Raven's Strike (Raven #2)(72)

"That's Mother's warding." Rinnie grinned. "It didn't used to do that until she reset them after killing the troll. You should have seen Lehr jump the first time he set foot on it afterward."

Phoran stepped cautiously past, but other than a brief, painless jolt, nothing happened to him. "I'm still alive," he said. "I guess that means I'm not what she was warding against."

When Rinnie finally stopped it was none too soon for Phoran. He dropped to the ground, lay on his back, and panted. Most of it was for her benefit because it made her laugh, but lying down felt good.

"Quit fooling around," she told him. "You can help gather."

When he obediently rolled to his feet she drew him over to a plant that looked somewhat like all the other plants around.

"Look, this is tingleroot, you can tell it because it has lacy edges on its leaves. It blooms with small yellow flowers in the spring - that's the best time to harvest. But even a late-harvest root is better than none." She looked at him sternly. "We never pick more than one plant in three - so that there will be more here next year."

"I promise not to pick them all," he told her.

Her eyes narrowed, and she leaned forward. "Your eyes are laughing. This is serious."

"Yes, princess, I know," he apologized. "I'm just not used to taking orders."

"All right," she conceded. "I can see that. The boys don't like it when I tell them what to do - but they don't usually laugh either."

"Possibly because they don't need your directions as much as I usually do."

She tilted her head at him, then grinned. "You like it. All right. Go harvest. Remember to get a stick and loosen the dirt around the plant 'cause it's the root we need."

With the first plant as a template, Phoran found two or three others that were probably tingleroot. He took the whole plant though, so Rinnie could make certain that's what he had. His search took him around a pile of boulders higher than his head, and he found a whole grove of tingleroot. Or something that looked like it to his untrained eye.

He was in the process of loosening the dirt around a stubborn plant when Rinnie's squeak of surprise brought him into a crouch. He waited to hear something more, not wanting to charge out and make an idiot of himself.

"Hey, little girl, where's your crazy brother this time?" It was a deep voice, a man's voice, and the tone had Phoran setting his harvest on the ground and loosening his sword.

The stranger's tones quieted, like a cat stalking a bird. "Or is it Lehr's footsteps I've been tracking instead? Tracking the great hunter himself, the hero who slew an ogre. Did he leave you here while he went off hunting? Did he leave behind such tender meat for me?"

The avarice in the man's voice tightened Phoran's hand on the hilt of his sword. Phoran knew that he was going to hurt this lout now. Kill him if he was given enough excuse. Rinnie was a child; only a sick man sounded like that around a child.

"It was a troll, and my mother killed it." Rinnie sounded calm, only a slight quiver betrayed her fear. But then she knew that Phoran was listening to them, knew that Phoran wasn't as incompetent with steel as he was with plants.

"What are you doing here, Olbeck?" she said stoutly. "Shouldn't you be in the middens with the rest of the swine?"

Something happened. Phoran heard it in the stretch of time between Rinnie's comment and Olbeck's next words. Maybe he'd struck at her, and she'd dodged his hand.

Phoran worked his way quietly around the boulders and the evergreen tree that grew next to them. He didn't want to give Olbeck warning that she wasn't alone and give him a chance to take her hostage before Phoran could get between them.

"My father will have your family out of that farm now," he said. "I told him that Toarsen is here. Don't you think I'd recognize the Sept's brother? I'm the steward's son, bitch. I know that Toarsen and his brother don't see eye to eye. My father will tell Avar that his brother has been sniffing around here and planning treachery. Avar will believe him. Maybe he'll have your father beheaded."

"You are so stupid, Olbeck," said Rinnie in disgust. "I wonder that you can put your clothes on right-side out every morning - or is that something one of the boys who follow you about does for you?"

"That may be," Olbeck agreed silkily, and there was a sound of ripping cloth. "But you're - " And then he used some words that Phoran hoped Rinnie didn't know the meaning of.

The sound and Rinnie's surprised cry were too much. Rather than working his way into a better position, Phoran rushed out from behind the boulders and used his shoulder to knock the stranger two or three paces down the hill - away from Rinnie, who was huddled on the ground. He didn't take time to assess her condition before he stepped between her and the stranger.

Olbeck was nearly as big as Kissel, and Phoran found the cool resolve he'd discovered in the heart of the battle with the Path. He smiled.

Regaining his balance, Olbeck drew the sword that hung at his hip.

"Don't hurt him," Rinnie whispered frantically. "If he dies, it'll go hard for my family. He's the Sept's steward's son."

"That's right," said Olbeck with a sneer. "Who are you? One of the twelfth sons of a fourteenth that Toarsen likes to hang about? The Sept will crush you and your friends when he comes, summoned by my father's letter."