The Eighth Warden Bk. 02 Ch. 19-20

One of Eben's weaknesses was that he didn't limit himself to a single base of operations. His men were spread out, and not just within the docks district but in his old territory as well. The two he'd come in with were the only two downstairs, though it was possible there were others somewhere on the upper floor. She planned to be gone before they could react, but if something went wrong, she could probably take out the whole group by herself.

"What'd you do that for?" he asked. "It's cold out there."

"Don't worry, I'll warm ya up," she said, turning away from the window. "I thought we might want some fresh air."

She stood at the foot of the bed, pretending to slip off a dress that didn't exist, but then ran into a problem. The dress was part of the disguise. She couldn't actually take it off or it would disappear, leaving her real clothing visible. She hadn't had time to come up with a naked version of the disguise.

Figuring it was now or never, she leapt up onto the bed, switching to her Vash-like appearance as she jumped. She landed with one knee pressing down on the fat man's chest, holding a dagger in front of his face long enough for him to see it before she pressed it down against his throat.

Eben's eyes grew wide, his drunk mind trying to process what had just happened. "What..." he gurgled.

"Don't make a sound!" Razai growled in the deep voice she used for her bodyguard disguise. "If you talk or move, I'll cut you." She slid her other dagger down against his manhood. "It's your choice where."

He squeaked and twitched, so she pushed her knee harder into his chest, making him gasp. She wasn't as strong as Vash, but she was strong enough to fake it.

"Do you know who I am?" she continued. "Do you know why I'm here?"

His eyes blinked in recognition. "You work for the divers," he croaked.

Razai pushed her fist down against his collarbone, the curved blade twisting in her hand and nicking his ear. "I said don't talk!"

She quickly shifted disguises, first to her own appearance, then to Aden, then back to Molly, then to one of Eben's men downstairs, then back to her Vash-like disguise.

"I can be anyone, anywhere, anytime," she said coldly. "If you ever bother the seaborn again, I'll become one of your own men and kill you. I won't tell you which one, though. Or maybe I won't kill you. Maybe I'll just use this other knife instead." She wiggled the dagger she was holding against his crotch. "Do you understand? Nod if you understand."

He nodded and she felt a warm wetness on her right wrist. Looking down, she realized he'd pissed on her dagger. That pushed her over the edge, and unable to hold back her rage any longer, she backhanded him across the face, the hilt of the dagger in her fist adding weight to the strike.

He cried out, so she held the blade up in front of his eyes again, before laying it back along his throat.

"Shut up!" she said. "Tomorrow, you'll tell Dallo and Kahlvin that you're out." Those were the other two gang leaders who'd been attacking the seaborn. "If you or your men ever go after the divers again, I'll come for you and you'll never know who I am. Do you understand?"

He nodded again, his head bobbing up and down rapidly.

Razai was worried she hadn't scared him enough, so she decided to go further. "Maybe I won't be one of your men when I come to kill you. Maybe I'll be your sister," she shifted disguises again, and then again, "or even your dear old mother, in that yellow dress she was wearing when you visited her last week." She'd only practiced those guises briefly, in case she'd needed them to get close to him at some point, but they came in handy now. "How funny would it be if your own mother slit your throat?"

Eben started sobbing, so Razai figured her job was done.

If she'd been working for her father, she'd have simply stabbed him in the heart, leaving his body in the room as a message. She debated doing that anyway, but as far as she knew, none of Eben's men had been involved in any of the actual deaths among the seaborn. Beatings and muggings, yes, but not deaths. She'd still kill him if he didn't do as he'd been told, but she had to at least give him a chance.

Unfortunately, the other two gang leaders, Dallo and Kahlvin, wouldn't be so easy to scare away. If the Senshall girl and the constabulary didn't come through, Razai would have to start dropping bodies, and that would annoy Vash and Lanii.

It occurred to her later, after she'd slipped out the window and was walking back to her apartment wearing her drunk-man illusion, that she'd changed disguises more often this night than she'd ever done before in a single day. Perhaps there were some benefits to being bonded to a warden.

#

Corec stayed out by the fire until nearly midnight, when Shavala and Gregor trudged back into the camp, their sled holding a small elk. Small for an elk, anyway; it was still larger than a deer. Gregor was struggling to pull the sled while Shavala walked ahead of him, holding up a lantern to light their way. The two of them looked as exhausted as Corec felt. All the snow caves had been built—mostly—and the log wall was now twenty feet long and six feet high. It would hopefully provide enough protection so they could keep the big fire burning during the storm. They'd allowed the smaller cook fires to die out once they were done with the evening meal, to make sure there was plenty of firewood left.

The two hunters stopped to take in the changes that had been made to the camp. Corec joined them, and Sarette and Fergus showed up a moment later.

"You got a lot of work done," Gregor said.

Fergus nodded toward the sled. "So did you, m'lord."

"Shavala got the elk. I found a brace of snowshoe hares. They're underneath, somewhere."

"I can take care of skinning and quartering the elk before it freezes solid," Fergus offered. "It's too late to do anything else, but at least it'll be ready."

Shavala nodded, so Gregor said, "We'd appreciate that. It's for your people anyway."

Fergus hauled the sled off, and Sarette cornered Gregor to give him an update, so Corec led Shavala away.

"All these little hills are the snow caves?" she asked. "It's like a whole village. Which one are the girls sleeping in?"

"We ended up splitting into smaller groups. The bigger caves are harder to build. Some of them collapsed, and we gave the others to the larger families from Jol's Brook. Katrin insisted you should stay with the two of us. I'll show you."

She nodded. "Which watch am I taking tonight?"

"It's late. You don't need to take a watch; it's all covered. Are you hungry?"

"We brought along some of that pemmican the stormborn make. It was filling."

Corec could barely stomach the stuff, but he had to agree that it quelled his hunger, especially in this weather.

"Here we are," he said as they reached their snow cave. A pale silvery light shone out the entrance, from the mage light he'd left inside for Katrin. "Your pack is already in there."

Shavala knelt down and crawled inside, and he followed. Once they were in, Katrin greeted them, and they climbed up onto the sleeping platform to join her. There wasn't enough room to stand. The girls could sit up as long as they hunched over, but Corec was too tall and had to lean down.

"You must be frozen," Katrin said to Shavala. "Why did you stay out so late?"

"The wolf helped me track down a herd of elk, but it was some distance from where we'd left the sled. It took us a long time to get back."

"Wolf?" Corec asked.

"The one I keep running into."

"You mean the one you showed me before?" Katrin said. "You went hunting with him again?"

Corec had heard the stories, but hadn't paid much attention to them. Shavala had always had an odd relationship with any animals she came across, but the horses listened to her well enough that he figured she knew what she was doing.

"Are you sure it was the same one?" he asked. "We're a long way from the Terril Forest. Maybe it just looked similar."

"No, it was him; I can tell. I'd helped him before, so he helped me. I warned him about the storm too, but he didn't seem to care."

Corec wasn't sure what wolves did during a heavy snow storm, but just said, "I'm sure he'll be fine."

Shavala nodded and peered around at the cramped dwelling. "It's smaller than I thought it would be from the outside."

"The walls are thick," Corec agreed. "I'm not sure we're all going to fit." The place had looked tight even when it was empty, and now that the three of them were actually inside, it didn't seem big enough.

"We'll manage," Katrin said. "I was able to fit all the bedding."

Corec looked down at how the blankets were arranged and laughed. "How small do you think I am?"

She grinned at him. "You can roll over on to my side. Or Shavala's. She doesn't take up much space."

"Wait, you're putting me in the middle?" he asked.

"Well, Sarette insists the room will warm up eventually from the heat of our bodies," Katrin said. "I figure that means you're our fireplace."

"How about I take the spot nearest the entrance, instead?" he suggested. "I think that's supposed to be the coldest."

"Oh, that's a good idea."

He turned to Shavala. "This one was meant for two people, but we all have to make do with what we were able to build. Everyone's in tight quarters. I'm glad you're here, though. I've been wanting to talk to the two of you ever since Jol's Brook. I'm worried that there might be another attack from the red-eyes. Those people died because of me."

"It wasn't your fault," Katrin said.

"Maybe not, but if I hadn't been here, they'd still be alive. I'm thinking of going back to Larso."

"What? We can't fight the prince and his armies by ourselves!"

"I didn't mean all of us. I was planning on going alone."

"You can't do that," Shavala said. "Katrin's right, and Boktar was right when he said you should stay as far away from Larso as you can, at least until we know more."

Corec sighed. "I just feel so guilty. And I don't like sitting around waiting for something to happen."

"You couldn't go by yourself anyway," the elven woman continued. "You decided to be a real warden, which means we'd have to come with you and help."

"I don't think there's a rule that says that. I appreciate the thought, though. Ellerie said something similar."

"She did?" Katrin asked, looking surprised.

"Well, I didn't mention going to Larso, but she thinks we should stay together in case there's another attack."

"What if he's after you because you're a warden?" Shavala asked. "Perhaps we should ask Yelena about it."

That brought Corec up short. He'd assumed the attacks were related to why he'd left Larso, even though that made no sense, but if it was because he was a warden, it at least provided a reason for why he'd been singled out. And his experience in Snow Crown proved that there were people who could recognize him as one.

"I didn't think about that," he said. "You're right. Yelena might have an idea. It would mean another trip to Tyrsall."

"After these mountains, I think I might like staying in a city for a while," she admitted. "A warm inn, with beds. Does it snow in Tyrsall?"

"Sometimes, but nothing like this," Katrin said. "We'll make a city girl out of you yet."

In the pale light, Corec thought he saw Shavala hiding a smile.

He said, "I'll talk to Ellerie and the others about returning to Tyrsall once we're done here."

"What's going on between you and her, anyway?" Katrin asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I've noticed it too," Shavala said. "The two of you are taking turns making decisions."

"And you each wait for the other person to give some sort of signal," Katrin said. "It's been happening since we left Snow Crown."

"Oh, that," Corec said. "It turns out that Ellerie and I actually agree on what needs to be done most of the time. This way, whoever's most convenient can just decide."

"So the two of you worked out a scheme to signal each other?"

"Uh, well, we've never actually talked about it. It just started happening. But we should probably go back to having discussions with the group. Treya and Boktar haven't said anything about it yet, but I know they'd like to have their opinions heard. I assume you two would as well."

"Yes," Katrin said, "but it has been more peaceful lately, with you and Ellerie getting along."

Shavala said, "Perhaps instead of group discussions, we just need to figure out who makes which decisions. You and Ellerie already trust Sarette and Gregor to make decisions here in the mountains. And neither of you has ever complained about how I handle the hunting, or about how Boktar buys supplies or organizes the camp."

"That might work," Corec said. "The group just keeps getting bigger. It makes sense for each person to have their own area of responsibility. I hadn't considered that. With the knights, things were more tightly regimented, and there was always one person in charge of any group."

"Wait," Katrin said. "Ellerie complains about Boktar all the time."

"Not for real, though," Shavala said. "They complain about each other the way Corec complains about Bobo. That's just how they show their friendship."

"Hey!" Corec exclaimed. "Have you heard his snoring?"

The girls laughed.