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VIII
Ember Dione maMarin:
Fly by Fire
Luck flies with bold hearts Like Aiueven on the wing
Three guards roped Gray Hishn and dragged her away snarling and lunging, their ropes
taut in different directions to keep her fangs from them all. Dion could feel the wolf's rage
color her own emotions as she beat on the ground, wailing and moaning like the semimute
Bentol had proclaimed her to be. He embellished the story of Rhom and me a little too
much, she thought angrily. It's fine for a flash appearance, but how well would it stand up
to the sharp eyes and ears of a slimy tamrin like Clintner? A mute who could sing and not
talk? He had not even asked if Dion had a good voice. She was afraid that Clintner, whose
eyes had lusted on her as well as on the girls who had stood before him on the block, would
want to sample her, too. As she loosed another ear-wrenching keen and Hishn emitted a
three-tone howl, doors slammed and suddenly the good master himself had come to the
courtyard to see why his prizes were making such a racket.
"It's the mute and the wolf, sir," the lieutenant shouted, directing the men dragging Hishn
off. "The moment we split them up, they went crazy."
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r r
"You," Clintner pointed at Shilia, who had at least main-
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128 Tara K. Harper
tainedafaceofcalm. He, too, had to yell over the noise. "What's the matter with her?''
"How should I know " The girl's voice dripped the next words sarcastically, " good
master." She shrugged disdainfully. "When they are together, the girl is an imbecile and
the dog is a babe."
Dion got the feeling that if it had not been for the laws that protected women of the harem,
Clintner would gladly have had the healer knocked out to shut her up. As the din showed
no sign of diminishing, Clintner made an angry gesture. "Bring the wolf back," he ordered.
"Sir!" The lieutenant whirled and gestured for the men to return. Reaching Dion, Hishn lay
beside her panting softly while Dion knelt and scraped the ground toward Clintner over
and over. Shilia coughed, smothering a laugh. It's all very well for her, Dion thought
sourly, trying not to sneeze. She's not the one who has to rub her nose in the dust.
"Get the mute off the ground. She looks like a beggar with convulsions." Clintner gestured
to the lieutenant. "And put the others with the women. Tell Marash to prepare two of them
for me tonight. I'll put my mark on the other one in the morning." He turned back to the
wolfwalker and hesitated, frowning at the ropes that were still taut around the wolf's neck.
"Since that one loves her dog so much, put her in the blockhouse with it till I call for
them." He did not spare so much as a glance back at her when he had finished, and since
the soldiers hurried to obey, Dion had no chance to signal or even give a comforting look to
Ainna, closest to her and most frightened.
At the thought of the other girls' panic, another question suddenly poked through the
commotion like a mud serpent sprouting from a bog: Would Clintner leave Dion alone? If
Bentol's story had convinced him and Dion was not at all sure that it had he might not
touch her for a while, at least until he realized that the story was untrue, but as she glided
smoothly beside Hishn, patting the wolf like the idiot Shilia had told him she was, the
wolfwalker felt a chilling unease grip her hard. Once marked as a harem wife, never free in
life. The saying was not one Dion needed to think of right then. If Clintner tried to mark
her, there would be the witnesses, not just the merchant to take care of the head of the
harem and two others from the women's quarters, then two of Clinmer's men, and Clintner
him-
WOLFWALKER
129
self. Not good odds. "Oh, Rhom," she whispered. "Please hurry."
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r r
For the first few moments she had not worried about her brother, Aranur, or anyone else
the shock of the attack had hit her with sudden fear and fury, and she had been more
concerned about where her knife would land than with where her twin stood left behind.
But now, as her feet padded across the hard stone of the courtyard and the silver flash of
soldiers' spears prodded her toward the stone blockhouse, Dion had second thoughts
about the attack. Clintner had not struck her as a man who would indulge in a grab-and-
dash raid. In fact, she realized, Clintner must have begun making his plans as soon as
Bentol had bested him in the bidding for the girls Clintner's attempt to take Dion and
Rhom from the trader had merely motivated the Sidisport merchant to get a bioodpnce out
of Bentol instead of making a simple revenge trade.
And she had been stupid not to see it coming. If she had not been crooning to the Gray
One at her side, she would have spit her disgust on the shiny black boots of the soldiers
who were leading her across the stones. Hishn had been nervous enough, and even Dion
had felt the unease why in the second hell hadn't she listened to what the moons were
trying to tell her? And now? The wolfwalker looked surreptitiously around and had to
admit that Clintner had planned his home well for attack or siege. A well-planned raid, a
well-armed base; she was surprised for the moment that Clintner had taken them to his
own place since it seemed so obvious, but then, it would not matter how obvious it was if
there was no one left to come after them. Her crooning faltered. Rhom? She sent the
frightened thought out with Hishn's amplifying power. Rhom! It struck her again mat
Clintner would not have taken risks of losing the prize and having the plot come to light;
the authorities did not look kindly on anyone who disturbed the peace, whether he or
she, Dion reminded herself was attacking or defending.
The fact that she kept her head bowed let her use the shadows to hide her anger, but now
they were standing in front of the blockhouse, and the bright torches that burned bravely
on the gray walls were creating a light that haunted her face and forced the wolfwalker to
control herself. Hishn, picking up the woman's fear as the foremost guard unlocked the
first door, growled
130 Tara K. Harper
and flattened her ears, the bristle on her shoulders nsmg imperceptibly at first
There is more to handle now than vague thoughts and uneasy smells, Hishn said with a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]