The Shadowed Path (14 page)

Conall reddened and looked down. “Yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put the caravan at risk. I only hoped to hide us for a little bit, until we could reach my family. We almost made it.”

“I don’t understand—” Jonmarc began.

Conall met Jonmarc’s gaze. “They don’t want me for what I did. They want me for what I am. What Lissa and I are.”

“We know what you are,” Trent said. “We’ve known since the first month. Corbin saw you change.”

Conall looked at Corbin in astonishment. “You knew, and you didn’t say anything?”

Corbin shrugged. “I mentioned it to Linton, who had already figured it out. Trent got it on his own, too.”

“The point is, you and your family are part of this caravan. We don’t care that you’re
vyrkin
.” Linton said.

Jonmarc felt as if the conversation was rapidly spiraling away from him. “
Vyrkin?
”

As he looked at Lissa and Conall, Lissa’s form took on a faint glow. The outline of her body seemed to blur, changing its contours. A moment later, a large she-wolf sat in the middle of the clothing Lissa had been wearing. Conall reached down to lay a hand on the wolf’s head possessively.

“Shapeshifters,” Linton said. “There are small clans in the mountains, and more in Principality.”

“We don’t hunt humans,” Conall said defensively. “We keep to ourselves. But when we’re hunted, we protect ourselves.”

“There are people who fear what they don’t understand,” Trent said, trying to help Jonmarc come to terms with what he was seeing. “Some of them think getting rid of all
vyrkin
will make them safer. They place bounties on the
vyrkin
, and unscrupulous hunters go after the payoff.”

“Can’t Brietta just shift and get away from them?” Jonmarc asked, still trying to make sense of what his eyes had just seen.
That’s why Conall ‘doesn’t like’ horses. They sense what he is unless they’re used to him.

“She’s too young,” Conall said, his voice rough. “Young ones can’t shift until puberty.” Jonmarc could hear the worry in his voice, and the anger.

The she-wolf had gathered Lissa’s clothing in its mouth and trotted off behind the stack of firewood. In a few moments, Lissa returned, looking as she had when she entered the forge. Concern for her daughter was clear in her face, and she stood close to Conall, who took her hand.

“This was pinned to the door of the wagon with a knife,” Lissa said, withdrawing a piece of parchment from a pocket in her skirt. On it, a crudely-scrawled message read, ‘9 bells. Forest edge. Both.’

“The bounty is just on me,” Conall said. “I’ll go. But please, make sure Lissa and Brietta get to my people safely.”

Lissa’s grip tightened on his hand. “Do you think they’ll really let Brietta go? Or me, now that they know I exist? The bounty may just be on you, but they’ll want all of us to get a bonus.” She shook her head. “They’ll kill you if you go.”

“Who issued the bounties?” Trent said. “That’s what I want to know.”

Linton shrugged. “No way of knowing unless we saw the warrant. But from the descriptions Dugan and Kegan gave me, I think I’ve run into these three before. The squat fellow is Chessis. Nasty, and not too smart—perfect for his job. Vakkis is the tall thin man. He’s nasty and smart—a dangerous combination. But Tarren, the pox-faced man, is the one to worry about. He’s the one who seems to have the connections with the money. They’re well-known in these parts, and much disliked. None of them have qualms about killing anyone who gets in their way,” he added. “Remember that, all of you.”

“So how do we get Brietta back?” Lissa asked. Her voice was cold, and her eyes made it clear that fear had become anger.

“I’ve got no qualms about killing bounty hunters,” Linton said. “Scum of the world. So I suggest that we make a plan to get Brietta back and get rid of the bounty hunters— permanently. And I have a couple of ideas about how to make that happen,” he said with a malicious gleam in his eye.

C
ONALL INSISTED ON
holding to the kidnapper’s demand, and Lissa could not be dissuaded from accompanying him. The forest’s edge was about a hundred yards from the edge of the camp, with a wide, open section between the ring of wagons and the tree line. Linton, Trent, and Corbin worked out the plan at the table in Linton’s tent, and Jonmarc returned with the people Linton had told him to fetch.

“Archers, stay behind the wagons until you can get a clear shot,” Linton ordered his six best bowmen “The edge of the forest should be well within range.” They nodded, and slipped away to their vantage points.

“Ada and Kegan, I know you don’t like to do harm with your healer’s magic, but if there’s a chance to incapacitate these sons of the Bitch and spare us a fight, it might save you the trouble of patching up the wounded later,” Linton said.

“We’re forbidden to use our magic to kill,” Ada said, fixing Linton with a meaningful look.

Linton held up his hands to placate her. “I didn’t ask you to kill. But if you can… I don’t know… give them a horrible headache, make them throw up or shit their pants… something that turns the tables on them.”

Ada nodded. “We can do that—assuming they don’t have wardings in place. It’s not unknown for bounty hunters to have protective charms. They’re in a dangerous business.”

Linton turned to look at Jonmarc, Trent, Corbin, and Zane, one of the performers whose knife-throwing act was a marvel of aim and accuracy. “Jonmarc and Trent, You’ve been with the hunters when they’ve gone into the forest. That means you’re at least passing familiar with the area. I want you to put on your darkest clothing and do your best to get around behind these bastards, take them from the rear.”

He looked at Zane. “If you can get them in the back with a blade from a distance, do it. Just have a care for the girl. They’ll likely have her with them to force Conall’s hand, or tied up nearby.”

“If we have a choice between getting the girl and launching an attack—” Trent began.

“Save Brietta,” Conall said, his voice a low growl. He looked to Linton. “I’ve got to show up, like the bastards want. I’ll keep Lissa behind me, but they’ve got to see both of us, or they’ll hurt Brietta.” His eyes took on a hard glint. “My people have run into their kind before. They won’t hesitate to hurt her if they think I’ve broken the bargain.”

“So you’re the bait?” It was clear Trent didn’t like the arrangement.

Conall glared at him. “If it were your daughter, would you do anything different?”

Linton shrugged his acquiescence. “You’ve got your orders. Get into place early, so you’re not spotted.” He met the gaze of each person in the room. “We’ve got three lives at stake here. There’s no room for error.”

It took only a few minutes for Jonmarc and the others to change clothing. “I really hope Linton knows what he’s doing,” Jonmarc muttered as he and Trent moved into position. Zane and Corbin went in the opposite direction. It was nearly ninth bells.

“I’m just hoping the bounty hunters don’t have any surprises for us,” Trent muttered. “Ready?”

Jonmarc nodded. He had his two largest knives, after deciding that his swords would be of little use amid the undergrowth. Trent had a nasty-looking long blade, the kind of knife used for clearing brush. He also had an assortment of throwing knives in a bandolier across his chest. On better days, Trent won many a round of drinks with his ability to put a knife in the center of a playing card that had been pinned to a wall or fencepost. Once before, Jonmarc had seen his friend use the knives to take down a bandit. He hoped Trent’s aim was true tonight.

Linton had a place on the front line as well. He was dressed from head to toe in black, and while he had several knives on his belt, a slingshot was his weapon of choice. “I’ve used this to drive off plenty of wolves when I herded goats as a child,” he mused. “Never thought I’d be protecting the wolves.” He looked to Trent and Jonmarc. “Time to move.”

Jonmarc, Trent, and Linton entered the forest about a mile from the caravan and around a bend from where the bounty hunters had specified their meeting place. They split up, keeping low and moving with all the stealth they could muster. Since both Linton and Trent had weapons that could strike at a distance, Jonmarc’s task was to go after Brietta while the others handled the bounty hunters. He was just fine with that.

The bells from the nearby village clanged nine times. Jonmarc had circled around, and now he was almost to the meeting point. To his left, in the direction of the tree line, he heard a man’s voice call out, and the muffled cry of a child.

“I’m here.” Conall’s voice carried on the night air. “So’s my wife. Now show us my daughter.”

Jonmarc edged closer, until he was able to see the three bounty hunters. One of them, the tall, thin man Linton had called Vakkis, held Brietta. Tarren, the leader, was the spokesman. Chessis, the muscle, hung back, looking around nervously.

“Daddy!” Brietta’s shriek was filled with terror and hope.

“I did what you told me to do,” Conall said. “Now give me my daughter.”

Tarren chuckled. “Why would I do that? Three monsters are certainly worth more than just one.”

None of the bounty hunters seemed the least inconvenienced by what the healer’s might have sent their way. Jonmarc caught the glimmer of something at Tarren’s throat.
Amulets,
he thought with a shiver.
Just as Ada feared. No help can come from the healers. We’re on our own.

Everything that happened next seemed to occur all at once, and when Jonmarc thought about it later, it seemed as if time had slowed. A knife flashed, biting into Vakkis’s hand, scarcely an inch from Brietta’s chest.
That’s got to be Zane,
Jonmarc thought.
No one else would be so bold—or utterly insane.

Vakkis cursed and released his grip, allowing Brietta to drop to the ground.

“Brietta! Over here!” Jonmarc dove forward, and Brietta shrieked and ran to him, hurling herself into his arms. He caught her with his left arm, brandishing his knife with his right hand.

Vakkis snarled a curse and came after them. Jonmarc slashed with his knife, cutting a deep gouge into Vakkis’ cheek. Jonmarc heard the twang of bows and ducked as a hail of arrows descended. He ran for cover, shielding Brietta with his body, and looked back at the bounty hunters, hoping to see them lying on the ground, arrows protruding from their bodies. To his horror, the arrows bounced harmlessly against their cloaks. With a sinking heart, Jonmarc realized that the glint he had seen at Tarren’s throat might have been more than an amulet. Without a doubt, they had worn chain mail beneath their cloaks.

Conall’s form took on a faint glow, and then a huge wolf lunged, snarling, toward Tarren, bounding across the short area of open land between them. Vakkis and Chessis threw blades that sank deep into the man-wolf, but the wolf shook them off, and the gashes closed before their eyes.

Tarren’s response was a quick twitch of his wrist. A glowing knife sank hilt deep into the wolf’s chest. On the wolf came, relentless, in spite of the blood that caked its fur. But this time, the wolf stumbled, and collapsed, still trying to drag itself toward Tarren until it fell on its side and gave a final heaving breath. The light from the knife glowed brightly and spread over the wolf’s body, then dimmed until it was barely visible. The wolf’s form melted to become a man, covered in blood, with the glowing knife between his ribs. Lissa’s scream echoed in the night.

He used a spelled blade,
Jonmarc thought. He had heard legends of such things, tales that held such a weapon was required to fell a
vyrkin
, because the shifters could heal quickly from wounds that would kill a human.
Conall never had a chance.

Brietta shrieked. Vakkis, blood streaming down his gaunt face, regarded Jonmarc with a feral look and came at him at a dead run. There was a swish of air, a loud clang, and Vakkis staggered as a stone from Linton’s slingshot caught him in the head. Chain mail kept it from being a killing blow, but it was hard enough, Jonmarc wagered, to make the bounty hunter see stars. Seizing the opportunity, Jonmarc tightened his grip on Brietta and ran for camp.

Conall lay where he had fallen, in a pool of blood. Jonmarc turned Brietta into his chest, trying to shield her from the sight, as Lissa’s form began to shimmer and a large she-wolf bounded from where a grieving woman had knelt seconds before.

“Lissa, don’t!” Ada shouted from the line of wagons behind them.

Trent, Corbin, and Zane had emerged from cover, as had Linton. The four men, enraged by Conall’s murder, circled the bounty hunters, knives at the ready to end the fight. The shewolf launched herself at Tarren, knocking him to the ground, and pinned him, howling her grief to the night. It would all be over in a few moments, and Conall would be avenged.

“Halt! By the authority of Lord Guarov, I command you to lay down your weapons!”

Two dozen men wearing livery emerged from further back in the forest, crossbows nocked and ready. The speaker wore a captain’s insignia, and he looked angry.

The she-wolf growled, then relented, taking a step back and allowing Tarren to scramble to his feet. Tarren strode over to the captain. “Take the wolf—and the child,” he said with a glare directed at Jonmarc. “My quarry is dead, but the woman and child are monsters, just like he was.”

The captain regarded Tarren with contempt. “Your warrant was for the man, dead or alive. You’ll receive coin for his body, though less of it because of your clumsiness. I have no orders regarding the woman and child.”

“No orders! They’re monsters just like him!” Tarren ranted. “When I see your master—”

“Lord Guarov has gone on a hunt,” the captain said in a flat voice. His face gave no indication of his feelings, but his eyes gave Jonmarc to think that the soldier disliked Tarren and was disinclined to interpret his orders more broadly than absolutely necessary. “He won’t be back at the manor for several weeks—longer, if the hunt is good. The exchequer will have your bounty. The rest is none of my concern.”

“I’ll have you flogged!” Tarren shouted. “I’ll have you stripped of your commission.”

The captain looked unfazed by the threats. “My men and I were under orders to make sure you collected the quarry. We’re leaving now. I would advise you to take the body and leave with us. If you remain behind, I will not be responsible for your safety.”