the ambush. Distalus had a quarrel in him and Sephi looks as if she was just dragged from the saddle.”

Will shrugged. “Distalus managed to get one before he died.”

“No doubt, buthow he did it is interesting. Come with me.”

He followed in Resolute’s wake even though the Vorquelf’s course took them straight over Distalus’ corpse. Past him, lying on the side of the bowl, a gibberer remained where it had fallen, its arms and legs bent in odd directions. Will had no doubt it was dead, and the hole in its chest, right over where its heart should have been, clearly was the cause of death.

The hole had been burned there. Crispy, charred flesh crumbled as Resolute tapped the body with his toe. “Burning there and up here, at the muzzle. The thing snorted fire before it died. Whatever hit it burned its heart and lungs out.”

“In Oracle’s mural I saw these weapons that spat fire.”

Resolute nodded. “I know about those. This is not the sort of wound they cause. Distalus, it seems, was a sorcerer, but we knew that already from the look of him.”

Before the Vorquelf could expand on that remark, Crow gave out with a shout. “She’s awake.”

The two of them trotted over to where Sephi was sitting up, with Crow assisting her. He supported her shoulder and elbow on the left side while she held her head in her hands and drew her knees up. She moaned a little, then began to cry.

Crow stroked her black hair. “The threat is over now, child, at least for a little while. We have to ride, though. We have to get away from here. Can you ride?”

She sniffed, wiped her nose on the sleeve of her tunic, then nodded. She started to get up and Will took her right hand to help her. He ducked beneath her arm and wrapped his left arm around her slender waist.

She smiled down at him and mouthed, “Thank you.”

Will beamed. “Over here, Sephi, the black mare—as black as your hair.”

Sephi half giggled at the rhyme, then clamped her mouth shut for a second, pressing her lips into a thin line. “What about Distalus?”

Resolute cut off Will’s nascent reply. “He died in your defense.”

Will led her on a course to the horses that spared her the worst of the carnage, then Resolute took her by the waist and lifted her onto the mare’s saddle. He tossed the reins to Will. “You’ll be leading her horse. Girl, you have to hold on to the saddle to stay in it. We’ll be going quickly because we want a good distance between here and where we will camp tonight.”

She glanced at the bodies. “You’re not going to bury them?”

“No time.”

“Our things?”

Resolute shook his head. “Will gathered up what he could tell was yours, but the gibberers destroyed anything they couldn’t understand.”

The girl seemed to take that comment at face value. Will wondered why Resolute was lying to her, but knew challenging him in front of her was a bad idea.If Distalus was a sorcerer… but, wait, couldn’t she be a sorceress? What if she killed the gibberer? A little thrill ran through Will at the thought, though she did look rather young to have mastered what he assumed to be a powerful spell.

Resolute again took the point and Crow brought up the rear, with the packhorses trailing out behind him. This left Will riding ahead of Sephi, with a bit of a buffer between them and their elders. Will kept turning back in the saddle to make sure she was awake and upright. Weary though she appeared to be, she managed to stay in the saddle pretty well, and Will did appreciate the shy smiles he got when he checked or offered a “mind this branch, Sephi.”

They rode all afternoon and into early evening, stopping only to water the horses. As dusk came on, Resolute led them into a rock-strewn canyon. They made a cold camp there, shutting the horses up in what had long ago been a mine of some sort, using piles of tailings as breastworks.

Will broke out roadbread and dried meat from their supplies, figuring to save the things he’d taken from the dead men so as not to remind Sephi of what had happened to her. Everyone ate quickly and quietly. Resolute assigned the first watch to Will and told the thief to wake him when the crescent moon touched a distant rock spire.

The youth sat on a pile of rocks. He wore his armor, and as the day cooled into night, he was glad it retained heat. A scabbarded longknife lay across his thigh. From the tailings he drew sharp-edged, flat rocks. He ground them against other, harder rocks to edge them, or size them better to his hand, then slipped them into the bladestar pouch on his belt.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

He turned and looked at a blanket-shrouded Sephi. Shadows masked her face, reinforcing the illusion of distance he’d gotten from the smallness of her voice. “Not a surprise, after what happened.” She shook her head once, listlessly. “I don’t really know what happened. Cletus, he was in the lead, he just flew from his saddle. Numitor cried out from behind and then they pulled me from the saddle. I don’t remember anything more until you found me. I was lucky you came along.”

“It wasn’t luck, really.”

“No? Tell me.” She came forward, then seated herself at his feet. Her right hand came from inside the blanket and snaked itself around his left ankle. She leaned against him, with her cheek on his knee. “How did you know where to find us?”

Will started to tell her about Oracle and what Resolute had seen that made them ride east and south at Rivenrock, then hesitated. He’d not seen what Resolute saw, nor had the Vorquelf told Will about it. That moment’s hesitation gave him a chance to think, which was good. The overwhelming weight of questions about what she and her uncle were doing in the mountains, with him being a sorcerer and all, stoked the fire of Will’s curiosity to the point where it became suspicion.

So Will resorted to doing what he did well: he lied, effortlessly and completely. “My uncle and his friend, they are hunters, very good hunters, better than those trappers guiding you. Well, my father, he’s a famous noble, very famous, you would know him if I told you his name but I

can’t because of an oath, you understand. My father wanted me to learn the ways of hunting gibberers and their kith. So we were in the mountains, hunting, and cut across the track of the ones hunting you, but we caught up too late.“

Her right hand rose to hook fingers over the top of his knee, her palm resting flat against the inside of it. “Oh, that you could have been there sooner. Did you have success in the mountains?”

“Oh, yes, I learned a great deal. Did you know thatmetholanth grows wild? I picked that which they smeared on your cuts.”

“Thank you.” Sephi turned her head and gently kissed his knee. “I feel much better.”

“I wish I could have done more.” Her kiss and her hand were combining to make Will a bit uncomfortable, and he was very glad his armor slopped well over his belt and down into his lap.Either that knock on her head addled her more than any one of us has imagined, or she wants me thinking about things other than thinking.

Will wanted to succumb to her charms. Rescuing beautiful damsels and having them reward him with their favors had always been a key ingredient in the saga of Will the Nimble. And the tailings, spread with enough blankets, wouldn’t be that uncomfortable. Sephi was even acting interested, and Resolutewas threatening him with the needs of getting children on someone.

The problem for Will was simple, however: Sephi wasn’t acting right. He could understand her being grateful, but of the three she could show her gratitude to, he was putting himself at the bottom of the list.Except in the category of being young and gullible. He had no doubt that if he were the person she likely saw him as being, she’d have him distracted with a lick and a kiss, and have him telling her everything for more of the same.

Because Will himself knew how useful distraction could be when cutting a purse, or in a quick snatch-theft, he had no trouble identifying diversionary tactics. Her questions, while seeming to be harmless, would have had him reveal Oracle’s presence and the Vorquellyn cave. Given what he’d been told about it by Resolute, Oracle, and Crow, it was a secret he wasn’t going to surrender no matter how pretty the questioner or dire the torture.

“Sephi, how is it that you and your uncle were in the mountains?”

“The hunters heard my uncle tell a tale or two in Stellin the day after you left. They told him of a minor noble in the mountains who paid well for taletellers. They were leading us there but I think… I mean, I suspect they intended to kill Distalus and have me for themselves.”

Her voice became a harsh, choked whisper. She accompanied her admission by hugging his legs with both arms, letting the blanket slip from her shoulders. “Praise be to Erlinsax you got there to save me.”