donât you go keep him company?â
: Tasteless barbarians.:
Tarmaâs retort died unuttered, for at that moment there was a knock at their door.
âComeââ Kethry called, and the door opened to show one of the principals of Tarmaâs story. Sewen.
âAre you two busy?â
âNot particularly,â Tarma replied, as Kethry rose from her chair to usher him in. âI was just telling Keth about your part in gagging our songbird.â
âCan I have an hour or two?â Sewen was completely expressionless, which, to those that knew him, meant that something was worrying him, and badly.
âSewen, you can have all of our time you need,â Kethry said immediately, closing the door behind him. âWhatâs the problem? Not Tresti, I hope.â
âNo, noâIâhave to talk to somebody, and I figured it had better be you two. I havenât heard anything from Idra in over a month.â
âBloody hellââ Tarma sat bolt upright, looking no little alarmed herself. âPull up the spare chair, man, and give us the details.â She got up, and began lighting the oil lamps standing about the room, then returned to her seat. Kethry broke out a bottle of wine and poured three generous goblets full before resuming her perch. She left the bottle on the table within easy reach, for she judged that this talk had a possibility of going on for a while.
Sewen pulled the spare chair over to the stove and collapsed into it, sitting slumped over, with his elbows on his knees and his hands loosely clasped around the goblet. âItâs been a lot more than a month, really, more like two. I was getting a message about every two weeks before thenâmost of âem bitching about one thing or another. Well, that was fine, that sounded like Idra. But then they started getting shorter, andâyou know, how the Captain sounds when sheâs got her teeth on a secret?â
â Hai .â Tarma nodded. âLike every word had to wiggle around that secret to get out.â
âEyah, thatâs it. Hints was all I got, that things were more complicated than she thought. Then a message saying sheâd made a vote, and would be coming homeâthen, right after, another saying she wouldnât, that sheâd learned something important and had to do somethingâthen nothing.â
âSheka!â Tarma spat. Kethry seconded the curse; this sounded very bad.
âItâs been nothing, like I said, for about two months. Damnit, Idra knows Iâd be worried after a message like that, and no matter what had happened, sheâd find some way to let me know she was all right.â
âIf she could,â Kethry said.
âSo Iâm figuring she canât. That sheâs either into something real deep, too deep to break cover for a message, or sheâs being prevented.â
Kethry felt a tug on her soul-self from across the room. Need was hung on her pegs over thereâ
She let her inner self reach out to the blade. Sure enough, she was âcalling,â as she did when there were women in danger. It was very faintâbut then, Idra was very far away.
âI donât dare let the rest of the Hawks know,â Sewen was saying.
Tarma coughed. âYou sure as hell donât. Weâve got enough hotheads among us that youâd likely get about a hundred charging over there, cutting right across Rethwellan and stirring up the gods only know what trouble. Then luck would probably have it that theyâd break right in on whatever the Captainâs up to and blow it all to hell.â
âSewen, she is in some sort of trouble. Need stirred up the moment you mentioned this; I donât think itâs coincidence.â Kethry shook her head a little in resignation. âIf Need callsâitâs got to be more than just a little difficulty. Needâs muted down since she nearly got us both killed; I
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