Captain's Fury (20 page)

"Sir?" Crassus said.

"Arnos can't possibly fault me being careful to make sure we aren't subjecting a Citizen to an injustice."

Crassus narrowed his eyes and began nodding. "And he'll figure you're doing it to protect yourself from legal consequences. Because that's why he'd do it."

Tavi nodded. "Crassus, confirm their identities and be thorough. Make it take until sundown. Go."

"Yes, sir," Crassus said. The young commander banged a fist to his chest and turned his horse, nudging it into a rather listless trot toward the prisoners.

"Max," Tavi said. "Get Schultz, and tell him to pick two spears of men who can keep their mouths shut. You'll take them and stage a raid tonight, once it's full dark. Something noisy but not too spectacular, and leave a couple of the Canim weapons we've recovered lying around. Arnos will have sent some men to keep an eye on things by then. Handle them, but don't kill anyone if you can possibly avoid it."

"Understood," Max said. He lowered his voice, and said, "Crassus is right, you know. The Senator will only send you after them and relieve you for incompetence when you don't bring them back and carry out the order."

"Let me worry about that, Max. Get moving. I'm going to send word to Cyril to find out if—"

"Captain," Araris interrupted.

Tavi glanced back at the
singulare
, who nodded down the line. Tavi turned to see Kitai thundering up the column toward him, with Enna and a dozen Marat trailing her. As they slowed, Max released the windcrafting that surrounded them, saluted Tavi, and turned his horse to head back down the column.

The Marat came to a halt in a blowing, disorderly clump all around them as Kitai drew her horse up beside Tavi's, her lovely face expressionless. The Marat called to one another, trading what were apparently gibes and boasts in their own tongue. Several of the younger riders, as restless and energetic as their mounts, continued dancing in circles around the larger group, their horses shaking their heads and rearing from time to time.

Tavi turned intent eyes to Kitai right away. It might have looked sloppy and exuberant, but the Marat had long since worked out their own method to veil conversations from any windcrafters who might be attempting to listen from afar.

Kitai's leg bumped against Tavi's as their horses walked, and he could sense the tension in her. They stretched out their hands to one another at the same time and briefly entwined their fingers. "
Chala
," Kitai said. "I worried for you during the battle."

"
You
worried for
me?
Tavi asked. He couldn't help but smile a little. "You were the one leading an attack on an enemy position."

Kitai sniffed. "That was nothing. I didn't get close enough to lift a blade." She cast a general glower around them at the Marat of the Horse Clan. "They got there first."

"Still. It was well-done."

She arched a pale eyebrow at him. "Yes. Of course it was." Her haughty expression faltered, though, and she glanced around them, making sure that no one was close enough to overhear them through the cacophony of the Horse Clan. "There is something you must see."

Tavi nodded at once, flashed a hand signal to the First Spear, and turned his horse out of the slow column of marching men. Kitai's horse wheeled perfectly in time with his, and he supposed that an outsider looking on would have thought that he was leading her and not the other way around. The Marat escort joined them as they cantered to the east and away from the column.

They rode for most of two miles, by Tavi's estimate, the sharp rise of the bluff on their right, until they reached a small copse that had grown up where a burbling spring spilled water down from the higher ground. Two Marat horses were grazing on fresh spring grass outside the trees.

The little company rode up to the copse and dismounted. Tavi passed Acteon's reins over to Enna, and followed Kitai into the trees.

"We took a prisoner,
chala"
she said without preamble, her pace never slowing. "An Aleran. A messenger."

Tavi hissed in sudden excitement. "Yes? What did he say?"

"That he would speak only to you."

They brushed through a few yards of undersized evergreens that hid whatever was beyond them from view. When they emerged, Tavi found himself in a small clearing, where a pair of Marat warriors stood with bows in hand and arrows on strings, calmly regarding a man seated on the ground between them.

Tavi blinked and lifted his eyebrows, recognizing the man—the rebel scout he'd subdued back at his aborted ambush of the Canim column. The man was wearing the same clothes, minus all his gear, which had been placed in a neat pile several feet away from him.

The scout glanced up at him and blinked twice before his own eyes widened in recognition. "You," he said. "Bloody crows."

Tavi felt one corner of his mouth lift in a smile. "Good afternoon," he said. "We've got to stop meeting like this."

The scout looked uncertain for a moment, then barked out a short laugh. "Aye, m'lord."

"I'm no lord," Tavi replied. "Rufus Scipio, Captain of the First Aleran."

The man bowed his head slightly. "Captain. My name is Durias. I'm a centurion of the First Freehold Legion auxiliaries."

"Freehold, centurion?" Tavi asked.

"The capital city of Free Alera, Captain." He lifted his chin with a slight but undeniable glitter of defiance in his eyes. "Our capital. The freemen's capital."

Tavi nodded. "I see. I'm told you bear a message."

The man nodded and slipped a hand inside his tunic.

Both Marat drew their bows, and the deadly steel tips gleamed as they oriented on Durias. In the same instant, Kitai's sword hissed from its sheath.

Durias froze, his eyes very wide. He licked his lips, glancing back and forth between the weapons and Tavi.

"Slowly, centurion," Tavi said, keeping his voice calm. "You'll have to excuse my friends. We've had problems with more than one assassin, and they tend to err on the side of caution."

Durias swallowed and—very slowly—withdrew a small bundle of cloth from beneath his tunic. He bowed his head and offered it out to Tavi on both of his upturned palms. "Nasaug bade me give you this," he said quietly.

Kitai stalked forward and took the cloth, then returned with it to Tavi's side. Tavi frowned down at the cloth. It looked vaguely familiar. Then he realized what he was holding. A plain, worn tunic—specifically, Ehren's tunic, the one he'd been wearing when Tavi had last seen him.

Tavi's fingers trembled a little in their hurry to unfold the cloth, revealing the tunic's contents. Two
ludus
pieces resided within. One was a white
legionare
, the missing piece from his own set. The second was a Knight of black stone, from a much larger, less finely carved set.

Tavi chewed on his lower lip and nodded absently to the Marat guards. They eased back on their bowstrings, relaxing once more, their expressions never changing.

"I recognize it," Tavi said quietly. "Did he send anything else with you?"

Durias nodded. "Nasaug said to tell you that in most games, this would be a poor trade, but that it is one he is willing to offer, provided you—and only you—come to speak to him."

Durias smiled a little and spread his hands. "Then Nasaug will have exchanged a
legionare
for a Knight, and profited thereby."

Tavi considered the pieces on Ehren's tunic for a moment. "Nasaug plays
ludus
well," he said. "Surely he would think me a fool to sacrifice a First Lord for the sake of a Knight."

Tavi drew in a deep breath. This could very well be a trap. The Canim were cunning and ruthless when it came to warfare. It was, in fact, a point of pride to them. In war, there was no such thing as cheating, no rules, no mercy. Tavi had no doubt that Nasaug would not hesitate to deny his enemy a valuable resource like Ehren—unless there was a greater gain to be had in keeping him alive.

Simultaneously, though, the Canim of the warrior caste seemed to adhere to a rigid standard of honor. They respected strength, courage, and skill, and Tavi had somehow managed to demonstrate all three during the first desperate days of battle at the Elinarch.

Tavi clenched a fist in frustration. This wasn't merely an offer to parley. It was a test of his commitment to the concept. Nasaug would not make a second offer. To say nothing of the fact that Ehren's life hung in the balance.

"
Chala
," Kitai whispered, brushing her fingers against his arm. "Are you sure?"

"Stubborn. Proud. Stupid." She sighed and leaned forward to kiss him lightly on the mouth, her lips warm and sweet. She settled back again, and said, "I would hit you on the head with a rock and drag you away from this. But it would only shatter the rock."

Tavi gave her a quick, warm smile, and turned to the captive scout. "Very well, centurion, get your gear. Whatever happens, this ought to be an interesting conversation."

Chapter 15

Durias set off at a quick pace, and the former slave's stocky body moved with surprising grace and speed over the open ground. If Tavi had not been mounted, he would barely have been able to keep the pace, despite having kept himself in training for overland marches beside his own men. As it was, Acteon followed Durias at a lazy canter, and the miles passed by. The bluff beside them gradually dwindled to a steep hillside, then blended into the gently rolling terrain of the Vale.

After about an hour, Durias swerved to the right, leading Tavi into a young wood. They passed through it and descended into a narrow ravine that Tavi could not even see until Durias stepped into it. The ravine wound along an ancient streambed, and the roots of trees dangled out of the rough earth-and-stone walls on either side of him. The path at the bottom of the ravine divided several times, and finally ascended into an old-growth wood, completely enclosed by a canopy of fresh spring leaves. The earth was covered with low grasses, and those sparse enough. Shafts of sunlight peeked through the trees, here and there, and the sound of the wind in the leaves was a constant, murmuring susurrus.

Nasaug was waiting for them.

Tavi recognized the enormous, black-furred Cane at once. Most of nine feet tall, even in his hunched, casual posture, the Cane wore armor of bloodred steel, and bore an enormous, slightly curved sword in a scabbard at his side. His ears flicked forward, orienting on Tavi and Durias, and Tavi saw Nasaug's nostrils flare as he quested for their scents.

Tavi took a moment to scan his surroundings. If he needed to flee suddenly, he wanted to know which direction offered him the best chance of evading pursuit. More to the point, he was sure that Nasaug was not the only Cane present. Tavi couldn't see them, but the wolflike beings rarely operated in anything but groups.

Tavi nudged Acteon forward, and the horse snorted and tossed his head at the feral predator smell of the Cane. He sidestepped for a nervous second, but Tavi guided him forward with a light touch on the reins, and the battle-trained mount continued, until they stopped perhaps ten feet from Nasaug.

"Captain," Nasaug growled. His voice was a deep, resonant thing, though his Aleran was chewed and mangled by his fangs and jaws as he spoke it. He tilted his head slightly to the right.

"Nasaug," Tavi replied, mirroring the gesture. "Where's my man?"

The Cane's ears twitched in what Tavi recognized as a gesture of approval. Nasaug growled something under his breath, and another Cane, smaller, his fur grizzled and thick with scars, appeared from around the trunk of the tree, leading Ehren with him.

The Cursor's wrists were bound with leather straps, his shirt was smeared with grime, and there were dark circles under his eyes, but other than that he seemed whole.

Tavi reached into a pocket and withdrew the black ludus piece Nasaug had sent. He tossed it to the Canim leader, who caught it with a casual flick of one pawlike hand.

Nasaug nodded to Tavi and growled something else. The older Cane drew a knife from his belt, and Tavi felt himself tense up. His concerns were groundless. The knife parted Ehren's bonds, and then the old Cane returned it to its sheath.

Tavi nodded, drew his knife from his belt, and offered the hilt to Ehren. The Cursor took it with a nod of thanks, and promptly turned to watch their backs.