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another's revenge. But Rhom was running from something, he knew the grief perhaps of
whatever had happened behind him, for the man showed no fear, only an anguish he tried
to hide and a fury that smoldered dark and hot in his heart but even a fighting rage
grown of grief would be welcome when they met the swords of the slavers. Aranur shook
his head, considering his motley band. Of the three who rode with him, he trusted the
stranger Rhom more than the others. Tyrel was too hotheaded to listen for the silent cut of
the steel instead of the taunts a fighter could throw as well. And Bentol . . . Aranur sighed.
The trader was good enough with a sword but better with a bow or knife; other than that,
he kept his word, but one had to check one's wallet to make sure he did not walk off with it
after he backed one in a fight. Aranur's trust was held completely only by his Uncle
Gamon, but the old man had not returned from backtracking the stranger, and Aranur
wondered if Rhom's trail had held more trouble than the old weapons master could
handle.
He glanced across the nver and judged the speed of the current. The water rolled fast,
carrying the debris from the mountains down to meet the sea and breaking it on the way
so that
WOLFWALKER
51
only twigs reached the inhospitable shore. "There'll be fighting in Sidisport if we can't
catch the raiders on the river," he said grimly.
Rhom nodded absently. ' 'There's no other boat at this crossing unless it's sunk."
With the rocks humping the water up so far, the Phye looked like a huge, flat serpent
writhing through the muddy banks, catching the chill air and tossing it along like the
clouds of gnats that bounced above the water. Aranur tightened his jerkin against the cold.
The sun was not yet strong enough to break the water's hold on the shadowed banks, so
the reeds and brush grew thick and strong, hiding the sticky stalks of catchplants that
trapped unwary passers in their open mouths.
He used his foot to edge a stand of reeds aside while he peered upstream through the
rising tide of green, but the low growth was undisturbed. No broken or wilting branches
marked the passage of more raiders; no telltale strands of dnu hair told him where they
had gone.
"Rhom, check the waters downstream. I'm going to circle out from the bank and see if they
split up.''
The stranger nodded, and Aranur felt another twinge at his conscience. He was used to
using people ordering life and death by the strategy of a battle but what right did he
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have to do that with Rhom? The young blacksmith had joined them of his own free will, it
was true, but still, the odds were that if he stayed with them to Sidisport, he would not live
to see the autumn leaves turn. But neither would Tyrel or any of them, the gray-eyed
leader reminded himself harshly. It was not his job to decide the fates leave that to the
moons and thank their light for the blessing of another sword. He would pay for his
reckoning after he rescued his sister, not before.
Swatting at a graf bug that landed accidentally on his eyebrow, the lean man ducked under
the brush. He held his breath as a clove bush released its sudden cloud of irritating mist
an acidic warning to animals to keep them from eating its tempting, purple-streaked
leaves and, while he waited for the mist to settle, ignoring the sweet scent of the bush, he
studied the ground and surrounding growth carefully. After circling the entire bank and
separating each dnu by its distinctive tracks, he knew that none of the raiders had split off.
' 'Took to the water like rats,''
52
Tara K. Harper
he muttered, spitting at the dark river that sucked noisily at the
banks.
"Any sign of Gamon?" he called back to Tyrel. He could just see the top of the boy's head at
the rise from where the youth watched the back trail.
Tyrel shook his head and hesitated before he called back softly. "We're being followed, but
it can't be Gamon. The dnu are the wrong color, and there's two riders, not just one."
Scraping more mud off his boots, the tall man strode toward the crest and dropped to his
stomach as he joined his cousin, parting grasses and squinting across the short expanse of
plains to the place where their trail led back into the forest. He frowned. "Where did you
see them?"
The boy motioned with his chin, careful to make no overt movement. ' 'I caught a flash of
movement about five kilometers back, then another a moment later. Now I can't see
anything, but I think they went into the brush down on the banks."
Aranur grunted, squirmed back till he could sit on his heels, and thought a moment. Had
he been so careless as to miss being followed? Where could two raiders have split off and
circled around? Maybe back at the lava lake, although he should have seen the signs if that
were true. Either they were better than he thought, he acknowledged, or these were a new
pair riding to join the other party.
"More trouble," he said shortly to Rhom as he eased down the slope and took the reins of
his dnu from the stranger.
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"Raiders?"
"Looks like it, though there's only two there should be more unless they're part of the
group we're following.''
"Out of theFenn?"
"Maybe." Aranur gestured for the trader to mount up. "Get a move on, Bentol. We haven't
time for you to repack every ounce the way you want."
' 'An easy pack makes an easy ride,'' the trader retorted, flicking an imaginary spot off one
of the stiff leather packs but mounting as he had been directed. ' 'Especially if we're riding
hard.''
"Well, we may be riding harder than you think. There are two raiders on our trail. Tyrel,"
he called quietly. "Come on down. You won't see them again if you haven't by now. They're
down in the brush and not coming out till they find us.''
WOLFWALKER
53
"Raiders that close?" the trader broke in angrily. "How could you miss them coming?"
Aranur bit back his words. It would not do to irritate the merchant further the paunchy
man had put much of his own money in this, too. So he took a breaih and found an
overlooked fragment of the patience he had thought was lost. ' 'What's done is done.
They're close, and we need to move on before they teach us here. It's obvious we're
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