Shields Lady (20 page)
But a few minutes ago she had realized her pursuer was not Gryph. She didn't know how she could be so certain of that but she was. She would know if it was Gryph closing in on her. There was another hunter on her trail tonight.
Sariana had left the Avylyn household an hour before dawn, carrying as many clothes and personal belongings as she could manage in two large travel pouches slung from her shoulders. The scarlet-toe had been perched on the shoulder of her cloak.
A lingering sense of duty had forced her to pause long enough to write out a series of instructions regarding the Avylyn household and business finances. She could only hope the Avylyns would have the sense to follow them in her absence.
Intent on making her way to the wharf where she would be able to book passage on one of the fast little windriggers that plied the coastal waters, Sariana had hurried through the dark streets.
The realization that someone was following her had hit just as she had reached the deserted warehouse area near the docks. The scarlet-toe had become increasingly agitated and Sariana, who had at first been furious that Gryph had followed her, had begun to feel a trickle of fear along her spine.
It was then she had decided that it couldn't be Gryph. She felt a lot of things around Chassyn, but she had never known that kind of fear.
She had quickened her pace until she was moving as fast as she could with the weight of the overloaded travel pouches. Anxiously she had glanced down the street, hoping to see an early rising sailor or dockworker or guard. There had been no one in sight.
There was no one visible behind her, either, but Sariana had no doubt the hunter was somewhere in the shadows.
Impulsively she had begun trying the warehouse doors she was passing. With each locked door she encountered, the fear crawling through her became stronger.
On the fifth try she had gotten lucky. The handle of a small side door had turned under her gloved fingers. Sariana hadn't hesitated. She had dashed inside and closed the door behind her.
She had found herself in a deep, looming darkness broken by the fitful light of a few, dim vapor lamps set in the walls.
Now she sat huddled in the deepest shadows she could find. She was sitting on a wine cask. Rank upon rank of barrels and casks were piled in front of her and behind her. The odor of wine was heavy in the air.
Sariana tried to decide how long she should stay in her hiding place. With any luck whoever had trailed her through the streets would grow weary of the search and seek other prey.
Then she heard the unmistakable sound of the side door opening and closing again. Sariana shuddered and squeezed her eyes shut briefly against the fear that threatened to overwhelm her. The scarlet-toe hissed its nearly silent hiss and clung tightly to the fabric of Sariana's cape.
Sariana opened her eyes and gazed out into the darkness. The beam of a small hand-held vapor lamp was reflected briefly from a far wall. Then it disappeared as whoever held it turned down another aisle. She could hear the scrape of boots on the warehouse floor. Whoever was hunting her was conducting a systematic search of the aisles. Sooner or later he would come down this aisle and she would be trapped.
Sariana came to a decision. She was not going to crouch there until the inevitable happened. Stealthily she stood up and set down her travel pouches. Then she removed her cloak. The scarlet-toe
scampered from the cloak to her arm and back up to her shoulder. There it sat poised and ready. The little creature seemed to have come to the same conclusion as Sariana. Anything was better than waiting to be discovered.
Sariana stepped softly out of her slippers and turned to confront the row of casks behind her. The barrels were stacked only four tiers high in the first row. It shouldn't bt that difficult to climb to the top tier. Tentatively sht searched for and found handholds and places for her stock inged toes.
The climb proved harder than she had anticipated. By the time Sariana reached the top tier of casks she was breathing heavily and terrified that the searcher would hear her. Fortunately he was still moving systematically up and down the aisles. It would be a few minutes before he reached the aisle in which she'd left her travel pouches and cloak.
Sariana glanced around. There was a little more light from the vapor lamps up here. She could see the outlines of the casks on either side of her. Some of the barrels were smaller than others. She made her way cautiously along the curving ribs of the wine casks until she came to a tier of smaller containers that were stacked upright instead of on their sides.
Experimentally she tried nudging one of the small casks. It proved unexpectedly heavy. She would never be able to lift it, but she might be able to push it.
The beam of the vapor lamp turned the corner of Sariana's aisle. She froze, watching in horrified fascination as a figure made his way rapidly along the corridor of wine casks. In another moment he would see the travel pouches and Sariana's discarded cloak. Sariana held her breath and prepared to use all her strength on the barrel under her hands.
The man in the aisle gave a grunt of satisfaction when the vapor light picked out Sariana's possessions on the floor. He hurried forward, swinging the ray of light rapidly back and forth. He never once raised the light to examine the top rows of casks. It was obvious he assumed his quarry was huddled behind a wine barrel.
"You can come on out of hiding," the man urged, his voice oily with an attempt to coax his prey into the open. "I'm not going to hurt you. Come on now, little lady. It's all right. Come on out of your hiding place."
Sariana's fingers trembled on the rim of the upright wine cask. She had to time this perfectly or she would be worse off than she already was.
Fortunately the searcher paused to examine the travel pouches. He bent over to open the clasps, intent on examining the contents. Sariana gathered herself, felt the scarlet-toe gather itself simultaneously, and then she shoved at the wine cask with all her might. Lucky hissed.
The man below jerked upright as he heard the scrape of wood on wood. The beam of his light caught the cask as it toppled downward and he cried out in startled anger.
Sariana watched, frozen in shock as the man tried to throw himself to one side. He was going to dodge the cask, she thought. Frantically she shoved at the next barrel in line and then the one stacked next to it.
A loud, groaning rumble filled the warehouse as half a dozen small casks of expensive wine went crashing down onto the hard floor. Somewhere in the midst of the noise a man's scream rose shrilly and then ended with heart-stopping suddenness. The vapor lamp winked out.
A moment later the last of the cascading barrels rolled to a halt and all was quiet. Moving unsteadily, Sariana climbed down the large casks to the floor below. The scarlet-toe was
hissing softly again.
Sariana tripped and nearly fell when her bare toe struck a fallen cask. Stifling an exclamation of pain, she scrambled through the maze of toppled casks, seeking her travel pouches.
She stumbled over the intruder's still form first and nearly screamed. But the man did not move. Sariana untangled herself from his short cape and frantically groped for her things. They were splashed with wine. She could smell it in the darkness and feel the dampness under her fingers.
Shoving her feet back into her slippers, she folded her travel cloak over one arm and grabbed up the pouches.
"Let's get out of here," she whispered to the scarlet-toe who signaled its agreement with a low grumble. Sariana was intent only on fleeing the warehouse. "This is all Gryph's fault. I wouldn't be in this awful position if it wasn't for him. And since I am in this mess, you'd think the least he could do would be to come to my rescue. But no, I have to rescue myself. Typical of a man not to be around when you need him. They're more than ready to hop into bed with a woman but where are they when she's in trouble?"
She was chattering to the scariet-toe out of anxiety, Sariana realized. It was ridiculous. It was a sign of how badly frayed her nerves were.
Finding the small warehouse door she let herself out onto the street where she struggled to balance her burdens.
"We should report this to the town guards," she muttered to the lizard. "But if we stop long enough to do that we'll never get away."
She hesitated, torn between civic duty and the need to escape. In the end the need to get out of town won. Sariana hurried down the empty street toward the wharf.
She reached the waterfront and heaved a sigh of relief. Dawn was still an hour away, but here and there vapor lamps provided enough light to see the outlines of the windriggers tied up to the docks. The sleek sailing ships creaked in the darkness and water slapped the pilings.
Sariana saw no one as she made her way toward the nearest windrigger. She wondered how long she would have to wait before she found a captain willing to let her book passage.
Sariana was making her way along a pier when the scarlet-toe hissed in her ear. She froze, aware that she was once more being stalked.
Sariana whirled around, dropping the travel pouches and her cloak. A man loomed up out of the darkness. He wasn't more than a few meters away from her. The wings of a short, hooded cape that shielded his features were pushed back over his shoulders, freeing his arms. In one hand he held an object Sariana knew must be a blade bow.
This time there was no place to hide and she could not outrun a blade bow. She was trapped. "You have given us more trouble than we expected," the man grated. "But it's over now. You will
come with me, woman, or I will put a blade through your throat. Come here."
Sariana darted toward the edge of the pier, seeking the dubious safety of the black water below. Anything was better than facing a blade bow. She saw the man's hand lift higher as he swore viciously and took aim. She was never going to make it into the cold waters of the bay. She tried to scream, but no sound emerged from her tight throat.
But in the next instant someone else started to scream. The man aiming the blade bow jerked violently and the sound was choked off. He started to turn toward the dark alley that separated two warehouses but he never made it. He was already falling. He toppled over the edge of the pier, clutching at his chest. There was a moment of horrifying silence and then a soft splash announced his entry into the water.
Sariana swung her stunned gaze toward the alley just as Gryph stepped out into the pale glow of a vapor lamp. He was resealing the weapon kit as he strode toward her.
A dizzying sense of relief swept through Sariana. Without a second's hesitation she ran toward him. "Gryph Chassyn! By the Storm, you bastard, it's about time you got here. This is all your fault, do you
hear me? Twice I've nearly been robbed and murdered tonight. Twice. And it's all your damn fault."
Gryph opened his arms and she flung herself against him. He absorbed the impact easily, locking her
tightly into his strength.
"I appreciate punctuality in a woman," he grated into her hair as she buried her face against his shirt. "But you didn't have to get to the wharf this early. We aren't scheduled to sail for another hour."
In that moment Sariana gave up. She was literally shaking with relief. She buried herself in Gryph's warmth, savoring his reassuring strength. There was no point running from him. A part of her would always be glancing back over her shoulder to see if he was following. She knew that with a deep certainty. For a long moment she clung to him and he held her without speaking, his arms hard and protective.
"It would appear half of Serendipity was following me tonight," Sariana finally muttered, pushing hair out of her eyes.
"If you hadn't convinced yourself that you had to try to escape me, you wouldn't have gotten yourself into this mess." Gryph took hold of her arm and started back along the pier to where she had dropped her travel pouches and cloak. "I want your word of honor you won't pull another stunt like this, Sariana. By the time I realized you had left the villa, it was almost too late."
A large portion of her initial relief gave way to the more familiar sense of frustration. "Why should I promise you anything?"
"Because I'm your husband and you owe me at least some measure of respect." He picked up her travel pouches and handed her the cloak. The first tendrils of dawn lit his eyes as he
looked down at her. Sariana saw his quietly implacable expression and wished she knew how to fight it. She was too tired to figure out what to do next. She had been through too much during the past few days,
"How many times do I have to explain to you that I don't consider myself married?" Sariana asked wearily as she put on her cloak. The scarlet-toe hopped around, adjusting itself until it was happily perched on the shoulder of the outer garment.
"You are married, Sariana. And I want your word that you won't run from me again." "Why? Because you don't want to be put to the nuisance of coming after me?" He shook his head. "No. Because it's too dangerous for you. I almost lost you tonight. As it was,
things were much too close. I don't want to go through that again. By the way, when we're safely on board the ship you can tell me exactly what happened in that warehouse."
Sariana was violently aware of the morning chill in the air. "You found the first man?" she asked in a low whisper.
"I found him. I've been a few minutes behind you ever since you left the villa. Unfortunately, it took me a while to figure out which way you'd gone. By the time I did, those two clanless outlaws had picked up your trail. You'll never know how I felt when I discovered the first one."