Flamecaster (10 page)

Scummer. Never ask a question without considering what the answer might be.

Well, there was no jamming that cat back into the bag. After four years at Oden's Ford, he'd been outed.

It also confirmed what he'd suspected. It was not a random kill.

“What if you're wrong? What if I'm not the mage you're looking for?”

The man smiled an awful smile. “Ah, but you are. And even if you were not, we have our own reasons to kill mages. We free mages from the sin of sorcery by drinking their blood.” Usepia seemed all too willing to share the good news.

Ash recalled the little goblet that hung around the blade man's neck, and shuddered.

Lila held something between her thumb and forefinger in front of the man's face. “What is this?” It was the stone that had paralyzed Ash.

Usepia squeezed the words out, as if they hurt. “That is Darian stone. It keeps mages still so they can be cleansed. It takes up the mana'in, the taint of sorcery, so it can be used for the good of all.”

Ash had never heard of Darian stone. Maybe it worked in the same way as an amulet—by storing flash, the magical energy wizards constantly produced. Only in this case, a wizard wouldn't get it back.

“We've seen five of you,” Ash said. “Are there more?”

“There are many brothers in the guild, and we've all tasted your scent,” Usepia whispered. “You are a dead man, mage. We are the best, and we never give up. If you submit, I will take you quickly and painlessly. I am . . . quite skilled . . . with a knife.” Still flat on his back, he reached up with both arms, as if to embrace Ash. Light reflected off metal.

Ash jerked backward as the blade slashed past his throat. Then instinct took over. In one movement, he'd drawn his borrowed dagger and pinned the Darian brother to the floor with the blade through his chest. Lila all but impaled him a second time.

“Blood and bones!” Lila looked from the dead priest on the floor to Ash and back again, then shook her head in disgust. “I didn't even search the bloodsucking crow. I'm too stupid to live.”

“I didn't search him, either,” Ash said.

Lila pulled her blade free, using her foot to stabilize the body. “I'm sorry, Hanson, or sul'Han, or whoever the hell you are. He gave me the all-over crawls.”

Ash couldn't argue with that. Usepia's eyes were open, and it still seemed like they followed him around the room. Finally, he dropped his bloody handkerchief over the Darian's face. Enjoy, he thought.

“Come on.” Lila spoke briskly, breaking the spell of indecision. “Let's bind up your arm again so you don't bleed to death. We need to change clothes, pack up, and get out of here.”

Ash stared at her, his thoughts muddled by loss of blood. “What are you talking about?”

Lila wiped her dagger on the assassin's robe and shoved her sword back into its scabbard. She worked quickly, but spoke slowly, as if to the dim-witted. “The Peace of Oden's Ford is broken. Clearly, princeling, Arden knows you're
here, and wants to cleanse the world of you. Unless you're good with that, we need to go.”

I'm not a princeling, Ash thought, but didn't say it out loud.

Lila crossed to the window, threw open the shutters, and scanned the empty, moonlit yard. Then pulled them closed again and latched them.

“I'll be right back,” she said. “Don't open the door to anyone but me.” And she was gone again.

Ash was beginning to feel dizzy and weak from loss of blood. He needed to do something about that before he was too far gone. He sat down on the hearth, his healer's kit next to him. Look on the bright side, he thought. At least poison's not a worry. It would have been washed out long ago.

Ash cleaned the wound one-handed, then packed a poultice of herbs over it. He was in the process of trying to wrap it again when there came a tapping at the door.

It was Lila, dressed in clean, nondescript clothing, saddlebags over her shoulder. She'd scrubbed the blood off her face and hands, too.

Dropping her bags by the door, she gripped Ash's elbow and led him back to the hearth. “Here, let me help with that. We've got to hurry, and I can't have you falling off your horse.”

She sat next to Ash and began wrapping, but not without wrinkling her nose at the smell of the herbs. “At least
maybe the stink will keep those bloodhounds off your scent,” she said.

“Are you sure Arden's in on this?” Ash asked, leaning his head back against the fireplace. “Odd that it was a wizard who ordered the kill. Our family has enemies at home. It could have been one of them.”

“Maybe,” Lila said, clearly humoring him, “but I don't think so. I think Renard Tourant found out who you were somehow, and sent word to Arden, along with your handkerchief. Somebody set up the kill with the Darian brothers. Tourant threw a party to empty out the dorms, but he knew you wouldn't come, so you'd be here alone.” She gave him a hard eye. “That's what you get for being boring.”

“What tipped you off?”

“They turtled my ale. I knew something was up, so I hurried back here.”

“If they were in on it, why didn't they stop you?”

“I swapped ales with Tourant, so he was down for the count,” Lila said. “Arden doesn't want the academy on their necks, and I'm sure they'd like to keep training soldiers at the Ford. They were likely hoping that if things went wrong, the Darian brothers would take the blame for breaking the peace and not them.”

Ash knew Lila had edited something out, something she didn't want him to know. “Why would your turtled ale send you rushing back to the dorm to check on me?”

The cadet shrugged. “I came back here for weapons,” she said, “not to check on you. When I saw blood in the hallway, I thought I'd better take a look around. You're lucky I did.”

“It's an interesting theory, but there's quite a few maybes and mights,” Ash said. “I'm not in line for the throne in the Fells. They had no reason to target me.” Unless his secret life had somehow become public.

Lila shrugged. “Maybe they don't understand the Fellsian rules of succession. Or maybe they just don't care.”

“Or maybe King Gerard is still working his plan to destroy my mother's family and eliminate the Gray Wolf line for good. He finally found one of us that he could get at.” The anger that always smoldered in him flamed up again. “That means that the queen and the princess heir may be next.” Assuming it hasn't happened already. That thought was like a knife to the gut.

“I'm sure they've been targets all along,” Lila said. “There's nothing you can do about that.”

Yes, there is, Ash thought. Something I should have done, or tried to do, before now. For four years, I've been lopping legs off the spider when I should have gone straight for the heart.

“Ash? Are you listening to me?”

Ash looked up to find Lila scowling at him. “Oh. Sorry. What did you say?”

“What we do know is that they know you're here. So
it's not safe here, not anymore. If it ever was. Which means we've got to get out of here.”

We? A traveling companion did not fit into Ash's plans.

“Lila, listen,” Ash said. “I don't want you to change your plans. Go to your posting in the Fens. I'll just go on to Freetown tonight. Problem solved.”

Lila looked pointedly at the body on the floor, then the body on the bed. “Right,” she said with a sour grin. “How many people here know about your plans to go to Freetown? How long before those bloodsuckers are hunting you there?”

“I can take care of myself,” Ash said stiffly. “They won't catch me by surprise again.”

“No.” Lila shook her head. “Now that your secret is out, the safest place for you is back in Fellsmarch. And that's where I'm going to take you.” She gave him a sideways look. “It's worth it to stay out of the swiving Fens.”

“So what's your interest in this? What makes you think we should partner up?”

“I'm not talking about being partners,” Lila said. “I'm hoping there'll be a reward in it for me. As soon as I collect, I'm gone.” She rubbed her fingers and thumb together. “Now change your breeches. We won't get far if you look like you've been the guest of honor at a bloodbath.” Lila folded her arms and stood, tapping her foot, like she planned on supervising.

She had saved his life. Now it seemed there would be a
price to be paid for it. Until he got his game going, as his father would say, it was better not to leave this loose end hanging.

“Turn your back, at least,” Ash said.

Lila heaved a great sigh, but she turned and faced the door. “I can't believe you're making a fuss about this, after everything that's happened.”

Stripping quickly, Ash dropped his bloody clothes on the floor and yanked on clean smallclothes, a fresh set of breeches, and a linen shirt.

“Can I at least help pack your things while you're busy being shy?” Lila said to the ceiling.

“I'm already packed,” Ash said, pulling his panniers from under the bed. “Let's go.”

Either Ash Hanson sul'Han didn't want to be rescued, or he had no common sense. It wasn't like Lila expected a medal, but still—a little cooperation would be damned nice. She hadn't planned on spending a month or two nannying a blueblood mage. She had business of her own to attend to. Pressing business.

Leaving the bodies where they lay, Lila and Ash carried their gear down to the first floor. The guards that were usually posted in the doorways were gone, and the corridors yawned, empty and sinister.

The kitchen yard, so busy during the day, was tenanted only by moonlight and by Scraps, the Mistress of Kitchens' battle-scarred tomcat. The lock on the kitchen door
easily gave to Lila's practiced hand. Scraps watched balefully from the doorway as they gathered as much travelers' food as they could carry: salted meat, bread and cheese and dried fruit, two skins of wine. Given the carnage in the dormitory, a raid on the kitchen would receive little attention in the morning.

While they worked, they argued, debating which road to take.

Lila favored the Tamron Road, which would get them into friendly territory quicker and keep them away from Ardenscourt. She didn't feel it necessary to mention that it would also make it less likely that they would run into someone she knew. The last thing she needed was to be seen with Princeling sul'Han.

Ash pushed riding east to Ardenscourt, then north through Delphi. “The Tamron Road is the logical choice, which means they'll be watching it,” he said. “Only an idiot would head straight for Ardenscourt.”

“Exactly,” Lila said. “Only an idiot would try that. I don't like it. That road is heavily traveled, always crawling with southerners.”

“We
are
in the south,” Ash said, rolling his eyes. “More traffic means we'll be easier to overlook.”

“Unless we run into more of those bloodsucking crows of Malthus.” Or some other people I'd just as soon avoid, Lila thought.

“Let's split up, then,” Ash suggested. “I'll go via
Ardenscourt and you go via Tamron. We'll lay bets on who gets there first.”

You're trying to get rid of me, Lila thought, so you can go south to Freetown, like you planned. Well, I'm not going to let you. But that meant giving in.

Once that was decided, they hurried on to the stables, where Ash insisted that they pick out horses to steal, arguing that they couldn't take their own if they wanted to play dead. Ash chose Maribel, a spirited piebald mare that had belonged to the messenger service, so she'd been exercised more than most of the students' personal mounts. Lila picked Brady, a bay military gelding newly arrived from Arden with a student at Wien House.

Less than an hour after the last man died, they rode away from Oden's Ford. At least Lila convinced Ash not to leave a note for Taliesin, dean of Spiritas, the healing academy. She was determined to win that one.

“I don't want her to worry about me,” Ash said, looking down at his hands.

“Maybe she's the one that outed you,” Lila suggested. “She knows you better than anyone, right?”

Ash flinched when she said that, but then he shook his head. “If she wanted me dead, I would be dead,” he said.

“That's an odd thing to say about a healer,” Lila said. “Anyway, she won't worry if she thinks you're dead. And it's probably best for now if that's what everyone thinks. Especially while we're traveling through Arden.”

So far, the princeling had met all of her admittedly low expectations. He was a major pain in the ass. Still—she couldn't get the image of the bloodsucking crows out of her mind.

They rode first in the moonlight, and then in the darkness after the moon had set, and finally in the mist of the early morning, climbing the long, gradual slope away from the river. As the light grew, the great trees of Tamron Forest gradually became visible on either side, like rooted ranks of soldiers. Their horses moved at a brisk pace, their hooves flinging up the mud of the road, splashing through the puddles of a recent rain. They didn't have much to say to each other.

“I wonder how wide a net they'll cast,” Ash said, after an hour's silent riding.

“Who knows?” Lila said. “Depends on how committed they are to killing you.” She studied him critically. “Your size and that copper head of yours make you stand out.”

Ash reached up, fingering his hair, as if he'd forgotten what color it was.

“Too bad the weather's not colder,” Lila said. “Once it's light out, it would be best if you kept your hood up.”

As the day came on, the landscape around them began to emerge, the colors muted and grayed. The autumn mist clung low to the ground, filled the ditches on either side of the road, and shifted and swam as the horses moved
through it. Now and then the dense forest was punctured by a clearing along the road, centered on a farmhouse and other buildings. The shapes of people drifted through the yards like ghosts. Farmers rose early.

Tamron Forest crowded close to the road, as if anxious to reclaim it, and Lila found herself startling at every sound. The roots of great trees broke through at the berm, and the canopy often met overhead, shutting out the frail light. Any assassin hidden along the road would be but an arm's length away. Lila imagined a rush from the undergrowth, sinewy hands reaching up to drag Ash from his horse and slam him to the cold earth, a circle of pale faces within dark cowls.

Once, they heard hooves behind them on the packed surface, horses coming fast. They shoved off through the small growth that fringed the road and hid behind the massive trunk of a moss-covered oak. A dozen black-clad men on dun-colored horses thundered past, ringmail glittering. Among them, Destin Karn, the only one unarmored, eyes fixed forward, slitted against the wind and dust.

“The King of Arden's Guard,” Ash murmured when they had gone. “They're in a hurry, aren't they?”

Bones, Lila thought. Destin Karn, of everyone, might expect me to take this road. I told him I was going to, after all. Is he hunting me after I ditched him on Bridge Street? Or is he hunting Ash? Does he suspect that I helped him escape?

Maybe he's just hurrying home to report the bad news.

Now they proceeded more cautiously than before, aware that the soldiers they'd seen might double back when the trail grew cold. When they began to see traffic upon the road, Lila led the way back into the woods, penetrating several hundred yards before she chose a camping place, a defensible spot with a low hill at their backs. They built no fire; it wasn't worth the risk. They left their horses saddled, fed them, and tethered them to a long lead to allow them to browse. Then they threw their blanket rolls on the ground in a grove of trees.

They sat up for a bit, eating cheese and bread, passing one of the wineskins back and forth until it was empty. Lila ached all over, courtesy of the rough and tumble in Stokes and from riding horseback cross-country for the first time that season. Ash sat with his back against the trunk of a tree, one knee bent, the other leg straight. He said little, though she noticed he was favoring his arm.

By the time they'd finished the wine, Lila could scarcely keep her eyes open.

“I'll take first watch,” Ash offered.

Lila shook her head. “I'll be fine,” she mumbled, her lips oddly numb. “You've got to be exhausted from loss of blood and having the flash sucked out of you and all. Let me just get up and walk around a bit. That'll wake me up.”

“Hey,” Ash said, putting a hand on her arm. “Go to sleep. You don't have to be the hero every single time.”

“All right.” Lila yawned. “But wake me up at midday and I'll take over.” She slid into her bedroll and was immediately asleep.

When Lila awoke, shivering, the sun was low on the horizon, the light nearly gone. It took her two tries to sit up, and then her head spun so that she had to brace herself with her hands. She was stiff and sore from lying too long on the ground, half-covered in leaves, and her mouth tasted like the floor of an unmucked stall.

“Ash?” She looked around the clearing, and the motion nearly put her flat on her back again. “Ash!” she said, a little louder. Brady stood a short distance away, looking at her, ears pricked forward, still chewing. The other horse was gone. A scrap of chamois was pinned to a nearby stump with Lila's own knife. It bore a single word.
Sorry
.

That's when she knew. “Bones,” she muttered. “You two-faced, conniving, sneaky bastard.”

Lila rose shakily to her feet. The empty wineskin lay nearby. She kicked it, and it went sailing into the brush.

Really, Hanson? Did you think I'd fall for the turtled wine trick? I guess so. I am too stupid to live.

He'd probably left as soon as she had fallen asleep, took a chance by traveling in daylight. Nobody would expect to find him riding back toward Oden's Ford. He could be halfway to Freetown by now. Or on his way to the dungeon in Ardenscourt. Or dead at the hands of the bloodsucking priests.

That was the thing. Lila had secrets, but Ash had proven that he had secrets of his own. Now there was no telling where the princeling was headed or what he really intended to do.