Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera #3)(164)

But Ehren had said that this invasion force was infinitely larger than any previously seen. And they had no intention of striking at Alera and returning to their homeland. The Canim, for whatever reason, were there to stay, and the implications of that were terrifying.

For the Canim, their attack upon Alera was literally a do-or-die situation. They had nothing to lose, everything to gain, and they would be certain that the only way to ensure their own safety would be to destroy the folk of Alera, le-gionare and holder, city and steadholt alike. They were trapped, desperate, and Tavi well knew the kind of berserk, fearless ferocity any trapped creature could display.

He watched the fires for a moment more, then said to Kitai, "This is the first time I've ever seen the sea. I wish it hadn't been like this."

She did not answer him-but her warm hand slipped to his, and their fingers intertwined.

"How did you see the fires in the first place?" Tavi asked Kitai. "What were you doing all the way out here?"

"Hunting," she said quietly.

Tavi frowned. "Hunting what?"

"Answers."

"Why?"

"Because I killed the man you wished to make talk. I thought it proper to make amends for that discourtesy." She looked from the distant pyres to Tavi. "When you were returning to your camp with the prisoners, I saw the High Lady of Antillus ride from the city by the great bridge. Since then, I have tracked her. She has gone to ground nearby. I can show you where. Perhaps she will have the answers you wanted to find."

Tavi frowned and stared at Kitai for a moment. "Do you have any idea how dangerous she is?"

Kitai shrugged. "She did not see me."

Tavi gritted his teeth for a moment, then said, "She's too much for us to handle."

"Why?" Kitai said.

"She's a High Lady," Tavi said. "If you had any idea all the things she could do..."

"She is a coward," Kitai said, contempt in her tone. "She lets others do all her killing for her. She arranges accidents. Things in which she will never be found and blamed."

"Which does not mean that she couldn't burn us to cinders with a flick of her hand," Tavi said. "It can't be done."

"Like taking Max from the Grey Tower could not be done, Aleran?"

Tavi opened his mouth to argue. Then he closed it again and scowled at Kitai. "This is different." He narrowed his eyes. "But... why in the world would she be all the way out here? You say she's camped?"

Kitai nodded. "A narrow gulch not far from here."

Tavi's legs ached terribly, and his belly was going to be screaming for food once he got the long run out of his system. Lady Antillus was a deadly opponent, and with no witnesses, out here in the wilderness, she would almost certainly kill them both if she became aware of them-but the chance to learn more about any arrangements the traitorous Citizen might have made with the enemy was irreplaceable. "Show me, " he told Kitai.

She rose and led him farther into the night, over the crest of the hill and down its far side, where the ground rose to the rocky bones of ancient mountains that had been worn down to rounded hills, broken here and there by jagged fissures. There, the heavy, low foliage and large trees of the river valley gave way to lower scrub brush, scrawny evergreens, and patches of brambles that, in some places, had grown into thickets several feet tall.

Kitai tensed slightly, as she began to walk along a thicket, and she slowed down to stalk forward in careful, perfect silence. Tavi emulated her, and she led him through a narrow opening in the thicket. After a few feet, they were forced to drop to a crawl. Small thorns jabbed at Tavi, no matter how carefully or slowly he moved, and he had to clench his teeth and strangle his own painful exhalations before they could give him away.