The Eighth Warden Bk. 03 Ch. 29-30

"Bloody hell," he said, letting go of the weapon. It fell to the floor with a clang, and the light and the sparks slowly faded away. "Is it another bonded weapon?"

"I don't know how to tell," Ellerie said. "Did Hildra show you?"

"I didn't think to ask. Bobo, can you pick it up?"

Bobo frowned. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"It didn't hurt me. I just don't want to deal with it if it's anything like the sword."

"I'll try," Boktar offered. He'd been crowding around the door with Marco and Nedley. He nudged Bobo out of the way and lifted the maul. "Oof, that's more than thirty pounds." It started humming and glowing again, and then more yellow sparks streaked from the head of the weapon to where Corec was standing. Straining, Boktar said, "It's getting heavier. I can't carry it anymore." He set it back down.

"Why did it ...?" Corec said, looking down at his hands as the sparks faded away again. He picked up the hammer by its handle. "It feels the same as before." He ignored the lights as they started up for a third time.

"It must be like your sword, too heavy for anyone else to carry," Ellerie said. "You'll have to haul it out."

"Maybe some other time." He placed the maul back on its stand. "I still need to stop by the armory before we head back."

Marco had slipped into the room and was examining the necklace. He started to reach for it, then stopped. "Is this safe?" he asked.

"It's not enchanted," Ellerie said. "It looks expensive, though."

"If the gems are real, yes," he said, slipping the necklace into his coat pocket.

It pained Ellerie to see another piece of art removed from the city, but she didn't say anything. If she wanted to convince Varsin and the other investors to agree to her plan, they would first need to make a solid profit on the expedition.

Marco reached for the bejeweled sword, but Corec stopped him.

"You're going to need your hands free for real weapons, remember? Not gaudy junk."

#

"Leonis, welcome back to Fort Northtower. I trust you have good news?" Rusol had chosen his words carefully to make it clear he was an equal. Descendant or not, he had no intention of being subservient to the other man.

"Right to the point, I see," Leonis replied. "You seem to be in a better mood now than you were the last time we met."

"I'll admit, your plan came as quite a shock. I needed some time to consider it."

"And you're in agreement?"

"I am," Rusol said. "Have the other wardens decided to participate?" What he really wanted to know was whether Leonis had spoken to the First.

"Emperor Kono declined the invitation, and I don't know if my message ever reached the stoneborn woman. The First prefers not to travel, but he's agreed to take part through the dream. He sent a message, of sorts, requesting a dream meeting with any participants a week from now. I'm not sure why he didn't reach out directly, but it's the first time he's responded in years, so we need to make use of it."

A week. One week until the First would tell Leonis that Rusol was demonborn. The plan was already in motion, but Rusol wished there was more time to prepare. With just one week to go, it had to happen as soon as possible. It was a pity he'd only be able to target a single warden, but perhaps it was better—safer—this way. With fewer targets, there was less of a chance of something going wrong.

"I can remain here for a week. Any longer than that may be difficult." Best not to seem too eager. "I do have duties back in Telfort, of course. But, since we're here, we should make use of the time. The priests have invited us to dine with the order tonight, but perhaps tomorrow we can have a private meal to discuss other ways in which Larso and Blue Vale can support each other. Just the two of us and our bondmates. Living in Telfort, it's not often I get a chance to speak freely."

"You brought your bondmates this time?"

"Two of them—a pair of wizards. I hope that won't be a problem." Rusol already knew from Sir Barat that Leonis had once again brought along eight priests of Pallisur.

"Allowances must be made when dealing with wardens. Do they know what we're attempting?"

"No, only that it's important."

Leonis smirked. "Then I suppose we shouldn't speak too freely, but yes, I agree."

After the other warden left, Rusol sought out Priest Calwell and Sir Barat, who'd returned to Calwell's office after completing the tasks he'd assigned them. Both men were standing and staring ahead aimlessly, with glassy-eyed expressions on their faces. Rusol was getting better at manipulating minds, but his touch still wasn't as deft as his father's.

"Is it done?" he asked them.

It was Barat who replied. "Your other two guests entered the fort disguised as ale merchants, and are now in the suite you selected. The two servants you spoke to earlier then drove their wagon away, wearing your guests' cloaks. They returned on foot dressed as themselves. I don't believe any of Leonis's men took notice."

"Good. Calwell, set up a private supper for tomorrow, in the small formal dining hall with the musicians' balcony, but don't invite any musicians. I'll be attending, along with Leonis and his companions, and the two guests that entered the fort with me. Not the other two. Find out which servers will be working, and then bring them to me in my chambers. I have a little something extra for them to add to one of the dishes." Rusol and his bondmates would then just need to avoid that dish during the meal and wait for the poison to take effect. "When you're done with your tasks, I want you both to forget anything unusual I've said or asked you to do. It's been a normal day, with nothing out of the ordinary."

"Yes, Your Highness." Priest Calwell bowed, then left to complete his final task.

Barat stood in place for a moment more, then winced and put his fingers to his temple. "I apologize, Your Highness. I didn't hear what you just said."

"It was nothing, Sir Barat, but you look pale. Perhaps you should go see one of the healers."

"I ... Yes, Your Highness. As you command."

Alone, Rusol went over the plan in his mind one last time to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

It was a pity he'd had to leave Yassi behind in Telfort so soon after their wedding, but she'd be useless in a fight, and she'd have spent the whole trip finding new ways to anger him. Even when he ordered her to pretend to be happy, there was always that look of sorrow and disappointment in her eyes—the look she reserved just for him.

Of his remaining four bondmates, the biggest question was whether Jasper would be of any help. He'd been an old man before Rusol had bonded him, and the warden bond didn't restore youth; it merely allowed the bearers to keep what youth they still had. More importantly, he was new to combat spells—he'd never had the desire nor the strength to learn them before. But he'd been a warden's bondmate for nearly four years now, and that would provide the strength. As for desire, Rusol's orders eliminated the need for that.

Being in Telfort, though, they'd had a difficult time getting their hands on useful spells. Their luck didn't improve until Rusol had bonded Rodulf, his newest bondmate. The boy—he was just eighteen—had stolen two spell books from his teacher before running away from his apprenticeship in Matagor. The books included a variety of different types of war magic. Rusol had ordered both wizards to learn as many of the combat spells as they could.

It was a gamble, but Jasper and Rodulf were only meant to serve as a distraction. If they did well, he could give them more responsibility in the future. He left Calwell's office to find Kolvi and Magnus in the suite where they'd been hidden away, to give them the final details.

#

Hiking into the barrens alone gave Razai a chance to clear her head. It had been years since she'd spent so much time with so many people. Working for the seaborn and later for Renny, she'd always had nights to herself, and one day off each week. And even when she was working, she was on her own in some ways, responsible for making the decisions on how best to protect her clients.

She liked working alone. It meant she didn't have to deal with other people's stupidity. The last time she'd worked with a crew was on the Valara job where she'd met Vash. That group had spent a lot of time together, but mostly just because none of them had trusted any of the others. There had only been six of them, the job had taken less than two weeks, and when they were done, they'd all gone their separate ways.

Now, though, it had been months with the same people and she was getting soft. She had someone to share watch shifts with, someone to prepare her meals, even someone who made sure her horse was fed and watered. Marco paid her promptly each week, and there was little to spend that money on since most of her expenses were taken care of.

Plus, in all the time she'd been traveling with the group, she'd only been in a single fight. Other than the incident outside Tir Shar, the only battles she'd had to deal with were Marco and Ellerie arguing with each other about the expedition's budget.

If things continued on like this, she would lose her edge. But perhaps that was about to change.

She kept still as the scout passed by. He didn't notice her presence. She was invisible, but that was no excuse for his inattention. Although the ground was hard-packed, there was enough dust layered over the top that she'd left faint tracks behind her. Even with the sun setting, he should have noticed her trail, but he never looked down. Instead, he trudged to the nearest rise and aimed a spyglass toward the mountain.

That suggested potential trouble. Whether these people knew Razai's companions were at the mountain or not, they were clearly headed that way themselves. Maybe they only intended to pass by, but if they noticed people in the ruins, their plans might change.

Still, there was nothing yet to indicate their intentions. She had to get closer. The scout returned the way he'd come, and once he'd passed out of sight, she released her invisibility spell and followed him, stepping in his tracks.

The last time she'd been on high enough ground to catch sight of the visitors, they'd stopped to make camp, so it wouldn't take long to reach them. With the sky darkening, she dropped the illusionary tan and brown robe she'd donned. At night, her own clothing—a mix of black and gray—would be better suited to the task of sneaking around.

Razai heard the camp before she saw it, the typical rowdiness of guardsmen without enough to occupy their time. They weren't drunk, though, which was a shame. Her task would be easier if they'd been drinking.

She crouched low and crept toward the camp. When she was close enough to see movement, she cast her invisibility spell, then inched forward slowly, waiting for full dark. She stopped a safe distance from the nearest tents, far enough out that no one would run into her by accident.

The camp was much as Leena had described it, with numerous groups of people—all men as far as Razai could tell—scattered around talking and eating. There were three mage lights this time, though. There was one hovering above a tent in the center of camp, as Leena had mentioned, but now there were two more, illuminating the largest clusters of people. With no fires, perhaps the men had complained about the limited light from the waning moon.

There was a commotion ahead, an older man in plain garb berating a group of armed men. One of the guardsmen argued back, and then the group as a whole turned away, apparently deciding to ignore whatever had been said.

Razai had only learned a few words of Nysan, but it seemed that the first man was angry the guards hadn't posted a watch yet, while the guards felt it could wait until later. In a place this empty, there was little need to start a watch shift while everyone was still awake, but the first man seemed to feel the others weren't taking their duties seriously. If they were anything like the scout, Razai couldn't blame him.

He finally walked off in a huff, heading almost straight for her—apparently intending to keep watch himself. She edged away from him, but as he passed by, she caught sight of the knife strapped to his belt. It had a snake etched onto the hilt.

Her grip tightened on her own knives. This man belonged to the group that had killed Leena's parents. If she killed him and dragged his body away, she could take his place in the camp. It would give her a recognizable face, and she wouldn't be at risk of the original suddenly showing up. It would also mean she wouldn't have to waste time dealing with her invisibility spell.

But how long could she keep up the illusion when surrounded by others? She didn't speak enough of the language to pass as a local, and she hadn't heard his normal tone of voice enough to replicate it. Besides, once she left and people discovered he was missing, it would raise an alert.

No, she'd have to let him go for now. But just for now.

While it was too risky to truly masquerade as him, she could use his clothing and appearance as a model to create a new disguise. With a camp this large, even if everyone knew everyone else by sight, they likely wouldn't pay too much attention to someone hurrying by in the dark.

She switched to the new disguise, using the face from her old Aden disguise as a shortcut. As soon as the man with the knife was far enough away, facing the other direction, she dropped her invisibility spell and quickly strode into the camp. She stuck to the shadows, sneaking between tents and keeping away from the mage lights as much as possible.

When she reached the large tent in the center of camp, she switched back to her invisibility spell. Listening through the canvas, she could hear parts of a murmured conversation, but they were speaking Nysan. She couldn't make out enough words to understand what they were saying.

If she could get inside the tent, she could look to see if anything had been written down. Unfortunately, the front flap was closed and she couldn't figure out a way to enter without being noticed. Perhaps the occupants would leave soon, allowing her to snoop around.

Then, the Sanvari man Leena had mentioned strode over to the tent and called to someone inside.

A middle-aged bald man lifted the flap from the inside, then exited the tent. He muttered the words to a spell and added a second mage light above the tent, making the area brighter. The wizard.

"Where is she now, Sanvarite?" he asked in badly accented trade tongue. "Has she disappeared beyond your reach again?"

The Sanvari man scowled. "Nowhere is beyond my reach. Someone's been warding her, but not today. Today, she's mostly stayed in the same place, about a mile and a half southeast of her previous location. I did detect her in Aencyr once, but she returned quickly, as usual."

They could only be referring to Leena.

"Then we'll find her tomorrow."

"Find her? You don't bring an army to find someone. How do you think you're going to kill her when she can disappear the moment she sees you?"

Two cowled forms came from the tent to join them, their faces half-hidden within the hoods of their robes. Razai's skin prickled when she saw them. Priests. Or trueborn, like Treya—though Treya was masquerading as a priest for some reason. Could these two sense Razai the way she could sense them? Some priests could.

One spoke. "She is protected by the others. Even if she gets away, we can still kill her protectors. It will then be easier to take her the next time you track her down."

"And killing her is secondary," said the other. "Our Lord has sent us a new vision, a more urgent task. There's something here in the barrens we must find and destroy, and something else we must take for ourselves."

What lord was he referring to? The gods didn't involve themselves this closely in the mortal realm, but who else could send a vision?

Too dangerous, the whispers said in her mind. Leave quickly.

"What are they?" the Sanvari man asked the two priests.

"We'll know when it's time, and then you'll help us find them. They're near the mountain."

"Then you'd better hurry, because that's where the woman is."

The priests exchanged glances. "You didn't think to tell us this before?" one asked.

"Tell you what? We've been heading toward the mountain for two days, and I told you how far away she was. Where did you think we'd find her? If you had ever bothered to mention the mountain was important, I'd have looked more carefully before now."

The priests and the wizard broke into a rapid conversation in Nysan, the Sanvari man seemingly annoyed at being excluded from the conversation. Apparently he was the reason they'd been speaking trade tongue.

Razai drew one of her curved knives and crept forward, slowly enough to not disrupt the invisibility spell. She could kill the wizard now, and possibly end the threat. But could she kill the two priests before they reacted? A priest could potentially stop her in her tracks. Treya had done so accidentally the day before, when she'd prevented Razai from killing the Chosar girl. If the priests stopped her, there'd be no one to carry word back to the others.

Razai backed away. It wasn't time to kill them yet. She snuck out of the camp, switching from the invisibility spell to her newest disguise when no one was looking her way.

She argued silently with herself on the way out—she hated leaving an enemy alive behind her. She really was going soft.

By the time she left the outer ring of tents behind, she was fuming. These people were trying to kill Leena and she'd allowed them to continue living.

Ahead of her, one of the plain-garbed men was standing watch. Not the same one as before, but a new one. He raised a hand to greet her, unable to see her face in the dark. Without thinking about it, Razai grabbed him by the hair, jerked his head back, and slit his throat. The shouts and laughter from the camp hid the gurgling noises as he died.

She stared down at the man she'd killed. So much for worrying about alerting them. She'd lost control again, allowing the rage—the curse of the demonborn—to control her actions. Now she had to deal with the consequences.

She dragged him far enough away from the camp that no one would be able to see him in the dim light. How long would it be before his body was discovered? Could the Seeker figure out who'd killed him—or at least where she was? Would he bother to try?

As long as Razai got a decent head start, she'd be able to stay ahead of them until she reached her companions, but she didn't like the idea of being hunted along the way.

Perhaps she could sow some confusion before leaving. She snuck back into the camp and found one of the armed guards who'd taken his weapon belt off so he could sit more comfortably. Invisible, she slowly drew his secondary weapon, a long dagger, from its sheath. She left the camp and returned to the body, then stuck the dagger into the wound and left it there.

Maybe it would throw them off her scent and maybe it wouldn't. Either way, now they would get an idea of what it felt like to be hunted.