Raven's Strike (Raven #2)(59)

"He's calmed down a lot this past year," said Toarsen. "He used to have a terrible temper. He'd go out and have a few at some tavern, then pick a fight with the biggest fool he could find. He quit doing that after Kissel beat the - "

Phoran cleared his throat and Toarsen ducked his head. "Beg pardon, my ladies. Kissel beat him pretty badly, and he stopped picking fights. Rufort told me once a man with a broken leg had a lot of time to lie on his back and think about what he was doing with his life."

Toarsen paused, then said, "They'd have had him killed soon - the Raptors and the Path's Masters. I think they might have already tried. One of the other Passerines was found dead not far from Rufort's room a few weeks before Tier was brought to us. He was a nasty piece of work, and no one missed him - but Kissel, who saw the body, told me the person who killed him was a big man like Rufort. We didn't think about it much, until you showed us the Path killed more of the Passerines than it graduated to Raptor status."

"Ielian I don't know as well," said Tier. "I remember him being quiet - and one of the better swordsmen."

"He's a good man," Toarsen said. "He gave an excellent account of himself in the battle in the Eyrie. There are few men I'd rather have at my back." He yawned.

Seraph stood up. "It's time for sleep. Phoran, you can take our room - "

But he was already shaking his head. "No, my lady. That I won't do. I'd never drive a lady from her bed. The barn is good enough for us - a bed of hay will be far softer than anything we've slept on these last weeks."

"Fast riding," commented Tier, "to make that trip in so short a time."

"Toarsen knows all the shortcuts, and our horses are grain-fed," said Phoran. He took a step toward the door, then stopped. "You didn't tell me why you were already sending Lehr out for the Healer."

"I brought back a gift from the Masters," said Tier. "Hopefully Brewydd will be able to take care of it. Nothing for you to worry about. Jes, can you take them out and get them settled with the others?"

"Wait," said Jes. "Hennea, before you slept you said to remind you about Papa, maps, and Colossae. You said it was important."

She frowned. "I don't remember."

"You will." Jes said confidently.

Lehr closed his eyes and let his body absorb the rhythm of the mare's trot. He'd never ridden a horse like this one.

Akavith may have sold her for far less than she'd have fetched from a nobleman's house, but it was still more money than Lehr had ever held in his hand before.

The chestnut mare shied a little, and Lehr opened his eyes to see what startled her. He didn't see anything, but he watched her mobile ears. There was something in the woods to the left.

It might have been nothing. But they'd been moving for several hours, and she'd handled flapping pheasants and a startled rabbit with remarkable aplomb.

He asked her to walk, and she shook her head in protest before slowing to a prance. See, she told him with each dancing step, I am not tired, and this is too slow.

Lehr breathed in and out slowly, as Brewydd had taught him. Quiet your mind, boy. Let your senses talk to you.

He smelled it then, wild and frightening, the monster lurking in the shadows to eat you when you weren't cautious enough.

"Jes," he said, drawing the mare to a halt. "What are you doing here?"

The wolf emerged from the trees as if he had just been waiting for Lehr's call. Cornsilk raised her delicate head and watched him, but she didn't tense under Lehr's hands. The wolf looked at him with Jes's dark eyes.

"I don't need protection," Lehr said, answering his own question.

The wolf sat down and scratched his ear with a hind leg, then rose to his feet with a snort that might have been a mild sneeze. He trotted up to the mare, ignoring Lehr entirely, and exchanged a muzzle-to-muzzle greeting. Then he started on down the narrow hunting trail without a backward look.

"Curse it, Jes," muttered Lehr. "I don't need help."

The wolf had disappeared behind a curve in the trail.

"Company is not so bad, though," he told the mare.

She snorted and leapt forward into a canter when he shifted his weight. Lehr grinned and squeezed a little with his calves. With a joyful toss of her head, she took off like a startled jackrabbit. When they blazed past Jes, he gave a joyful yip and joined in the chase.

It took them three days to reach Colbern.

As promised, the city was walled. It looked to be smaller than Leheigh, but Lehr supposed that was an effect of the wall itself. The space within would be limited, so the people lived closer together.

The gates of the city were not as impressive as the wall, being both lower and less sturdy. A battering ram would have them down in short order. There hadn't been a war in the area for generations, though, so Lehr supposed the gates were adequate. They were shut tight with makeshift yellow flags hanging over the top as a clear warning to passersby that the inhabitants were fighting a plague.

Jes flattened his ears and growled low.

"I smell it, too," Lehr told his brother. The stench of death - disease and rotting bodies. He pulled his tunic up so it covered his nose and dismounted.

Cornsilk appeared undisturbed by the smell, but she had been trained as a hunter. Blood and death would not fret her as they would most horses.