by Lisa Smedman
"Why was I not told?" Windswift hissed. "I was just…" He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the other centaurs, whose ears were twitching as they strained to listen, and thought better of continuing.
Arvin smiled to himself. So Windswift had met with Zelia. "I was at Riverboat Landing recently, too," he answered in a low voice. "And I was not told about you, either. We like to play our pieces behind our hand, don't we?"
Windswift tossed his head. "That we do." He arched one eyebrow. "You're not as handsome as we usually pick," he chided.
Arvin gave a mental groan. What was Karrell thinking of all this? He returned the centaur-seed's coy look. "We needed someone less… distinctive for this mission, this time. A mission I should be attending to:' He glanced pointedly at the Chondalwood. The sky was brightening over the forest; it was almost dawn.
"Yes. You've been delayed long enough." Windswift turned and addressed the other centaurs in their own language. There was more than one murmur of protest, and Stonehoof reared up, challenging the centaur-seed a second time, but an instant later he clapped Windswift on the back, as he had before.
This time, Arvin was close enough to the centaur- seed to hear the hiss of the charm power's secondary display.
Stonehoof whinnied an order, and the centaurs lowered their bows. They handed Karrell's club back to her-and very pointedly ignored Tanglemane when he held out his hand for his knife-then allowed a gap to form in their ranks. Tanglemane stiffened then, eyes darting back and forth and tail lashing, trotted through it. Arvin and Karrell followed.
When they were well away from the centaur-seed, Arvin slipped the ring off his finger and pressed it back into Karrell's hand. "Thanks," he whispered. "Now let's get out of here before Stonehoof changes his mind."
CHAPTER 10
When they reached the edge of the Chondalwood, Arvin glanced back the way they'd come. Stone- hoof and his herd of centaurs were disappearing around a bend in the river, headed south. Across the river to the west, smoke rose from the chimneys of Fort Arran, white against the gray winter sky, as the soldiers started their day. A patrol would no doubt soon be sent out; Arvin had used the lapis lazuli to send a message to one of the officers he'd met last night, warning about the death symbols in the snow. The bodies of Sergeant Dunnald and Burrian-and those of the missing patrols-would be recovered. And the centaurs-including Zelia's seed-would be tracked down and dealt with.
In the meantime, the centaurs wouldn't be laying out any more death symbols in the snow, which had been gradually melting as Arvin, Karrell, and Tanglemane had walked toward the wood. Soon there would be nothing on the ground but slush.
Tanglemane, who had been trudging along behind Arvin and Karrell, also turned to look at the departing herd.
'What now?" Arvin asked. Will you return to the fort?"
Tanglemane shook his head. "You'll need a guide." He smiled. "It will be good to be out of harness, for a time."
Karrell tipped back her head, looking up at the trees. "It looks so odd," she said. "Trees, without leaves. This forest seems so… lifeless."
"I assure you, it is not," Tanglemane replied. "The Chondalwood is filled with life-though only the strongest will have survived this harsh winter."
Arvin stared at the forest. The Chondalwood was a gloomy place, indeed. Tendrils of withered, brown-leafed ivy clung to bare branches, and dark moss hugged the trees. The slushy ground was an impassible-looking tangle of fallen logs, wilted ferns, and bushes dotted with blackened lumps that had once been berries. Dead boughs, snapped by the previous night's cold and hanging by a thread of bark, groaned in the breeze. As Arvin glanced up, an icicle fell from a branch and plunged point-first into the slush at his feet. He hoped it wasn't an omen of things to come.
He touched the crystal at his throat for reassurance then turned to Tanglemane. "I need to find a landmark," he told the centaur. "One that would be easily recognized by the animals that live in this part of the forest. Is there one nearby?"
Tanglemane thought a moment. "There is Giant's Rest, a stone that looks like a slumbering giant. Everyone knows it, and it's no more than a morning's trot from here."
Arvin stared at the tangle on the forest floor. "Even through that?"
"I will carry you."
Arvin's eyebrows rose. From all he'd heard, a centaur would rather cut off a hoof than allow a rider on his back.
"You saved my life," Tanglemane said, answering Arvin's unspoken question. "Not once, but twice. I repay my debts. Both to you… and to the baron."
"What put you in the baron's debt?" Arvin asked.
Tanglemane snorted. "Nearly two years ago, he spared my son's life. I vowed to serve him until that debt had been repaid. To serve in harness, if need be." He spoke in a level voice, but his whisking tail gave away his agitation.
Arvin smiled. "Gods willing," he told Tanglemane, "you're finally going to get the chance to pay off that debt. We came to these woods to find something for the baron. Something he holds dear. It's in a satyr camp we believe is nearby."
"A worthy task, indeed," Tanglemane said. He flashed broad white teeth in a grin. "Much better than pulling a wagon." He knelt. "Climb aboard."
During their ride through the forest, a wet snow began to fall. It lasted only a short time, but by the time they reached Giant's Rest, Arvin was both soaked to the skin and utterly exhausted. The only thing keeping him awake was the constant ache of his legs, spread too wide across Tanglemane's broad back. Arvin didn't see the massive stone at first-he was too busy wincing. Only when Karrell, seated behind him with her arms tight around his waist, pointed it out did he realize they'd arrived at the clearing.
Arvin studied the stone through the dripping branches. It did, indeed, look like a sleeping giant lying on his back with an arm draped over his eyes. Fully fifteen paces long, the enormous rock was a variety of hues. A darker patch of brownish-gray began at the "waist" of the giant and ended just short of the "feet," and the knob of stone that looked like a head bore veins of quartz that streaked the stone white, giving the impression of hair.
"That is no natural rock," Karrell said. "Nor even a fallen statue. Something turned a giant to stone." She glanced around nervously.
"Whatever happened here took place centuries ago," Arvin said. "Just look at how weathered he is."
Tanglemane knelt, and first Karrell, then Arvin, slid from his back. Arvin winced; it felt as if his legs would never straighten. The insides of his calves and thighs had been chafed raw by the wet fabric of his pants, and his lower back ached. It was already highsun, and he still hadn't performed his morning meditations. He needed them as much as he needed to rest, and to sleep. But Glisena was somewhere in these woods. The more time that passed, the less chance they had of finding her before she gave birth to her child-and became expendable.
Arvin lifted his arms above his head, stretching. He twisted first right, then left, trying to loosen tightly kinked muscles. Then he reached into his pocket for the lapis lazuli. "I should get started," he told Karrell. "If I manage to summon a wolf, it might be some time before it gets here."
Karrell nodded. "When it comes, I will be ready." Tanglemane whickered."You're summoning wolves?" he asked, his voice rising.
"Only one," Arvin reassured him. "That's how we'll find what we're looking for. Karrell will speak to the wolf. It can tell us if there's a satyr camp nearby."
Tanglemane's nostrils flared. "Wolves run in packs.
How can you summon just one? It is winter, and they will be hungry. You must not do this. Summon an eagle, instead. Their eyes are keen."
"I can't summon an eagle," Arvin said. "I couldn't possibly imitate its cries, and it wouldn't be able to see through the trees. What we need is a keen sense of smell. If you're afraid of the wolves…" Belatedly, he realized what he was saying; the lack of sleep had left him irritable. "Sorry," he told Tanglemane.
The centaur turned, his tail whisking angrily back and forth. Without another word, he trotted aw
ay into the forest. Arvin sighed, hoping Tanglemane would come back when his temper cooled.
He touched the lapis lazuli to his forehead. He spoke its command word and felt tendrils of magical energy fuse with his flesh. Then he walked to the head of the stone giant and knelt beside it on the muddy ground. Pressing his cheek against the cold, wet stone, letting the weathered face fill his vision, he linked his mind with the power inside the lapis lazuli. Psionic energy slowly awakened at the base of his scalp; the power point there was as sluggish as his thoughts. Eventually, it uncoiled. Arvin sent his mind out into the forest, questing, and slowly the creature he was seeking materialized in his mind's eye. For a heartbeat or two, several wolves blurred across his vision. He selected one of them: a lean, gray wolf with a muzzle white as frost, its ears erect and nostrils flaring. To this wolf, Arvin sent out not words, but a wolf's howl. He imitated it from memory, drawing upon his recollections of the wolf he'd spotted, years ago, while walking past a noble's garden in Hlondeth. The animal had been straining at the end of a short length of chain-a prisoner. Intrigued by its cries, Arvin had returned to the garden the next night to stare at the wolf through the wrought-iron fence. And the night after that saw him at the garden again. Moved to compassion, he had slipped into the garden to set it free. His reward had been a sharp bite on the arm; two tiny white scars remained where the wolf's teeth had broken the skin. But he'd smiled and bade the wolf Tymora's luck as it bolted into the night.
Now, in his mind, he repeated one of the howls that had prompted him to free the creature: a long, wavering, mournful cry.
The wolf cocked its head and gave Arvin a questioning look. It would see him for what he was: a human who had just howled like a wolf. Then it threw back its head. Its reply startled Arvin; it sounded as if the wolf were right next to him, howling in his ear. The cry ended, the wolf cocked its head a second time, following Arvin's gaze as if it, too, were looking at the stone. Arvin could hear it panting… and the sending ended.
Exhausted, Arvin rose to his feet.
"Did it work?" Karrell asked.
"I made contact with a wolf, but I don't know if it will come," Arvin said. "We'll have to wait and see." He left the lapis lazuli in place on his forehead. If a wolf didn't arrive in a reasonable amount of time, he'd try again.
Tanglemane returned then, carrying an armful of dead branches. He cleared a bare spot on the ground near the stone giant then dumped the branches onto it. "We need fire," he announced. "To keep warm. And to keep the wolves from coming too close."
Arvin nodded. Tanglemane needed something to drive away his fear of the wolves while they sat and waited. Arvin slipped his pack off his shoulders and rummaged inside it for the wooden box that held his flint and steel. The moss and shavings that were nestled inside were still dry, he was glad to see. He offered the fire kit to Tanglemane, who took it with a nod of his head.
The centaur soon had a small fire burning, despite the dampness of the wood he'd collected. He fed it until
it blazed. Arvin felt its heat as no more than a dull warmth, thanks to Karrell's spell, but soon his wet clothes were steaming. He stripped down to his breeches and hung his shirt, pants, and cloak on sticks near the fire. He even pulled off his glove; it might be magical, but the leather had become as soaked as the rest of his clothes by the fall of sleet.
Karrell hesitated a moment-unlike other yuan-ti, she seemed to be shy about her body-then stripped off her own clothes. Something that glinted reddish-brown in the firelight fell to the ground: loose scales.
Arvin glanced at them, wondering if he should say anything. Curiosity won out. "Do you shed your skin?" he asked.
Karrell stared at the scales that lay on the ground at her feet. "Not normally at this time of year," she said. Then she shrugged. "Perhaps it is the change in the weather. Or perhaps the wet clothing chafed them off."
She settled cross-legged by the fire, naked, combing her long, dark hair with her fingers. Her breasts and hips were full and rounded, her mouth soft and inviting.
If Tanglemane hadn't been with them…
Arvin decided to channel his energy elsewhere, into something productive. He stood and kicked away fallen branches and dead leaves, expanding the bare patch around the fire. "I need to meditate," he told Tanglemane and Karrell. "Let me know if the wolf shows up."
He lay prone on the cold, wet ground, assuming the bhujanga asana. He still found it the most effective pose for replenishing his muladhara; sitting cross-legged, as his mother had done, never worked quite as well. The rearing-serpent pose gave his meditations an edge that the comfortable, seated position did not.
When his muladhara was replenished, he rose and flowed through the ten forms Tanju had taught him. Tanglemane was still keeping a close eye on the surrounding woods, but Karrell watched Arvin, her eyes ranging up and down his body. Her frank interest distracted him, causing him to lose his concentration and falter slightly on the final pose.
He sank down beside her and held his hands out toward the fire, even though her spell had made warming them unnecessary.
Karrell reached out for his left hand and turned it, looking at his abbreviated little finger. "An accident?"
Arvin shook his head. "I was young and on my own and hungry. I made the mistake of stealing on someone else's turf. The Guild cut it off as a warning." He picked up his glove, which had dried, and started to pull the stiff leather over his hand, but Karrell stopped him. She raised his hand to her lips and kissed it.
"You have had a difficult life," she said.
Arvin eased his hand from hers. "No more difficult than some. I'm sure your life hasn't been easy."
"It became much more pleasant after I pledged myself to the K'aaxlaat. They helped set my feet on the path I was to follow through the maze of life. They have become like broodmates to me."
"Do you miss your home?" Arvin asked.
"Often," Karrell said. Then she smiled. "But not at the moment."
Tanglemane stood suddenly.
"What's wrong?" Arvin asked, reaching for his dagger.
"All is well," Tanglemane assure them. "I simply go to find more firewood." Without another word, he trotted into the woods.
Karrell gave a soft laugh. "He realizes we would rather be alone."
"Does he think we want to-"
Before he could finish the question, she kissed him, answering it.
Arvin could hear the sound of Tanglemane's footsteps growing fainter. Collecting firewood, indeed. As the fire crackled beside them, filling the air with the sharp tang of smoke, he returned Karrell's kiss, wrapping his arms around her. Before his meditations, he'd been exhausted. But now…
Easing her onto the ground, he kissed his way down her throat.
A rustling in the woods startled Arvin awake. It was dark, but the fire was burning brightly. Tanglemane must have stoked it while Arvin and Karrell slept. The centaur stood next to the fire, head lolling on his chest, fast asleep.
Karrell lay beside Arvin. Like him, she was still naked; they had fallen asleep, tangled together, after their lovemaking. She stirred, lost in a dream. It must have been an unpleasant one; she gasped and jerked her hand, as if trying to free it from something.
Arvin nudged her awake.
She blinked then sat up. "What is it?" she asked. "I'm not sure," Arvin said. "I heard something in the woods. I think it's-"
Eyes glinted at him from the edge of the clearing- eyes that were low to the ground and shone red from reflected firelight.
"A wolf," Arvin finished.
Tanglemane must have heard the word in his sleep. That, or he caught the wolf's scent. Instantly, his head was up, nostrils flaring. Tail flicking back and forth, he started to reach toward the empty sheath at his hip then changed his mind and turned his hindquarters to the wolf, lifting one massive hoof in readiness to kick.
Karrell sat up, fully awake now. "Tanglemane, wait. I will speak to it." She murmured something in her own language then gave a series of
yips, half-barks, and growls. She was answered in kind by the wolf, which padded into the clearing. It proved to be an older animal, with a white muzzle and a lean, hungry-looking face.
"Has the wolf seen any satyrs?" Arvin asked. "Is there a camp nearby?"
"She does not know. She will ask her pack."
"Are they-" Before Arvin could complete the question, the wolf threw back its head and howled. A second wolf answered it from just inside the forest on the opposite side of the clearing. Then a third answered, from slightly deeper in the forest. Within moments, howls came from the woods on every side, both from close at hand and from a great distance. There must have been a dozen voices or more. The chorus lasted for several moments, rising and falling like a song, then one by one the wolves fell silent.
Arvin glanced at Tanglemane, who stood stiff-legged and trembling. He placed what he hoped was a reassuring hand on the centaur's flank. "Steady, Tanglemane," he told the centaur. "You were right; they're afraid of the fire. They're not going to come any closer."
The wolf who had answered Arvin's sending stared at Karrell and gave a series of yips and barks.
"A satyr camp lies to the east of here," Karrell translated, her voice tight with excitement. "There is a human in it. A female human."
"Tymora be praised," Arvin whispered. Touching the crystal at his throat, he whispered a quick prayer of thanks to the goddess of luck, promising to throw a hefty handful of coins in her cup-coins that would come from the baron's reward. "Can the wolves lead us there?" he asked Karrell.
She translated his question and received a reply. "They can. But they are hungry; the winter has been hard. They want something in return: meat. They want our "horse.'"
"Our horse?" Arvin echoed_
Tanglemane gave him a wild-eyed look.
"Tell them that's of the question," Arvin said, placing a protective arm across Tanglemane's broad back. He glanced at the rock behind them then spoke in a low voice to Karrell. "Too bad we didn't have a way to turn the rock back into a giant. We'd have enough meat to feed a dozen packs of wolves."