Raven's Shadow (Raven #1)(6)

He eyed her small figure for a moment. She was even less impressive wet and cold than she had been held captive in the innkeeper's hand.

Tier had never actually met a Traveler before. But he was well used to dealing with frightened young things - the army had been filled with young men. Even tired and wet as he was, he knew better than to address those words head on - why would she believe anything he said? But if he didn't get her under shelter, sharing his warmth, she was likely to develop lung fever. That would defeat his entire purpose in saving her.

"Good even, lady," he said, with a fair imitation of a nobleman's bow despite the weight of the heavy saddle. "I am Tieragan of Redern - most people call me Tier." Then he waited.

She stared at him; he felt a butterfly-flutter of magic - then her eyes widened incredulously, as if she'd heard something more than he'd said. "I am Seraph, Raven of the Clan of Isolda the Silent. I give you greetings, Bard."

"Well met, Seraph," he said. Doubtless her answer would have conveyed a lot to a fellow Traveler. Maybe they'd even know why she addressed him as bard, doubtless some Traveler etiquette. "I am returning to Redern. If my map is accurate - and it hasn't been notably accurate so far - Redern is about two days' travel west and north of here."

"My clan, only Ushireh and I, was traveling to the village we just left," she returned, shivering now. "I don't know where Ushireh intended to go afterward."

Tier had been counting on being able to deliver her back to her people. "It was just the two of you?"

She nodded her head, watching him as warily as a hen before a fox.

"Do you have relatives nearby? Someone you could go to?" he asked.

"Traveling clans avoid this area," she said. "It is known that the people here are afraid of us."

"So why did your brother come here?" He shifted the saddle to a more comfortable hold, resting it against his hip.

"It is given to the head of a clan to know where shadows dwell," she replied obscurely. "My brother was following one such."

Tier's experience with mages had led him to avoid questioning them when they talked of magic - he found that he usually knew less after they were finished than he did when he started. Whatever had led the young man here, it had left Seraph on her own.

"What happened to the rest of your clan?" he asked.

"Plague," she said. "We welcomed a Traveling stranger to our fires one night. The next night one of the babies had a cough - by morning there were three of ours dead. The clan leader tried to isolate them, but it was too late. Only my brother and I survived."

"How old are you?

"Sixteen."

That was younger than he expected from her manner, though from her appearance, she could have easily been as young as thirteen. He shifted his saddle onto his shoulder to rest his arm. As he did so, he heard a thump and the saddle jerked in his hold. The arrow quivered in the thick leather of the saddle skirt, which presently covered his chest.

He threw himself forward and knocked her to the muddy ground underneath him. Holding her still despite her frantic battle to free herself of him, a hand keeping her quiet, he spoke to her in a toneless whisper.

"Quiet now, love. Someone out there is sending arrows our way; take a look at my saddle."

When she stilled, he slid his weight off of her. The grass was high enough to hide their movements in the dark. She rolled to her belly, but made no further move away from him. He rested a hand on her back to keep her in place until he could find their attacker in the dark. Her ribs vibrated with the pounding of her heart.

"He's two dozen paces beyond your horse," she whispered, "a little to the right."

He didn't question how she could see their attacker in the pitch-darkness of the forested night, but sneaked forward until he crouched in front of Skew where he held still, hoping that the mud that covered him head to toe would keep him from being a target for another arrow.

He glanced back to make certain that Seraph was still hidden, and stifled a curse.

She stood upright, her gaze locked beyond Skew. He assumed she was watching their attacker. Her clothes were dark enough to blend into the forested dark, but her pale hair caught the faint moonlight.

"Seraph," said a soft voice. It continued in a liquid tongue Tier had never heard before.

"Speak Common," answered Seraph in cold clear tones that could have come from an empress rather than a battered, muddy, half-grown girl. "Your tongue does not favor Traveler speech. You sound like a hen trying to quack."

Well, thought Tier, if our pursuer had intended to kill Seraph, he'd have done so already. He had a pretty good idea then who it was that had tried to put an arrow in his hide. He hadn't seen that Lord Wresen carried a bow, but there might have been one in the man's luggage.

"I have killed the one who would hurt you," continued the soft voice.

Tier supposed that it might have appeared that he'd been killed. He'd thrown himself down half a breath after the arrow hit, and the saddle and blanket made a lump on the ground that with the cover of tall grass might look like a body from a distance.

"Come with me, little one," Tier's would-be killer said. "I have shelter and food nearby. You can't stay out here alone. You'll be safe with me."

Tier could hear the lie in the man's words, but he didn't think Seraph could. He waited for the man to get close enough for Tier to find him, hoping that Seraph would not believe him. After spending two silver and four copper on her, as well as missing his dinner, Tier had something of an investment in her well-being.