Lisa Shearin - Raine Benares 01 (25 page)

I
used my arm and body weight to shove Piaras behind me. It took what little
strength I had left, and I was sure he didn’t appreciate the gesture. I didn’t
care.

The
Guardians and the goblins had found each other among the trees, and judging
from the sounds, neither group was playing nice. It didn’t concern me, not now.
With everyone else occupied, it was just the four of us here in the small
clearing.

“I’m
not playing anything,” I told the goblin. “Games are fun, and I’m not having
any.”

“Then
you’re not playing the right ones.” Nukpana’s voice was soft, reminding me of
something slithering through dry leaves. “Though what you did to my Magh’Sceadu
was entertaining enough. Or should I say, what the Saghred did to my
Magh’Sceadu. Either way, it was very impressive, but you should be more
careful. Raine, isn’t it?”

My
skin did a full-body crawl at the sound of my first name crossing Sarad
Nukpana’s lips.

He
spoke, his tone pleasant. “I have long looked forward to our meeting.” He
considered me, his intense gaze holding me where I stood. “You have your
father’s eyes.”

I
just stared at him, shocked into silence, my breath stopped. I didn’t know who
my father was, but I did know I didn’t want him to be anyone Sarad Nukpana knew
and remembered.

He
noted my reaction, absorbed it, then discarded it.

“Playing
with the Soul Thief is dangerous,” he chided. “I would not want you to damage
yourself prematurely. I have need of you later. I agree with you, games should
be enjoyable.” His attention fixed on Piaras, and his smile spread, fangs
clearly visible. “A hatchling nightingale. The power in your song was
unexpected, but hardly unwelcome.”

Mychael
Eiliesor circled off to the left, putting himself firmly between me and Piaras
and the Khrynsani grand shaman. With his Guardians in the forest all around us,
he probably wasn’t too concerned with us escaping.

“You
would have done better to have remained in your embassy,” the elven Guardian
told the goblin. “As would your king.”

“Our
quarry has been as elusive as she is desirable,” Nukpana said, glancing at me.
“Like you, I have been forced to seek her out.” One side of the goblin’s lips
quirked upward as if from a private joke. “What are the odds? The two of us
competing for the attentions of the same fair lady.”

“There
is no competition.” Eiliesor’s voice was low and intense, and I felt his power
building. So did the amulet. The slaughter in the forest around us was nothing
compared to what the spellsinger had ready to unleash.

“Are
you that confident in your success?” the goblin said. “Listen all around you. I
do not hear many human or elven voices.”

I
could see Eiliesor’s profile, and caught the slightest hint of a smile.

“You’re
right, those screams are goblin.”

“Then
we should hurry to conclude our business,” Nukpana said, completely unruffled.
“Mistress Benares, you have something that belongs to me. I hired your human
employee to recover it, but my attempts to retrieve it have been plagued by
unexpected complications.” A hint of fang again glimmered from a slow smile.
“Complications that for the most part have been eliminated.”

Simon
Stocken. Nigel Nicabar. Me. Piaras, for standing next to me.

“You
presume much, Primaru Nukpana,” Eiliesor said. “Such as ownership. The beacon
is a Conclave artifact. That ownership has not changed—nor will it.”

“Ownership
is possession,” the goblin said, his black eyes lingering on me.

Both
Nukpana and Eiliesor were suddenly closer. I hadn’t seen either one of them
move.

The
elf’s eyes narrowed. “That’s far enough.”

“On
the contrary, Paladin Eiliesor, I’ll be going much farther.”

I
knew what was about to happen. Sometimes a girl doesn’t mind being fought over.
This wasn’t one of those times. I was in no condition to fight my own battles
right now, but I wasn’t about to stick around to become someone’s spoils of
war.

Mychael
Eiliesor didn’t move; he just dropped the glamour that had kept his power
masked. The air around him rippled like the surface of deep water in the wake
of something large just below the surface, something dangerous. The elf’s magic
reached Sarad Nukpana. The goblin flinched. If you blinked, you’d have missed
it. I didn’t blink, and I didn’t miss it.

I
wasn’t the only one who sensed it. I was also certain Mychael Eiliesor had no
illusions about who and what he was dealing with.

“Take
the boy and go.”

Eiliesor’s
voice was calm—and inside my head. Piaras was as transfixed on the scene before
us as I was. I wasn’t about to wait for the Guardian to change his mind. I
began backing away, pulling Piaras with me. I was sure Mychael Eiliesor could
take care of himself. You didn’t get to be paladin if you couldn’t. I was in no
condition to take care of anyone right now, and it wasn’t just me who was in
danger. I had Piaras to think of.

“Go.
I can deal with this.”

I
hesitated a moment longer, then we ran.

We
found our way out of The Ruins at the south end of the
Sorcerers District near the canal at Rowan Street. It
wasn’t close to where I wanted to be, but since what I wanted most was to be
out of The Ruins, I wasn’t going to quibble about the details.

The
streets were deserted, which I expected for both the hour and section of town.
Rowan Street was largely residential, and the residents were asleep. I would
like to have been asleep in my bed, but for the moment I was just grateful to
be breathing.

Piaras
and I were doing our fair share of that. Once I got my bearings—and my legs
back under me—the final sprint through The Ruins was uneventful, but we were
both more than a little winded. Running, combined with multiple near-death
experiences, will do that to you.

Once
over the bridge separating The Ruins from the District, we quickly crossed
Rowan Street and stopped well out of the lamplight next to a vacant townhouse.
We needed a moment to catch our breath, but the last thing I wanted to do was
set off anyone’s house wards.

“We
can’t go home, can we?” Piaras asked. From his tone, he knew the answer to that
one as well as I did.

“Not
yet. We’re not far from Phaelan’s ship. We’ll go there first. I’ll have him
send word to Garadin. I need to talk to him. We’ll also let Tarsilia know that
we’re safe.”

“But
we’re not safe.”

I got
the feeling Piaras really wanted me to tell him he was wrong. Unfortunately, I
couldn’t do that.

“Safe
is relative,” I told him. “We’re not within a mile of Sarad Nukpana or anyone
named Mal’Salin. That’ll have to do for now.”

I
knew what was hanging around my neck. Now I needed to know how to get rid of
it, without it or anyone else getting rid of me. Mychael Eiliesor was best
qualified to tell me how. He would be looking for me, but I was going to find
him first. Enough was enough.

Piaras
didn’t say anything else, but I could virtually hear the wheels turning in his
head. He had done a lot of growing up tonight. You didn’t get to choose the
events that boosted you into adulthood. If you were lucky, it was an event that
in the future would trigger pleasant memories. If you weren’t lucky, you got
nightmares. What I said next might keep the awakening-to-your-own-screams part
to a minimum for Piaras. No doubt he was trying to make sense of everything he
had seen tonight—including me. But I thought I owed him the assurance that,
unlike the things that had attacked us, I wasn’t a monster. It’d be nice if I
could believe it myself.

I
wanted to ask Piaras about what he’d done to the Magh’Sceadu, or what he’d
tried to do. It was a repelling spell, something every magic user should know
for their own protection, but it was in goblin and Piaras had done it very
well. Almost too well. I wanted to be sure it had been either Tarsilia or
Garadin who had taught it to him, but I decided it would be better not to bring
that up right now. The less Piaras dwelled on what had almost happened to us,
the better.

That
brought up something I wanted to forget completely.

You
have your father’s eyes.

Suddenly,
a cloaked and hooded figure came running around the end of the next block. This
time of the night, anyone in that big of a hurry couldn’t have been up to any
good. He spotted us immediately, and Rowan Street really didn’t offer any
places to hide.

The
man, or whatever, had come from the direction of the outer city, not The Ruins.
That was one point in his favor, though I wasn’t ready to award him any more. I
stood my ground, and Piaras did likewise. We had more than had our fill of
cloaked and hooded figures, and were sick, quite literally, of running.
Besides, there was only one of him. After Nukpana’s pet shadow monsters, I felt
able to deal with anything one lone figure could dish out. And if magic wasn’t
enough, there were always my favorites—fists, knees, or steel. I drew my
ill-gotten knives. I was armed and ready. He might as well know it.

The
figure stopped about ten feet away from us and threw back his hood.

“I
thought you two would be happier to see me,” Garadin said.

When
finally I found my voice, it was a little higher than usual. “Are you trying to
get yourself skewered? Don’t run at people like that!”

Garadin
went to Piaras first and enfolded him in a crushing hug. I still had bare
blades in my hands, so I guess I couldn’t fault his first choice. I sheathed
them.

“How
did you find us?” Piaras asked, when Garadin let him breathe again.

“How
could I
not
find you?” My godfather gave me the same bone-crushing hug.
“I’m surprised you two didn’t wake up the entire District.” He held me at arms
length and gave me an accusing look. “You took the amulet off again, didn’t
you?”

“Not
exactly. By the way, we can add a couple of names to the list of people who
want this thing. Chigaru Mal’Salin is one of them.”

That
tidbit surprised Garadin.

“Piaras
and I were his guests for the evening,” I said. “He told me what the amulet is
and what it does. We’d still be there, but we didn’t want to outstay our
welcome, so we left. The prince thought we were being rude and invited us
back.”

“His
invitation involved swords and crossbows,” Piaras clarified.

“And
I ran into Sarad Nukpana again,” I continued to Garadin, who still looked a
little stunned. “He has his new pet king with him. I’ll give you all the
details, but we might want to go somewhere less public first.”

Phaelan’s
ship was moored in the deepest part of the lagoon. Though Mermeia had ample
deepwater docks, Phaelan had exchanged his dock in Whitaker Creek for a mooring
after our encounter at Nigel’s. He valued his ship and his crew, and always
said he felt safer surrounded by water. I thought it was a good idea then. I
thought it was an even better idea now. Anybody can walk down a wooden dock; no
one I knew could walk on water.

Oddly
enough, my fear of water didn’t extend to a fear of being on a ship. Boats were
another matter. Boats were small. Boats could tip over. To me, a ship was like
a big wooden island. As a general rule, islands didn’t sink. I applied the same
rule to ships. I knew ships could sink, but since one had yet to sink under me,
I saw no reason to change my rule.

Garadin
went to arrange transportation while Piaras and I waited hidden behind a stack
of crab pots awaiting repair. Drake’s Landing was home to the majority of
Mermeia’s fishermen, and was bustling and noisy as the boats were coming in
from a night of fishing. There was more than enough controlled chaos going on
to hide a pair of newly fugitive elves.

The
sunrise was still hours away. I had seen the sunrise yesterday and had hoped to
avoid being awake for it today. Now I was just grateful to be alive.

“Some
of Maira’s sugar knots would be nice right now,” Piaras said wistfully.

From
his uncertain glance, food wasn’t all Piaras had on his mind. He just wasn’t
sure how to bring it up.

I had
a pretty good idea what he wanted to talk about.

“Sugar
knots would be good,” I agreed, looking out over the harbor. Part of me was
perfectly willing to wait for Piaras to bring up the subject in his own time;
the other part just wanted to get it over with. I didn’t know what to tell him.
I didn’t understand what had happened to me either, so I certainly wasn’t
qualified to explain it to anyone else. But once we got out to the
Fortune
,
I was going to be explaining it to Garadin, or at least trying to, so I might
as well start practicing now.

Piaras
beat me to it. Patience wasn’t high on the list of teenage virtues. It wasn’t
at the top of mine, either.

“Are
you all right?”

His
voice was quiet and the question tentative, as if he already knew the answer,
but didn’t really want to hear it. He wasn’t inquiring about my health. He
wanted to know if the Raine who had come out of The Ruins was the same Raine
who had gone in. It was a good question. I wished I knew the answer.