“I’m in favor of finishing what we started! The interfering bastard won’t be interfering any more when we are finished with him and his rat bastard pack of mangy curs!” Rafe growled.
“Well I am not in favor of it! Not now! Gods damn it, Jarek! There is no telling what she is up to. We can kill them later!”
Jarek studied Byron through narrowed eyes for several moments, trying to regain control of his temper and think. “Byron is right,” he said abruptly. “She can not have gone far. The horse was nearly run off his legs by the time it managed to outrun us. It will be flagging … and if we don’t catch up to her now there is no telling what she will get into next.”
Rafe and Thorne exchanged a look and shrugged. Without another word, the five of them began jogging in the direction Sonja had taken. The found Sonja’s dagger, proof if they’d still needed it that Sonja had duped them again. Struggling with the rage that caused him, Jarek tucked it into the waistband of his breeches trying to decide whether he was going to beat her ass first when he got his hands on her again, or finish his marking first. To his relief, they had not been following the trail long when they saw that the hoof prints were closer together. Jarek sent the others a wolfish grin. “Either she thinks she has eluded us and it is safe to slow down or the beast is tiring.”
* * * *
When Sonya had been swallowed by the shadows and the sound of the horse’s hooves faded into the distance, Tanya looked around for a place to settle while she waited.
This was always the hard part, she thought irritably. As dangerous as their work was, collecting their pay was often more difficult. She did hope they wouldn’t be forced to put their plan into action, but she would be greatly surprised if they didn’t.
She was staring at the ground, trying to mentally track Sonja’s progress when the horse picketed nearby abruptly lifted its head. The movement caught Tanya’s attention even before the horse’s eyes widened and it began to dance at the end of its tether and wicker nervously.
The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Slowly, Tanya got to her feet and began inching toward the horse. She’d just reached for the bridle when something huge and heavy landed beside her as if it had dropped from the sky. She sucked in a startled breath.
“Don’t scream,” Jarek growled.
She didn’t. She whirled at the sound of his voice, hooked one leg behind his and gave him a shove with both hands. She caught him completely off guard. He hit the ground hard enough to shake it and she leapt toward the horse. She’d almost managed to throw one leg over the horse’s back when she was grabbed from behind and snatched off of it again.
“Let me go!” she snarled. “This instant!”
Instead of releasing her, he shifted his grip from her waist to her arms, curling his arms completely around her like a vice and lifting her off of her feet.
“Gods damn it, Jarek! You’re going to get Sonja killed!”
That had the desired effect. He released her abruptly and whirled her around to face him. “Where is she?” he demanded furiously.
Tanya’s lips tightened. “Just stay out of it! We know what we’re doing!”
“Like hell!” Jarek growled, gripping her upper arms tightly. “Tell me where she is!”
His anger unnerved her. “If she’d wanted you to know, she would’ve told you,” she said as calmly as she could.
He stared at her hard for several moments and abruptly shifted into a man beast. “Tell me!” he growled in a low, dangerous voice.
Tanya swallowed with an effort, trying to convince herself that Sonja had known what she was talking about and he wouldn’t rip her two. She wasn’t nearly as convinced as she wanted to be, however.
Luckily, it occurred to her that it was too late for them to interfere even if they wanted to. “She went to the castle—King Vladislav’s southern keep.”
“Why?”
Tanya swallowed with an effort. Sonja was going to kill her if she told! But she wasn’t convinced Jarek wouldn’t if she didn’t tell—or mayhap he would if she did tell?
“He hired us—or least Sonja—to prevent the king of Thalon from invading Doral.”
Jarek stared at her in disbelief and abruptly shifted back into his human form. “That is what all of this was about? Politics?”
Tanya nodded shakily.
Jarek’s eyes narrowed. “Why is Sonja in danger then? If Vladislav hired her to remove Socorro to prevent a war, why would she be in danger by going there?”
Tanya sighed shakily. “Because they never want to pay once the deed is done! They are no longer under threat and no longer afraid and they don’t want to pay!”
Jarek released her abruptly, glaring at her angrily. “And you let her take all the risks by herself?” he demanded contemptuously.
“I didn’t let her!” Tanya snapped, abruptly angry. “We share the risks and the rewards, gods damn it! What do you think that I was doing in Socorro’s keep? Having fun? What do you think I’m doing waiting here? Just sitting on my ass! I’m here to decoy the soldiers if they’re chasing her when she returns!”
Jarek stared at her for a long moment and glanced at the others. “Let’s go.”
“Gods!” Tanya snapped. “Do you think you can just march up to the castle walls and demand to be let in? She’ll be inside now … in the king’s private chambers. There is no way you can get in! She can handle it, I promise you!”
“Mayhap she can,” Jarek growled. “But I’m not about to let her try it alone. Nothing Vladislav has is worth her life.”
* * * *
Sonja reined the horse in and looked up at the challenge from the wall. “Lady Raina,” she called back. “I must speak with the king.”
She held her breath, more than half expecting some lewd comment and advice to return another time, but evidently she was expected. A few minutes later the gate slowly opened wide enough to allow her to enter. She’d managed to calm her frazzled nerves on the ride to the palace but tension began to build again as she rode into the courtyard and was helped from her horse by a man-at-arms.
“This way.”
He led her past the main entrance to a nearly invisible door between the castle proper and the small chapel. It was dimly lit so late in the evening, or perhaps never particularly well lit since it was clearly a passage for servants. It was barely wide enough for two people to pass without bumping into one another and the walls and floor were bare stone.
Sonja shrugged it off. She was a servant and not a particularly welcome one, she was sure. Beyond that, she didn’t doubt that King Vladislav was alarmed at the possibility that Socorro might have spies in his court to report that she’d appeared in his palace only days after the death of the man who’d vowed he would crush Doral beneath the heel of his army. For that matter, she rather doubted he would want his subjects to know that he’d deemed it more cost effective to hire an assassin than to hire an army. They might be relieved that they wouldn’t have to worry about having the realm invaded, their cottages burned, their women raped, their fields burned, and their cattle butchered, but it smacked of cowardice to hire an assassin at all and to hire a woman ….
It settled her nerves. It was a good sign that Vladislav would pay the agreed upon fee and send her on her way. She would not be sorry if it turned out that the exigency plan she and Tanya had come up wasn’t necessary after all. It was bound to be hair-raising if it was.
The passage ended abruptly at a narrow, steep set of spiraling stone stairs and Sonja lifted her skirts to keep from tripping over them, moving closer to the wall since there was no handrail on the outside. The climb was dizzying and she was almost sorry she’d had Tanya tighten her laces again. She paused a moment at the top to catch her breath but stepped forward again immediately when the man leading her halted and turned to look back.
She didn’t want to give the appearance of weakness at this juncture of the game!
The upper hall was as narrow as the lower one and bisected by several others,
which the guard turned upon. Sonja gritted her teeth and committed the turns to memory, hoping she wouldn’t have to rely upon it to get out of the palace again. Eventually, they came to a door the guard halted at. He rapped at the panel with his knuckles. A few moments later, she heard a command to enter. The guard opened the door and stepped back.
Nodding, she passed the man and entered the room, studiously schooling her features to portray a calmness she was far from feeling. It was a rather cramped room she found herself in and she paused near the door, glancing around. The king, she discovered, was standing at the window looking out.
Relieved to discover they were alone, Sonja waited for him to acknowledge her.
He turned finally and looked her over with an expression of distaste that stiffened her spine and made her lift her chin. No doubt confident that he’d put her in her place, he approached her. “I have been told Socorro was taken mysteriously ill at the banquet the night before the army was to due to set out and has died.”
Sonja nodded. “You didn’t specify how you wanted it done, only that it must be done before they invaded Doral,” she said pointedly.
He closed the distance between them with surprising speed considering he was no young man. She gasped when he grasped her arm, but she was prepared. Whirling even as he caught her, she made certain the broach on her gown dug a deep furrow across his wrist and hand, moving behind him and placing the point of her dagger against his throat. He released her abruptly, staring blankly at the scratch and the blood slowly rising to the surface.
Having made her point and fairly certain he’d lost interest in attacking her, Sonja moved around him so that she was between him and the door again. Very pointedly, she lifted a hand to the broach, but she took care not to actually touch it. “I beg pardon, your Highness. The pin is poorly crafted and tends to snag.”
After glaring at her for a long moment, he lifted his wounded wrist to his mouth then hesitated and lowered it again.
Not that it mattered.
She could see it in his eyes that he knew it, too.
“I should wring your damned neck! The men I sent to escort you are dead! And the Thalonians are bound to know it was murder when Socorro was taken ill on the very eve of battle! You guaranteed me that it would look natural, gods damn it!”
“And it did. The fates act in mysterious ways. For myself, I think it a judgment of the gods, proof they disapproved of his intentions.”
“You bungled it! He should have taken ill weeks ago and declined slowly!”
Sonja eyed him assessingly, suddenly understanding his anger. He wasn’t concerned that it would be thought murder. He was trying to wrangle a better price now that it was done. “You didn’t specify that it was to be slow. You said that you wanted to prevent an invasion. He’s dead. There will be no invasion, no army to raise and to arm. Your kingdom is safe—and so are your coffers.”
“True … which makes wonder why I would give you a tithe of it,” Vladislav said coldly.
Sonja was about to explain exactly why he would when her attention was caught by movement at the window. A split second later, before she had time to react other than to go slack jawed with stunned surprise, the window opened and Jarek dropped into the room followed by Thorne and Rafe.
“Because you owe it to her,” Jarek said grimly.
Three things happened very quickly then. The king opened his mouth to bellow for assistance. Thorne leapt at him and clamped a hand over his mouth and Sonja stepped back and bolted the door. She glared at Jarek when she’d made certain they wouldn’t be interrupted and then gave the king a hard look, fighting the despair beating at the back of her mind that she had no hope, now, of preventing the men from learning what she’d done. “As I’m certain you’ve guessed, I poisoned you. That is why you should pay me! Now, if you just absolutely feel that it is unfair of me to expect to be paid for the services rendered, I suppose I will have to accept that. However, if you want the antidote to the poison you ingested when you grabbed me and scraped yourself on my pin, that will cost you twice as much as the price we agreed upon for the … other service.”
Thorne, Jarek, and Rafe all gaped at her. The king’s eyes nearly popped from his head, however. She wasn’t even certain he realized Thorne had been so shocked at her calm announcement that he’d slackened his hold. He’d lifted his hand to stare at his wrist in horror.
“Don’t worry. It’s much slower than the poison I used to rid you of Socorro. I don’t have the antidote with me, of course, but you have time to get it and take it as long as you don’t waste a great deal of time haggling over my pay. First, you will send the man waiting outside to fetch the money you owe me. You will tell him to saddle mounts for me and my companions—and you. If, when we get to the border, I see that you have paid me what we’ve agreed upon, and if you do not plot more treachery against me by sending your soldiers after us, then I will tell you where to find the antidote.”
The king swallowed convulsively several times and lifted a hand to his head.
“Feeling a little dizzy already?” Sonja asked with false concern and tsked. “Poisons can be so unpredictable.”
Throwing her a venomous glare mixed with a healthy dose of fear, he nodded. “Agreed—so long as you can agree that I take an equal number of men as escort. If I’m going to die anyway ….”
Sonja’s lips tightened. “I fulfilled my part of the bargain. You are the only one here guilty of treachery … but I’ll concede an escort of three men since it appears that I will have three as escort.”
He moved toward the door, but Jarek stopped him. “You’ll give the orders exactly as she said or you won’t have to wait for the poison to take effect.”
The king glared at him angrily, but nodded. Moving to the door, he opened it and relayed the orders. When the man had left, they closed and bolted the door again and settled to wait.
As angry as Sonja had initially been when she’d discovered they’d followed her, she realized she was fiercely glad they had. She’d been prepared to finish it alone, but there was no denying she felt tremendous relief that she wouldn’t have to.
Of course, it also meant that she probably wouldn’t be settling in that pretty cottage she’d admired, but she hadn’t really believed she would get a happily ever after anyway, she told herself.
Bracing herself, she approached Jarek and asked to speak to him. When they’d moved to the far corner from the king, she spoke in a low voice she hoped he wouldn’t be able to hear. “Tell me you have some plan in mind if this doesn’t work.”
He studied her long moment and finally shrugged. “Thorne goes out the window with you and me and Rafe hold off the soldiers until we’re certain you’re safe. I thought you had a plan.”
Anger flickered through her. “I did. I’m not certain it will work at this juncture.”
“Well, we’ll give it a try. If it doesn’t work, we’ll head for the Shadow Lands.”
Sonja’s anger died a quick death. “All of us?”
Jarek lifted a hand and touched her cheek lightly. “That was the plan.”
Sonja smiled at him a little tremulously. “Was it? Fancy that! It was my plan, too.”
Doubt flickered in Jarek’s eyes. “Was it?”
Sonja felt her face heat. “If you still want me, I mean. If you don’t, I’ll understand.”
Jarek wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “You aren’t just saying that to throw me off again, are you, woman?”
Sonja nuzzled her face against his chest. “I guess you’ll find out.”
Chapter Seventeen
Sonja felt a burn along her back until they’d reached the limit of the range of a bow, but she didn’t fully relax even then. It was a grim, tense group that kicked their horses into a gallop and headed back toward the rendezvous.
Tanya, naturally enough, was no where to be seen when they rode up. Byron and Arman were waiting, however. They glanced uneasily from the soldiers accompanying the king to Jarek,
but he shook his head.
Dismounting, Sonja checked her saddlebags to make certain they contained the gold and jewels she’d been promised and finally looked up at the king. “You have an hour. There is an old woman in the village of Becket—the last cottage in the village. Tell her that you’ve been given malwort and need the antidote. If you hurry, you should be able to make it there and get the antidote before the seizures begin.”
The king looked white faced even if the dark. Without a word, he whirled his horse, signaled for his men to follow and galloped at breakneck speed for the village of Becket.
Sonja slumped with relief. “You can come out now.”
Tanya rushed from the shadows and flung herself at Sonja joyfully. “We did it!”
Sonja hugged her back. “With a little help from our friends.”
“Ready?”
Sonja pulled away from Tanya and smiled up at Jarek a little doubtfully. “You’re certain?”
He grinned at her abruptly. “Woman! We have chased you all over three realms! I’m sure!”
Laughing, Sonja mounted her horse once more. Byron climbed up behind her and Tanya and Arman mounted the other horse.
“Do you think he’ll make it?” Jarek asked after they’d been riding for a few minutes.
Sonja and Tanya exchanged a look. “Doubtful.”
Tanya began to laugh at the look on the men’s faces. “She didn’t poison him.”
Jarek looked at Sonja questioningly. She shrugged. “It was a purge. He’ll be searching frantically for an outhouse long before he gets to Becket.”
“So … there’s no old woman there?”
“Of course there is—the old woman who sold it to us.”
Loki stopped them at the border and looked both Sonja and Tanya over, struggling to keep from looking stunned. “There’s two?”
Tanya smiled at him. “I’m Tanya. You must be Loki.”
“Sonja is claimed!” Jarek and Thorne growled almost at the same moment.
Loki glared at them.
Shadow Runners Page 14