Wolfwalker - Wolf In Night Part 36

Payne stepped forward from another part of the crowd. "I, Payne Aranur neBentar, ranked scout; first bar, general science; Ramaj Ariye and Ramaj Randonnen, witnessed the examination of the cage. I offer my corroboration of all that my sister has said."

Hunter also stepped forward. "I, Condari Rahnbada neKeatus Brithanas, First Son, of the First House Wyakit, also witnessed the examination of the cage. I offer my corroboration."

Brean looked at Wakje. The ex-raider's gaze flickered, but he said curtly, "It's as she said."

Brean stifled his irritation. Like others of the Wolven Guard, Wakje consistently refused to identify himself when speaking to the council.

The Hafell let his gaze sweep the crowded circle. He could see the closer faces clearly, but many of those in the back were in shadow from the lanterns. He projected his voice harshly. "Is there any among us who will admit to this action?"

No one moved.

Brean waited. Finally, he looked at the girl. Mian sucked in a breath and forced herself to stand. The Hafell's voice was flat. "Mian maBrekiat, do you accept the judgment of the council and the reparation sentence for those who have been harmed?"

"Yes, Hafell," she whispered.

Brean then looked across the circle to where the injured were present. "Repa Ripping White." He called the woman forward. She limped up to the front. "You are among those injured in person and in goods.

You have the right of second verdict, if you so choose."

The woman's face was badly swollen and bruised, and Mian had to force herself to face the wagon driver as the woman met her gaze. Repa's face was tight with anger, and her words slurred as she spoke around the swelling of her lips, but she nodded curtly to the girl as if in apology for what she had thought.

"I hold no grudge hand to the girl, but my pain and my anger have influenced my judgment. The wisdom of the elders will be greater than my own. If they are willing, I ask that they speak for me in this."

Brean identified the next man. "Bere Quiet, also known as Bere Verian and Bere Never Bet, you are among those injured in person and in goods. As the driver forchovas Ki, you have the right of second verdict, if you so choose, or of separate trial."

Ki's driver stood stiffly. His ribs were bound tightly, making it difficult to bend, and his hands and arms were heavily bandaged, but his face was as expressionless as Repa's had been angry. His voice was so low as to be nearly a growl. "I hold no grudge hand to the girl."

"You will allow the council to speak for you in this matter?"

The man nodded.

Frekka Wrongway, Jeri Dancing Mad, One For Brandy, and each of the others whose cargo, wagons or dnu had been damaged rose when called and relinquished the verdict right. Cy Windytrack started relinquis.h.i.+ng his verdict rights against his daughter almost before Brean finished the question, as did the woman who spoke for Mian's injured mother.

Then it was Hunter's turn. An edge of distant formality entered Brean's voice as he called the Tamrani.

With his open collar, the blood marks on Hunter's neck stood out harshly. Mian couldn't hide the tremble in her hands when that last name was called. Tamrani were powerful, sometimes even more so than a county's Lloroi, and they had long memories. It was almost moot that this one was a First Son, and that he'd survived the tano's attack. Most Tamrani would consider it unforgivable either way, to have been set upon by some cozar's untamed pet.

Brean said to the Tamrani stiffly, "You are among those injured in person and threatened with death, yet you have no ties to us. You have the right of second verdict, or of separate trial or of transport trial, if you so choose."

Mian made a tiny sound.

Hunter looked at her directly. "I do not require separate trial or transport trial. Your council may speak for me with regard to the girl."

Brean hesitated, but nodded. He'd been fairly sure the Tamrani would not insist on a Sidisport trial, but like most Ariyens, he didn't quite trust them. With regard to the girl alone . . . Brean bit back the question and let it pa.s.s.

As Hunter stepped back, the Hafell looked at the eleven judges and finally nodded his permission. It was a large council, and a larger crowd. The damage and injuries had been extensive, and the men and women chosen to judge included almost every one of the train's highest-ranked elders, as well as the four borrowed from the other caravans who shared the circle. Now the first woman in the long line of elders leaned forward and used her middle finger to push the green stone forward. Green for punishment. Mian looked as if she would faint.

The second elder used his middle finger to push his green stone forward across the black line. None of them looked at each other. There was a hesitation before the last elder stretched out his gnarled finger.

Then he s.h.i.+fted and pushed the green stone forward as had all the others.

A long, low murmur ran through the crowd. The unanimous line of green was an unusual verdict. It was tradition for there to be one dissent when all other votes had gone one way. That dissent, token as it was, was the responsibility of the elder who had served the longest and whose duty it was to make sure all sides, even those that weren't known, were represented. The single black stone, the traditional dissent, represented the fallibility of man, and the possibility that the issue at hand could be revisited. By voting with the others, the elder was stating that there would be no revisiting of the issue, no matter what happened and what truths came to light in the future.

Mian stared at the line of green and began to breathe too quickly. Her father started to shove through the crowd. He barely subsided at a sharp look from the old Ell.

Brean stepped back and the center elder stood. The old woman waited a moment, but none of the other elders stood for discussion. The woman relaxed slightly. Especially with a unanimous vote, it was a sign of trust, that her wisdom was enough for them all. She had never confessed to anyone but her mate how nervous she was each time she stood alone. She could make a mistake. She might have missed something in someone's voice, an expression that would make a difference in her perception of truth, something someone else would have seen. And she knew Mian. She knew the girl could not have done something so deliberately careless as they had first thought. But as she looked at the girl and felt compa.s.sion uncurl in her chest, she squelched it sternly. It was not her job to soften the blow, but to make sure the blow was fair.

Her voice had grown frail in the last few years, and she gathered it carefully. "Here is the judgment of the council," she stated. "Mian maBrekiat, you are not responsible for loosing the tano. The damages and injuries will not be held to your account. You are released from that burden. Be at peace. However-"

The elder paused, and her voice grew more serious. "-you are responsible for bringing the tano among us. When evil arrived, in the form of this deliberate act, it had a weapon in its hands through you." Mian's face was white as linen. The elder said quietly, "This is the first responsibility in the chain, and that burden is yours alone. Are you prepared to render your punishment?"

The girl sucked in her breath three times before she choked out, "Yes, Elder."

"Then we will hear your amends."

Mian looked at her father. Cy's hands clenched, but his daughter had reached the age of Choice last year, and it had been her choice to raise the exotics.

The girl tore her gaze from her father's taut face and forced herself to look back at the elder. "I sh-should have the tano put down. I should not be allowed to take care of the other exotics until I am older. I should tend Repa and Bere and my mama, and the Tamrani and the others," she added belatedly again, "until they are healed. And I should take care of the wounded dnu. Then I should b-be b-banished after that until I'm old enough to be more responsible, so that my animals c-can't harm anyone again."

The girl's voice broke at the end.

The elder waited for her to regain her control. "We have heard you, Mian maBrekiat. We believe your punishment is too harsh." An almost visible wave of relief washed through the cozar. The other elders nodded their agreement. "The council renders these amends instead. You will purchase a new cage for the tano and give the old one to the Hafell for study. You will restructure your wagon to comply with the vestibule rule used by city vets, so that, if one of your animals is released from its cage, it will still be inside a holding area. You will spend an hour a day, at least three days a ninan, for the rest of this caravan season, with Healer Sastry. From him, you will learn to treat wounds made by venomous animals. After the season, you will continue this study with other healers in your family's town for a period not less than two years. You will also spend half a day with Black Wolf-" She glanced at Nori and got a nod. "-learning to call a tano. And might I suggest," she added more gently, "if you intend to continue raising such creatures, you spend additional time with Black Wolf, Vindra Twitch-Whickers, and other callers learning to calm your other beasts."

The elder waited several seconds, but none of the others stood up to add to her judgment. She nodded curtly. "This is the judgment, Mian maBrekiat. Be at peace when it is done."

Mian nodded numbly.

Ell Tai rose and patted the girl's hand. He raised his voice. "The block is cleared, this Trial is done. Lay your comments in the fire."

The crowd milled forward to the firepit, some speaking quietly into the flames as if to apologize to Mian for thinking the worst of her, some spitting the physical expression of their anger into the low blaze, and some saying nothing at all.

Cy Windy Track had barely held himself in check when Ell Tai closed the Trial. Now he shoved through the crowd and caught his daughter up closely. The girl was crying openly now. She wiped her face with her sleeve as her father took her away, and it made Nori's lips curl back. She didn't realize she was snarling as the Ell gestured, and two men started casting water on the fire. Sparks and smoke blasted up into the night sky, and the crowd murmured loudly. It was cathartic to the cozar, and they watched in satisfaction as the fire hissed and spat.

"Black Wolf?"

She whirled.

Brean stiffened.

"My apologies," she managed. "Hafell. Ell Tai." She acknowledged the older man who leaned on his crutch beside Brean.

Brean said flatly, "You will speak to Mian?"

It was not really a question. "Aye, immediately."

"And then you will speak with me."

Nori gave him a sharp look. His light brown eyes were as angry as hers. She raised her chin. "No, Hafell," she said steadily. She watched his eyes widen. "This is not cozar business."

As she said the words, she knew they were true. As Fentris had pointed out, these mishaps were not aimed at the cozar, but at the county leaders who rode among them, or even at something else. Mian had not been a target of mischief; she had simply been convenient. And Hunter believed that whoever was behind it all was dangerous enough that even the Ariyen council should know. She suspected that both Tamrani were holding back when they said they knew nothing about why the accidents were happening.

Both men were too experienced, too decisive in their actions, to be completely uninformed. Yet they were still uncertain enough to form a partners.h.i.+p and back each other up. It made her think that they didn't know enough to identify the full reasons behind the mishaps. Had Nori not seen the damaged cage with her own eyes, she might still have not believed them. She might have been willing to believe it was only raiders who had caused the attacks. That the rest was simply bad luck.

Now she believed, like Hunter, that the Harumen were controlling the violence. What she was afraid to add to the theory was that the Harumen might somehow be linked to the plague sense that had broken out at the same time as the Harumen's actions. Fear flickered along her bones. Only one person in the world could survive the plague on her own. That person wasn't Nori. The best Nori could do was try to keep trouble from the cozar as long as she traveled with them. They weren't a violent people, the cozar.

It took a great deal to get them riled, which was one of the reasons they traveled and camped and traded so well together. The problem was that the cozar might have hired guards to protect themselves as usual, but if the Harumen were the hired guards, then the guards might as well be worlags.

Brean stared at her stubborn chin. The old Ell murmured something, but Brean barely glanced at the older man. His voice was tight as he answered the wolfwalker. "This is a cozar caravan, a cozar circle. It was cozar lives at stake. This has been a cozar trial."

Nori kept her voice low. "But it will not be a cozar solution." His face hardened, and she added sharply, "Do not put your watchers or your mate in danger, Hafell. Do not let them interfere."

"How did you know I-" Brean broke off as Ell Tai put his wrinkled hand on the other man's arm.

The Ell's faded eyes were sharp as he studied Nori's face. There was something in her steady violet gaze that belied her calm words. "You are on an uncertain edge, Black Wolf," he said softly. "Be careful you do not slip."

She flicked her gaze meaningfully at the people who swirled around them. "If you're willing, perhaps we should talk more privately."

The old Ell shook his head. "We cannot delay fireside, not after Trial. You have given them a fear that rides with them on the road, and they must let off their tension safely."

She nodded curtly and started to turn away.

"Black Wolf." The Ell stopped her. He searched her face. "Some choices are made silently, but all choices must be judged. It is the cozar way."

"But I, I am not cozar."

"Yet you have ridden with us since you were a babe." The old Ell smiled faintly. "Ramaj Randonnen is not the only claim on your heart. Ride safe, Wolfwalker." He glanced at Brean and nodded for them to move on.

She stared after them. She said softly to their backs, "With the moons."

x.x.x.

Don't corner the wolf -Tumuwen saying Nori met Kettre on the outskirts of the circle. "This way," Kettre said in a low voice. "Payne and Leanna are waiting in the stables. We're meeting at the Broken Mug."

Nori didn't argue. She'd just left Mian, Cy and Nonnie. The look Cy had given her when he realized she'd known for hours about the latch-it had not been pleasant. She'd had to explain about the trial, that it was important they watch for anyone who might have been involved. When he demanded to know whom she had seen, she merely looked at him steadily and said, "Discuss it with Ell Tai." He'd cursed her then.

She'd taken it, but it had burned in her brain, her gut, her hands. It had been all she could do not to reach out and slash back at his face. She'd swallowed it, swallowed the lupine rage and the guilt at putting the girl through Trial. She'd said only, "Better alive and cursing, than burning on the funeral pyre."

That had stopped him. He'd let her go then, and she'd stalked quickly away. She'd found her hands clenched like paws.

In the center of the circle, fireside was already tense and noisy. The cozar were speaking too loudly, as if the volume would somehow offer them safety from the unknown saboteur. It had been long minutes before she could force herself through the milling crowd and work her way to the stables.

"Did you see anything?" she asked in a low voice as she led her dnu out beside Kettre's.

"Not during the trial," Kettre answered. "But I did see one of the Sidisportchovas meet two others right afterward. They never raised their voices, but I'd swear one of them was cursing. Leanna saw a woman make a beeline for the stables as soon as Trial ended."

"What about Rezuku?"

"He snagged his two outriders and holed up in his wagon. Judging by the cozar reactions, that was probably safest. The cozar aren't too happy right now, and they're talking scared. A smart outsider would make himself scarce for the night."

They swung out on the access road. It was gaily decorated with painted lanterns, but the colored lamps made Nori think of predators' eyes, not lights. She s.h.i.+vered as they trotted past groups of cozar. Some folk walked, some trotted smoothly on dnu-back, but all of them stayed close together. It was as if even the shadows in the barrier bushes stalked them down the road.

Nori glanced at the shrub line and stretched toward the grey. Rishte was out there alone, slipping down the game trails, his ears flicking at every sound as if worlags were everywhere. She could feel his unease, the grind of loneliness in his mind. He howled there for the pack, and the grey answered, but it was a faint grey and a distant call.. . . alkerwolfwalkerwolfw . . .

She broke off as Kettre made some comment. She hadn't heard what the other woman said, and it disturbed her. Kettre didn't seem to notice. Instead, the woman pointed at Hunter and Fentris up ahead, and they spurred their dnu to catch up. A moment later, Payne and Leanna cantered up behind them.

They could see Wakje waiting by a dark clump of bushes.

"Did you see Rezuku?" Nori asked Payne.

"Aye, but he didn't turn a hair. Looked bored with the whole trial."

"So did Fentris," she said sharply. "And he was doing duty."

Payne gave her a warning glance. "I know you don't want to hear this, Nori-girl, but in spite of the stinger in your bonnet, it wasn't the merchant who caught my eye. It was thechovas woman beside him."

She digested that. "A woman," she said slowly. A woman had been in their wagon.

"MaSera, aye," he answered. "She's been with us since Sidisport."

"Ah."

"Exactly."

"You know her?"

"She rode guard for Ell Tai till he broke his ankle. Then she transferred to general guard duty. She sits sometimes with the other Sidisport outriders, but she's mostly kept to herself."

Nori glanced back at Hunter. "What about you? Who did you see?"

He hid a wry smile. She didn't even bother with t.i.tles. "I saw two men I wouldn't mind questioning."

"I, too, saw one man," she told them. That man, his eyes had burned into hers long enough that she would know him like a worlag at a tea party. Like humans, worlags weren't indigenous to this world, and their eyes glittered like oldEarth rats-too intelligent for their primitive ways, and too intent on killing to look anything but evil. Nori had seen that same violent intent in the eyes of the man by B'Kosan.

They fell silent as they pa.s.sed several groups on the road. Wakje had chosen a tavern farther away, hoping it would be less crowded, but it was a futile choice. By the time they arrived, both back rooms were already rented, and almost every table was full. They snagged one of the last two tables in the place and crowded around it. Even then, they had barely a few minutes to enjoy the crush before they were joined by others who shoved their way in, asking about the tano's cage, viewing Hunter's punctures, and declaring their outrage at this latest insult to the caravan. Other than the news that Ki had sent word south with a relay runner, and that he would be heading back at dawn, there was nothing to discuss.

It wasn't long before the tavern began s.h.i.+fting toward the dangerous hour, when belligerents took offense and chairs were turned into kindling. Wakje's dark mood affected them all, and when the ex-raider rose to get his dnu, the others began following quickly.

Hunter stopped Nori as she made to follow Payne. "Stay. Talk with me."

She hesitated, but when Payne looked back, she shrugged at him.

Hunter glanced at Fentris, who was watching silently. "Give us a moment, will you?"

The slender man got to his feet. "I believe I can find something to intrigue me." He nodded to Nori and moved away to order a spiced ale to take outside.

"You're teaching him bad habits," she murmured.