Kost?”
His worry was so evident that I relented. “Nah. From what Harken said, the mules are still able to pull. Just seems odd. You sure you didn’t see anything in the catsclaw?”
His shoulders relaxed a little. “No,” he said softly. “I didn’t notice anything. I was...a little distracted, at the time.” He glanced at me. “By the way, Cara’s coming up the talus.”
I leaned over, and made a face. She sure was. Stomping up the boulders like she meant to grind them into powder, in fact. No doubt she’d prefer to crush me instead. “Brace yourself. Soon as we’re down, she’s gonna flay me raw.”
“She cares about you.” He said it low, but I still heard the bitter undertone. Yeah, somebody had burned him, and recently, too. The lover he’d denied? Or the father he’d choked over? Regardless, I didn’t bother to correct him. He’d learn soon enough that Cara’s fury wasn’t over my personal well-being. I’d broken the main unwritten rule of outriding—no risky climbs while on a job unless absolutely necessary—and as head outrider, she had to make me regret it.
I cast another fond glance at Kinslayer. Ah well. A climb like that was worth an ass kicking, even without the carcabon stones.
“You ready?” I asked Kiran.
He nodded. I helped him ease himself around to face the rock. He took a deep breath, and his face settled into the grim concentration I remembered from when he’d first crawled onto the ledge. I suppressed a grin. I’d seen that same determination on Sethan once, as he struggled with ice-coated holds on a difficult route.
The rope inched through my hands, and Kiran disappeared over the edge. The sharp focus I’d needed for Kinslayer hadn’t yet faded, and in that cold, clear light, my half-formed suspicions about him solidified into certainty.
Kiran had an enemy back in Ninavel. Not just some faceless opposing merchant house, but someone specific he’d crossed. Someone Kiran believed didn’t yet know of this little venture—but rich enough that if he found out, he could hire a mage to target Kiran. Maybe a relative, maybe a rival in love...either way, someone Kiran both feared and couldn’t avoid within the city. Kiran hadn’t wanted to leave Ninavel, that much was plain. No, he’d signed on for this trip out of desperation strong as mine.
I knew why, too. Once Kiran reached Alathia, not even a Ninavel mage could touch him—the Alathian border wards were rumored to be impenetrable, an invisible barrier surrounding the entire country that no spell and no foreigner could breach. Gods knew Bren had spent years trying to figure out a direct way through, without success. He was stuck using couriers like me to smuggle a trickle of goods past the Alathian guards at the few border gates. And within the border, all Alathia’s cities lay smothered under a blanket of detection spells meant to alert their Council the instant anyone tried any magic more powerful than simple household charms.
But until Alathia, Kiran would be fair game. No wonder he was jumpy as a scalded polecat, and trying so hard to hide it. I ought to be mad as hell. Only thing was, I had a powerful hunch Kiran’s enemy didn’t need a mage. Bren’s covert instructions made plenty of sense, if he and Gerran had worked a side deal with someone who wanted to both profit from Kiran’s venture and ensure he never returned from Alathia. Now I understood why Bren had been so insistent on my silence. He’d likely known I’d figure out this much. And he’d made it clear that if I warned Kiran, I’d forfeit all my pay.
Gods all damn him, anyway. If it came down to Kiran’s safety against Melly’s, I knew which one I’d choose. But I sure didn’t like it.
The rope went slack in my hands. Kiran had reached the ground. An indistinct murmur of voices drifted up. Then Cara’s yell came, loud enough to shatter stone.
“Dev! Get your ass down here!”
She sounded ready to rip my limbs off. Well, I’d
His worry was so evident that I relented. “Nah. From what Harken said, the mules are still able to pull. Just seems odd. You sure you didn’t see anything in the catsclaw?”
His shoulders relaxed a little. “No,” he said softly. “I didn’t notice anything. I was...a little distracted, at the time.” He glanced at me. “By the way, Cara’s coming up the talus.”
I leaned over, and made a face. She sure was. Stomping up the boulders like she meant to grind them into powder, in fact. No doubt she’d prefer to crush me instead. “Brace yourself. Soon as we’re down, she’s gonna flay me raw.”
“She cares about you.” He said it low, but I still heard the bitter undertone. Yeah, somebody had burned him, and recently, too. The lover he’d denied? Or the father he’d choked over? Regardless, I didn’t bother to correct him. He’d learn soon enough that Cara’s fury wasn’t over my personal well-being. I’d broken the main unwritten rule of outriding—no risky climbs while on a job unless absolutely necessary—and as head outrider, she had to make me regret it.
I cast another fond glance at Kinslayer. Ah well. A climb like that was worth an ass kicking, even without the carcabon stones.
“You ready?” I asked Kiran.
He nodded. I helped him ease himself around to face the rock. He took a deep breath, and his face settled into the grim concentration I remembered from when he’d first crawled onto the ledge. I suppressed a grin. I’d seen that same determination on Sethan once, as he struggled with ice-coated holds on a difficult route.
The rope inched through my hands, and Kiran disappeared over the edge. The sharp focus I’d needed for Kinslayer hadn’t yet faded, and in that cold, clear light, my half-formed suspicions about him solidified into certainty.
Kiran had an enemy back in Ninavel. Not just some faceless opposing merchant house, but someone specific he’d crossed. Someone Kiran believed didn’t yet know of this little venture—but rich enough that if he found out, he could hire a mage to target Kiran. Maybe a relative, maybe a rival in love...either way, someone Kiran both feared and couldn’t avoid within the city. Kiran hadn’t wanted to leave Ninavel, that much was plain. No, he’d signed on for this trip out of desperation strong as mine.
I knew why, too. Once Kiran reached Alathia, not even a Ninavel mage could touch him—the Alathian border wards were rumored to be impenetrable, an invisible barrier surrounding the entire country that no spell and no foreigner could breach. Gods knew Bren had spent years trying to figure out a direct way through, without success. He was stuck using couriers like me to smuggle a trickle of goods past the Alathian guards at the few border gates. And within the border, all Alathia’s cities lay smothered under a blanket of detection spells meant to alert their Council the instant anyone tried any magic more powerful than simple household charms.
But until Alathia, Kiran would be fair game. No wonder he was jumpy as a scalded polecat, and trying so hard to hide it. I ought to be mad as hell. Only thing was, I had a powerful hunch Kiran’s enemy didn’t need a mage. Bren’s covert instructions made plenty of sense, if he and Gerran had worked a side deal with someone who wanted to both profit from Kiran’s venture and ensure he never returned from Alathia. Now I understood why Bren had been so insistent on my silence. He’d likely known I’d figure out this much. And he’d made it clear that if I warned Kiran, I’d forfeit all my pay.
Gods all damn him, anyway. If it came down to Kiran’s safety against Melly’s, I knew which one I’d choose. But I sure didn’t like it.
The rope went slack in my hands. Kiran had reached the ground. An indistinct murmur of voices drifted up. Then Cara’s yell came, loud enough to shatter stone.
“Dev! Get your ass down here!”
She sounded ready to rip my limbs off. Well, I’d
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