Barrenlands (The Changespell Saga) (35 page)

Jada downed it, giving the leather skin a glance of appreciation as she returned it. "There's more, Ehren. There's got to be more."

"There is," he admitted. "I have documentation that years ago— two generations, at least— someone at the highest Levels was involved in smuggling contraband drugs from Therand.
Mage lure.
"

"How?" she said, her eyes wide.

"There's a pass somewhere in the Barrenlands." His anger grew again at the thought. "I'm certain it's Varien's doing. Mage lure is a dangerous drug, Jada, and one that gives him far too much power over other wizards."

"This is..." Jada searched for the word and gave up. "Inconceivable! If I was hearing this from anyone but you..."

"And I wouldn't have learned any of it if Varien hadn't sent me away." Ehren mused over his own words. "He did, of course, plan to kill me, along with Dannel's family, and I'm not certain he's through trying."

"After today,
nothing's
going to surprise me again," Jada said, sneaking the wayward hair back behind her ear again.

Ehren wondered what she'd think if she knew how he gained much of his information. It'd have to come out eventually, he realized, looking at Laine— grateful to have him here in spite of the dangers. His presence, and his obvious abilities, would lend credence to the tale. Few would gainsay Dannel's son— and Laine still had his mother's ring to prove his identity.

"I'm not done yet," he told Jada, and she made an incredulous face. "Think it through," he said. "Notice all the new Lorakan influence in Kurtane? It might not have been obvious to you, but I've been there half my life. I learned an earful from our border guards, too— things our Upper Levels should know but aren't acting on. There's unrest in inner Loraka these days— they're working up to one of those ugly rallies around king and country that provides an excuse to go stomping on borders.
And we're not ready.
"

Jada opened her mouth, but Ehren raised a hand, cutting her off. "Now we know that Loraka, through Varien, may have access to that hidden pass. Put that together with the depleted state of Solvany's defenses, and it's not a reassuring picture."

Laine broke his silence with surprise. "When did you come up with all
this
?"

"I've been thinking," Ehren said. "Here and there. Jada, right before Benlan was killed, he learned of the smuggling— he wanted to work with Therand to stop it. And he'd been looking for an excuse to get through the Barrenlands, maybe even eliminate them." He glanced to see if she followed, then said it out loud. "Losing the Barrenlands would make a mess of that smuggling. And if Varien truly is a traitor as well, involved with the changes in Loraka..."

She still hadn't quite made the connection, frowning over his words; she shook her head.

He tried to keep his words matter-of-fact; he failed. "Exchanging Benlan for a weak king like Rodar may have been part of the plan to undermine Solvany's defenses."

Jada's stray lock of hair wrapped tightly about her finger, one twist short of being a snarled knot. She yanked it free with far too much vigor, her frustration flowing over. "Where'd you
get
this information? How the Hells did you put all this together, stuck out in the Lorakan mountains?"

"Sources," Ehren said. Laine snorted, but kept his silence.

They gave Jada a moment to think. When she spoke again, the early evening had dimmed unto dusk. "No wonder," she said. "No wonder he wanted you out of Kurtane. No wonder he wants you dead! He'd never have hidden all this from you if you were in the middle of it. Gerhard doesn't have the history with us to have seen it."

"Varien always wanted me dead. But now he knows that I took some side trips on this assignment, places he wouldn't have expected or wanted me to go. He knows I was in Therand, too, and may guess I was at the Grannor summer home. After all, we
did
come through the Barrenlands, and we couldn't have done that without help."

"That's enough to make you a problem, as far as he's concerned," she declared.

Ehren smiled, a feral grin. "I was always a
problem
," he said. "Now, I'm going to be more trouble than he ever imagined."

~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Laine rode behind Jada and in front of Ehren. Though the damp path squished beneath the horses' hooves and the fields and woods they passed sparkled with a surfeit of moisture, the sky had cleared. The sun beat hot against Laine's shoulder, and he was sure they'd be searching for shade before they hit noon— despite several days of cool and gloomy weather, it was, after all, still fully summer.

Jada and Ehren weren't saying much. Perhaps that was just as well, for they'd certainly had enough to say the evening before. Laine still winced at the recollection of Ehren's face when Jada told them again her partner Algere was dead, and how it'd happened.

"We've had some men and women pulled into the Guards from the Reds," she'd told Ehren.
Kurtane Ready Troops
, they explained to Laine. "We need the numbers, all right, but most of these people have some sort of chip on their shoulders— think that Guarding is just some glorified version of what they've already been doing."

And Ehren had snorted, a derisive sound.

"Right," Jada said. "So when Gerhard came in with one of the Upper Level flunkies and told us you'd killed a Guard, we weren't really surprised when he pulled out a group of the booted-up Reds to look for you. Even though only a few of us trained with you, the rest of us have heard about you—" her voice broke slightly, but she gathered herself quickly enough. "— and looked up to you, like Algere. Gerhard probably thought he was doing us a favor, sending the others out. But I thought those Reds would as soon put a crossbow bolt through you from a distance as try to talk you in, and risk facing you." She smiled grimly. "They've heard some about you, you see."

"Comforting," Ehren grunted. "We've seen them on the road." He didn't mention that he hadn't been impressed.

"Algere agreed with me, and well... you know what he can—
could
— be like. All quiet, till he finally loses his temper. He argued with Gerhard— and Gerhard understood, you know— he didn't come down on Algere like you probably would've. Like he ought to have..." She took a deep breath and looked resolutely at an unoccupied and shadowed corner of the creaky little barn.

Laine was instantly grateful he hadn't known Algere. Whatever had happened to the man, it was bad enough to shake this woman, and even on short acquaintance he doubted that was easy.

"What happened," Ehren growled, a demand more than a question.

She looked dazed, as if she still couldn't quite believe it. "Gerhard was trying to reassure Algere, I think. He told him that Varien had a good idea where you were, and that this road was the only logical way to come into the capital; he said the other Guards— if you could call them that— would find you quickly, and bring you in safely, and that we'd get this all settled soon. But as soon as Algere and I knew where you'd be coming in..." She shrugged. "We decided to beat them to you."

Ehren nodded, but his face was grim, and he looked at the bota in such a way that Laine knew he was wishing there was more wine. "And?"

She scowled; Laine thought it was a vengeful expression. "We also decided to delay the others. We saddled up our horses and then turned the rest of them loose— and we made sure the city-ward gate was open for them."

Ehren smiled at that, though he obviously tried to suppress it. The expression faded quickly enough as she added, "We didn't count on so many of the Reds being gathered at the tavern south of the palace."

"The Crippled Swan," Ehren said. "Not a nice place."

Jada swallowed, and looked away. "The Reds frequent it lately. All our new Guards were there, and they had plenty of friends. One or two of the loose horses came that way, and then when we came by, all packed for a trip— it didn't take them long to figure out what we were up to. We just weren't expecting their reaction...."

"No," Ehren said. "They were still Reds, where it counted."

She nodded. Her eyes filled, but her voice remained reasonably steady. "There were some Guards in the barracks who had a good idea what we were up to, but they were all for it. We're a
unit
, and they didn't like what they'd heard any more than we did. But the Reds...." She took a deep breath. "They came swarming out of that tavern, and we should have run. We should have
known
we couldn't trust them like Guards."

"But you didn't, and they tried to take you." Ehren finished it for her, since she was obviously reluctant to. "Are you sure Algere is dead?"

She nodded. "If it hadn't been for my horse..." She sighed, soft and sad. "They outnumbered us ten to one, but they never even gave him a chance. They came at us hard, with live steel. They didn't need to do that."

Ehren ran a hand over his face, let it rest there a moment. His eyes, when they reappeared, were unfathomable; his face was hard, the clean lines of his jaw resolute. "Then," he said, "we'll have to make sure his death wasn't for nothing."

And that's how the travelers— two rogue Guards and the son of a Solvan prince— had ended up on this little side road, wandering over small plank bridges and jumping the occasional downed tree that no one had bothered to move. They rode game trails through the woods, skirted hayfields, and meandered from farmhouse to farmhouse. Laine knew he rode in the middle position because he was their weak spot, and it bothered him not a bit. There was no place for ego in a reality this dangerous.

He tried to keep that in mind throughout that first day as Ehren and Jada traded places, their caution keeping him on edge— constantly reminding him that they rode straight for those who wanted Ehren dead. And here he was, Dannel's son, a member of the family Varien had sent Ehren to kill.

Laine decided to hum drinking songs instead of thinking. It seemed the wiser option.

Drinking songs got him through the day…and then through the next, when they repeated their off-road travels. By then the paths had gotten substantial, and the villages closer together and larger.

Definitely larger.

After some discussion, they finally stopped at one of the villages for the night— ready for hot food and a good washing. Given the grubby state of the place, Laine was ready to stay in the barn with the horses.

"We need to talk," Ehren said, as he finished brushing down Ricasso. "It's best done in the common room. It's nothing but an overnight, Laine, and a normal conversation."

"I hadn't really thought of it otherwise until now," Laine said with some dignity. But when he followed them into the inn and sat down in the crowded common room, he found himself a little intimidated all the same. The other customers looked rough, and none of them seemed to be in a very good mood. It reminded him very much of the inn in T'ieranguard where Ehren had braced Varien's men.

Laine hoped no one died tonight.

After they'd ordered food, Ehren leaned back in his chair. "Things change tomorrow."

"How?" Laine asked.

"This is the last of the smaller villages before Kurtane," Jada said. "We'll hit the outskirts of Kurtane tomorrow evening."

Laine rested his chin in the heel of his hand. "Do you think they're still looking for you?"

"Undoubtedly," Ehren said, a touch of amusement in his voice. "With any luck, they've spread their search outward— but sooner or later they'll pick up some trace of us, and realize we're headed into the city."

"They might even get the rest of the Reds in on the search," Jada murmured. She leaned out of the way so the boy bringing their ale could set it in front of her, then drank half of it down before Laine even got his. "Bring another," she told the boy shortly.

"Yes'm," the boy nodded. His dirty face held an uncommonly vigilant expression; his eyes were wary and moved constantly over the crowd.

"Nice place you picked here," he muttered to Ehren.

"Isn't it?" Ehren said, his expression turning far too cheerful. "We're too travel-worn to blend in anywhere nicer."

Laine gave himself a rueful once-over and decided there was truth to that. He tried to remember why he'd been so adamant in coming to Solvany with Ehren in the first place. A desire to put the final element of his Dreams— absent these past several weeks— behind him? The need to be part of this thing that was so tangled with his heritage? Or the simple— and naïve— reluctance to watch a friend walk away?

He wasn't sure anymore.

"They probably
will
get the Reds going," Ehren said, over Laine's thoughts. "They can't let this get out of hand. Fortunately, I have other plans."

Jada flattened her mouth in determination. "So do I. Look, Ehren, we've got to stop Varien, and we've got to get through to Rodar— and those are two very different things. Rodar needs to learn the details of this situation
privately
, so he can investigate quietly enough not to endanger himself." She shrugged, and added simply, "I think we're more likely to live long enough to stop Varien if we make reaching Rodar our priority—
but
— it'd be nice to get an idea of what Varien's up to first."

Ehren gave her a skeptical look. "Of course it would," he said. "But unless you intend to walk into the palace and ask—" he stopped short at her expression. "No," he said. "We're not going to do that."

"I'm not stupid," Jada said, wrinkling her nose at him. "Laine and I could do it, but you're far too recognizable to manage. "

Ehren reached over the small table and tugged the bright copper braid that fell over her shoulder. "And you're
not
?"

Laine noticed no one bothered to ask if he was even remotely interested in trotting into Varien's turf. On the other hand... if he could get a glimpse of the man, he'd know for sure if Varien was the man from his Dream. And of the three of them, he was the only one not actually an outlaw.