Set in Stone (31 page)

If she thought his reaction was understanding, she was more deluded than he'd thought.

Ilse joined them, "Verena, good work tonight."

"Thank you, Captain." A frown cracked her excited façade. "Good thing it worked. I didn't really bring supplies for a long siege."

Captain Ilse nodded. "Good thing it worked."

"We need to find more stones."

Ilse turned to Connor and settled the full weight of her angry stare on him. He suddenly became acutely aware of his very dangerous position. Ilse and her tiny band had somehow just defeated Rory's entire army.

Connor was her prisoner. Again.

Chapter 32

"Connor, you betrayed my trust."

To Connor's surprise, the criticism cut him to the bone, and that just made him angry. "Just like you betrayed mine."

"How so?" Ilse looked genuinely startled.

"I promised to show a group of lost strangers how to get back home. You never said you'd invaded our country or kidnapped our high lord's daughter. Do you really think I could let you drag her away to die?"

"You don't know what you're talking about. Now all these people's lives are at risk because of your rash action."

His rash action?

"You invaded our land. All you had to do was leave."

"It's not that easy."

"Adults always say that when they're making excuses."

"And children never want to realize there's a past before every present."

"You've made enough mess of the present. Why should I worry about what you did in the past?"

"It's not my actions that you should worry about."

Connor leaned back against the wall. These Grandurians made no sense. She spoke the Obrioner language well, but maybe she really didn't understand what the words meant.

Just then, the sibling Petralists entered the room. Tall, shapely Anika led, her long blond hair blowing out behind her as she walked, her beautiful face set in angry lines.

She advanced on Connor, one fist half-raised. "You! I should break you bones."

Connor pressed back against the wall and wished he knew how to control the speed he'd used to get into this mess. Anika looked angry enough to kill him, and after watching her stand toe-to-toe with Captain Rory, it wouldn't be hard.

"Easy," Ilse said to the angry woman.

Anika bared her teeth in a snarl. "You make me look fool. Erich no stop laughing."

She probably had looked ridiculous, with her hands bound by his leather jacket and her hair tied to that tree. Served her right for scaring him so bad.

Erich pushed past Anika, his broad face split by a wide grin. His blue eyes twinkled and he clapped Connor hard on the shoulder. "You good boy. No laugh so hard ever."

Anika said something angrily to Erich in Grandurian, and he only grinned wider. "I laugh so hard, break face. She angry face, look like monkey butt in tree."

Verena clapped her hands over her mouth but could not totally suppress a burst of silvery laughter. Anika's scowl deepened, and she took one angry step toward her brother, but Ilse restrained her with one hand. With the other hand, Ilse rubbed her face to try to conceal her own smile.

Connor looked from Erich to Anika, "What's a monkey?"

They laughed harder.

Anika shouted and pushed Erich away. He waved to Connor and headed down the central hall that led deeper into the manor. Anika then rounded on Connor, who shrank back from her fury.

Looming over him, she said in a threatening tone, "I beat you head unless you tell about man."

"What man?"

She gestured toward the steps outside. "Man I fight. Strong hands."

"Captain Rory?"

"Rory?" she repeated slowly, and her angry glare fell away, replaced by a little smile. His name sounded foreign and far more exotic in her strongly accented voice. "Captain?"

Connor was happy to talk if it diverted her anger. "Yes. He commands the army."

"Is very good. We wrestle again."

"I'm sure you will." She made less sense every second, but it seemed to make her happy. She might be trying to gather information to plan their next fight, but her questions seemed too general. He didn't think he'd revealed any of Rory's secrets, but she looked far too pleased. Maybe he had.

Captain Ilse said, "I hope this Captain Rory is as smart as he is brave." She gestured toward the outer door and Anika moved off in that direction.

Ilse turned back to Connor and gave him a long look that sapped his new-found good humor. He didn't regret anything he'd done, except maybe running in here and getting captured. Too bad the army failed.

"You are wearing Petralist battle leathers," Ilse said.

"Ah, yes. It's on loan."

Ilse cocked her head a little to one side. "That's the jacket of a Boulder, but you exhibited the speed of a Strider tonight."

"He didn't do a very good job of it," Verena said.

"It was the first time I tried."

"I'm surprised they gave you basalt in the middle of a battle if you'd never really tried it before."

So it was basalt that fueled the Striders' super speed. Probably the same for the Grandurian Wingrunner.

"Well, they didn't really give me the basalt," Connor said sheepishly. "I sort of borrowed it."

Verena laughed and Ilse said, "So they loan out Boulder battle leathers to untried Striders now? I find that unusual."

This conversation was going all the wrong directions. "Well, since I left my jacket with Anika, this was the only thing that sort of fit."

"I prefer granite," Verena said. "It's kind of bland, but not bad. Basalt just tastes like dirty socks."

"You sound like Hamish. He's the only person I know who thinks rocks taste different."

"Really?"

"Aye. He thought marble tasted spicy."

Verena smiled, a thoughtful look on her face, and said softly, "It does."

He was talking too much again. Then again, this might provide an opportunity. "I'll have to introduce you. You two can eat rocks together."

"We don't really eat them, you know."

Connor shrugged.

"I would very much like to meet this Hamish."

"Maybe later," Ilse interrupted. "Right now you have stones to prep."

Verena stood. "Be safe, Connor."

As she disappeared deeper into the manor house, Ilse said, "Connor, you present a unique opportunity."

"For who?" That didn't sound good. Were her torture skills getting rusty?

"For both of us. I'd like to throw you in the dungeon in chains for what you've done, but I need you."

"Really?"

Ilse nodded with a rueful grin. "We've driven this Captain Rory back for the time being, but he'll return."

Tallan's Eye, he would, and despite Verena's rocks and Anika's wrestling moves, they wouldn’t take Captain Rory by surprise again.

"I don't want to hurt them, but if they don't keep their distance I will."

"It would be easier if you hadn't invaded our land and kidnapped a bunch of people."

"Be that as it may. Tell your Captain Rory to leave the town alone. He is not to attack again. We've already proven we can defend ourselves. Next time, we'll kill his men, not just scare them. We'll also kill all of the Cutters."

"Why?" Connor couldn't hide his dismay.

What if Rory attacked again? How could he not?

"Economics. With no Cutters, the production of the quarry would be cut by at least ninety percent. Rory won't risk that."

"Why are you doing this?" Connor asked angrily. "I thought you just wanted to go home."

"You interfered. That's not an option any longer. Rory knows the reasons behind our actions, and what he must deliver for us to withdraw."

Connor forced his hands to unclench, fought down the urge to punch her in the face. She would just beat him up. She'd made Shona look like a clumsy fool.

"I'll tell him."

Ilse leaned forward, her face hard. "If you betray me again, I'll flay the skin from your bones." Connor cringed away from the cold certainty in her eyes. "And I'll do the same to every person you know in this village."

"I won't," Connor assured, fighting not to let her see him tremble.

"Now go."

He bolted for the exit, but instead of following the army off the southern slope of the plateau, he rounded the end of the manor house and headed for the road to Alasdair.

Before anyone could give chase, he threw aside all restraint on the Strider curse that now filled him with restless energy. This time he kept his feet as he tripled his fastest speed and raced for Alasdair.

He would deliver the message to Rory, but first he had to talk with Hamish and Jean.

Chapter 33

"Whoa." Hamish shared an incredulous look with Jean after Connor finished relating the battle at the manor house. "Are you serious?"

"I can hardly believe it, and I lived it," Connor said. The three sat around Jean's kitchen table. Old Mhairi hadn't even threatened Connor with her tonic when he arrived, but left to tend to a patient while they talked.

"So you really are Cursed, aren't you?" Jean asked.

Connor nodded, and it struck him that although he'd experienced so much in the past two days, for his friends this was all still terrifyingly new. He studied Jean's face, trying to tell if she thought him a monster. She wore her hair loose and, although a single line of worry creased her brow, he could tell nothing from her expression.

"What does it feel like?" she asked.

Connor sat back in his chair and tried to find words. It was surprisingly difficult. How would one describe breathing, or walking? The Curse had been a part of him all his life, even though he usually tried to ignore it or suppress it.

"It's like . . . "

Hamish leaned forward. "It's like tasting rocks."

"What?"

"It's like tasting rocks," Hamish repeated. "It's so real for me, but no one else really understands it. I don't think you can."

"You're right. I can't really explain it, although I did meet someone who tastes rocks."

"Who?"

"Verena. That girl I mentioned who drew power from stones and helped break the attack."

"Wow."

Jean, who looked annoyed for some reason, said, "But you can control your Curse, right?"

"I'm learning."

She placed a hand over his on the table, and her face became earnest. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"That's the thing," Connor said excitedly. "Now that I'm learning to use it, when I can control it, it will protect me. It's almost impossible for Guardians to get hurt."

Hamish snorted. "Tell that to the guy who fell off the plateau."

"Eat rocks, this is different."