Chapter 7
7
Threats to the herd are threats to all.
~ Elder Taybarri Seerathi
“Do you want to go back to headquarters and see the doctor?” Vlerion asked as he gently wrapped a bandage around Kaylina’s hand.
It had stopped steaming, but the burn mark continued to ache. Gingerly, she flexed her fingers, grimacing as that small movement hurt.
“It’ll be dawn soon, right?” Kaylina looked toward the eastern sky, Jankarr’s dark outline more visible in the shadows of the courtyard than it had been a few minutes ago. They had shut the front doors—hard—and he stood guard with his sword out while the taybarri milled.
“Yes,” Vlerion said.
“I’ll be all right. Let’s continue on to the preserve.” Not only was Kaylina more at risk of being spotted under the light of day, but if the Kar’ruk were plotting something, every hour moved them closer to whatever it was. “The sooner I can show you the Kar’ruk footprints, the sooner you can hunt them down and make sure the city is safe.”
Vlerion lifted his gaze to her eyes, though he still clasped her hand gently. “I understand why Targon wants you to become a ranger.”
“Because he’s a dick who will use anyone to further his goals?”
Vlerion snorted softly. “That’s not untrue, but I meant… you have a noble heart.”
“Not that noble. It’s hard to open a meadery in a city being besieged by horrible horned enemies.”
“Ah, of course.” He kissed her on the cheek, his lips warm in the cool morning air, before releasing her.
Even though Kaylina was drawn to powerful and aloof Vlerion, gentle and encouraging Vlerion made her insides melt, especially since he didn’t seem to be that way with many people. He could never risk letting his guard down—letting himself care. Maybe it would have been better if he didn’t care for her either, but she couldn’t wish that.
“Thank you for risking the plant’s ire to come get me,” she said.
“Any time.” Vlerion helped her onto Levitke’s back.
Jankarr mounted his taybarri and pointed to Kaylina’s hand. “What does it mean?”
He’d glimpsed the brand before Vlerion bandaged it.
“I have no idea,” Kaylina said as they rode out of the courtyard, her hood up again. “I thought the plant was pleased with me.”
“It might not appreciate the company you keep,” Vlerion said grimly, looking back at the tower.
It continued to glow red as they rode away. Last time, it had taken hours before the color changed, so Kaylina wouldn’t yet consider this a failure, but being attacked by the plant— marked by the plant—filled her with doubt. She struggled not to feel this was a step backward, a step farther from lifting the curse. Both curses.
“What are you talking about?” Jankarr touched his chest. “ My company is a delight.”
“That vine hissed at you,” Vlerion said.
“It hissed at you too.”
They passed a few merchants heading to the markets with wagons of goods and fell silent. Two city guardsmen on patrol were even more cause for concern, but they nodded at the trio, murmuring, “My lords,” to them, and continued on. With the cloak and hood—and taybarri —Kaylina must have passed as one of the rangers.
That would be harder to pull off once it got light. She was relieved when their mounts picked up speed, and one of the eastern gates came into view.
“Good hunting,” one of the guards called to the rangers as they rode out.
“Do they already know about the Kar’ruk?” Kaylina asked.
“Not unless the news came from another source. That’s a common farewell to rangers.” Vlerion looked at her, then pointed to her pack. “It’s in the book.”
“I haven’t read it all yet.”
“Hm.”
“I’ve been a little busy.”
“Quit harassing her, Vlerion,” Jankarr said. “Half the rangers haven’t read that book.”
“Young recruits are frequently drilled on the information within.”
“Oh, I know it. I used to hide behind the vegetable cart in the dining hall whenever Sergeant Vimrok came through. He liked to pull us out of line and quiz us.”
“It’s remarkable that Targon believes you’re an exemplary model of a commoner rising in the ranger ranks.”
“I know how to suck up to him and stroke his ego.”
“I’d think it would be easier to read the book,” Vlerion murmured.
Kaylina agreed and vowed to continue on with the text, however dry it was, when she had time. After all, reading aloud from it had helped her calm Vlerion when he’d turned into the beast. At the least, he hadn’t attacked her in any way as she’d spouted passages about good behavior for rangers.
When the city disappeared from view behind them, Kaylina let herself relax. She even dozed as the taybarri loped across the miles, their gaits more similar to wolves than horses. Vlerion and Jankarr continued to banter, occasionally including her. Whatever danger the kingdom faced, the rangers’ normalcy was comforting, as if it meant they weren’t concerned. This was work as usual for those in their profession. Given what Vlerion had to worry about every day, she was amazed he could manage a semblance of normalcy, though Jankarr had an easygoing manner that made people around him comfortable.
As the highway followed the river past farms and into the foothills where sheep and goats grazed, Kaylina spotted the beaver dam. She slowed Levitke and pointed out the place where she and Frayvar had climbed out of the water.
“We need to see where you fell in,” Vlerion said.
“Frayvar fell in. I dove. And it’s in the preserve.” Kaylina pointed to the dark forest visible in the distance, the dense leaves making a verdant rug that stretched up into the mountains.
“Didn’t you say the Kar’ruk were shooting at you?”
“That’s why I dove in, yes. And because I didn’t want to lose my brother.”
“Yes, I understand.” Vlerion nodded, reminding her that he had lost a brother, and also that he understood she had to protect hers. He’d been the one to point out that Frayvar was a motivation for her, that she found it much harder to stand up for herself than those she cared about.
They stopped talking as lands that had long ago been cleared by men gave way to the first trees of the preserve, thick oaks, pines, cedars, and other species Kaylina couldn’t name. Because of the promise the druids had once extracted from humans, this forest had never been tamed by axes and plows, nor did men hunt the animals within.
Though the highway had veered away from the river to avoid the preserve, and trails were few, the sure-footed taybarri sprang over ferns, nurse logs, and boulders with ease. The waterway came in and out of view, but they never lost their way. Within the borders of the preserve, birds sang and squawked while animals called to each other, some roaring and others yipping. They didn’t fall silent with the rangers’ passing, not the way everything had grown quiet when the Kar’ruk had tramped through the forest.
“I think that’s the log we were crossing when they opened fire.” Kaylina pointed, and her eyes widened when she spotted a waterfall not far beyond it, the frothy flow plunging down a mossy cliff. Only then did she realize how lucky she and Frayvar had been after dropping into the river. Had they gone over falls along the way downstream, they might not have survived.
The taybarri slowed down, nostrils twitching, and the men looking around before dismounting. Their nostrils flexed too as they inhaled.
Kaylina breathed in the loamy scent of the forest and was about to ask what they smelled when she caught a musky odor. It had been in the air the night before too. She’d forgotten.
“I don’t think the Kar’ruk are here now,” Vlerion said, “but they were here.”
Jankarr nodded. “I smell their trace too.”
“Targon thought you saw men in masks.” Vlerion looked at Kaylina and scoffed. “I knew you would not be fooled by such.”
“I appreciate your faith in me.” That was especially true since she felt like an idiot for letting that plant brand her. She would likely have the mark for life. Had it been a tattoo, she might not have minded carrying a touch of nature, admittedly unnatural nature, but the burn mark would be ugly, even after it healed.
“You two were more entertaining when you sniped at each other.” Jankarr examined the ground for tracks.
“She hasn’t called me pirate in days,” Vlerion said. “I’ve not been moved to snipe.”
“You sure it’s not because she spent the night in your room last night?”
“Lenark has a big mouth.”
Jankarr grinned, pointed out a broken branch, and headed into the brush.
Vlerion gave Kaylina a long-suffering look.
“I’m amazed Targon has kept his bedroom visitor a secret,” he murmured. “The barracks have a lot of ears.”
“I’m positive it wasn’t a secret that he had a visitor.”
“I’m also positive of that. It’s surprising that she came to the barracks.” Vlerion shook his head and joined Jankarr.
Kaylina had some experience tracking game for the Spitting Gull’s menu, but she trusted the rangers were more experienced when it came to finding Kar’ruk, so she gazed around at the trees and plants as the men searched. The night before, it hadn’t been light enough to get a good look at the preserve. Now, she looked for signs of… unusualness. Magic the druids had long ago embedded in some of the plants.
It didn’t take long to find those signs. Here and there, vines hanging from branches twitched. There was no wind.
Whenever those vines moved, the rangers glanced warily at them. Their swords were out as they examined the ground, gradually moving away from the river and back the way the Kar’ruk had come. The taybarri also searched, sniffing at leaves and the ground.
Kaylina trailed the rangers on foot, keeping an eye on the vines whenever one was close to Vlerion or Jankarr. The preserve flora reminded her far too much of the plant in the castle, though she didn’t see anything identical growing in the wild, nothing with branches and vines and star-shaped leaves.
A pitiful moan came from somewhere ahead.
Vlerion’s head snapped up.
“That sounded human.” Jankarr squinted into the forest, but the trees kept them from seeing far.
Like a woman, Kaylina thought. A wounded woman.
“Take us to her,” Vlerion told Crenoch.
He let the taybarri lead while remaining on foot. Swords in hand, the rangers followed Crenoch and Jankarr’s mount. Levitke remained with Kaylina. She gave the taybarri an appreciative pat on the shoulder as they followed the men.
More than once, Vlerion glanced back to make sure Kaylina hadn’t fallen behind, but another moan sounded, pulling him in that direction.
“That woman is in pain.” Jankarr broke into a run and took the lead.
“Watch for traps,” Vlerion warned.
Jankarr kept running.
Also worried about traps, Kaylina drew her sling. Had that musky scent grown stronger, or was it her imagination?
Ahead of them, Jankarr halted abruptly and swore. Another moan sounded, weaker than the first.
“Hold on,” Vlerion called softly. “Are there any?—”
Branches rattled, and an inhuman yell—almost a roar—erupted as something big sprang out of the brush toward Jankarr.
Vlerion and Crenoch sprinted forward.
Between the tree trunks and branches in the way, Kaylina couldn’t see how many enemies attacked the rangers, but Levitke and Jankarr’s mount also charged into the fray.
She crept forward at a more reasonable pace, afraid to get in the way. One of the horned Kar’ruk came into view, looming two feet taller than the rangers. He swung an axe fearlessly at them, ducking between trees to avoid the snapping jaws of the taybarri. A soft blue powder coated that axe, and did it glow slightly?
Almost blurring, the blade swept toward Jankarr’s head with alarming speed. He barely managed to duck and avoid it. Vlerion sprang to his side to help.
Kaylina eased closer, but she couldn’t aim effectively through all the branches. And with the taybarri joining the battle, it was soon too chaotic to follow.
“I hate their damn axes,” Jankarr snarled, his words the only ones among the grunts and growls of the Kar’ruk and the taybarri.
As usual, Vlerion remained silent, his face a cool mask of focus as he deflected powerful blows that could have beheaded him. That blurring axe cut a six-inch tree in half as if it were a reed. Vlerion barely reacted, even when another Kar’ruk appeared.
Beyond the battle, Kaylina glimpsed a pond in an open area, the remnants of a campfire smoldering beside the water. Behind it, three humans—two men and a woman—had been stripped of their clothing, tied to trees, and tortured. Or… killed? Someone had moaned, but none of the bound figures were moving, and at least one of the men was dead, his throat slashed open.
Kaylina shuddered. That had almost been the fate of her and Frayvar.
She lifted her sling in the hope of helping bring down the Kar’ruk, but the rangers and taybarri had the two horned warriors surrounded. That didn’t mean victory was assured. With those deadly axes, the Kar’ruk kept them at bay. Crenoch roared in pain as a blade clipped his shoulder.
A vine flicked at the corner of Kaylina’s vision. She whirled, realizing the forest might attack the rangers and tilt the odds in favor of the Kar’ruk.
But all that vine did was twitch a couple of times. Something else moved to Kaylina’s left, something she wouldn’t have seen if the vine hadn’t drawn her eye. Half-hidden by the foliage, another Kar’ruk stood, this one raising a bow. It was the same archer who’d fired at her the night before.
Afraid the rangers hadn’t seen him, Kaylina loosed a lead round before her self-preservation instincts pointed out that drawing the attention of an archer was a bad idea. Especially when her round slammed into the side of his head and… did absolutely nothing.
The Kar’ruk looked at her, giving no indication that the blow had hurt, and shifted his aim between her eyes. The dark iron arrowhead came into sharp focus across the distance.
“Archer!” Kaylina called to warn the others, then threw herself to the ground.
The arrow thudded into a tree behind her.
Branches snapped as someone charged past. Humming floated to her ears.
Vlerion. Trying not to turn into the beast at the threat to her.
“Stay down,” he whispered, then returned to humming and hurled a knife, following it toward his target.
On the ground, with undergrowth all around, Kaylina lost view of him. She could only hear the archer’s roar-yell as he engaged with Vlerion.
Before rising to her feet, she crawled behind a tree for cover. Somewhat protected, she risked leaning out, intending to help the rangers if she could.
One of the Kar’ruk near the camp was down, and the taybarri had a second surrounded. They’d forced him hip-deep into the pond. Jankarr had drawn a bow of his own, his arrow pointed at the enemy.
Since that portion of the battle was under control, Kaylina stepped away from the tree as thrashes and clangs came from Vlerion’s skirmish. He and the Kar’ruk were within melee range now, the bow cast aside in favor of an axe. Like the other, it glowed a faint blue, leaving a trail in the air as it swept toward Vlerion’s head.
He ducked, then charged in, his sword blurring as he stabbed and slashed at the Kar’ruk. His foe swung his axe down like a logger splitting wood. But Vlerion anticipated the attack and darted out of the way, lunging past the Kar’ruk and around to his back. Vlerion slipped his blade between his enemy’s ribs, then launched a kick. The heavy Kar’ruk didn’t fly as far as a man might, but he did stumble forward, fumbling the axe.
Vlerion sprang onto the warrior’s back, legs wrapping around his torso as he gripped a horn and pulled the Kar’ruk’s head back. His long sword should have been too unwieldy for throat slashing, at least from that position, but he whipped it in as if it were a dagger. As the Kar’ruk tried to buck him off, Vlerion twisted the warrior’s head and sliced the blade into his thick throat, cutting deep into arteries.
“No!” Jankarr called as Vlerion’s foe sank to his knees, gripping his bleeding throat.
Worried the other half of the battle wasn’t as in control as she’d thought, Kaylina stepped in that direction as she raised her sling. The Kar’ruk in the pond was wobbling, not attacking. His axe slipped from his hands, and he tottered sideways, splashing into the water.
The taybarri that had surrounded the warrior whuffed uncertainly. Crenoch stepped forward and nudged the Kar’ruk with his snout. The warrior didn’t react. He’d tilted onto his back and floated face up. His eyes were frozen open. In death?
“What happened?” Vlerion asked Jankarr as he came up beside Kaylina, his sword in hand, dripping blood. He looked her up and down.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“Do not shoot enemies far more powerful than you.”
He was right—her round hadn’t done anything but draw the Kar’ruk’s arrow—but she bristled at the order. “I’ll shoot whomever I please, whenever I please, thank you very much.”
Vlerion looked toward the wounded woman, then turned grave eyes toward Kaylina again as he rested a hand on her arm. The touch was light, his voice calm, if irritatingly pompous. “Not the Kar’ruk.”
“You think I should stick to rangers?”
He managed a tight smile. “Targon awaits proof of your accuracy with ranged weapons.”
“I can’t wait to give it to him,” Kaylina muttered as he walked toward Jankarr.
“I’m not sure how…” Jankarr pushed a hand through his sweaty blond hair. “But I think the Kar’ruk took his own life.”
“A pill or a tooth capsule,” Vlerion said. “Their scouts often carry poison into battle at the orders of their chieftains, who would rather have them die than betray secrets under torture.”
“Meaning there are secrets to be discovered?”
“Their reason for being in our land, at the least. And how they slipped past our watchtowers.”
“We need to question one.” Jankarr looked toward the Kar’ruk that Vlerion had battled, but the throat cutting had been fatal.
“That’s exactly what they didn’t want. But maybe the woman learned something.”
Kaylina joined them in the camp as they turned their attention toward the tied woman, her lip puffy, her face bruised, and blood dripping from her broken nose. The two men strung up to nearby trees were both dead. Only she had survived.
The woman turned glassy eyes toward the rangers. When Jankarr touched her shoulder and asked if she was all right, she barely stirred.
“She’s in shock,” he said, reaching for her bindings.
“Understandable.” Vlerion checked the men for pulses before cutting them down but shook his head. “These two were killed after being tortured.”
“Or they died because of the torture,” Jankarr said grimly.
Kaylina hung her sling on her belt and flexed her hands, feeling like she should be doing something. Being useful. But she didn’t know how.
Reminded of Crenoch’s wound, she went over to check on him. Blood matted his fur under the axe gouge, but he whuffed, as if to say it was nothing.
Kaylina didn’t agree, but she also didn’t know how to treat it. A doctor—or was there a ranger veterinarian who handled the taybarri?—would have to stitch it.
When Jankarr removed the wounded woman’s bindings, her knees gave out. He caught her and held her in his arms.
“She needs a doctor,” Vlerion said. “She’ll have to be treated and recover before she can tell us anything.”
“Are we heading back, then?” Jankarr lifted the woman to carry her to his taybarri.
“Take her to see Penderbrock.” Vlerion pointed at tracks on the ground, some heading east from the camp—deeper into the preserve and toward the mountains. “There were a lot more than these Kar’ruk in the area at one point.” He looked toward Kaylina.
She nodded. “We saw several last night, and there could have been a lot more.”
“We should all go back,” Jankarr said. “As delightful as Ms. Korbian smacking Kar’ruk with rocks is, she’s not yet a ranger and can’t help you.”
Kaylina winced, disappointed by how ineffective her sling had been. Kar’ruk skulls had to be harder than human skulls.
“You need experienced men with you in case you run into more,” Jankarr said when Vlerion continued to look east, his jaw set. He wanted to go after the rest of the Kar’ruk.
“You are correct that it would be smarter for Kaylina to return with you,” he said, ignoring the rest of Jankarr’s objection, “but you must be careful that she’s not seen in the city.”
“That sounds like a reason for me to stay out here with you,” Kaylina told Vlerion, though she didn’t truly want to remain in the preserve. She’d helped them find the tracks. Her duty was done.
Maybe she could ask Jankarr to help her locate an unguarded catacombs entrance so she could return unnoticed and start gathering evidence to prove her innocence. But he needed to get the injured woman to a doctor, not take side trips with Kaylina.
“You will return with Jankarr,” Vlerion told her.
“Maybe stop giving me orders, my lord .” Kaylina didn’t mean the honorific to sound sarcastic, but she was still bristling from his earlier command.
“You are a ranger trainee. It is your honor to dutifully obey orders from your superiors.”
“Oh, bite a snake, pirate.”
His tone always remained calm and detached, but his eyes narrowed at this last. He really hated that appellation, didn’t he?
“Look.” Kaylina lifted an apologetic hand. She didn’t want to irk Vlerion. He was just being a stick. “I’m sorry. You’re a noble ranger, not a pirate, but I didn’t sign up to be your trainee . You were there when Targon foisted that on me, so you shouldn’t have trouble remembering that. I’m a mead maker.”
“Targon—”
“Can bite an even bigger snake,” she snapped.
The woman groaned again.
Kaylina closed her mouth, regretting starting an argument while someone was injured and needed medical attention. Struggling for a reasonable tone, she said, “Jankarr needs to take her straight back. He doesn’t need to be distracted, worrying about guards spotting me.”
Vlerion clenched his jaw, a muscle ticking in his cheek. It made the scars that ran down from his eye more noticeable.
He glanced at the woman, then back at Kaylina. Annoyed with her for being difficult? Maybe, but he looked more like he was worried and wanted to get her out of danger. Maybe it had also crossed his mind that Kaylina could easily have suffered the same fate as this woman.
Jankarr cleared his throat diffidently and surprised Kaylina by suggesting, “She might be safer out here with you, Vlerion.”
“Doubtful.”
“Who better to protect her? You’re a beast in battle.” Jankarr smiled, clearly intending it as a compliment.
Vlerion looked sharply at him.
Confusion creased Jankarr’s brow. Kaylina had to remind herself that Jankarr wasn’t in on Vlerion’s family secret and hadn’t meant his comment to be literal.
“There would be many better,” Vlerion said softly.
Jankarr tilted his head, further confused.
Vlerion sighed and waved in the direction of the city. “Go. Take the woman to Penderbrock, and tell Targon to round up more men and send them out to join us in the hunt. Someone will also need to collect the dead and find out who they were.” He pointed at the two fallen men. “Probably people caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, but it’s possible there was some significance to the Kar’ruk choosing them.”
Kaylina shivered, again thinking how she and Frayvar had nearly been in the wrong place at the wrong time too. Maybe she was a fool to want to stay out here with Vlerion, but she’d helped him, damn it. He hadn’t seen that archer taking aim at the back of his head. She was sure of it.
Admittedly, she wouldn’t have seen the archer, either, if that vine hadn’t twitched. It had been dumb luck. Even so, with enemies possibly lurking around every tree, two sets of eyes had to be better than one.
“Go,” Vlerion repeated softly since Jankarr was hesitating. His tone left no room for argument.
“All right. But don’t you dare get yourself killed while I’m gone.”
“You’d prefer to be present to witness my death?” Vlerion helped lift the woman onto Jankarr’s taybarri.
“You know what I mean.” Jankarr climbed on behind the woman. “You’re a horrible partner. You’re always going off without me.”
“After my death, you can tell Targon I requested you be assigned a more amenable soul as your next partner.”
“You’re a bastard.”
“Yes.” Vlerion swatted Jankarr’s mount on the rump and waved for them to head to the city.
The taybarri blew hot air at Vlerion and swatted him with his tail before trotting off.
“They’re not quite as domesticated as horses, are they?” Kaylina asked, hoping to stave off a return of Vlerion’s ire.
Levitke waded out of the pond, leaving the dead Kar’ruk floating face up.
“The taybarri? Not in the least.” Vlerion eyed Kaylina, as if he knew exactly what she was doing, but he didn’t comment on it. “It’s only because their elders made an alliance with humans long ago that they permit themselves to be ridden.”
Levitke stopped beside Kaylina and sniffed her pack before gazing at her with imploring eyes.
“Maybe not the only reason.” Kaylina removed the honey jar she’d opened earlier. The taybarri had helped in the battle. They deserved a reward, didn’t they?
Crenoch also came over, tongue lolling out. Vlerion snorted and pulled a first-aid kit out of his pack. While Crenoch was distracted by the honey, he washed the taybarri’s wound and spread some medicinal goo on it, followed by a bandage.
The taybarri licked honey from Kaylina’s fingers while swishing their tails contentedly.
Vlerion walked about, checking tracks. “It looks like there’s a whole war party roaming around in the preserve. The majority went that way.” He pointed toward the east again. “Two went that way.” His finger shifted toward the south. “And three went the way we came, toward the river. It’s hard to tell how many hours ago. They may be the ones who chased you.”
“Which way will we go? If you want Kar’ruk to question, it might be wiser to go after the smallest group.” Safer , she added to herself.
Vlerion gazed with determination in the direction the larger group had gone, and she could tell he wanted to take out the greater threat, to protect the city and make sure whatever plot they were enacting didn’t work. But he also looked at her with consideration.
She felt a twinge of guilt, certain she was ruining his plans. But he didn’t need to head off alone on a suicide mission, damn it. If her being here made him choose the safer course… good .
“Yes. We’ll wait until more rangers arrive to go after the large group.” Vlerion pointed south. “Two will be easier to capture and subdue.”
Easier than a whole pack, maybe, but even one Kar’ruk warrior was a handful. It was a good thing the taybarri were happy to jump into the fray to help.
If Kaylina had to continue her training—the thought of obeying every ranger who had seniority over her made her desire that like a thorn in the foot—she vowed to ask someone to teach her to use deadlier weapons. With the way her life was going, she would need them.