Wolfwalker - Wolf In Night Part 39

"Are you saying you do?"

"Well, yes."

"Right now?" Now it was Hunter who stared at her in the dark. "You went out for an ale with all that in your saddlebags?"

She asked warily, "Why? What do you carry in yours?"

"A clean s.h.i.+rt, in case someone spills grog on me. Money. A hoofpick, an extra cinch strap. Riding things. Things that are useful in a tavern or on the road."

She stifled a sigh. "You're irritated."

"You could say that. You're telling me that you could keep going on this trail right now. Payne, too?

And your uncle and your cousin?"

She exchanged a glance with her brother, then shrugged her answer.

"p.i.s.s on a dik-dik," he muttered.

Payne watched the tall man stalk away toward Fentris, who was dabbing at a stain on his jerkin. "I think Tamrani style will be taking a bath this trip."

She snorted a laugh, then sobered as he added, "It's going to be interesting finding out how manychovas left the caravan when we did."

"Aye. They must not have gotten what they wanted at the wagon if there are so many riders out here."

"You didn't leave the second scout book?"

She shook her head. "I've been copying the one to the other."

He lowered his voice. "And Brithanas still has his belt on. You don't still think this is about delaying the council meetings, do you?"

"I don't know." She glanced over her shoulder, then back at her brother. "We have two completely different problems, Payne: the raiders-Harumen," she corrected, "and plague. We're still not sure about the first."

"Or the second," he pointed out.

She caught the carefulness of his voice and knew what he was thinking: to have Harumen fall into his lap was almost a guarantee of a high-level Journey. He was praying that Nori was reading the wolf wrong, that there would be no plague to shut down the county first. But the timing of the two problems bothered her.

"I don't see how it matters right now." He gestured with his chin toward their backtrail. "As Uncle Dangyon would say, first things first."

"Aye," she agreed softly. She went to the edge of the clearing and hunkered down. A few minutes later, Rishte crept forward and gazed into her eyes.

Wolfwalker, Nori-mine.

She smiled. The Grey One stretched his nose and nudged her hand. She closed her eyes and let herself feel him through her mind. There were the dank smells of earth, sweat-scent, hot breath, hot dnu. She opened her eyes again. "Grey One," she whispered, "can you guide us? We want to run the trails tonight, escape the hunters behind us."

He was both eager and reluctant. To have his wolfwalker in the forest, yes, but to have the others with her?

"They are packmates." Her voice was sober. "You must choose them if you want to choose me."

He snarled.

She waited.

His golden eyes gleamed, but she didn't back down, and finally he subsided.This way, he told her. He broke the contact and slunk around the edge of the clearing.

She sent him a mental shaft of thanks.

His answer was a growl.

They rode another three kays in the dark up a dozen winding game trails. Their calves and knees were aching by the time she pulled up on a small plateau. She said they'd camp there for the night. No one spoke except to murmur. Even the dnu were quiet, and although Fentris looked sadly at his finely tooled jerkin, he didn't complain when Kettre simply took the garment out of his hands and plopped it down on the damp, gra.s.sy ground as his pillow. That the wolf was nearby let almost all of them sleep easier. Only Wakje and Nori were alert on watch for signs of predators.

It rained slightly in the night, and dawn was cold and damp, but the sky was clear with six of the nine moons visible, and the stars bright and distant. There was a clean scent to the air, as if the leaves had been washed and were now turning out to be seen. Nori smiled faintly as she lifted her face to the cold breeze. It was spring, dawn, and time to hunt. Rishte howled his agreement.

Hunter glanced at her, then at the oval patch beside her bed where the gra.s.s had been pressed down.

The wolf might not be in sight, but he'd definitely been there that night. The gra.s.s was dry and musky.

They made cold camp, no fire. Kettre surprised them all with a handful of cold meatrolls, and Nori added a small bag of sour berries picked from an early vine, and a bark plate piled with raw tubers. With Payne's jerky, and Wakje's dried trail mix, it was almost a feast.

Hunter hid a grimace as Nori and the others ate quickly. He'd had to eat this way once before. It had been on a trail, when he'd met a scout who had graciously offered to share, but that had been on a dry summer evening, with a warm fire for roasting the tubers, and with fresh water, sweet berries, and grilled eerin. On a grey spring morning, chilled by a cold night and colder dew, with mud on half his gear, and no fire to warm his hands, he had to force himself to nod for his share.

Fentris took one look at the raw, dried and bitter foods, and blanched. He tried to follow Hunter's suit, but when Nori pulled out a fresh extractor root with the dirt barely scrubbed from its skin and the acrid scent sharp in the cold air, Fentris started shaking his head. "No, no no."

Nori paused in handing him a slice of the root. "What's wrong?" She looked at Payne, puzzled, but her brother shrugged. Kettre caught the horror in the Tamrani's eyes and hid a grin.

Hunter looked at the bare root in her hand and found himself agreeing with Fentris. "Wolfwalker, we appreciate that you saved our necks last night, but perhaps we could make yours a bit easier this morning." He went to his saddlebag while the others watched curiously. He returned with a small velvet pouch, and Fentris breathed, "Thank the moons."

Nori scowled at him.

"No offense, Black Wolf." Hunter smiled faintly. "But I believe this, at least, we could contribute."

She caught the small bag and opened it carefully. Her eyes widened. "Oh."

Payne leaned over. "What is it?"

She tilted it toward him so he could see the fine, pale powder inside. Since the Ancients had intended to land on a different world, not this one, they had not been prepared for this world's ecosystem. Almost all the indigenous plants and animals produced toxins for human bodies. A bite here and there wouldn't kill, but there was a c.u.mulative effect. Five or six meals without first extracting the toxins, and the brain grew sluggish. After that, the body grew slow, joints and muscles began to ache, strength disappeared, convulsions started, the senses went. Eventually there was coma. The Ancients' solution had been a series of root plants based on oldEarth ginseng and horseradish. Raw or cooked, the extractor roots bound to toxins and pa.s.sed them out of the body so that what was once poison became palatable.

Unfortunately, most of the extractor plants that could grow in the wild were bitter as an un-Promised woman.

Nori touched just the tip of her finger to the fine, pale powder. "Hothouse?" she asked. "Gindenda?"

Hunter smiled wryly. "You recognize it."

"I've a friend who specializes in exotics." She touched her fingertip to her tongue and almost sighed in pleasure. Reluctantly she opened her eyes. "But this is too expensive. We can use wild root while we're here."

He shook his head. "There is plenty for a ninan for all of us. And frankly-" He glanced at Fentris. "-I think it's safe to say that we'd just as soon use this."

The other man nodded sharply. Kettre hid another grin as Nori shrugged. It was Tamrani gold, after all.

As they got ready to ride, Leanna hovered near the dnu while Fentris checked the saddles. The slim Tamrani glanced at the girl and hid a wry smile. She reminded him of Jianan, Hunter's sister, a few years ago. Here, now, Leanna was as eager as he was, and it made him feel as if he were a Journey youth himself.

Leanna caught his indulgent smile, flushed, and edged uncomfortably away. Fentris lost his smile. He'd had Jianan's blood on his hands. He prayed he wouldn't see Leanna's. He tugged at the last cinch strap, patted the dnu, and brushed the roan hairs off his sleeve, but he knew his expression was stiff.

Leanna glanced back warily. For all that the Tamrani acted the gentleman, he was supposed to have murdered his brother. She didn't know what to say to him, or to Brithanas, for that matter. Black Wolf seemed to think both could be a threat, and that made Leanna tongue-tied. She couldn't do much physically either. Her father had tried to teach her the basics in the martial art of Cansi, but she didn't have the same determination that Payne or Nori had. That, and her two brothers could block every move she made and laugh at her while they did it. Her father had told her once that it wasn't her fault. Women could be as quick as men, with better balance and timing, but they weren't usually as strong. Unless they'd given over their morals, they weren't usually as ruthless, either. It was because of their differences, he'd said. Men drew boundaries in their minds and cared nothing for what was outside them. They had no trouble striking at anything outside the wall. Women saw decision points, not walls, and changed themselves to suit the choice. Women could be more treacherous, aye, but they couldn't afford to be hit.

Their bodies weren't made to survive the kinds of strikes a man could walk away from. Kilo for kilo, it was almost always easier to take them. Leanna looked at Hunter and Fentris, then at Nori, and wondered.

Nori caught her glance and murmured to Payne, "I wish Uncle Ki were with us."

"He and Liam and Mye," Payne agreed. "But that's a wish on the second moon." He watched her study the two trails that led out of the clearing. "We could keep going," Payne suggested. "Head north, cut back toward the road near dawn. We'd end up somewhere near Camber. It's a small place, but it's right offWillow Road . We could get the jump on them that way."

"There are still the message towers," she reminded him. "And there's the cozar to consider."

Hunter came up beside them. "You mean that they'll call another search?"

She shook her head. "We're a large group, well armed, with more than one ranked scout. Especially after last night, they won't call the search. The Ell will a.s.sume we've gone after the Harumen we picked out at Trial." She hesitated. "North," she said to Wakje. "And we'll continue north until we get to a good vantage point and can tell who's leading them and how big their group is."

It had been more of a question than a statement, and the ex-raider nodded slowly. "North," he agreed.

"And west toward the cliffs. Lots of room there to set up ambushes, weak trails, rockfalls-"

But his words struck a chill in Nori. "No," she said too sharply.

Wakje broke off. The others looked from Nori to her uncle.

Payne raised one eyebrow almost imperceptibly. Nori answered the same way. Rishte had been willing to take them north, as long as they avoided certain places along the line of the cliffs that were cut by a series of flooded creeks and sluggish swamps. Nori had already tried to turn them west into the canyons and take the water routes upstream, north and over to the River Phye. It was a rough route, difficult, and possible only if one knew the places to climb out and around the falls. Once in, one had to go all the way or be washed back down again. It would have lost them a day in getting to Shockton, but it might also have lost them the Harumen. With the clouds holding back a heavy rain, few city hunters would follow their prey into what could become a flash-flood death trap.

But Rishte had growled audibly when she'd tried it. He had picked up her sense of commitment-that once in streams, she would have to lead them all the way up to the end of that set of canyons before they could climb out again. He'd almost blinded her with the sense of death that he'd picked up from other wolves. It wasn't the open streams that he feared, but the upper canyons where they'd end up, where the ancient cliffs were pocked and cracked, and at least two men had died.

Nori had felt a chill at the sense of human death. It had been recent, as if someone had been trapped in the canyons a month ago, died in the rains, and finally been washed out to the south. Plague left little to show itself, especially after the bodies had been in the water. Even if the bodies were recovered by scouts, they would have seen nothing that could not have been caused by spring fever or pogus flu.

"Not the cliffs," she said flatly. "We stay on this side of the cliffs."

Wakje hadn't missed the exchange between brother and sister. He watched the wolfwalker expressionlessly for a moment. Then he nodded curtly.

Hunter and Fentris were left to frown after the three.

They rode for two hours on game tracks, following Nori and Rishte. Then the clouds darkened, and it rained, then poured-a shower that left the trees dripping and the trail slick on the steep parts. Heavy splats sounded each time a cupped leaf gave way beneath its load of water. On one side, then the other, branches s.h.i.+vered loudly and dropped short sprays of water when the pelan and palts took off. The dnu almost steamed with body heat. Nori ran her hand around the brim of her hat to release the last of the rain and scowled down at the trail. The rain made it even easier to see where they had gone, and there was nothing she could do about it. Until they hit a rootroad again, their tracks would be pressed almost permanently into the clay like a map of their intentions. Off-trail or on, they were too large a group. They simply couldn't hide their pa.s.sage.

When they reached one of the main trails, she pulled them up well back of the path and crept forward with her uncle. Together they studied the dirt track, counted out the prints they saw, and tested the soil for moisture.

"It's early," Nori murmured. "With that rain, it will be at least another hour before any ring-runners come through." She hesitated. "We could leave a cairn."

Wakje didn't nod, but he didn't object when she gathered some fallen bark and worked her way carefully through the brush parallel to the trail. Some ways away, she built a tiny lean-to with the bark, then took a stub of dead branch and slashed a message into it. She used redleaf and winter-dried podberry for dye to emphasize the symbols. Then she suspended the stick in the lean-to. Any ring-runner taking this trail would see the cairn, pick up the stick, and carry it on. A day or so and the message would be up at the towers, heading north with the speed of mirrors. There was no "from" on the message ring, but Nori's parents would understand. She just hoped she got to a message tower before the message did. Her mother might not run with the wolves at this point in her life, but Dione knew all wolfwalkers in this part of the county. Nori could find herself hunted by the Grey Ones, not just men.

"We'll cross here," she told the others when Wakje gestured for them to approach the trail. She pointed to a thick patch of mud. "Fentris, slip there, as if you weren't careful where you put your feet. Leanna-"

She snapped the end of a brittle branch. "Leave some hair here, on this joint, as if you got caught and jerked free."

"What was she doing down the trail?" Fentris asked Payne in a low voice as he led his dnu across the path.

"Leaving a message ring," Payne answered.

"Won't that be obvious to the Harumen?" He scudded one foot near a low branch as if he'd tripped over it, then dug his toes in on the other side. Then he carefully sc.r.a.ped the mud off his boots and wiped them down with leaves. Payne said nothing about the latter. It would be even more clear to their followers that the signs were from one of the Tamrani.

Fentris glanced up as he finished. "Why am I making such deep marks?"

Payne led his dnu after the slim man. "The message cairn is out of sight from this crossing. Your marks here will catch their attention and make them more eager to go on rather than look around in case there's something down the trail."

"Smart," the Tamrani murmured, then he frowned back at Hunter. "Why didn't she ask him to scuff his feet?"

"Because he is more experienced out here," Payne answered sardonically. "He wouldn't be so clumsy."

Fentris swallowed his retort.

They rode swiftly for three kays before stopping again. Then up and over a rocky hill and through a tiny valley.Noon came and went, and they paused only to rest the dnu. Afternoon was a winding set of trails.

After another hour of that, they were within eyesight of a small clearing with a jumble of boulders, where they drew up again. Rishte had grown tense as the trail approached the rocks, and Nori didn't question him, but simply motioned the others back.

With Payne behind her, Nori went forward just to the edge of the trees. The trail went directly across the clearing, but there were almost no tracks on it, no deer, no eerin, not even rabbit or stickbeast or downdrey. Nori's nostrils flared as she checked the scents. Then she began carefully lifting the leaves nearby that lay in clumps on the ground. She found what she was looking for almost immediately.

Payne nodded as she showed him the tiny dung piles protected under the leaves. Then she glanced meaningfully toward the boulders. He raised both eyebrows. She wasn't seriously suggesting . . . But she shrugged and grinned slyly.

Judging by the size of the dung piles, that boulder pile was a fairly large woodrast colony. The wild rodents didn't usually attack humans, but the six-legged beasties would swarm like tiny worlags when disturbed in their denning ground. They were fast, too, and they'd chase anything that ran-dnu, deer, or eerin.

Nori began flicking the nearest piles back into the brush. Payne did the same on his side of the trail, and both of them carefully reset the leaves so that they no longer looked like clumps. They froze when there was a burst of chittering to Nori's left, but Nori closed her eyes and started humming, and the chittering subsided. They eased their way back to the others.

When they got back, Payne kept his voice low. "How do you propose we go around?"

She smiled slowly. "I don't. If you knew that I, Black Wolf, was leading this party, and you saw our tracks go straight across on the trail through that clearing, what would you think?"

He c.o.c.ked his head at her. "I'd think there was no threat there." He started to say something else, then stopped. Slowly he began to grin.

She nodded and explained to the others. "If your Harumen are woodswise, they'll check the edge of the clearing for signs of a colony. When they don't find the dung piles, they'll a.s.sume the den is abandoned.

If they're in too much of a hurry to catch up, they won't wait till the woodrast start popping up again.

Instead, they'll go right through on our tracks. The beasties will hunker down till your Harumen are within a meter of the den. Then they'll panic and attack." She looked back at the boulders. "I figure there's perhaps three hundred rast in that mound, and that's if they haven't dug deep. It should give your Harumen quite a fright. At the least, it will slow them down whenever they get near a rock pile."

The tall man looked past her. The clearing wasn't large, but the area around the boulders had been nibbled down to the ground. With the soft earth, the lack of hoofprints on the trail was clearly visible.

"You said we wouldn't go around. So how do we get our tracks on that trail?"

She just stood there and smiled at the two Tamrani. "Do you trust me?" she asked softly.

The two citymen were alike enough that both their gazes narrowed. "It depends," said Hunter slowly.

"I'll take you through, one at a time."