Fentris looked past her. "Take us through where? There?" The boulder pile squatted in the forest like a pile of lava bombs. Even he could see the movement now-two small bodies that popped up, then dropped back out of sight. A glimpse of eyes that he knew would be red as thin blood as they watched their party. City rasts were as bad as oldEarth rats. They could swarm a man and tear him apart before he could run twenty meters. He startled as something shifted nearby.

"Don't worry." Nori looked back over her shoulder, then rea.s.sured, "Just stay quiet and calm. Leanna first."

The girl nudged her dnu forward without hesitation.

Fentris shifted uneasily. "Black Wolf-"

"Hush," she told him. "It's critical that you be quiet."

Hunter grinned sardonically at the other man. Fentris set his hat more firmly on his head and muttered a silent curse.

When Rishte growled in her head, she sent,You, too. Then she took Leanna's reins and ducked her head in a silent question: Ready?

The girl nodded back.

The wolfwalker closed her eyes for a moment, centered herself, and began humming. It was a soothing sound, more like a purr than a tone, and the dnu responded easily. Its head drooped, and its breathing slowed. She smiled faintly as she heard and felt the change. When she opened her eyes again, her gaze was distant, as if she looked past the rocks, not at them. She started to lead the dnu forward.

Carefully she picked her way across. She never quite looked at the rocks. She simply followed the trail, stepping lightly and avoiding the small rocks that littered the ground. A few minutes later, she released Leanna's dnu in the woods on the other side, and the girl walked it ahead.

She walked back as easily as she'd gone across. When it was Hunter's turn, he simply nodded to the wolfwalker and handed over the reins. He couldn't stop the hard pulse in his neck-he swore he could still feel the p.r.i.c.k of the tano's claws as they neared the den-but he sat calmly on the dnu and rested his hand on its neck to rea.s.sure it.

Twenty minutes later, all seven were across, and moving quietly down the trail. Then they trotted, then cantered to put distance between them and the rock pile. A few hours later, when they slipped across a ridge, Nori started smiling.

"What is it?" Hunter asked.

"I'm thinking that your Harumen should be crossing the denning ground about now." Her smile turned into a grin. "I'm thinking, I wish I was watching."

He studied her for a moment. "You've a mean streak in you, Black Wolf."

"All in a day's work," she returned blithely.

Evening finally found them at another main trail, where a stream curled in toward the path. Nori led her dnu quickly down to the stream and let it drink at the edge. It pulled toward the shallows, but she clicked her tongue and drew it back. Dnu didn't like deep water, but they liked to bathe and roll in anything knee- or waist-deep. She had no desire to canter a soggy beast.

Hunter's dnu nudged hers aside, and she shifted to make room. He kept his voice low. "We need to stop, get trail rations, gear."

She patted his dnu and scratched its haunch as it arched under her hand. "There's a place. Six more kays by trail, then another three by a backroad."

Hunter searched his memory for the names of the village nearby. "Maupin?"

She nodded. It was an end-road village between the harvest homes andWillow Road . "There's a storekeeper there who won't mind selling to us at night." Her own dnu almost pulled out of her hands, and she murmured a quiet command.

Hunter didn't notice. "They'll expect to see us head there."

Aye, the Harumen would probably keep a few riders on Nori's trail, and send the rest out to the farm tracks to see if Nori's group made a run forWillow Road . She glanced at her uncle. "What if we get in and out fast, and avoid the roads completely? Take the trails till we get farther north?"

Wakje hid a wary twinge that she'd asked. She still didn't see inside him, still seemed to accept him and he cleared his throat before answering. "They'd have to stay on your heels. They can send word out toWillow Road andDeepening Road to watch for you, but they won't know which way you'll go, or where you'll break for the road." He tried not to glance toward the wolf. "You'd be forcing them to play your game, not theirs."

Hunter frowned, but Payne smiled grimly. Playing with Nori in the wilderness was like boys sharpening claws with a worlag. It was always her game, not theirs.

Fentris felt the warmth of his dnu. "We'll need to trade our dnu for new mounts."

Nori shook her head at the other man. "It'll be evening. There won't be anything in town."

"How do you know?"

"It's coming on to the Test ninan. Anything we come on at night will already be used up by the spring planting or be the dregs of what's left from the town's Test youths."

"It's nine kays," Payne murmured.

"Aye." She looked at the sky, judging what she could see of the moons that skimmed the rims of the clouds. "But we've ridden easy for the last three or four. We'll go swiftly from here. Give the dnu a good breather in Maupin. The cliff meadows start a few kays past the outer farm boundaries. We'll spend the night there and get a good vantage from there at dawn."

Hunter touched her arm as Wakje and Payne took their dnu to the trail. He felt her tension like bone and lowered his voice. "You don't think we lost them at the rast den."

"No." She stared out at the forest. "They know we're out here. They know we're heading for Shockton, and that there aren't many bows and bolts between them and your paper belt." She had the satisfaction of seeing his green eyes shutter. "All they have to do is watch the roads and trails and listen to the towers."

Hunter studied her carefully. "Will they catch up?"

"Not if I can help it."

"You've taken us this far on the game tracks."

She shook her head. "Game trails wind around, dead-end and disappear, and this is worlag country.

We'll have to watch the land every minute, scout the paths, backtrack around the lairs and poolah traps.

It's slow, and we can't hide our trail, not with so many of us on it. At some point, we have to get back to the roads." She rubbed absently at a fresh scratch on her hand. "We're eight days out of Shockton by caravan. That's four days hard riding on the roads, but five or six days by trail, and that's if nothing bad happens. We'll stay ahead of them, but we'll lose time overall. It's a blessing we've been so lucky."

He shrugged, winced at his shoulder, and said dryly, "Define 'lucky.' "

"Lucky enough," she amended.

He studied her in the dark. There was a faint glint of moonlight off her hair, and her violet eyes gleamed.

She was uncomfortable with him so close. Perversely, it made him shift closer, crowding her against her dnu.

"Condari-"

"Con," he corrected. "Or Hunter." He stepped back abruptly. "Lead on then." He mounted and trotted back to the trail with Kettre.

Nori stared after him. Then she shook herself. She said nothing as she took point again on the trail, but she cast more than one look over her shoulder.

x.x.xII.

Red snake, death snake, diamond head; Use dried curc.u.ma or you're dead.

Greenback, dogtooth, checker snake; Tincture broote and dried mandrake.

Redeye viper and hooded asp; Use weiber venom and tano trasp.

Harmless snake is venomous; There is no cure if bit by this.

-fromCures, by Sevin maRegna, Randonnen healer The town was dark as the forest, set off only by the low lamplights that marked the stables and inns. The stores were just black windows on dark walls, and their porches like steps leading up to shadowed maws. Nori led them at a trot halfway down main street, turned off near the public bathhouses, and then zigzagged through the silent streets. As they approached the outskirts, businesses began being backed by the owners' homes. Dogs roused at their pa.s.sing, but like a wolf Nori snarled at each oldEarth breed, and the dogs slunk back in the shadows.

Finally, the wolfwalker reined in. She sat for a moment, listening. Rishte was in her ears, and the yearling deafened her with sounds that were too close for being far away.

Payne shifted impatiently. "Well?"

She didn't answer. Her nostrils flared, and she breathed lightly in and out. The others were silent. "Fresh meatrolls," she said finally. "Pork and bollusk. Carrot ca.s.serole. And pie."

Payne perked up. "Pie?"

She nodded. "Early peaches, but there's a hint of something else."

"Probably gingered extractor root. I'll take the kitchen. You take the store."

"Keep it under four silvers," she warned.

He made a face.

Fentris cleared his throat. "You're going to break into their kitchen, not just their store?"

Nori studied the store's porch. "Solvini's one of the top ten cooks in this area. She supplies two of the larger towns when she has time outside of her own cafe. Just think of it as an early sale for her." She dismounted and handed her reins to Kettre.

"Moonworms," Fentris muttered. Hunter hid a smile.

Kettre led their dnu to the hitching post and waited while Nori and Payne climbed the steps to the porch.

They both eyed the black rafters. "It's this one or that one," he murmured, pointing with his chin.

She frowned. "That one, I think."

Hunter followed their gaze but saw only shadow. "What are you looking for?"

"An old night spider nest. Stand back a bit," she said softly. Payne cupped his hands and hoisted her up, and she caught the rafter while she balanced on his callused palms. She took the hilt of her knife and tapped slowly, then more rapidly on the beam as she leaned toward the eave. She began humming deep in her throat. For a moment, Hunter saw nothing. Then the shadows seemed to writhe. Insects, spiders fled the rapping of the knife and the resonance of her voice. Like angry stingers, they scuttled and jumped from the corner. Quickly, Nori reached into the blackness. "Got it," she said breathlessly.

Payne dropped her back to the porch and ducked as she scrubbed her hands over her hair. He flicked something dark off her shoulders and jerked as she accidentally brushed another bug right at him.

"Moonworms, Nori-girl. Watch it."

"Sorry." She twisted to look at herself. "Are they off? No, there's something on my back."

Fentris's eyes widened, and Hunter stiffened, but Payne didn't even blink. "Night spider," he acknowledged. "Small one. Can you get it? It's moving down toward your waist."

"I think so."

She started to reach around, but Hunter grabbed Payne's arm. "Stand still," he snapped at Nori. "I'll do it-"

She didn't look up. She simply wiped her hand across her lower back and brushed the insect off.

Hunter said, "Dammit, woman, are you insane? You could have been bitten and dead as a six-day corpse."

She grinned faintly. "Anything's possible. Am I clean?" she asked Payne.

"Turn around again." She did so, and he nodded. "Clean, I think."

"Good. That always makes me feel itchy, as if I missed something."

Fentris swallowed. "You've done this before?"

She brushed her hands over her hair one more time. "Ogoli has been leaving a key there for me for years. It's a good place to hide it." She tugged her tunic back in place. "No one's going to reach into a spider's nest willingly."

Fentris's voice was dry. "I'd say that was truth enough."

She grinned over her shoulder as she unlocked the door. "Shall we?"

Hunter gave Fentris a satisifed look and followed her inside. The fop muttered and went in after them.

She fumbled for the lamp, lit it, and turned it up to an easy glow.

It was Hunter who said, "Isn't that going to attract attention?"

"We're not stealing," she returned. "I don't want to wake him, but Ogoli won't worry as much if he sees the lights on." She reached over the counter and got out the tally pad. "The dried meats are over there,"

she directed Hunter. "And the dried fruits are in the canisters on the second shelf." She glanced at Fentris. "Trail socks-"

"I see them."

Quickly, they a.s.sembled and tallied their goods, while Nori searched the shelved canisters and boxes.

Hunter glanced at her as he wrapped his bundles. A moment later, he caught her sniffing the contents of a gla.s.s jar. "What are you looking for?"

She stepped back and shoved the jar back in place. "Nothing," she said shortly. But he could have sworn she had flushed as she turned away to the jerky packs.

They had most of the goods together when she tensed. Her head shot up, her gaze going toward the back door. "Quiet," she snapped the whisper. In the near-silence, the command was sharp as a shot.

Hunter slid the pack of arrows onto the counter and started to draw his sword when Nori relaxed. "It's okay," she said. A moment later, when the latch on the back door began to ease up, she said in a normal voice, "It's alright, Ogoli. It's just me."

" 'It's me?' " Hunter whispered dryly.

She went back to pulling out gla.s.s jars. "Only someone you know is going to a.s.sume you know them by saying 'it's me.' It's strangers who use names, since they know you don't know who they are."

"I'm terrified to think that that almost made sense."

Kettre choked back a laugh, and Fentris shook his head, but even though the slim Tamrani trusted the wolfwalker, he didn't slide his own sword back in its sheath.

The latch turned and the door opened, but no one stepped through. "Sorry to wake you, Ogoli," Nori said. "We were trying to be quiet."