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Before noon of the next day, the Knights Aeris brought Fidelias, together with Aldrick the Sword and the mad Odiana, down into the western end of the Calderon Valley Grey clouds hung low and glowering overhead, though their threat was an e the previous night had already headed off to the south, where distant thunder could only barely be heard They were attired warainst the near-winter cold of the Valley, and breath steamed before every rihts, "You are certain that no one has arrived?"
Theinto the air, then tilted his head to one side, his eyes abstracted, listening He nodded a moment later and said, "Livus reports that there are still Marat scoutshere and there None of our observers saw anyone new co into the Valley"
"That wasn&039;t the question," Fidelias said He heard the sharp edge in his own voice "The last thing we need is an envoy of the Crown rousing Garrison or bringing in reinforcements from Riva"
The Captain shook his head "The stor and extremely violent No one could remain out in it and live I suppose it&039;s possible that someone skilled could have cootten to cover quickly enough-"
"She could" Fidelias cut off a reply with a wave of his hand "The crows take Gaius and everyone with hi distractions"
"So," Odianaswordsman debarked the litter and turned to lift the shapely woave Fidelias a smirk that fairly sainst Aldrick&039;s side, beneath the curve of his arh sleep last night, love"
"Peace," Aldrick ru over her mouth, a casual motion The woh
Fidelias ignored the barb froet sloppy Give the girl&039;s description to our h, stop her Quietly The same if any of the other Cursors I&039;ve described to you show themselves"
The Captain nodded "And what do I tell the men here?"
"The same If you see someone unfa to make contact with our source Then we move"
The Captain nodded "We were fortunate to have the wind last night, sir We were able to bring in ht would be available"
"Fortunate" Fidelias laughed and tried to ignore the tension burning in his stoht the storm and with it one of the Crown&039;s own, Captain I would not be so certain it was such a blessing"
The Captain saluted stiffly and took a step back Heelse to the air, then beckoned with a hand to the Knights supporting the poles of the litter Thewind and soared into the air and through the concealing underbelly of the clouds above within a few one to say, laconically, "You may have been a little hard on them If the Croanted to craft so they could have done would have stopped him"
"You don&039;t know Gaius," Fidelias replied "He is neither all-knowing nor infallible We should have ht"
"We&039;d have arrived amidst the storm," the swordsman pointed out "It could have killed us"
"Yes, the nasty storm," Odiana iven enough time to enjoy the pretty slave child" The last feords of the sentence dripped with a kind of gloating glee The wo, as Aldrick absently covered herout a soft growl, and the swords his mouth
Fidelias stared hard at the water witch She knew He couldn&039;t be sure how much she knew, about Aquitaine&039;s wife and the after, but he could see knowledge glittering in her eyes
His belly burned a bit more as he considered the possible consequences,
should Aquitaine learn of his wife&039;s liaison with Fidelias Aquitaine seemed the type to overlook the forest for the trees, at times, but he would surely have little patience with anyone ould risk hu with his wife The few bites of biscuit Fidelias had ht threatened to coain He kept the tension off of his face and thought that he would have to do so a liability
Fidelias gave her a flat, neutral little smile and said, "I think we should focus on the task at hand"
"Seehtforward," Aldrick co point Talk to the savage Ride out again"
Fidelias glanced around and then murmured for Vaht foot, a stirring in the ground of acknowledgment, and vanished "I don&039;t anticipate that the ride will be a probleed "He won&039;t be a proble gloves "You think your sill alter anything for his"
Fidelias smiled "He&039;s Marat He isn&039;t human They don&039;t think the same e do&039;
Aldrick squinted at hi
"He won&039;t be intierous-you&039;ll just be the soft, weak thing holding it"
Aldrick&039;s expression didn&039;t change
Fidelias sighed "Look, Aldrick The Marat don&039;t have the same notion of individuality that we do Their whole culture is based around totems Their tribes are built upon commonality of totem animals If a man has a powerful totem, then he is a formidable man But if thebeside it, then it makes him somewhat conteard armor and weaponry as our tote into battle beside them Do you see?"
"No," Aldrick stated He slipped Odiana froloves, unconcerned "That doesn&039;t make any sense"
"Not to you," Fidelias said "It es," Aldrick commented Odiana turned to the packs and drew
his scabbarded sword fro, and she slipped the weapon into it, then watched as the swordsman buckled it on "What happens if he doesn&039;t cooperate?"
"Leave that to me," Fidelias said
Aldrick raised his eyebrows
"I oes to the crows"
"And if it does?"
"Kill everything that isn&039;t you, me, or the witch"
Aldrick smiled
"What do I do?" Odiana asked Her duty to Aldrick done, she wandered a few paces away, drawing the toe of her shoe through the h to be able to study the buckles
"Just keep an eye on the Marat If you feel thery, warn us"
Odiana frowned and looked up at Fidelias She placed a hand on the shapely curve of one hip and said, "If Aldrick gets to kill soet to as well It&039;s only fair"
"Perhaps," Fidelias said
"I didn&039;t get to kill anyone last night It&039;s my turn"
"We&039;ll see"
Odiana sta "Aldrick!"
The bigit over her shoulders The fabric could have wrapped around her twice "Quiet, love You know I&039;ll let you have what you want"
She smiled up at him, winsome "Truly?"
"Don&039;t I always" He bent to the woainst hily to his ainst his, and she reached up a hand to rake her nails through his hair, evidently delighted
Fidelias rubbed at the bridge of his nose, where tension had begun to gather into a headache, and walked a short distance away The horses arrived a uided over the ground Fidelias called to the other tho broke from their embrace only reluctantly, and the three saddled and mounted without further discussion
As he had predicted, the ride passed uneventfully Etan bounded along
before thee, silent squirrel, always just far enough into the shadows to be seen only in faint outline Fidelias followed the bounding, flickering shape of his fury without the need for conscious effort; he had been using Etan to track for hiuide him since he had been barely more than a boy
They crossed the Crown causeway and rode north and east through barren woodland filled with ragged pine trees, bra shape ofup several miles before them The mountain, Fidelias remembered, as well as the pine barrens around it, had a bad reputation for being hostile to hu near to ould be a safe area for his kind
Fidelias flexed his right foot in the stirrup as he rode, frowning The boot didn&039;t fit correctly without his knife in it He felt a faint and bitter shter than he&039;d given her credit for She&039;d seen an opportunity and exploited it ruthlessly, just as she&039;d been taught to do As her -patriserus, he felt an undeniable stirring of pride in her accomplishment
But as a professional, there was only a cold, tense frustration She should have becoerously unknown factor in the play of events If she was in the valley, there was no limit to how much havoc she could potentially wreak with his plans-and even if she wasn&039;t, the distraction of guarding against the possibility was nothing trivial in itself
Hoould he disrupt the plan in motion, were he in her place?
Fidelias considered it No That would be the wrong approach He preferred short, brutal solutions to such o wrong with finesse in a situation like this
Aht in a far less linear et to the nearest Steadholder, declare her status, and dragoon everyone she could lay her hands on into spreading word through the valley that some sort of mischief was abroad In that event, he&039;d have several dozen woodcrafty holders roa about the valley, and one of the and know it for what it was
If she did that, identifying herself and her location, matters would be simpler A swift stroke would remove her from the equation, and he could then muddy the waters until it was too late for the holders to stop
Aer of such a course, naturally She would need to be more circu as she went along, while he would by necessity play the hunter, beating the bushes to force her to ht attempt
Fidelias s to their strong suits Well enough, then The girl was talented, but inexperienced She wouldn&039;t be the first person he had outmaneuvered and destroyed She wouldn&039;t be the last
A flicker of motion from Etan warned Fidelias that the three riders were not alone in the grey shadows of the woods He drew his nal the others to do the sareens, broken only by the breathing of the three horses, the drip of rainwater froh of cold northern wind
Fidelias&039;s mount threw back its head and let out a short, shrill sound of fear The other two horses picked up on it, heads lifted high and eyes wide and white Odiana&039;s mount threw its head about and danced to one side, nervous and spooky Fidelias reached out to Va to the beasts around hi calm of the deep earth Fidelias felt the earth fury&039;s influence expand like a sloave, until it rippled over the horses, stealing away the restless agitation and letting their riders bring the beasts oncewatches," the water witch hissed She drew herand agate-hard "They are hungry"
Aldrick pursed his lips, then put one hand on his sword He didn&039;t otherwise straighten fro the whole ride
"Easy," Fideliasa hand on his horse&039;s neck "Let&039;s ive ourselves some open space around us"
They eased the horses forward into a clearing, and though the mounts were under control, they still tossed their heads restlessly, eyes and ears flicking about for son of whatever enemy they had scented
Fidelias led theave theh the trees, the wan grey light creating pools of shifting, fluid dih
He scanned the edges of the clearing until he spotted the vague outline of Etan&039;s fores of a patch of died his horse forward a step and addressed it directly "Show yourself Come out to speak beneath the sun and the sky"
For ahappened Then a shape within that dimness resolved itself into the for He stood tall and relaxed, his pale hair worn in a long braid across his scalp and down the nape of his neck Dark, wiry feathers had been worked into the braid His wore a buckskin belt and loincloth about his hips and nothinglike dark glass
At his side paced a herdbane, one of the tall predator birds of the plains beyond It s were so thickly built with muscle as to seem stumpy and cluleamed in tande claws upon its feet scratched through the bed of da the forest floor and tore at the earth beneath