The elder waited for her to regain her control. “We have heard you, Mian maBrekiat. We believe your punishment is too harsh.” An almost visible wave of relief washed through the cozar. The other elders nodded their agreement. “The council renders these amends instead. You will purchase a new cage for the tano and give the old one to the Hafell for study. You will restructure your wagon to comply with the vestibule rule used by city vets, so that, if one of your animals is released from its cage, it will still be inside a holding area. You will spend an hour a day, at least three days a ninan, for the rest of this caravan season, with Healer Sastry. From him, you will learn to treat wounds made by venomous animals. After the season, you will continue this study with other healers in your family’s town for a period not less than two years. You will also spend half a day with Black Wolf—” She glanced at Nori and got a nod. “—learning to call a tano. And might I suggest,” she added more gently, “if you intend to continue raising such creatures, you spend additional time with Black Wolf, Vindra Twitch-Whickers, and other callers learning to calm your other beasts.”
The elder waited several seconds, but none of the others stood up to add to her judgment. She nodded curtly. “This is the judgment, Mian maBrekiat. Be at peace when it is done.”
Mian nodded numbly.
Ell Tai rose and patted the girl’s hand. He raised his voice. “The block is cleared, this Trial is done. Lay your comments in the fire.”
The crowd milled forward to the firepit, some speaking quietly into the flames as if to apologize to Mian for thinking the worst of her, some spitting the physical expression of their anger into the low blaze, and some saying nothing at all.
Cy Windy Track had barely held himself in check when Ell Tai closed the Trial. Now he shoved through the crowd and caught his daughter up closely. The girl was crying openly now. She wiped her face with her sleeve as her father took her away, and it made Nori’s lips curl back. She didn’t realize she was snarling as the Ell gestured, and two men started casting water on the fire. Sparks and smoke blasted up into the night sky, and the crowd murmured loudly. It was cathartic to the cozar, and they watched in satisfaction as the fire hissed and spat.
“Black Wolf?”
She whirled.
Brean stiffened.
“My apologies,” she managed. “Hafell. Ell Tai.” She acknowledged the older man who leaned on his crutch beside Brean.
Brean said flatly, “You will speak to Mian?”
It was not really a question. “Aye, immediately.”
“And then you will speak with me.”
Nori gave him a sharp look. His light brown eyes were as angry as hers. She raised her chin. “No, Hafell,” she said steadily. She watched his eyes widen. “This is not cozar business.”
As she said the words, she knew they were true. As Fentris had pointed out, these mishaps were not aimed at the cozar, but at the county leaders who rode among them, or even at something else. Mian had not been a target of mischief; she had simply been convenient. And Hunter believed that whoever was behind it all was dangerous enough that even the Ariyen council should know. She suspected that both Tamrani were holding back when they said they knew nothing about why the accidents were happening. Both men were too experienced, too decisive in their actions, to be completely uninformed. Yet they were still uncertain enough to form a partnership and back each other up. It made her think that they didn’t know enough to identify the full reasons behind the mishaps. Had Nori not seen the damaged cage with her own eyes, she might still have not believed them. She might have been willing to believe it was only raiders who had caused the attacks. That the rest was simply bad luck.
Now she believed, like Hunter, that the Harumen were controlling the violence. What she was afraid to add to the theory was that the Harumen might somehow be linked to the plague sense that had broken out at the same time as the Harumen’s actions. Fear flickered along her bones. Only one person in the world could survive the plague on her own. That person wasn’t Nori. The best Nori could do was try to keep trouble from the cozar as long as she traveled with them. They weren’t a violent people, the cozar. It took a great deal to get them riled, which was one of the reasons they traveled and camped and traded so well together. The problem was that the cozar might have hired guards to protect themselves as usual, but if the Harumen were the hired guards, then the guards might as well be worlags.
Brean stared at her stubborn chin. The old Ell murmured something, but Brean barely glanced at the older man. His voice was tight as he answered the wolfwalker. “This is a cozar caravan, a cozar circle. It was cozar lives at stake. This has been a cozar trial.”
Nori kept her voice low. “But it will not be a cozar solution.” His face hardened, and she added sharply, “Do not put your watchers or your mate in danger, Hafell. Do not let them interfere.”
“How did you know I—” Brean broke off as Ell Tai put his wrinkled hand on the other man’s arm.
The Ell’s faded eyes were sharp as he studied Nori’s face. There was something in her steady violet gaze that belied her calm words. “You are on an uncertain edge, Black Wolf,” he said softly. “Be careful you do not slip.”
She flicked her gaze meaningfully at the people who swirled around them. “If you’re willing, perhaps we should talk more privately.”
The old Ell shook his head. “We cannot delay fireside, not after Trial. You have given them a fear that rides with them on the road, and they must let off their tension safely.”
She nodded curtly and started to turn away.
“Black Wolf.” The Ell stopped her. He searched her face. “Some choices are made silently, but all choices must be judged. It is the cozar way.”
“But I, I am not cozar.”
“Yet you have ridden with us since you were a babe.” The old Ell smiled faintly. “Ramaj Randonnen is not the only claim on your heart. Ride safe, Wolfwalker.” He glanced at Brean and nodded for them to move on.
She stared after them. She said softly to their backs, “With the moons.”
XXX
Don’t corner the wolf
—Tumuwen saying
Nori met Kettre on the outskirts of the circle. “This way,” Kettre said in a low voice. “Payne and Leanna are waiting in the stables. We’re meeting at the Broken Mug.”
Nori didn’t argue. She’d just left Mian, Cy and Nonnie. The look Cy had given her when he realized she’d known for hours about the latch—it had not been pleasant. She’d had to explain about the trial, that it was important they watch for anyone who might have been involved. When he demanded to know whom she had seen, she merely looked at him steadily and said, “Discuss it with Ell Tai.” He’d cursed her then.
She’d taken it, but it had burned in her brain, her gut, her hands. It had been all she could do not to reach out and slash back at his face. She’d swallowed it, swallowed the lupine rage and the guilt at putting the girl through Trial. She’d said only, “Better alive and cursing, than burning on the funeral pyre.” That had stopped him. He’d let her go then, and she’d stalked quickly away. She’d found her hands clenched like paws.
In the center of the circle, fireside was already tense and noisy. The cozar were speaking too loudly, as if the volume would somehow offer them safety from the unknown saboteur. It had been long minutes before she could force herself through the milling crowd and work her way to the stables.
“Did you see anything?” she asked in a low voice as she led her dnu out beside Kettre’s.
“Not during the trial,” Kettre answered. “But I did see one of the Sidisport chovas meet two others right afterward. They never raised their voices, but I’d swear one of them was cursing. Leanna saw a woman make a beeline for the stables as soon as Trial ended.”
“What about Rezuku?”
“He snagged his two outriders and holed up in his wagon. Judging by the cozar reactions, that was probably safest. The cozar aren’t too happy right now, and they’re talking scared. A
smart outsider would make himself scarce for the night.”
They swung out on the access road. It was gaily decorated with painted lanterns, but the colored lamps made Nori think of predators’ eyes, not lights. She shivered as they trotted past groups of cozar. Some folk walked, some trotted smoothly on dnu-back, but all of them stayed close together. It was as if even the shadows in the barrier bushes stalked them down the road.
Nori glanced at the shrub line and stretched toward the grey. Rishte was out there alone, slipping down the game trails, his ears flicking at every sound as if worlags were everywhere. She could feel his unease, the grind of loneliness in his mind. He howled there for the pack, and the grey answered, but it was a faint grey and a distant call. . . . alkerwolfwalkerwolfw . . .
She broke off as Kettre made some comment. She hadn’t heard what the other woman said, and it disturbed her. Kettre didn’t seem to notice. Instead, the woman pointed at Hunter and Fentris up ahead, and they spurred their dnu to catch up. A moment later, Payne and Leanna cantered up behind them. They could see Wakje waiting by a dark clump of bushes.
“Did you see Rezuku?” Nori asked Payne.
“Aye, but he didn’t turn a hair. Looked bored with the whole trial.”
“So did Fentris,” she said sharply. “And he was doing duty.”
Payne gave her a warning glance. “I know you don’t want to hear this, Nori-girl, but in spite of the stinger in your bonnet, it wasn’t the merchant who caught my eye. It was the chovas woman beside him.”
She digested that. “A woman,” she said slowly. A woman had been in their wagon.
“MaSera, aye,” he answered. “She’s been with us since Sidisport.”
“Ah.”
“Exactly.”
“You know her?”
“She rode guard for Ell Tai till he broke his ankle. Then she transferred to general guard duty. She sits sometimes with the other Sidisport outriders, but she’s mostly kept to herself.”
Nori glanced back at Hunter. “What about you? Who did you see?”
He hid a wry smile. She didn’t even bother with titles. “I saw two men I wouldn’t mind questioning.”
“I, too, saw one man,” she told them. That man, his eyes had burned into hers long enough that she would know him like a worlag at a tea party. Like humans, worlags weren’t indigenous to this world, and their eyes glittered like oldEarth rats—too intelligent for their primitive ways, and too intent on killing to look anything but evil. Nori had seen that same violent intent in the eyes of the man by B’Kosan.
They fell silent as they passed several groups on the road. Wakje had chosen a tavern farther away, hoping it would be less crowded, but it was a futile choice. By the time they arrived, both back rooms were already rented, and almost every table was full. They snagged one of the last two tables in the place and crowded around it. Even then, they had barely a few minutes to enjoy the crush before they were joined by others who shoved their way in, asking about the tano’s cage, viewing Hunter’s punctures, and declaring their outrage at this latest insult to the caravan. Other than the news that Ki had sent word south with a relay runner, and that he would be heading back at dawn, there was nothing to discuss.
It wasn’t long before the tavern began shifting toward the dangerous hour, when belligerents took offense and chairs were turned into kindling. Wakje’s dark mood affected them all, and when the ex-raider rose to get his dnu, the others began following quickly.
Hunter stopped Nori as she made to follow Payne. “Stay. Talk with me.”
She hesitated, but when Payne looked back, she shrugged at him.
Hunter glanced at Fentris, who was watching silently. “Give us a moment, will you?”
The slender man got to his feet. “I believe I can find something to intrigue me.” He nodded to Nori and moved away to order a spiced ale to take outside.
“You’re teaching him bad habits,” she murmured.
Hunter didn’t smile back. “It’s your habits that concern me, Black Wolf.”
She eyed him warily. “What do you mean?” She didn’t need another lecture on duty.
Hunter watched her gaze shutter. “You always seem to be walking away from me just when I think we’re getting somewhere.”
She shrugged. “There is no somewhere for us to get.”
He leaned forward. “You know what I want.”
“Aye, but I’m not willing to give it.”
“Nori—”
“Don’t push, Condari. It won’t get you where you think.” Not unless he was willing to give her a look at the papers he kept in that belt, something she was sure he’d refuse. Still, even if she satisfied her curiosity, she couldn’t ride with him. Land wars were a concern for merchants and farmers, not for wolfwalkers or scouts. She was concerned with bigger problems, with Aiueven and plague.
He studied her for a moment, but the set of her chin told him she was serious. “Why not?”
“I can’t answer.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
She smiled faintly, shook her head and made to stand up, but he put out a hand and stopped her. “At least explain why you won’t tell me.”
She looked at him steadily. “It serves no purpose, Condari.”
“Hunter. You called me Hunter before.”
“I did,” she agreed.
“Then why?”
“It’s a duty, Hunter, one I will not speak of again except to say that, as Tamrani, you should understand and respect the seriousness of some obligations.”
He tilted his head slightly to study her more closely. “Whatever it is, it scares you.”
“That’s nothing.” She snorted derisively. “I scare myself.”
He leaned back in his seat. “All that fear,” he mused, “in such a lovely body. I could help, you know.”
She bristled in her chair as he knew she would. “I’m not looking for help,” she said sharply.
“Why?” he persisted.
“Because I have Payne. My uncles. Kettre. My parents.”
He leaned forward slightly. “They’re obviously not enough to take away the fear.”
“It’s not their job to do so.”
He said softly, “I could make it my job.”
She stared at him. Her hands had tensed, he saw, and her eyes were starting to go grey.
“What are you afraid of, Noriana maDione?”
Plague. Death the way the Ancients died. The taint in her mind. Striking out with the fury hands. Burning out of control. The images tumbled through her mind. She clenched her jaw and breathed in, then out, three times before she thought her voice might be steady again.
“What are you afraid of?” he repeated more softly.
She gazed at him, but he did not think she saw him when she finally whispered, “Myself.”
It surprised him. “Why?”
For a moment, she didn’t answer. Then she shook it off and said flatly, “Because I can be dangerous.”
“Not to me.”
“You have no idea,” she said dryly.
He reached out and tilted her face up with one finger so he could read her eyes. “I do not fear the Grey One.”
She drew back from his hand. “It’s not the wolf in me you should fear.” She looked at him soberly. “You cannot trust me, Hunter. I cannot trust myself.”
He shrugged. “I’ve seen you in action. I’ll take that chance.”
“But I won’t.” She was starting to feel trapped, and her voice had sharpened.
He kept his expression calm. “We spoke the travel oath, Black Wolf. I took your burdens as you took mine. We can share your duties, too, if you’re willing.”
“I’ve already given you my answer.” She started to rise. “I’ll bid you ride safe, Condari Brithanas. It’s been an interesting half ninan.”
He interrupted. “Do you know what the songsters say about you?” He waited till she sat reluctantly down, forced by her own courtesy. “They say you’re reserved. That you kee
p to yourself and to your family, that you’re full of wolfwalker secrets. They say you’re another Dione. I’ve wondered about that, about how much like your mother you really are. I saw her work once, you know.” His cool green eyes watched her carefully. He wasn’t disappointed.
Her face went carefully expressionless. How could he know? Ovousibas was secret, and he was out of Sidisport. “That is not something we speak of.”
He could swear that a note of fear was back in her voice. “But it was so very . . .” He let the words trail off deliberately. “Interesting,” he finished.
She glanced quickly around the room and dropped her voice. “Hunter—”
“Can you do what she does?”
“No,” she said sharply. The taint could, but she could not. If she tried, it would burn out her mind. “You don’t understand.”
Yes, there it was, the unreasoning fear. Like a child told she’ll drown if she goes into the ocean. A hard note crept into his voice. “I understand enough. You’re afraid because people have told you that you can’t do this or that. For all that you’re a better scout than Payne, you’ve been overprotected all your life. You haven’t earned your fears; you’ve been taught them, and it’s made you distrust every instinct you have except when someone else is in danger.”
Startlement flickered in her eyes, and he wondered if he’d made a mistake. She stared at him. “What are you talking about?”
He stared back. If it wasn’t about her mother . . . He tried to buy time to think by brushing a stray hair from her cheek, but this time, she jerked back swiftly. “Don’t,” she said sharply.
He studied her face. “Moons, Noriana. Were you this skittish before the wolf or just since you started bonding?”
“That’s none of your business, Tamrani.”
Now, that reaction he knew. He smiled slowly. “Oh, I’d say it is.”
“Since when?” she snapped.
“Since we started riding together. You’re good for me, Jangharat, even if you’re young.”
She bristled. “I’ve known more duty for my age than an elder twice your years.”
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