“Then how do we take her away?” Blind Seer repeated. “I will not cross that bright circle. Too easy for an arrow to find my heart and you did not wear your armor.”
“Neither did I bring a bow,” she brooded, “but I hunted much game before I knew how to use one. What do you think of this? I will climb out along the branches of the tree that stretches farthest over the clearing. From there I will throw rocks at the cabin. Perhaps they will come out.”
“Stupid,” the wolf replied. “Why announce ourselves only to have you shot like a squirrel? Think better.”
She scowled at him. “This fire is our enemy. In darkness we are any two-legs’ better.”
“Then the fire must die first,” Blind Seer said sensibly. “You are Firekeeper. How do we kill it without killing our-selves or burning down the forest?”
Firekeeper considered and rejected numerous plans based on the unavailability of buckets, bags, and bowls. Then she grinned:
“Fox Hair will love me for this. I will take these leather breeches and cut them into two bags. My vest is of soft leather. I can fashion another small bag quickly enough. Strips of leather will close them and I will hang them over three torches. Then I shall slash them open: one-two-three. Three torches will gutter and fail — that should be enough to create a wedge of darkness to hide us. In that moment, we strike.”
“You take a great risk,” Blind Seer said dubiously.
Firekeeper was already stepping out of her breeches and making the legs into bags. She cocked her head toward the cabin.
“Listen to her weep. That is not just fear — someone treats her badly. Zorana has been no friend to me, but Kenre True-heart is our friend and he loves his mother. Go with care, dear one. See where the cabin looks out into the night? We will put out the torches where those within the cabin will have the least chance of shooting arrows at us without coming out themselves.”
“You are too kind,” the wolf gmmbled, but he went and by the time she had her three bags filled with water he was ready.
“The cabin sits four-square in the glade, flanked with bird cages to rear and out behind. The door faces north. There are windows on all sides. Though they are shuttered, a watcher could have them open quickly I think.”
“Or they may have made arrow slits,” Firekeeper added, remembering such security arrangements in West Keep and in Eagle's Nest Castle.
“If you put out the torches to the west,” the wolf continued, “the approach is slightly shorter. After you cover the ground, the cabin itself would be your shelter.”
Firekeeper nodded and hefted the bags. “They leak some,” she said critically, “but they will do. Keep to the shadows, my dear.”
“I will make the pheasants and grouse our allies,” Blind Seer said with a trace of laughter beneath his growl. “Be careful yourself. Your naked hide near glows in the moon-light. “
Firekeeper snorted as she scrabbled up and anchored the bags above the torches. When she had fetched water, she had removed her underclothing lest its pale color make her visible and then rubbed herself carefully with wet dirt from near the brook and knew she was nearly as mottled in color as the wolf himself.
“Go then” was all she said. Raising her Fang, she slashed the first bag open. The other two were ripped open in quick succession, nor did she pause to see how well her plan had worked. The light had dimmed, the hunt begun.
Dropping nearly to all fours, Firekeeper raced across the ground, eschewing some stealth for speed. An arrow passed over her head, confirming her guess that the kidnappers had constructed arrow slits.
To her right she heard avian squawks of terror and knew that Blind Seer had released the caged birds. Their terrified fluttering filled the grove with shadows and her mouth with down. Nonetheless she howled with glee.
“Well done!” she cried, then she was upon the cabin.
At that moment she was all wolf and the human clamor from within mattered no more to her than did the plaints of the game birds. Pressing her back against the rough wood of the cabin, Firekeeper studied the shutter to her left. Some-thing darker was pressed against it, peering out.
Dropping below the level of the sill, she crept into position, then bounded up, thrusting the Fang's blade through the shutter slats. A shrill scream of pain rewarded her, but she was already gone.
Darting around to the back she thudded her body's weight against the shutter there. It didn't break open, but a shout of alarm rose. She did not wait to see how those within would deal with that supposed intrusion, but dropped back to the west side. Picking up a chunk of firewood, she threw it with all her might against the shutter. A few slats broke and there was another shout.
She was about to continue this game when a call rang out through the night.
“Stop what you are doing at once or we will kill the Lady Zorana!”
Firekeeper had expected something Uke this. Her goal had been to keep those within guessing, nothing more. She trusted that they would be reluctant to kill their prisoner—after aU, what would protect them thereafter? However, in a panic many a mother animal had smothered her own young. Therefore, Firekeeper proceeded with caution.
The cabin had a stone chimney on the east side. Firekeeper swarmed up this, finding toe- and handholds with ease. Once on the roof, she moved with great care, keeping her weight on the center beam. Using the Fang, she pried away several of the shingles until she found a crack between the roof boards through which she could peer. Within, the cabin was Ut by several lanterns so she had no trouble seeing what was going on.
Two men prowled restlessly within, glancing out through the shutters, hands dropping to their swords at every sound. Each also had a bow. Arrows were set ready beside every window.
The men's faces had been blackened, but one had a broad slash on the cheekbone below one eye. Blood still leaked from the wound and from time to time he dabbed at it with a folded piece of cloth. Firekeeper spared a moment's regret that her blade had not gone in a bit higher.
Lady Zorana lay tied to a narrow bed set in the center of the room. The bodice of her dress was open and her skirts were hiked up over her naked lower body. She had stopped weeping now and watched her captors with single-minded hatred.
A fourth person—an older man Firekeeper recaUed as one she had encountered in the forest from time to time, usuaUy messing about with birds or setting snares—was tied to a straight-backed chair. His eyes above his gagged mouth look frightened and a spreading braise along one cheekbone gave ample reason for that fear.
Watching the two men prowl, Firekeeper considered what to do next. She had hoped to find Lady Zorana near one window or another, but the kidnappers had anticipated that. Still, the cabin was not so large that Zorana could not be reached easily enough from either window. The old man should not be left to die either.
Firekeeper knew that she must find a way to distract the men without giving them time to kill their prisoners and she must do so quickly. Derian and the others could arrive any moment and their presence could drive the kidnappers to foolishness.
Deciding, she dropped to the ground once more. BUnd Seer met her instandy.
“Blind Seer, I want you to go find Derian and stop him from coming further. Those kidnappers are afraid, but not yet panicked. They may act rashly iffurther pressed.”
The wolf growled agreement, but he wasn't pleased. “And what will you do alone, Firekeeper?”
“I will set afire,” she said. “The cabin is wooden but for the chimney. I will kindle afire here where they will not see. Then I will drop smoking damp stuff down the chimney to force them out. I can carry straw in the ruins of my breeches. To make their choice easier, I will set fire to this western shutter before I go to the roof. Then they will have trouble east and west and me above.”
“Will you then leave the others to burn alive?”
“No. I will break in the southern shutter and cut them free. I don't like breathing smoke, but I can hold my breath long enough.”
&n
bsp; “Dangerous,” Blind Seer repUed, but she had already begun to gather her kindling and straw. “/ will go find Derian, then. Someday you must learn to write. Then I could carry a message telling them to be silent.”
Firekeeper nodded acceptance of his criticism, blowing on the spark she had struck. By the time she had a flame licking the tinder, the wolf had vanished. As she fed her flame, Firekeeper wished she could just steal one of the torches, but knew that the burning brand would make her too fine a target as she carried it across the clearing.
When the flame was stronger, she kindled a bit of the western shutter, kneeling below the lowest edge until it caught. Then, taking her smoldering straw onto the roof, she stuffed it down the chimney. The effect was immediate and satisfactory.
Coughing. Then a male voice choked out:
“Coming down the chimney! Stomp it!”
Firekeeper stuffed down more straw to make this last more difficult. Darting to her peephole, she saw the man with the cut face tromping on the straw. Then the other man noticed the smoke eddying in at the window.
“The cabin's on fire!” he shouted, racing to see if he could put it out. “Grab the woman and get out of here!”
This last suited Firekeeper fine. She waited until she saw Zorana's bonds had been cut, then went to the edge of the roof on the south side. The eaves were lower here. Grabbing the roof edge she swung down, her feet toward the shutter, forcing the full weight of her descent into the wood. It splintered and she was through, keeping her balance with the ease of one who had spent her Ufe climbing trees.
The wounded man stood by the bed. Despite the smoke and the fire now reddening the west shutter, he reacted to Firekeeper's arrival by turning his knife in his hand and throwing it at her. She dodged, but she had not even her hide for protection and the blade sliced a furrow across her rib cage.
Before she could feel the pain, Firekeeper charged forward, her Fang in one hand. The momentum of her charge knocked the now unarmed man off his feet. She stomped on his hand, wishing this once for boots, and pushed Zorana back toward the south window.
Zorana stumbled that direction, hampered by her skirts. Then, seeing the other prisoner, she stopped and began fumbling with his bonds.
“Out!” Firekeeper howled at her.
Then she howled again, returning to battle. Kneeing the wounded man in the face as he straggled to rise, she flung herself at the second man as he surged toward her, a sword held high in both his hands, the blade arcing down toward her.
Firekeeper had nothing with which to parry. Thefirstman was clawing at her legs, making dodging nearly impossible. In desperation, the wolf-woman did the only thing possible and darted under the arch of descending blade.
This move kept her away from the sharp edge, but the hilt struck her soundly between the shoulder blades, knocking the breath from her lungs. Firekeeper fell into the swordman's arms in a parody of an embrace. She could feel him turning the sword in his hands, knew he meant to stab her in the back.
Going limp was almost too easy. Before the man could arrange the clumsy blade in order to stab, Firekeeper had dropped to her knees on the floor, landing almost on top of the wounded man. He grasped at her, trying to reestablish his hold.
Firekeeper kicked herself clear but the exertion caused her to choke on the now smoky air. The air within the cabin was thick with smoke. The sound of crackling wood as the fire claimed the west side of the cabin and moved toward the roof loudly snapped in her ears.
The man with the sword seemed to realize his own danger for thefirsttime.
“Get out!” he yelled to his comrade and turned to ran. The wounded man straggled to his feet, eager to follow. Firekeeper made no move to stop him. In all honesty, she was not certain that she could.
Dragging herself to her feet and turning weakly, she saw that Zorana must have disobeyed her, for the tied man was no longer in his chair. Through the smoke, Firekeeper glimpsed him clambering over the windowsill. She followed, wondering why this seemed so weirdly familiar, wondering if she would ever catch her breath, thinking vaguely that fire was a very chancy ally indeed.
Then she felt packed earth cool beneath her feet. After a few staggered steps forward, the air, too, cooled. She breathed it in gratefully, though every gasp caused the place where the sword hilt had struck her to throb. Her head cleared with each breath, then BUnd Seer was beside her.
“Little idiot,” he said fondly. “Come away. Zorana and the gamekeeper are safe but the kidnappers have escaped and the cabin is lost to the flames. Derian and the rest fetch water now so that the fire will not spread to the forest. The falcon Elation has carried a note back to King Tedric, telling him all is well.”
Staggering slightly, glad for the wolf's strength beneath her hand, Firekeeper followed.
FAR LATER, RESTING ON A CUSHION on the floor of King Tedric's room in the Watchful Eye, Firekeeper learned the rest of the tale as told by Lady Zorana. As had Firekeeper herself, Lady Zorana had been bathed and given a loose Unen shift to wear.
While the wolf-woman lay still, Doc's hands traveled over her various scrapes, cuts, and braises, applying ointruent and bandages as was appropriate. From his touch emanated a strange coolness that seemed to go to the heart of the pain and ease it at once.
“And so after the brute had beaten poor Prince Newell until he crumpled unconscious on the moss,” Lady Zorana said, “he and his fellow dragged me through the forest and imprisoned me in the cabin. They treated me badly…”
She paused and colored. King Tedric asked in level tones that somehow conspired to make the brutal words gende:
“Did they rape you?”
Zorana shook her head. “No, Uncle, but they handled me most famiUarly, making free with my person. I think if rescue had not come they might have steeled themselves to the deed, but they rightly feared pursuit.”
King Tedric frowned. “I wonder that they feared pursuit before morning. Had I not summoned Lady Blysse, none could have found them so swiftly. Pray, continue, Niece.”
“When Lady Blysse arrived,” Zorana said, glancing at the young woman, a curious mixture of gratitude and resentruent on her face, “the men were ready to slay me rather than risk themselves. They swore they would kill me and one stood over me with a knife at my throat until the noises without died away. Lady Blysse was clever, though. Smoking them out was a good idea.”
Firekeeper nodded in acknowledgment of the praise. Zorana continued:
“They cut me loose and prepared to escape. When Lady Blysse came in through the window shutter—and such a figure you've never seen, naked as the day she was born but for a knife belt, mud smeared on every inch of her skin—I hastened to escape through the broken window. First I paused to cut loose the gamekeeper. That poor man had done no wrong beyond living where those ruffians wanted to be yet they had beaten him and tied him to a chair, making him unwilling witness to their depravities. How is he, Uncle?”
King Tedric turned to Doc. “Sir Jared?”
“The gamekeeper is resting,” Doc replied. “His bones couldn't take the battering. His jaw is broken and several ribs are cracked. Saddest perhaps is that his mind has been swallowed by fear of any man. The townsfolk tell me that he was always simple. That's why he was given that job. Weeks at a time he would never see a human being. Then two strangers come and steal his house to molest a lady. I had to call in a female healer from one of the cavalry units to treat him. He just started screaming whenever he laid eyes on me.”
Zorana said firmly, “I will arrange for the gamekeeper's care, for he took those injuries because of me. My husband and I have lands he can care for if he wishes to leave here. If he doesn't wish to leave, I will pay for his home to be rebuilt and for help recovering his birds.”
King Tedric nodded. “So be it. Is that the end of your story, Zorana?”
“Almost. When the gamekeeper and I escaped from the cabin, we found that other rescuers had come. One man took us in charge. The rest went to put out the fi
re.”
Derian Carter cleared his throat and the king acknowledged him.
“Firekeeper left a trail clear enough for Race to follow even by torchlight,” Derian said. “We found the grove from which Lady Zorana had been kidnapped and stopped to read a copy of the ransom note that had been left there. When we drew near the cabin and heard the noise from within we would have gone charging in, making things worse from how Lady Zorana tells it, but then Blind Seer appeared. By scaring our horses so he could drive them like cattle, he made it known to us that we should approach the back of the cabin. That's how we were there when Lady Zorana needed succor.”
“Thank you,” the king said. “I had wondered why you were so conveniently placed. Lady Zorana, Lady Blysse, Prince Newell, can any of you identify these ruffians? Though they were stopped short of their intention, still I would have them hanged.”
Firekeeper shook her head regretfully. “Not even by scent, King Tedric. All they smelled of was lavender and the oiled ash they had smeared on their faces.”
“They were disguised,” Lady Zorana agreed, “and took care never to call each other by name. I would say that each had bome arms in his time and that they were of Hawk Haven not Bright Bay. They had not even the accent you hear in this border region.”
“That is useful,” King Tedric acknowledged, “as is the knife slash that Firekeeper left on one of their faces. Prince Newell, have you anything to add?”
The prince shook his head sadly. He reeked of anger and remorse, but Firekeeper couldn't escape the feeling that he was not being wholly truthful.
“I was attacked when my back was turned,” he said.
“I guess you could call it that.” Blind Seer commented dryly. Firekeeper smothered a giggle in her hand.
“And never saw my attacker clearly. I agree with Lady Zorana that he knew something of combat. The way he went for me was not the randonl flailing of a barroom brawler.”
Sir Dirkin frowned. “Unhappily, unless we find the man with the fresh knife cut, we are at a complete loss. Too many residents of these twinned towns are deserters or fled criminals. The towns’ policy is to protect them. My guess is that they are already away across the river into Good Crossing. We shall not see them again.”
Wolf's Eyes Page 45