Dawnsinger (5 page)

A hand grasped her ankle, and the pale eyes of the rider she’d felled glinted up at her through the holes in his mask. Blood seeped from his wounded shoulder to mar the front of his black surcoat. On his knees, he levered upward, the knife she’d used against him clutched in a bloody hand.

If she could find enough air she would scream. She kicked at him, but the rider dug his fingernails into her leg like claws and held tight. His arm drew back. The knife dripped blood.

Shae’s hands convulsed on the reins, and a tremor traveled through Flecht. The wingabeast shrilled and reared, and the knife fell from the rider’s hand.

A belated scream broke from Shae.

Kai’s opponent lunged at him, but his sword wavered. Kai’s parry sent it spinning into a thicket of brambleberries. He turned toward Shae.

Flecht’s wings unfurled above Shae as the wingabeast squatted on his haunches to spring into flight above the weild.

The rider dangled one-armed, his free arm flailing until he grasped the saddle. As his weight dragged her sideways, Shae gritted her teeth. She couldn’t hold on much longer.

“Flecht, return!” Kai’s call followed them.

As the wingabeast turned in answer, the hand slipped down her leg and fingernails dug into her ankle.

Screaming, Shae slipped further sideways, hanging on only by the saddle’s pommel.

The crushing grip on her ankle released all at once and a splash sounded. The weild carried her attacker downstream.

She pulled herself fully into the saddle as Flecht descended. The wingabeast landed with a snort and a toss of his head, and Kai started toward them.

But behind Kai, the other rider lifted his companion’s fallen sword.

“Watch out!” Shae cried.

Kai leaped into the saddle behind her. “Flecht, launch!”

Flecht rose into the air with a whinny.

Shifting restlessly, the two black wingabeasts neighed in response.

The remaining rider, running toward the wingabeasts, dwindled below them. Shae’s neck ached as she alternately watched for him to follow and searched for the rider who had vanished in the water. As a bend of the weild took them out of sight, they veered and spiraled downward into a meadow set back from the banks of the weild. Flecht’s hooves touched the ground, his wings folded, and they slipped into forest shadow at a meadow’s edge.

“We’ll travel the rest of the way to the inn through the forest, in case we’re followed.”

Kai’s breath warmed her ear, although his words sent chills up her spine. What had she gotten herself into? “What is this all about anyway?”

Kai returned silence.

“You do plan to tell me, don’t you? Why is my life at risk?”

“There are secrets at stake Shae, and I’m bound to them. Besides, one question leads to another, and we should keep quiet.”

Shae sighed in defeat. She couldn’t argue with his logic, or with his sense of honor.

An animal trail led them between towering trees and along a stream with banks curving over brown water riddled with mossy rocks.

At the softening of day, they emerged into a clearing and, where the track widened to a wagon trail near a ford, passed a fire-damaged structure. The homefarm must have burned recently, for smoke still spiraled from its charred wood. They passed the forlorn structure in silence. The path lifted clear of the forest long enough to show the sun, which hovered low in the sky. They skirted a narrow place where the weild cut deep, and then followed a bend.

A large house with smoke curling from a chimney of rounded stone stood on higher ground above a stable and a group of derelict outbuildings. Scattered cattle grazed in a pasture and waterfowl squawked in a small pond. Shae started. This must be the White Feather Inn. Why did Kai’s voice warm so when he spoke of this humble place?

When they reached the stable, Kai called out to the groom, who greeted him by name.

Shae studied the man. But for his rounded eyes and black hair, he might have been a Kindren.

The inn was smaller than she’d pictured but livelier than she could have imagined. A confused chorus of voices punctuated by laughter and an occasional shout carried to them as they entered. Light wended its uncertain way into the common room through deep, multi-paned windows. The smells of cooking and sweat permeated the smoky air.

As heads turned toward Shae, a hush fell. Her face went warm, and she longed to hide. She yielded to Kai as he guided her to one of the unoccupied tables. “I’ll let them know we are here.”

She lowered herself to the bench in gratitude, for in truth, her legs shook after the long day’s ride. It would be unthinkable to spend more time in the saddle, as Kai sometimes must.

She looked up to find a man staring at her. A shock of hair the deep brown of gnarlwood bark covered his head, and hair concealed the lower half of his face as well. His eyes, a watery blue, shone as if with fever.

He reached for the tankard before him but missed. His companion threw back a head with hair the orange of rust and broke into hearty laughter. When the first man finally succeeded in hefting his tankard, he drank it down in a long gulp, and then sought for her again.

Shae returned his regard with grave attention. Did she look as odd to him as he did to her?

He jumped to unsteady feet, still gazing at her.

Shae’s heart pounded. Did he mean to approach? But the man’s companion clasped him, and they rocked in a jovial embrace. Shae sighed with relief when they sprawled at their table again.

She searched for Kai in the back of the room and found him deep in conversation with a muscular man near a door that must lead to the kitchens. The man flung an arm across Kai’s shoulders in a casual embrace that spoke of friendship.

Shae stared at the muscular man, for he had hair of black. Belatedly remembering her manners, she pried her gaze away and closed her eyes for a respite from the jumbled sights and sounds around her.

Something thumped, and the aroma of food made her mouth water. “Now then, this will cheer you!”

Shae opened her eyes to find two wooden bowls of stew and a loaf of bread on the table before her.

The woman who had delivered them smiled, which brought apples to her cheeks. Her hair escaped its subduing brown kerchief, the locks red like licks of flame. She seemed friendly enough, and not much older than Shae herself. “I be Heddwyn, mistress of this inn. My husband, Quinn, delays your brother there, but give it no thought. I’ll let Kai know his food’s arrived and he’ll likely be a’ table afore the ale be poured.”

Shae sat upright, ready to thank Heddwyn, but the inn mistress had already gone. Kai returned with the predicted promptness. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to spend so much time talking with Quinn, but he had important news for us.”

She gave him a weak, forgiving smile and offered him bread. “Will you not eat?”

He took the loaf, broke it, and returned a portion to her. For a time neither spoke as they savored the warm stew. The coarse bread sat heavy in her stomach, but it would serve. After drinking today’s stale elk-water, the hearty brown ale made a nice change. When they finished, Heddwyn withdrew the empty bowls.

“What news had your friend for us?” Shae returned to the earlier subject, raising her voice above the general ruckus, which had increased.

Kai looked past her. “I’ll tell you later.”

Her throat tightened. “Is something wrong?”

He gave a slight nod of his head, and she swallowed her questions.

Heddwyn returned bearing sweetberry crisp ladled over with cream. Putting the matter from her, Shae delighted in the treat. As Kai said, he would tell her later.

****

Kai watched Shae’s simple joy in the sweet dish and prayed all would go well this night. The news from Quinn was not good.

The inn keeper had shaken his head at sight of Kai and pulled him aside. “You should not have come here. Two nights ago a nearby homefarm burned. No one died, since none lived there, but folks be upset.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Kai pictured the burnt-out homefarm he and Shae had passed earlier.

Quinn stroked his chin. “There are those what saw two wingabeast riders in the air that night. Most say the Kindren be responsible. And now messengers from King Euryan of Westerland bring news that such things be happening there too.” Quinn gestured with his head toward two men who drank together at one of the tables.

Kai had already observed the bearded messengers watching Shae far too closely for his comfort.

“I can feed you and bed you for the night,” Quinn promised. “I’ll not turn you away. But it be best you move on by morning.”

Shae’s sigh drew Kai from his dark thoughts. Another time and he might have smiled at the picture of contentment she made.

“Have you finished, then?” His voice held an edge. He stood and offered her his hand, which she took at once. Remorse went through him at her look of surprise and alarm. He had not meant to upset her, but furtive glances came their way often, and a nameless tension crackled in the air. They should leave.

Heddwyn’s red-haired sister, Brynn, served the two messengers. She’d voiced objections to his presence at the inn before. He was, after all, a Kindren. Kai didn’t know what Brynn said as she leaned down to the two men, but he didn’t trust her, and the messengers had already imbibed enough to make them ready for trouble.

He and Shae must pass the messengers’ table to leave the room. He took an unsteady breath and grasped Shae’s elbow to guide her.

“We’ll all be burned alive by those long-eyed
savages!
” Brynn’s voice rose as they neared.

Kai’s hackles lifted at the challenge in her voice, but he wanted no confrontation.

The men grumbled in agreement. “They be a blight on Elderland!” The tawny-haired one muttered into his tankard.

The dark-haired messenger staggered to his feet and blocked the way to the door.

Kai halted, ever watchful.

The messenger’s hand went to the hilt of the dagger at his waist. “What business have you here?”

“That’s none of your concern.” Kai’s voice, although quiet, sounded loud in the sudden hush. “Let us pass.”

“I’ll not.” The man’s chest expanded. “I be King Euryan’s messenger. State your business.”

“You ask amiss.”

The man’s gaze slid over Shae, slick as oil. “Who be
she
? Not your wife, I’ll warrant. And yet she travels with you!”

“That has nothing to do with you.”

The man’s burly companion shoved to his feet, and others in the room made to rise.

Kai shifted into fighting stance. “We
will
pass.”

5

The Stable Loft

The dark-haired messenger’s hand snaked toward Shae’s face.

Quick as thought, Kai struck the man’s forearm.

The messenger snarled, and his dagger left its sheath.

Kai pushed Shae behind him, his sole thought to protect her, and then sidestepped to avoid the dagger’s arc. His fist slammed into the man’s jaw.

Brynn screamed and retreated in the direction of the kitchen.

The messenger careened backward, his dagger clanging as it hit the floor. His body caught the edge of the table, and it tilted over him. Crockery smashed. Ale spilled. He went down and lay groaning.

His companion’s face turned red, and he surged forward, a dagger in his hand.

Shae screamed, but while springing out of reach of the blade, Kai couldn’t look her way. Before his opponent could recover from his lunge, Kai shifted toward him and buried a fist in his stomach. The messenger grunted and bent forward, and Kai drove his knee into the man’s face.

The second messenger slid down beside the first.

Kai glanced at Shae, relieved to find her unharmed. She looked up from the slumped figures at her feet, her widened eyes dark with shock, and stared at him as if she’d never seen him before. Sorrow shot through him at what she had seen him do.

Quinn hurried in from the kitchen, followed closely by Brynn, and the swinging door banged to and fro behind them.

Kai wheeled toward movement in his side vision. Most of those who had made to rise at the start of the trouble now sat back down, but a burly man dressed like a farmer in ragged wool strode forward, his hands fisted and ready.

Quinn shook off Brynn and inserted himself between Kai and the farmer. “Calib, what quarrel have you here?”

Calib’s face twisted. “This
Kindren
attacked King Euryan’s messengers!”

The inn keeper pinned Kai with a glare. “Is that so? I’ll not have such doings. Be gone with you!”

Surprise at Quinn’s betrayal robbed Kai of speech.

Quinn turned back to Calib. “Let that lie between them. It has naught to do with you. I don’t want trouble in my inn.”

Calib chewed his lip while he glared at Kai. Finally, his posture eased. “For you, Quinn, but get him out of here.”

Quinn sent Kai a wordless look, full of meaning.

Kai recovered himself. “As you wish.” Grasping Shae’s hand, he led her outside onto the porch but paused there to draw deep draughts of fresh air as his eyes adjusted to darkness.

****

Shae blinked but could not see beyond the pool of light spilling onto the porch from the oiled parchment window. The need to flee pulled at her, but her trembling legs wouldn’t carry her far. An intense longing for the comfort and safety of her bed at Whellein brought her near tears. As she fought for control, a small sound caught in her throat, and Kai turned her into his embrace. She let him comfort her, putting from her mind thoughts of the violence the arms that held her had just wrought. She had never seen Kai in action before, and had not known he could fight with such deadly grace and precision. In truth, she had never seen
anyone
fight before, except in play.

A burst of bawdy laughter drifted from the inn. If she didn‘t know differently, she would think nothing untoward had happened. The disturbance had been but a wrinkle in the fabric of the evening to most of those within. Even the two messengers would shelter this night in the inn.