Mystic and Rider (Twelve Houses) (45 page)

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Authors: Sharon Shinn

BOOK: Mystic and Rider (Twelve Houses)
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Cautiously, their own group reassembled. Senneth released her grip on his wrist—and, Tayse supposed, on Justin’s—and Cammon came creeping up from the gully. Kirra and Donnal appeared in human shape, darting across the road. They huddled together before the blackened campfire and spoke in whispers.
“They were looking for us,” Tayse said.
“Us? Or just someone camped around a fire?” Donnal asked.
“Us. I’d guess they were guards for the Daughters or else they were men of Gisseltess. We’ve drawn the attention of both in the past weeks.”
“It was too dark to see standards,” Senneth said. “I couldn’t tell who they were, either.”
“Guards for the Daughters,” Donnal said. “I could see moons embroidered on their sashes.”
“Does that make it better or worse?” Cammon asked.
Senneth shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Kirra nodded toward Cammon. “Good job with our horses. They didn’t panic at all.”
Tayse saw him grin in the dark. “Thank you.”
Now Kirra was looking at Senneth and laughing. “And most excellent job with the raelynx. Donnal and I had just been wondering if it might be appropriate to raise a howl or two, but that was more effective than anything we would have managed.”
Senneth was smiling. “And a Coravann man in the troop to identify the sound! I never thought we would be so lucky.”
“I have to admit, it’s the first time I’ve been glad we have that creature along with us,” Justin said.
“What now?” Donnal said. “Can we risk going back to sleep?”
Tayse nodded. “We have to sleep sometime. We’ll just pull farther off the road—and light no more fires.”
A swift smile from Senneth. “I can bring us some warmth even without a flame.”
“And you two,” Tayse continued, looking at Cammon and Donnal, “you’ll have to take turns standing guard for the rest of the night.”
Cammon grinned; Donnal merely nodded. “Yes,” said the dark-haired Danalustrous man. “I think we’re the best watchers you have.”
 
 
THEY made a cold camp down in the gully, merely finding a relatively flat place on the ground and clearing out the most uncomfortable of the rocks and branches before laying down their bedrolls. They were all exhausted, but their nerves jangled with adrenaline, so it was hard to sleep. Tayse lay awake a few moments, wondering how long they could continue to travel like this, expecting an attack at any time, day or night, relying on the heightened senses of two of their members to warn them of danger, which might approach from any direction.
They would need all their wits about them as they penetrated into Gisseltess country; it would not do to waste all their energy merely trying to stay alive.
He slept poorly and woke early, starting a fire before the others were up. Senneth’s magic had kept them warm enough during the night, but he thought they could risk a fire in daylight this far from the road, and he longed for the taste of hot food. Justin was the next to wake, then the women. Cammon had fallen asleep when he saw Tayse’s eyes open; Donnal was still snoring faintly, having taken much of the night watch.
“This will be too hard on them over too many nights,” Senneth said, accepting a mug of hot tea from Tayse’s hands.
Kirra shook her head. “I should have taken a watch last night. I can take predator shape and listen as well as they can.”
Senneth gave her a droll smile. “Why is it I think Donnal’s wolf is more alert than your hawk or mountain cat?”
Kirra tossed her gold hair back and laughed. “Because you, like so many others, make the mistake of thinking I am beautiful and frivolous.”
“Frivolous, certainly,” Justin muttered.
She ignored him. “But I assure you, my senses are every bit as sharp as Donnal’s.”
“Good, then,” Tayse said. “You can relieve them tomorrow night.”
Justin looked doubtfully at the sleeping forms. “Should we delay departure this morning? Give them a chance to rest?”
Kirra glanced up at the gloomy sky. “Is it going to snow again? Don’t you think we’ve been on the road for years already as it is?”
“The serramarra appears to be voting against delay,” Senneth said. “I would say, let them rest an hour and then be on the move again.”
Tayse nodded and rose. “I want to check those tracks. See how many passed by last night and try to gauge how much farther they went. If they’re camped ahead of us, waiting for us to ride by, we’re no better off than if they find us sleeping in the night.”
Justin came to his feet, too. “I’ll come with you.”
Tayse shook his head. “Stay here with them—in case. And you might look for water nearby. We’re low.”
“There’s a pond down that way,” Kirra said, pointing away from the road. “Donnal found it in his wanderings. Frozen over, though.”
“Good enough,” Tayse said, buckling on his sword belt. “I’ll be back within the hour, then we’ll head out.”
He was on the road a few minutes later, bending from the saddle to try to read the marks left in the dirt and mud. Here was where the whole troop had halted on the road, arguing over where their quarry might be; here were the hoofprints from panicked horses racing at a dead run down the unlit road. Tayse jogged along at a slow rate, eyes on the ground. Looked like the horses had bolted a good two miles before the riders had been able to pull them up. Even then, the ground was churned with hoofprints, indicating that the riders had had a hard time holding their mounts once they’d slowed them. Tayse doubted they’d really been able to quiet the horses for another mile or two, so they’d probably kept going another hour or more until both men and beasts were so exhausted they practically dropped to the ground to make camp.
He halted in the middle of the road, squinting forward, as if he could see a few miles ahead of him to that imagined camp. They would be as tired as the members of his own small group; would they choose to stay a day, or at least linger late, before pushing on southward? And was this the only convent troop out searching the roads for Senneth and her friends? If Tayse and his party cut through the backwoods and took an indirect route south toward Gisseltess, would they be safe, or would they find soldiers awaiting them at every crossroads?
He shook his head. Surely not. Surely no one could think they were that important. No one even knew who they were for certain, and there must be thousands of travelers who crossed this territory every week. The Daughters of the Pale Mother must have many more errands on which to send out their soldiers—other boundaries to guard, other nonbelievers to track. Tayse and his party would go cross-country toward Gisseltess, which would slow them down even more, but at least they would be safe enough from the Silver Lady’s soldiers.
He tugged the reins and turned his horse back in the direction from which he’d come.
Blocking his way were four soldiers dressed in silver and black.
He jerked the reins so sharply his horse reared backward, almost pitching him from the saddle. Soldiers behind him now, too—soldiers creeping out of the woods—half of them armed with drawn swords, half with leveled crossbows. He had fallen into a trap, and he was surrounded.
CHAPTER 24
 
S
ENNETH went for water, and Justin went with her. “I think you’re supposed to watch the camp,” she said.
“You’re the one who’s supposed to be guarded,” Justin said. “Tayse doesn’t even like to leave you alone in a hotel room.”
Is Tayse so dedicated to every person he’s commanded to protect?
she wanted to ask, but she knew it was a stupid question. Most often, Tayse rode in defense of the king, for whom he would willingly give his life. Even if Justin could detail for Senneth other protective missions Tayse had undertaken, he still would not give her the answer she wanted. Even if he understood why she was asking.
She herself wasn’t clear on what she wanted to know.
“This way,” Senneth said, skidding a little down an ice-slick trail. “When exactly did Donnal have time to go looking for water last night? That’s what I want to know. I think he made this up.”
Justin was grinning. “I think he prowled around in wolf shape while the rest of us were sleeping.”
“Unfortunately, that still doesn’t make me feel safe about sleeping.”
“That one could have been bad,” Justin admitted. “There were a lot of them.”
“Night battle, the advantage would always go to us,” Senneth said, reaching more level ground and spotting ahead of her a smooth circle of ice barely as wide as she was tall. “But I’m just as glad it didn’t come to bloodshed.”
Justin knelt by the frozen pond and began hacking at it with his knife, not waiting for Senneth to offer to melt it with a touch. “It will, soon enough.”
She had no answer for that except a sigh.
They broke through several inches of ice to find extremely cold water below, and they filled all their containers. Senneth cupped her hand and scooped up a measure of water, warming it on her palm till it was almost as hot as tea, then sipping it as the steam rose from her fingers. Justin sat back on his heels and watched her without speaking.
She smiled. “I know. You hate my magic.”
He rose to his feet. “Not as much as I used to.”
She knelt there a moment longer, glancing around to see if there was anything else here they might be able to turn to good account. For a moment, foolishly, she wished it was spring. Or she wished they were going to stay in one spot long enough that she could force spring on one small patch of land. She could do it, she was sure—warm the ground with her hands, coax a few buds from the dormant shrubs, grow flowers and fruits in the dead of winter. If she had the patch of land. If she had the time. If, for more than a day or a week or a month at a time, she ever stayed in one place.
“What’s wrong?” Justin asked.
She shook her head and stood up, brushing the cold mud from her knees. “Nothing.”
Cammon and Donnal were still sleeping when they got back, but Kirra had breakfast ready, and the three of them ate quickly. It was strange not to have Tayse nearby, his big bulk both a threat and a reassurance, his watchfulness something to count on, to lean against, like the bole of an enormous tree.
“Have you thought about what you’re going to
say
to Halchon Gisseltess?” Kirra demanded without preamble. “What you’re going to ask him? Will he even see you?”
Senneth’s lips twisted. “Will he even see me . . . oh, I think so. By now he must have heard reports of our whole party. He might not have pieced together who we are, but once he hears your name and mine—”
“
Your
name,” Kirra said.
Senneth caught Justin’s quick look and smiled at him. “Halchon dislikes mystics,” she said lightly. “And he has long been familiar with my story.”
“I would think that might put you in more danger, then,” Justin said. “If you ask to meet him and go to his house—what’s to stop him from keeping you?”
Kirra said, “Oh, I don’t know—let’s see—the fact that he won’t want his manor burned down?”
“I can think of places a man could keep a mystic that wouldn’t catch fire so easily,” Justin said. “A stone dungeon, perhaps, with iron bars.”
“It’s not entirely safe,” Senneth admitted. “Which, I think, is why the king insisted I bring two Riders with me. Surely, even if he was moved to offer violence to
me,
Halchon would not be foolhardy enough to offer violence to a Rider.”
“He might be,” Justin said, “if he was already planning a war against the king.”
Senneth knew her face looked troubled. “In which case, none of us is safe, in any House, on any road.”
Kirra looked around her, as if watching for oncoming foes. “How long has Tayse been gone?” she asked. “He said he’d be back within the hour.”
Justin rose to his feet. “I’ll go look for him.”
Senneth also stood. “Oh no. He wants you with us.”
“We’ll all go,” Kirra said, and leaned over to wake the sleeping men. “Hey, you two. Donnal. Cam. Come on, we know you’re tired, but we all are.”

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