"They want the papers I carry," he snapped. "I've got four men and women, as well as my own sister, in the G.o.dsd.a.m.n hospital because of it."

Nori stared at him. "You've lost too much blood," she said with exasperation. She squatted beside him.

She didn't notice the leaves or twigs stuck in her braid or the damp mud stains on her shirt. He was far too adamant about being right, about being the target. But it had been her bow, her knife, Payne's rope, and their arrows that had already been sabotaged. It had been Payne and she who were attacked on the road. And that raider had followed her out from the circle because she could identify him. Yet the Tamrani was still shaking his head as if he couldn't see it. "You're dizzy," she worried. "It must be worse than it looks."

"Dizzy, my foot." He clutched her arm as she made to rise. "And stay down in the shadows. The third one may not have been with the dnu at all. He may be here in the park."

"I'd know," she returned sharply. She tried to hide the note of fear in her voice. "There's no one left but us. And I suggest you get up with me, unless you want to bleed out on my boots." His fingers were starting to drip as he held the pad to the wound. "How bad is it?" She pressed her hands over his to judge the heat in the blood.

"Ow, dammit. What are you doing?"

"Pressure. You have an open wound, you know."

"By all nine h.e.l.ls, you're supposed to be a healer."

"An animal healer, not a human doctor."

"You're supposed to have a year of human healing."

"It must not be my calling," she retorted.

"Moons." He sucked in his breath. "I'm likely to die from your touch long before I bleed to death on my own. I'd be better off as an animal than a human in your hands."

She grinned, but the expression was feral. "I specialized in wild animals, not in livestock like dnu and a.s.s."

"Dik spit," he retorted.

She studied the wound. It was slowly soaking both shirt and jerkin. The gnats were beginning to flock to the scent. "It's messy more than deep. Tore the top, but doesn't seem to have nicked anything important."

"My body may not be important to you, but it certainly is to me."

"Don't be a baby. It'll ruin the manly impression you've been making on me all night."

He started to laugh and groaned. "Ow. Don't make me laugh."

"Seems like a good time for humor."

"For you, maybe, not for me."

"Then we'll walk. Can you stand?"

He slanted her a look from under his heavy brows. "Will you put your arms around me if I can't?"

"Now I know you're fine." She tugged at his elbow. His skin was cold with mud from the ground.

"Come on, get up."

"You have the bedside manner of a badgerbear."

"I know. I practice hard."

He started to laugh again, cursed, and settled for keeping his balance as he stumbled out of the root-ma.s.s. He slipped again, and she caught him, one hand around his waist.

She brushed awkwardly at them both, dislodging broken leaves and a twig from his shirt lacing. "It's not far," she encouraged.

He looked down at the top of her head. There was gra.s.s in her braid, and her cheek was smudged with his blood. But she was alive with adrenaline. Her violet eyes were sparkling, her body still balanced like a cat to strike. Her hand was like tinder, touching and firing the skin beneath his shirt as she slid along his ribs for a better hold. "Don't patronize me," he managed. "I've had worse wounds half the years of my life."

But his voice sounded weak, and Nori slipped both arms around his muscled waist, returning lightly, "I wondered. You're starting to look a bit hard-lived."

He draped an arm around her shoulder and let her take some of his weight. She was stronger than she looked. She didn't flinch at all. She simply fit her hips against him and adjusted her balance to his. Now her slim strength surrounded him, and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s pressed against his ribs. His hand clenched across her shoulder. She took it as a sign of pain and shifted to take more weight. She didn't seem to notice the change in his breathing. He could hear the concern in her voice. "Did I ever tell you about the time I took an arrow in the ribs? It was an accident. One of the hunters was too impatient and didn't wait for me to come back with the report on the herd. He thought I was an eerin. Shot me right through the shrubs."

Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s rubbed his ribs as he walked, and Hunter felt himself growing hard. "What an idiot," he managed.

"In more ways than one. He was too far away to do any damage. I felt the threat, turned around, and, pang, there was this arrow sticking out of my chest. It barely even cut the skin. Just left a tiny red mark, like the bite of a winter gnat."

Their strides weren't even, and her hips slid along his. "What's with the sudden spate of talking?" he demanded in quiet desperation. "I thought you were the quiet one."

Her voice was dry. "I was hoping to make sure you stay conscious. I didn't want to try dragging you all the way back by myself to the cozar circle."

He looked down at her face, noted the worry that tightened her eyes, and gave himself up to the soft sensation of her body locked against his.

He made it all the way to the path before he stumbled again, but this time he almost fell. She barely caught his weight, and it took him a moment to regain his balance. She paused only to pick up the bow the shooter had dropped and Hunter's knife from beside the tree. She didn't see her own blade. Either Murton or the other man had carried it away, or it was lost in the shadows. Unless Rishte wanted to scent it out, she'd have to wait till morning. She stared at the hilltop as she listened to the sense of the dnu fading away in the distance.

He followed her hungry gaze. "You wouldn't have made it. They were already gone."

"I could have left you behind."

He grinned faintly. "You'd have felt too guilty."

She made a face.

"You throw well," Hunter commented as he rested against the trunk while she slung Murton's bow over her shoulder.

"I've had some practice," she returned noncommittally. She slipped her arms back around him and let him lean on her.

"Next time you think to put yourself in harm's way just to take a shot for me, I'll pin your arms behind you, truss you up like a roast pag, and beat that stupidity out of you. You'll think your uncle's hands are feathers compared to mine."

His voice was so mild it didn't register for a moment. Then she stopped dead. She stared at him as if he'd sprouted horns. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." He tightened his hold on her shoulder. "Jangharat," he murmured. Then he turned her into his arms and kissed her.

She stared up at him as he did it. In the dark, her violet eyes flickered with sudden fear. Like a wild animal, she tore free and jerked back.

He thought he was prepared for her reaction, but he overbalanced. This time, she didn't try to catch him.

He grabbed for a nearby sapling and stood for a moment, head down and cursing, as he got used to the new jags of pain. Finally looked back up.

She stood several steps back, breathing raggedly, her hand at her lips, watching him like a wolf.

In spite of himself, his voice was somewhat hoa.r.s.e. "I won't apologize."

She dropped her hands and found her voice. "I didn't ask you to."

He straightened. He nodded at the trail. "Shall we?"

"You first."

He understood, and it angered him. If the shooters returned, they'd be behind them, and Nori would be first in danger. "Side by side or not at all."

She stared at him, but he didn't move.

"Together, Nori. I won't bite."

She licked her lips unconsciously. "What did you call that?"

He smiled, slowly, wickedly. "An introduction."

"Then you'll need no other."

"Now that's the arrogance I admire." He nodded toward the path. Reluctantly, she fell into step with him, certain now that he'd been faking his weakness. She cast glances every now and then at his face. It was tight, so she knew he was in pain, but other than holding the bandage to the wound, he seemed to not notice his shoulder. He'd had that bandage ready in his belt, she remembered. He hadn't argued when they left the path for the shadows, he'd been prepared for the raiders, and he'd thrown her around with ease. Oh, Payne had been right about this one. Cityfolk this Tamrani might be, but he wasn't at all a novice. She'd underestimated him badly. The thought was disconcerting.

Uncle Ki was at fireside, and Nori left Hunter on the gate of the healer's wagon to go get her uncle. She waited till she caught his eye, then raised her eyebrow meaningfully. Several faces turned to her, and there was more than speculation on some of them as they took in her dirty shirt and gra.s.s-stained trousers, the red-brown smudge that marred her cheek. Ki rose with sudden menace as he scanned the night for the Tamrani. "Get Payne," he murmured to his younger son. Liam nodded and strode away.

She said quickly, "It's not what it looks like, Uncle Ki."

The ex-raider nodded, but he didn't stop scanning the circle as he followed her away from the fire.

Nori barely waited till they had some distance. "He's hurt, Uncle Ki. He was shot. He's at the healer's wagon."

Ki's step didn't falter as he shot her a sharp look. "On the road? You raised no alarm. Report."

"It was Murton and the man who hitConnaught last night. They followed us-probably me-into the verge park. There was a third man in the distance, probably holding the dnu for them to escape."

"But it was the Tamrani who was shot?"

"By mistake, I think. Payne spoke to you?" He nodded, and she explained, "No other attack has been aimed at him. It's all been aimed at us."

They rounded the corner of the healer's wagon and could hear Hunter now.

". . . no reason to cut up this jerkin. It's the last one I have."

Nori felt a twinge of guilt.

But, "Put your arms down," the healer snapped. "Don't you realize how much you're bleeding?"

"I can judge that myself quite accurately. Let me get this off, dammit, before you leave me in cozar rags."

"Do you want my help or not?"

"He wants it, Healer Sastry." Nori cut off his reply as she stepped up. "He'll follow directions."

Hunter looked over. "Speak for yourself," he retorted.

Ki looked the other man up and down, and Nori wasn't sure her uncle had believed her till he saw that Hunter was more preoccupied with the healer's hands than Nori's. "Shallow wound," Ki judged.

"Messy."

Hunter indicated Nori irritably. "That's what she said." Ignoring the healer, he yanked the jerkin over his head, sucking in his breath as it pulled across the wound with more agony than he had expected. Silently, he finished the motion. Nori caught the soiled garment before he could drop it. "Did you tell him?" he asked, jerking his chin toward Ki.

"I was getting to it."

"They got off four shots-" the tall man hissed as Healer Sastry rubbed a numbing agent around the wound.

"Four?" Ki glanced at Nori, then hard back at Hunter.

"The fault wasn't his, Uncle Ki. He was preoccupied." Her voice bit. "He kept trying to shove my face through the ground."

"I was trying to protect you," he snapped. He met Ki's gaze with more than a lick of anger. "She kept trying to jump up and attack. I couldn't let her get hit for me." His jaw tightened ominously as the healer began to pinch the staples closed over the wound, and Nori knew the painkiller hadn't fully set.

She said sharply, "He was aiming for me, not you."

"You don't know that."

"The attack earlier was aimed at Payne and me. The accidents before then, at Payne and me. Why would they now follow you?"

"Because of you, Wolfwa-woman," he blasted back, barely correcting himself in time. "Because they don't want me meeting up with you. I carry information for the council. Information that, combined with a scout's notes, could help answer important questions. They can't afford for me to work with you."

There was silence for a long, strained moment. The healer continued to clean the wound, his ears closed to the discussion in the cozar way of distancing himself from things he should not hear. Hunter glared at Nori and watched the emotions flicker deep in her eyes. Distrust, wariness, puzzlement, and fear. He wasn't sure which had won out when she said quietly, "We've always been targets of some sort."

He stared at her, then hissed at Sastry when the healer pulled at his arm. "Dammit," he cursed. "You're worse than she is." The healer hid a smile. Hunter shot Ki a wary look, then spoke to Nori as if the others weren't there. "I can't tell you more, not until I know."

The wolfwalker's violet eyes narrowed. "Until you know what?"

He said harshly, "That you will do your duty to the county, not run from it like you have been doing ever since you turned sixteen."

Her face went expressionless.

Ki studied Hunter carefully. When he spoke, his voice was soft. "You've dragged my Nori-girl into your business, Tamrani. You've made her a target for your back."

Hunter glanced at Ki, then gave the older man a closer look. The ex-raider's face was still calm, but it gave him a chill. "I have," he admitted freely. "And if she'll ride with me-on Journey, as a duty, I don't care-I'll keep her as safe as I can while we deal with the changes coming to Ariye."

Nori felt a lick of anger. "I don't need you to kee-"

Ki cut her off with an almost imperceptible gesture. He gave the Tamrani a long look before turning back to Nori. "I'll check the road, follow the men if I find them. I'll take Mye and Liam with me. You'll stay with the caravan." His voice brooked no disagreement. "Wakje will watch your backs, and Payne will watch Leanna."

"Uncle Ki," she started. She glanced meaningfully at the forest.

"No." The word was flat. "Stay with the caravan. Stay with Payne. First thing a raider does to his target is cut him out of the pack. You almost gave yourself over to them already. Do not do it again."