The Wise Man's Fear Part 72

And then there was Tempi, a hired killer who wouldn't look me in the eye or hold a conversation. A mercenary I firmly believed could look forward to a decent career in the Modegan theater... .

Five days after leaving Severen, we came to the area where the attacks had been made. A twenty-mile stretch of twisting road that ran through the Eld: no towns, no inns, not even an abandoned farm. An utterly isolated stretch of the king's highway in the middle of an endless ancient wood. The natural habitat of bears, mad hermits, and poachers. A highwayman's paradise.

Marten went scouting while the rest of us set up camp. An hour later he emerged from the trees, winded but in good spirits. He rea.s.sured us he hadn't found sign of anyone else nearby.

"I can't believe I'm defending tax collectors," Dedan muttered disgustedly. Hespe gave a throaty laugh.

"You're defending civilization," I corrected. "And you're keeping the roads safe. Besides, Maer Alveron does important things with those taxes." I grinned. "Like pay us."

"That's what I'm I'm fighting for," Marten said. fighting for," Marten said.

After dinner, I outlined the only strategy I'd been able to come up with in five long days of thinking. I drew a curving line on the ground with a stick. "Okay. Here's the road, about twenty miles of it."

"Mieles." The soft voice was Tempi's.

"Excuse me?" I asked. This was the first thing I had heard him say in a day and a half.

"Miils?" His accent was so thick around the unfamiliar word that it took me a second to understand he was saying "miles." His accent was so thick around the unfamiliar word that it took me a second to understand he was saying "miles."

"Miles." I said distinctly. I pointed in the direction of the road and held up one finger. "From here to the road is one mile. Today we walked fifteen miles."

He nodded once.

I turned back to my drawing. "It's safe to a.s.sume the bandits are within ten miles of the road." I drew a box around my crude sketch of the road. "That gives us four hundred square miles of forest to search."

There was a moment of silence as everyone absorbed that piece of information. Finally, Tempi spoke, "That is large."

I nodded seriously. "It would take us months to search that much territory, but we shouldn't have to." I added a couple more lines to my drawing. "Every day Marten will scout ahead for us." I looked up to him. "How much ground can you safely cover in a day?"

He thought for a second, looking around at the trees surrounding us. "This forest? With this much underscrub? About a square mile."

"How many if you're being careful?"

He smiled. "I'm always careful."

I nodded and drew a line parallel to the road. "Marten will scout a strip about a half mile wide, about a mile back from the road. He'll keep an eye out for their camp or their sentries so the rest of us don't stumble into them accidentally."

Hespe shook her head. "That's no good. They won't be that close to the road. If they're looking to stay hid, they'll be farther back. At least two or three miles."

Dedan nodded. "I'd make sure I was at least four miles from the road before I hunkered down and made a habit of killing folk."

"I think so too," I agreed. "But they have to make their way to the road sooner or later. They have to post lookouts and travel back and forth for ambushes. They need to reprovision themselves. Since they've been here several months, odds are they've worn some sort of trail."

I added a little detail to my dirt map with my stick. "After Marten has scouted, two of us will go in and make a careful search behind him. We'll cover a thin strip of forest, searching it for any sign of their trail. The other two will keep an eye on the camp.

"We can cover about two miles a day. We'll start on the north side of the road and search from west to east. If we don't find a trail, we'll cross to the south side of the road and work our way back from east to west." I finished drawing in the dirt and stood back. "We'll find their trail in a span of days. Maybe two, depending on our luck." I leaned back and drove my stick into the ground.

Dedan stared bleakly at the rough map. "We'll need more supplies."

I nodded. "We'll move camp every fifth day. Two of us will walk back to Crosson to get supplies. The other two will move the camp. Marten will rest."

Marten spoke up. "We'll have to be careful with our fires from now on, too," he said. "The smell of smoke will give us away if we're upwind of them."

I nodded. "We'll need a fire pit every night, and we'll want to keep an eye out for rennel trees." I looked at Marten. "You know what a rennel looks like, don't you?" His expression was surprised.

Hespe looked back and forth between us. "What's rennel?" she asked.

"It's a tree," Marten said. "Good for firewood. It burns clean and hot. No smoke to speak of, and hardly any stink of smoke either."

"Even when the wood is green," I said. "Same with the leaves. It's useful stuff. It doesn't grow everywhere, but I've seen some around."

"How does a city boy like you know something like that?" Dedan asked.

"Knowing things is what I do," I said seriously. "And what in the world makes you think I grew up in a city?"

Dedan shrugged, looking away.

"That should be the only wood we burn from here on out," I said. "If it's in short supply, we'll save it for a cookfire. If we don't have any, we'll have to eat cold. So keep an eye out."

Everyone nodded, Tempi slightly later than the rest.

"Lastly, we'd better have our stories straight in case they stumble onto us while we're looking for them." I pointed to Marten. "What are you going to say if someone catches you while you're out scouting?"

He looked surprised, but hardly hesitated in his response. "I'm a poacher." He pointed to his unstrung bow leaning against a tree. "It won't be far from the truth."

"And you're from?"

There was a flicker of hesitation. "Crosson, just a day west of here."

"And your name is?"

"M-Meris," he said awkwardly. Dedan laughed.

I cracked a smile. "Don't lie about your name. It's hard to do convincingly. If they catch you and let you go, fine. Just don't lead them back to our camp. If they want to take you back with them, make the best of it. Pretend you'd like to join up. Don't try to run."

Marten looked uneasy. "I just stay with them?"

I nodded. "They'll expect you to run on the first night if they think you're stupid. If they think you're clever, they'll expect you to run on the second night. But by the third night they should trust you a bit. Wait until midnight, then start some sort of disturbance. Light a couple of tents on fire or something. We'll be waiting for the confusion and take them apart from the outside."

I looked around at the other three. "The plan is the same for any of you. Wait until the third night."

"How will you find their camp?" Marten asked, a thin layer of sweat on his forehead. I didn't blame him., This was a dangerous game we were playing. "If they catch me, I won't be there to help track you down."

"I won't be finding them them," I said. "I'll be finding you. I can find any of you in the forest."

I looked around the fire, expecting at least a grumble from Dedan, but none of them seemed to doubt my arcane abilities. Idly, I wondered how much they thought I was capable of.

The truth was I'd surrept.i.tiously collected a hair from each of them in the last few days. So I could easily could create a makes.h.i.+ft dowsing pendulum for anyone in the group in less than a minute. Given Vintish superst.i.tion, I doubted they'd be happy knowing the specific details.

"What should our stories be?" Hespe tapped Dedan on the chest with the back of her hand, her knuckles making a hollow noise on his hard leather vest.

"Do you think you could convince them you were disgruntled caravan guards who had decided to turn bandit?"

Dedan snorted. "h.e.l.l, I've thought about it once or twice." At a look from Hespe he snorted. "Don't tell me you haven't done the same. Span after span of walking in the rain, eating beans, sleeping on the ground. All for penny a day?" He shrugged. "G.o.d's teeth. I'm surprised half of us don't take to the trees."

I smiled. "You'll do just fine."

"What about him?" Hespe jerked her thumb at Tempi. "n.o.body is going to believe he's gone wild. Adem make ten times what we do for a day's work."

"Twenty times," Dedan grumbled.

I'd been thinking the same thing. "Tempi, what will you do if you are found by the bandits?"

Tempi fidgeted a little, but didn't say anything. He looked at me briefly, then broke eye contact, glancing down and to the side. I couldn't tell if he was thinking, or merely confused.

"If it weren't for his Adem reds, he wouldn't look like anything special," Marten said. "Even the sword doesn't look like much."

"Doesn't look like twenty times as much as me, that's for sure," Dedan's voice was low, but not so low that everyone couldn't hear.

I was worried about Tempi's outfit too. I'd tried to draw the Adem into a conversation several times with the hope of discussing the problem with him, but it was like trying to have a chat with a cat.

But the fact that he hadn't known the word "miles" made me realize something I should have thought of long before. Aturan wasn't his native language. Having recently struggled to make myself fluent in Siaru at the University, I could understand the impulse to keep quiet rather than speak and make a fool of myself.

"He could try to play along, same as us," Hespe said dubiously.

"It's hard to lie convincingly when you're not good with the language," I said.

Tempi's pale eyes darted to each of us as we spoke, but he didn't offer any comment.

"Folk underestimate a person who can't speak well," Hespe said. "Maybe he could sort of just ... play dumb? Act confused like he was lost?"

"Wouldn't have to play dumb," Dedan continued under his breath. "Could just be be dumb." dumb."

Tempi looked at Dedan, still expressionless, but with more intensity than before. He drew a slow, deliberate breath before speaking. "Quiet is not stupid," he said, his voice flat. "You? Always talk. Chek chek chek chek chek Chek chek chek chek chek." He made a motion with one hand, like a mouth opening and closing. "Always. Like dog all night barking at tree. Try to be big. No. Just noise. Just dog."

I shouldn't have laughed, but it caught me completely off guard. Partly because I thought of Tempi as so quiet and pa.s.sive, and partly because he was absolutely right. If Dedan were a dog, he would be a dog that barked endlessly at nothing. Barking just to hear himself bark.

Still, I shouldn't have laughed. But I did. Hespe laughed too and tried to hide it, which was worse.

Dedan's face went dark with anger and he got to his feet. "You come here and say that."

Still expressionless, Tempi stood and walked around the fire until he stood next to Dedan. Well ... if I say he stood next next to him, you will take the wrong impression. Most people stand two or three feet away when talking to you. But Tempi walked until he was less than a foot away from Dedan. To get any closer, he would have had to give him a hug or climb him. to him, you will take the wrong impression. Most people stand two or three feet away when talking to you. But Tempi walked until he was less than a foot away from Dedan. To get any closer, he would have had to give him a hug or climb him.

I could lie and say this happened too quickly for me to intervene, but that wouldn't be true. The simple truth was that I couldn't think of an easy way to break up the situation. But the more complicated truth was that I was pretty fed up with Dedan myself by this point.

What's more, this was the most I'd ever heard Tempi speak. For the first time since I'd met him, he was behaving like a person, not just some mute, ambulatory doll.

And I was curious to see him fight. I'd heard a lot about the legendary Adem prowess, and I was hoping to see it thump some of the sullen mutter out of Dedan's thick head.

Tempi walked up to Dedan, standing close enough to put his arms around him. Dedan stood a full head taller, broader across the shoulders, and thicker in the chest. Tempi looked up at him without a trace of anything you might expect to see on his face. No bravado. No mocking smile. Nothing.

"Just dog," Tempi said softly, with no particular inflection. "Big noise dog." He lifted up his hand and made a mouth of it again. "Chek. Chek. Chek "Chek. Chek. Chek."

Dedan lifted a hand and shoved hard against Tempi's chest. I'd seen this sort of thing countless times in the taverns near the University. It was the sort of shove that sends a man staggering backward, off balance and p.r.o.ne to stagger and trip.

Except Tempi didn't stagger. He just ... stepped away. Then he reached out casually and cuffed Dedan along one side of his head, the way a parent might swat an unruly child in the market. It wasn't even hard enough to move Dedan's head, but we could all hear a soft paff paff sound, and Dedan's hair puffed out like a milkweed pod someone had blown against. sound, and Dedan's hair puffed out like a milkweed pod someone had blown against.

Dedan stood still for a moment, as if he couldn't quite understand what had happened. Then he frowned and brought both hands up to give Tempi a more violent shove. Tempi stepped away from this too, then swatted Dedan on the other side of his head.

Dedan scowled, grunted, and brought his hands up, making fists. He was a big man, and his mercenary leathers creaked and strained at the shoulders as he lifted his arms. He waited a moment, obviously hoping Tempi would make the first move, then he stomped forward, drew his arm back, and threw a punch, hard and heavy as a farmhand swinging an axe.

Tempi saw it coming and stepped away a third time. But halfway through his clumsy swing, everything about Dedan changed. He raised himself up on the b.a.l.l.s of his feet and his ponderous haymaker punch evaporated. Suddenly, he no longer looked like a lumbering bull, and instead, he darted forward and snapped out three quick punches, fast as a bird's wing flapping.

Tempi sidestepped one, slapped the other aside, but the third caught him high on the shoulder, spinning him partway around and knocking him backward. He took two quick steps out of Dedan's reach, regained his balance, and shook himself slightly. Then he laughed, high and delighted.

The sound softened the expression on Dedan's face, and he grinned in return, though he didn't lower his hands or move off the b.a.l.l.s of his feet. Despite this, Tempi stepped up, avoided another jab, and struck Dedan in the face with the flat of his hand. Not across the cheek, as if they were squabbling lovers onstage. Tempi's hand came down from above and struck Dedan across the front of his face, from his forehead down to his chin.

"Arrhhgh!" Dedan shouted. "Black d.a.m.n!" He staggered away, clutching at his nose. "What's wrong with you? Did you just slap me?" He peered out at Tempi from behind his hand. "You fight like a woman."

For a moment, Tempi looked as if he might object. Then he gave the first smile I had ever seen from him and gave a small nod and shrug instead. "Yes. I fight like a woman."

Dedan hesitated, then laughed and clapped Tempi roughly on the shoulder. I half expected Tempi to dart away from his touch, but instead the Adem returned the gesture, even to the point of gripping Dedan's shoulder and jostling him around playfully.

The display struck me as odd coming from someone who had been so reserved over the last several days, but I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Anything other than fidgety silence from the Adem was a blessing.

Even better, I now had a measure of Tempi's fighting ability. Whether or not Dedan wanted to admit it, Tempi obviously had the better of him. I guessed the Adem reputation was more than just empty air.

Marten watched Tempi return to his seat. "Those clothes are still a problem," the woodsman said, as if nothing much had happened. He eyed Tempi's blood-red s.h.i.+rt and pants. "Might as well run around waving a flag as wear that in the trees."

"I'll talk with him about it," I told the others. If Tempi was self-conscious about his Aturan, I guessed our conversation would go more smoothly without an audience. "And I'll work out what he'll do if he runs into them. You three can go settle in and get dinner started."

The three of them scattered off, looking to claim the prime places for their bedrolls. Tempi watched them go, then turned back to look at me. He glanced down at the ground and took a small, shuffling step away.

"Tempi?"

He c.o.c.ked his head and looked at me.

"We need to talk about your clothing."

It happened again as soon as I started to talk. His attention slowly slid away from me, his eyes drifting down and to the side. As if he couldn't be bothered to actually listen. As if he were a sulky child.

I don't need to tell you how infuriating it is to try and have a discussion with a person who won't look you in the eye. Still, I didn't have the luxury of taking offense or putting off this talk. I'd already delayed this conversation too long.

"Tempi." I fought the urge to snap my fingers in order to draw his attention back to me. "Your clothes are red," I said, trying to keep it as simple as possible. "Easy to see. Dangerous."

He gave no response for a long moment. Then his pale eyes darted up to mine and he nodded, a simple bob of the head.