“With three caravans camped together and fireside just broken up?” Nori peered through the elongated shadows thrown by the cozar lanterns. “That one there, on the left, walking away. That’s Felor Fasthand. No one else could move that way. The others . . . I don’t know. The man on the left greeting Denby Handsome—I think he’s Tika’s friend.”
“Tika Reading?”
“Tika Long Way ‘Round,” she corrected. “She’s been hanging out with a couple of the Sidisport chovas.”
He slipped his knife back in its sheath. “I’ll talk with her tonight, and with Felor, and see if they saw anyone near us.”
Ki’s daughter saw them at the edge of the quad and waved, and Nori waved absently back. The girl quickly put down her pitcher and took a plate from the pile of freshly washed dishes. Nori muttered as they returned to the wagon gate, “So much for a few quiet moments. What did you do, tell Leanna that the minute I woke up, she should feed me?”
“I never said a word,” he protested virtuously.
She snorted. “You wouldn’t have to. You probably just gave the poor girl that wicked grin, then said how much you envy Mye and Liam for the days when it’s her turn to cook.”
“It worked for Papa when he was sparking Mama.”
“Mama wasn’t that young or gullible, and Papa was going to Promise her. Besides, Mama carried a sword, not just a kitchen knife. She could back up her own desires.”
Payne glanced at fireside. “Speaking of weapons, after your bow and our rope, there’s something I want you to look at.” He went into the wagon, closed the door after Nori joined him, and turned the lanterns up high. Silently, he handed her his bow. She found nothing wrong with it, nor with Wakje’s bow or quivers. She was on the last of the arrows when Payne handed her the quiver of war bolts he’d taken with him that afternoon. She examined the first one and ran her hand over the fletching. “That’s odd. I’d swear . . .” She peered at the fletching. “This can’t be right.”
Payne watched her closely. “Last night, when I packed it, there was something I couldn’t put my finger on, but I didn’t find anything wrong with the glue or the bindings.”
“It’s not either one.” She held the bolt close to the lantern. “It’s the fletching itself. Look at the cock feather. It’s from a left wing. The other two are from a right wing. These arrows would tumble in flight.”
He let out a low whistle. “I see it now. Moonworms out of a poolah’s ass, but the feathers are mixed on every one of these shafts. I’d never have noticed it by lantern light if I wasn’t looking for it.” He handed her the quiver of hunting bolts he’d taken with the war bolts. A moment later, she confirmed the same thing about those.
She fingered the last bolt with a thoughtful expression as Payne asked, “You bought these from Thrask, didn’t you?” She nodded, and he said, “I thought so. You always did like the best.”
She handed back the botched bolt. “I’m rethinking that right about now.”
“You wouldn’t believe that Thrask could have made a bad batch of war bolts?”
“And hunting arrows, too? One of the best arrow makers in Tume?” She snorted.
“I didn’t think so, either.” He slid the bolts back in their quiver. “So someone switched our arrows with ones that could pass for Thrask’s.”
“That would cost a pretty silver, Payne.”
“Was there ever an ugly one?”
He met her troubled gaze. If the switch had been made after she went missing, someone had taken advantage of her absence to sabotage Payne. If before, it could have been aimed at either one. Either way, there were raiders inside the circle. Payne carefully hung the quivers back up. “Best not to let on till we can replace them,” he said in a low voice. “We’ll tell Wakje and Ki, of course. And Kettre. No one else.”
She nodded, took the scout book from her belt, and started to tuck it away in her saddlebag. It might have been the chill from knowing that someone had sabotaged their gear, or it might have been the warning growl of the grey in her mind, but she halted. Then she turned, took a length of beading line, bound the book, and, while Payne watched, got some glue from the repair box and put a few drops on the back cover. Then she picked up her guitar, loosened the strings till they sagged like an old man’s jowls, and slid the slim book inside the sound hole. She held it for a few seconds till the glue set.
“Won’t that change the sound?” he asked curiously.
“Aye, but they’ll just think I have dead strings.” She tuned up softly, and Payne winced at the slides and wails as the strings were stretched back into place. With her ear close to the guitar, Nori didn’t notice. “It’ll stay sticky for days, so I can take it out when I want to carry it with me.”
“You might want to start a new book, then, and keep that more visible.” He opened the back of the wagon while Nori threw on an old jerkin.
Leanna was making her way down the aisle with two plates carefully balanced, and Nori asked in surprise, “You didn’t eat earlier?”
“I did.” He gave her a sly look. “With Vina at fireside. But Leanna knows I never turn down a good meal.”
Her voice sharpened. “Did you eat from the common pot or from your rations?”
“You’re kidding, right? With Vina’s stuffed hostina on the fires?” He sobered at her expression. “What are you thinking?”
She lowered her voice. “I was thinking we should toss our jerky, trail rations, extractor roots—anything we’ve been storing. Anything that’s been out of our sight. Get something fresh from stores.”
“Damn,” he said softly. “I didn’t think of that.”
“We’ll need to change our water filters, too. And we’ll need new arrows, perhaps other gear. Uncle Ki will have extra, but if ours have been switched—”
“His might have been also.” Payne nodded. “We can pick up new gear in a couple of days, when we hit Wagontire.”
“I’d rather do it now.”
“There’s that arrow maker in Greylog Laketon, a few kays off Willow Road.”
“He’s a gossip. Besides, I’ve never liked him.” She hesitated. “Lantor Darklane is in Vallier’s train. He’ll have at least one or two quivers with the spine to match our bows—or your bow, anyway.”
“His arrows cost a fortune.”
“We have enough to buy them.”
“Sure, if we skip meals for the next two months. We’re supposed to be living on our scout wages, remember? Why do you think I was idiot enough to let you pick those seedpods while we were being attacked? Besides,” he cut off her retort, “you’d have to appear at fireside during the contract hour when all the elders are there.”
She looked away. “If you’re willing, you could go for me.”
Payne shook his head. “Not when they know it’s you who lost your gear. We’re both ranked scouts, Nori-girl. They have the right to ask ben’chovas from either of us if we want a fireside trade.” He could see the tension that clamped her shoulders. He sighed. “I won’t go for you, but I will go with you. I’ll speak for us both, if I have to.”
“With my thanks,” she said quietly.
“You owe me.”
“I always do,” she said wryly.
They broke off as Leanna reached them. Payne put an easy smile on his face. “Food from the gods,” he teased as he took his heaping plate. “Served by a moonmaid.” He grinned as the girl flushed.
“I thought you might be hungry again,” Leanna stammered.
“Aye.” He popped a whole rootroll in his mouth. “Nori would have starved me. Ah, Leanna,” he sighed as the hot flavor settled in his stomach. “What will I do when you Promise?”
Nori rolled her eyes as Leanna hurried away. “You’re going to have to be careful with her,” she told him. “She’s got it bad for you.”
He cut at the bollusk steak with his belt knife. “She’s too young to do more than tease.”
“She’s barely two years from the age of Promising.”
“Which means she’s a little girl with a crush.”
“Not so little anymore. Let her down easy, Payne. First loves can be more than cruel. And,” she added softly, “I don’t think you can afford to let someone get attached to you right now.”
He stared at her with an unreadable expression. It was so like their father’s that Nori almost shivered. Then Payne turned his head and watched the slim girl walk away. “I see.” He said nothing more, but his hand fingered the fork as if it were a knife, and Nori knew that he remembered.
It wasn’t just Rishte pulling at her now that made her antsy. She was starting to feel trapped by the train. “Perhaps we should leave the caravan.” He frowned, and she added, “We’d travel faster on our own. Hostages would be no use to them if we were out on the trails, out of reach.”
He didn’t answer for a moment. Instead, he chewed his lip while his mind raced, seeking the pattern. The ruined arrows disturbed him more than the attack at the hedge. That had happened before anyone knew Nori found the raider code, which meant someone wanted them out of the way for some other reason. He said slowly, “They’ll be watching for us to do exactly that. In fact—” He thought back to Connaught’s words. “—they may actually want us to leave the train.”
“But here, they know where we are.”
“And here, we can see them coming. Plus, there are six dozen cozar to watch our backs, and two of the Wolven Guard.”
She was silent for a moment, “We should at least bird Mama and Papa. Tell them to be careful.”
“Aye, but quietly, and not by bird or runner.”
“Tower then. It’s faster.”
He nodded. If they were targets, it was probably to get at their parents, not really to get at them. It made more sense than Brithanas being followed from Deepening Road. It also made more sense than someone simply wanting Nori’s scout book. Without the raider code, it just wasn’t that valuable. That, and the archers on the road couldn’t have known about the code she’d stolen unless they had contacts in every caravan. It was an ugly thought, and his jaw tightened. He’d start questioning the chovas tonight.
He noted the tight line of his sister’s jaw. “Don’t worry so much, Nori-girl,” he said easily. “We’ve already seen seven raiders. There can’t be that many left.” He plucked half a roll from her meal. “It’s your own fault,” he told her when she swatted at his hand, too late. “If you’d eat faster, I wouldn’t be so tempted by what was on your plate.”
“If you’d bother to get your own seconds,” she retorted, “I wouldn’t have to fight for my firsts.”
She rubbed the back of one fist at her temple. Sleep had dulled but not dissipated her headache, and the slitted eyes seemed sharper. She wondered what would happen if she simply asked them to make peace with the wolves.
Payne frowned. “Better get some new herbs for that.”
Aye, she’d lost hers to the worlags. She dropped her hand. “After dinner,” she returned. “The healer is at fireside now, and it’s still too crowded there. Besides, I want to work out tonight.”
He rubbed his bruised chin. His voice was dry. “I thought we already did.”
She slipped from the gate, paused, and turned back. The grey in the back of her mind was gnawing now at her wariness, till it was beginning to feel like fear. She drew her shirt more tightly around her. Her voice was low. “You have realized that, if someone tampered with our arrows, and if that someone was a woman, the one who was in our wagon, then it’s not just those archers to worry about. There’s at least one more raider among us.”
He stared down the dark line of wagons and nodded silently.
He watched her head for the message master, then dropped off the gate and stalked thoughtfully to the fireside. He paused often to talk with the cozar, kept his eye out for a chovas with a scratched cheek, but his attention wasn’t on those he greeted. Instead, he watched those who watched his sister as she checked her duty log.
XIX
Demons hide in all of us.
—Nadugur proverb
Wakje and Ki returned as Nori and Payne were halfway through their workout. They weren’t the only ones watching. Three Journey youths sat on the back of a gate across the aisle and looked on. At their feet, two young boys and a girl had sneaked out of their sling beds and were whispering excitedly as they watched. A couple of cozar and a lanky chovas had also stopped and now leaned on the gate, occasionally shushing the children.
Nori and Payne ignored them all. Near the Test ninan, everyone watched everyone else, hoping to pick up last-minute pointers. In the open circles, a good workout was entertainment. Next ninan when the Tests themselves started, Shockton would turn into a circus. Youths from at least three counties would converge on the town to be tested for their martial and survival skills, while their families looked on proudly. Rank would be awarded by the martial masters, and Journey assignments negotiated fiercely among the elders. And then the youths would be sent out in the county to look into a problem, sign on with a trade master, scout some obscure area, or, in the case of someone like Kettre, be assigned to one of the underground labs where the sciences were still kept alive. Payne would probably be sent to Bilocctar or Sidisport to keep an ear out for rumors and news. Having lived in their parents’ shadows all his life, he was almost desperate for his own Journey and a chance to be known for himself. He’d jump at a duty to slip into Bilocctar and tease the worlag that chewed at Ariye.
Nori had been watching him gnaw at his frustration for the last three years. Although she’d taught Test classes for years for others, she’d still been surprised when, six months ago, Payne had asked her to start drilling him almost daily. He was good, too. Better than she’d thought. Now, in the night, the two moved fast, quietly, with only soft slaps and scuffs of boot on stone to mark their movements. The moonlight showed everything, like flashing black-and-white drawings. Soft blocks, sweep blocks, clutch blocks, throws. A murmured instruction, she attacked, and he fell back then turned it against her and lunged forward. She slapped him past, whipped around, and caught him in the kidney. He grunted, and they went at it again. Ten more minutes of that, and it was Nori’s turn with attack drills while Payne tried to defend.
By the time Wakje and Ki stalked up, her speed had escalated, and Payne was starting to feel pressed. The ex-raiders watched silently as she attacked with punches, ridgehands, and claws. “Again,” she said flatly as he started to tire. Payne was sweating, but he focused sharply when she came in again.
Strike, tear—
She forced the wolf back. She could almost see the attacker who had tried to take the elder. She’d struck here, high, high, low, at the side of the neck, back to the ribs, left, left, had driven in—Payne missed a block, and she pulled the blow. He still hissed when she struck his ribs. “Again,” she said harshly. Her hands were blindingly fast.
Ki’s eyes narrowed. She was still riding the high, the adrenaline and fear from the attack. He could see it in the intensity. She wasn’t seeing Payne, but a target. She wasn’t seeing her brother. It wasn’t just the wolf-bond, either, that added speed to her hands. He felt a chill. He’d wondered how long she could hold it at bay and what it would do when released.
Nori didn’t notice. The raider, she’d hit him there, but he’d brushed her off. He’d had a knife, and she’d clawed him eagle-hand, then hit right—
Claw, kick—
Overhand and a sweep so fast Payne had barely time to jump it. She struck there, and there, faster, harder. Payne missed again.
Ki said flatly, “Enough.”
Nori caught her next blow before it landed, hung for a moment in her balance point. Her violet gaze was hard, and she eyed Payne as a wolf does a poolah. Ki’s command had made her pause, but it hadn’t really registered, and she held, breathing quickly, while the others were still. Then the tension drained, and she seemed to withdraw back into herself.
Payne straightened. He shook his head slightly, and she let out a breath. They salut
ed each other formally. Payne stepped back and grabbed his towel, wiped his face and arms, and slung the cloth around his neck. “Too damn fast, Nori-girl,” he said.
“Not fast enough.” She didn’t smile in return. Her breath was controlled, but her heart was beating hard, and she could still feel the need to strike with something more than her hands.
Wakje glanced at the Journey youths and cozar. The three youths slid quickly from the gate and disappeared among the wagons. The cozar nodded and moved on. The children hung by the wagon for another moment, but Wakje turned his expressionless gaze on them, and they scattered after the others.
Ki set his saddlebags down by the cook post as he studied Nori’s expression. “We spoke with the gate guard. You’re alright?”
She looked away. “I didn’t throw up, if that’s what you mean. Can’t say much for me other than that.”
Payne gave her a sharp look. She had that tone again, as if she was hating herself. Ki’s brown eyes narrowed. He swallowed the chill in his gut and stepped in front of her. “Hit me,” he said flatly.
She didn’t think. Her hand flashed out.
Ki blocked—barely, though she didn’t know that—and turned it aside. But he’d slid his knife out at the same time, and the point was at her ribs. Her other hand was already striking his wrist to slap the steel aside, but it was too late, and both of them knew it. Nori went still, and Payne froze. In the lantern light, it looked as if they’d been caught in a portrait of murder.
Ki looked down at her and read her eyes. “How old am I?” he asked softly.
Wakje watched carefully to see how she’d answer. He’d caught the flicker in Ki’s expression. The other man had seen something in the girl, and whatever it was, it had made Ki as wary as Wakje. The wolf? Or something worse? He’d never asked Aranur why he’d been so cautious about his child, why Payne had been charged with watching over his sister, why Dione had allowed a pack of ex-raiders to watch over her only daughter. Don’t let her go north, that was all they’d said, and watch out for her headaches. But it wasn’t pain in her eyes as the girl focused on Ki.
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