The Vaetra Chronicles: Book 01 - Vaetra Unveiled (6 page)

"Well, either way, he'll have to answer for his theft," she said with an edge to her voice. "I'm just glad to hear you weren't planning to help them escape."

I chuckled and shook my head. "No, I may no longer be in the Guard, but I often work closely with them. On the other hand, the private work I do for hire sometimes does require a certain degree of...discretion."

"I think I understand that," she mused. "But it seems like a fine line to walk."

"You don't know the half of it," I said with a sigh.

When taking contracts, I refused work that would force me to break the law, but the reasons for why clients went to Raven Company instead of the Imperial Guard were many. In some cases, the Guard didn't have the resources or motivation to investigate a matter to the client's satisfaction, so the client would come to us for the help they needed. In other situations, the client specifically wanted to avoid involving the Guard. Those cases always had to be handled carefully.

Sulana looked ahead and pointed to a track--little more than a trail really--that led off the road to the north. "That's our turn," she said.

My suspicions were confirmed. "So, you followed the other man up that trail and lost him?" I asked.

"Yes. Is this the way to the home of that healer you mentioned?"

"It is," I said. I wondered if old Meghan could be in danger. Her Wards were good at keeping people away, but if the thief was able to get through them somehow, he could be holed up in her home. I frowned as I realized that this search could end in a hostage standoff.

Sulana was watching my face and seemed to read my mind. "You're concerned for the healer, aren't you?" she asked. I nodded, and she continued, "Well, let's see what we can find out first. It's possible the thief circled the Wards and escaped into the mountains."

Barek cleared his throat behind us and I looked back. He was scowling and shaking his shaggy head. The beads at the ends of his locks clicked together as if to emphasize his disagreement with her statement.

Sulana laughed. "Don't worry Barek, I'm not insulting your tracking skills. We just don't know what resources these thieves had available to them." Barek shrugged, his face noncommittal.

"Man of few words," I commented to Sulana.

"He's no chatterbox," she agreed.

"Can we get on with this?" Barek said.

Talon chuckled and led the way up the trail. The rest of us followed, shifting into single file.

The trail was just large enough for two horses to walk side-by-side, but by staying in the center, a rider was less likely to be struck by the encroaching tree branches. The local flora was quick to take advantage of any bit of light that managed to penetrate the tree canopy, which meant the trails needed to be cleared back every two or three years. This one was overdue.

We followed the deeply shadowed trail into the forested foothills, pulling our cloaks a little tighter around us to fend off the late-morning chill that persisted within the understory. We passed through a couple of clearings and reveled in the sudden expanse of deep blue sky and the warmth of the sun.

Along the way, Barek moved up to point position and Talon replaced him at the rear of the party. We passed a couple of offshoot trails, which I knew led to other cabins in the area, but Barek was convinced that our quarry had continued on.

At one of the trail intersections, we heard a branch crack above us in the trees. We all looked up, but the thick foliage made it impossible to see very far into the network of branches. Our hands went to our weapons, but there were no more sounds. The horses bunched together as we stopped.

Two of the horses shifted and whinnied as they caught the scent of something. Patches and the other horses raised their heads and perked their ears forward as they sniffed the air as well.

I looked up at the trees along the intersection, my eyes searching the bark just below the lowest branches. I finally found what I was looking for: a series of small gouges just under the lowest branches of one corner tree. "Everyone hold here for a moment," I said.

"What is it?" Sulana asked, reaching for her crossbow.

I held up my hand to stop her. "Try not to make any threatening moves. I know who it is and we're in no danger."

Daven seemed unconvinced. He edged his horse closer to Sulana's and kept his hand ready on his sword.

"Well then who is it," Sulana asked more insistently. "Why are we stopping?"

"This section of forest is home to a band of arbolenx," I answered.

"Arbolenx? What makes you think they'll talk to us? And how could they help us anyway?" she asked, shifting nervously in her saddle and peering up into the dense canopy.

Arbolenx are large intelligent felines that inhabit forests and make their homes in the tree canopy. They are capable of human speech, but rarely interact with humans. I could attest that this band was less reclusive than most.

"Not much happens around here that they don't see," I responded. "That branch snap was an invitation to speak. If they didn't want us to know they were here, we'd have never seen or heard a thing that would have betrayed their presence," I said as I dismounted from my horse.

I walked a few paces away from the others and stood near the tree that had been marked. I tilted my head back and made a show of sniffing the air. "I smell you, Ru-Rahl" I said aloud.

I glanced back at the others, who were looking at each other in confusion and over at me as if I'd lost my mind. They could smell nothing, of course, and neither could I really. I suppressed a smirk, thinking how the ritual words sounded insulting to a human. However, I knew that to an arbolenx, it was a greeting of respect.

There was a light rustling of branches, and I barely had time to register a blur of motion down the trunk of the tree as an arbolenx appeared on the ground in front of me. He settled back on his hind legs and regarded me with his deep green eyes, his pupils shrinking to slits as they adjusted to the brighter light on the ground.

As I told Sulana, we never would have been aware of their presence if they hadn't wished it. Arbolenx have natural camouflage magic, which is why Ru-Rahl seemed to blur as he descended the tree trunk. He was showing off. There could be a dozen more of his band up in the branches, and as long as they held still, we'd probably never spot them.

He glanced disdainfully over at the group of riders, who were watching with cautious interest and trying to calm their horses. Only Patches stood without agitation, since he had met Ru-Rahl several times before. The other horses shied at the sudden appearance of the predator, and Barek's big roan stallion nodded his head and pawed the ground.

Ru-Rahl was an exceptionally large and handsome example of his kind. Sitting, his head came up to my waist, and his fur was deep brown with faint black stripes along his shoulders and hips. He wore a back-pack, which left his paws (better described as sharply-clawed hands) free for climbing. Long black tufts of fur twitched nervously on the tips of his ears. Short, stiff black whiskers trembled on his cheeks as his nostrils took in the scents of the humans and animals before him.

Satisfied that no violence was imminent, he tilted his head back and sniffed the air emphatically as I had done. "I smell you, Zhalan. Wath seeg?"

I was certain that Ru-Rahl knew exactly why we were there, but since I was the one seeking help, it was only polite that I ask for it. Besides, when bargaining with arbolenx, one party must name the favor and the other must name the price.

"A man passed through here last night on horseback, probably moving swiftly. These riders attempted to follow him, but lost the trail," I added, gesturing toward the others. "I would like to know if you have information that can help us find him."

Ru-Rahl considered my request for a moment and glanced significantly at the others again. He wanted to make sure I understood that bringing armed riders to this meeting would increase the price of my favor. "One ravith," he stated.

One rabbit. The price was high by arbolenx standards, but worth it if he had anything at all useful to tell us.

I nodded my head. "Agreed."

"Gounthed," he replied, which meant he had "counted" the rabbit toward my debt to him. Arbolenx speech avoids hard consonant sounds, like "t" and "k" because they resemble spitting, which in the feline world indicates fear or aggression.

"Human smell of vlud," Ru-Rahl finally volunteered.

"He smelled of blood?" I asked, and Ru-Rahl nodded once. "Did he continue up the trail on his horse?"

Ru-Rahl nodded again. "Inthu fear. No follow."

Into the fear, where Ru-Rahl's gang would not follow. He must have been referring to the Ward. "The fear didn't turn him away?"

Ru-Rahl shook his head negative, the claws on his front hands extending reflexively as he considered what he'd seen.

So the Ward hadn't affected the man on the horse. He must have had some kind of magical protection. Or perhaps his injury was so severe that he was delirious with pain. I wasn't sure if that would make a difference, though.

"Thank you, Ru-Rahl. The bargain is fair."

Ru-Rahl nodded once again, and in a single motion, leaped onto the trunk of the tree where his strong claws held him suspended. He looked over his shoulder at me and said, "Good hunthing Zhalan."

"Good hunting Ru-Rahl," I replied.

With two powerful strokes of his hind legs, Ru-Rahl disappeared up the tree and into the branches overhead. I walked back to the others.

I could feel Sulana's stare while I mounted Patches and gathered my reins. "I'm impressed," she said. "What did we learn? I didn't quite catch all of that."

I sat a little straighter in my saddle, pleased with having finally done something to impress this woman, and a little surprised to discover that it mattered to me. "We learned that our thief was injured when he came through here last night. We also learned that he went into the Ward, not around it, as you suspected." I said the last to Barek with a nod, and he gave a grim "I told you so" smile in return.

Sulana looked down the trail, thinking about what we'd learned. "I'm concerned that he was able to move through the Ward," she finally said. "That may imply he has sorcery at his disposal."

As we got our horses moving down the trail again, Daven asked, "So, do we need to come up with a rabbit for your friend?"

I smiled at him and said "Ah, you understood that part?"

He shrugged. "Wasn't hard."

I shook my head. "No, Ru-Rahl still owes me several rabbits and squirrels. He'll deduct the price of today's bargain from that tally. I'm not sure how much credit I still have with him, but I have no doubt that he knows exactly."

"How'd you get to be on such good terms with an arbolenx?" Sulana asked.

"The healer we're on the way to see introduced me to them. This band has lived near humans for a long time and even trades with the people of Dunver occasionally. I got into the habit of leaving rabbits and squirrels for them when I travel through here. Ru-Rahl appreciates it, but I think it annoys him that I keep increasing his debt to me. I'm sure that's why he let me know he was around. He probably recognized you and knew we might need to know what he'd seen. It also gave him an opportunity to reduce his debt."

"You're a man of surprising talents, 'Zhalan,'" Sulana teased.

Daven looked over his shoulder at me and frowned, but didn't say anything. I understood that his job was to protect Sulana, but his attitude toward me was puzzling. Eventually, I was going to have to figure out the nature of the relationship between those two.

***

At last, we reached a small clearing where I suggested we stop. "This spot is just outside the Ward's influence," I informed Sulana. She looked around the clearing and nodded her agreement. I was curious to find out what she intended to do about getting through the Ward.

The clearing was at a confluence of trails. One trail continued to the northwest deeper into the mountains. A second narrower trail left the clearing toward the northeast. I mentioned that the second trail would take us to the healer's cottage, and Barek confirmed that was the way they had gone the previous night.

A stream flowed out of the trees and created a small pool at the western edge of the clearing. The water burbled as it tumbled down the last few rocks into the pond, the steady flow indicating that the water would be fresh if we decided to let the horses drink. The ground was covered with grass that would grow to shoulder height in summer, but it was just getting started. The horses lowered their heads to tear at the tender new blades.

Sulana dismounted and walked a few paces away from the group. Daven slid down from his horse to stand nearby. Talon and Barek stayed mounted, watching the paths leading into and out of the clearing.

I watched from my saddle as Sulana took out a leather pouch and removed a small glass rod attached to a chain. I dismounted and joined her and Daven to get a better look.

The glass rod was about the size of Sulana's smallest finger. It was clear with rounded ends, and had a twist to it with a swirl of blue along its length. The sun sparkled off the glass and lit up the blue swirl, which appeared to form lettering of some kind. "Pretty," I commented.

"Yes. Pretty and functional," she said with a distant tone. The chain attached to the glass rod had a ring on the other end. Sulana slipped the ring over her middle finger and let the glass rod dangle.

"What does it do?" I asked.

"It seeks," she replied, and held up her other hand to stop my next question. "Hold on for a moment while I concentrate on making it work."

She said something quietly and stared at the glass rod. I knew when she activated it, because it gave off a high-pitched tone. But it continued to just dangle and turn on the end of the chain. Sulana frowned and stared at it a bit longer. The rod continued to dangle and turn. It didn't seem to be reacting to her efforts in the way she wanted.

While Sulana worked, Daven stepped a little closer to me and watched me carefully. He seemed relaxed, but had one hand casually resting on his sword pommel. I wondered why he would suddenly perceive me as a threat of some kind, so I resisted the urge to step closer to Sulana for a better look at what she was doing.