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.“He was one of Tatigan’s guards.” She looked around at the chaotic scene.“I’m surprised Daruk didn’t show up for this battle.We could have used him.”“The bard?” Ashok said.He tried to picture someone like Darnae playing a lute in the middle of the bloody scene.The picture didn’t fit in his mind.“Your witch is a strange one,” Mareyn continued, dismissing the subject of Daruk as quickly as she’d brought it up.“I’ve never met anyone who refused the kiss like that.”“You shouldn’t be offended,” Ashok said.He rolled over the dead body of a brigand and searched for pouches or symbols, something to suggest where he might have come from.Of course, he found nothing.“Ilvani’s not easily drawn out of her own mind.”“Oh, I wasn’t offended,” Mareyn said, “and I won’t stop trying—to draw her out, I mean.I still think there’s a purpose to our meeting.She’s different—I can tell.Even among shadar-kai, she’s been hurt more than most, hasn’t she?”“More than anyone knows,” Ashok said.“Then she needs Tymora’s aid more than I thought,” Mareyn said.She checked another dead brigand but came up with nothing.“She already has the favor of Tempus,” Ashok said, “whatever that’s worth.”“It’s a tricky thing, the gods’ favor,” Mareyn agreed.She wiped her blade on the grass before sheathing it.“They often know our needs better than we do, though we don’t always realize it.”“If that’s true, Tempus owes Ilvani more than He can ever make up for,” Ashok said.“Her needs have gone unheeded far too long.”“I’m sorry to hear that—” Mareyn stopped and picked up what looked like a hand whistle from the ground next to one of the brigands.“What have we here? A lucky find?” She grinned at Ashok.Ashok took the whistle and put it to his lips.He blew a shallow breath and got a high-pitched warbling sound from the whistle.“A fake bird call,” he said.“That’s how they signaled the attack.”“Who signaled?” Mareyn said.“We scouted the surrounding area all night.Nobody got close enough to see the camp.”“And yet, as soon as Skagi, Cree, and I left the camp to hunt—reducing the caravan’s numbers—the call went out,” Ashok said.“That’s what scared the deer.They’ve heard it before and know it means violence.”Mareyn cursed.“So we’ve got a traitor tagging along with us on this trip.”“Show this to Tuva,” Ashok told her, “but no one else.If the traitor’s not dead or escaped with the brigands, he’s still here.We have a better chance of catching him if he doesn’t know he’s been found out.”“A good plan, but what if the traitor is you or me?” Mareyn said, cocking an eyebrow.“Then Tymora’s luck isn’t working very well for one of us,” Ashok said.“We’ll find the traitor—it’s only a matter of time.”Once they’d tended the wounded, buried the dead, and got the caravan back in order and ready to move on, they’d lost half the morning.Dim sunlight penetrated the restless clouds, and the ground was still wet, but Tuva and Vlahna pushed them at a merciless pace to make up for all the lost time.The normally serene Tatigan wore a black look and snapped at anyone who tried to speak to him.Tuva must have told him about the traitor.It did nothing for Tatigan’s pride in his new trading venture to have it undermined from within after only a day on the road.Strangely, however, most of Tatigan’s anger seemed directed at the bard, Daruk, who rode in the same wagon with the merchant.They argued in low voices for more than an hour, until finally Tatigan’s temper erupted for the entire caravan to hear.“You’re not a minstrel singing for his keep at the village inn,” Tatigan cried.“You’re right,” Daruk said, his smooth voice rising to match Tatigan’s ire.“I’m much more than that.I don’t rise to meet the challenge of dirt road brigands.It’s beneath me.”“Beneath you!” Tatigan’s face reddened.“You think you’re putting on a show for—”“Aren’t I?” Daruk said.“This is my work.I perform on a stage—it might be blood-soaked, but it’s my arena.I decide when I go on and off again.That was our agreement.”“Gods save me from your tragic romanticism,” Tatigan said irritably.He lowered his voice, but Ashok still heard.“We lost four good men and women today, and many more were hurt.”“Chances are, I couldn’t have prevented any of those deaths,” Daruk said.He put a hand around Tatigan’s shoulder.The merchant shrugged it off.“You know me, green-eyed man.If you want to appeal to my sentiments, get me a battle worthy of a song.Give me warriors who will dazzle the gods with the fury of their souls.Do that, and I will reach into the darkness and show you what glory means.”“You expect to find all that on a coster caravan run in the middle of the plains during winter?” Tatigan said dryly.“You’re a fool, Daruk.”“I certainly haven’t found it here among these shadar-kai,” Daruk said.The way he said “these shadar-kai” made Ashok think the bard wasn’t deriding the entire race, only those associated with the caravan—or maybe with Ikemmu.He couldn’t be sure.“Many of them are Tempus’s children,” Tatigan said.He’d calmed somewhat, probably because they were now discussing one of the merchant’s favorite topics.“They fight for the glory of the war god—that should appeal to your sensibilities.”“Hardly.” This time Daruk was being derisive.“Tempus wastes them, so do Beshaba and the rest, as far as I’m concerned.They’ve not even begun to grasp their full potential.But that one”—he turned around and looked straight at Ashok—“has an inkling of what’s inside him.Eh, chainfighter? Do I speak the truth?”Ashok stared back at the bard.There was no use pretending he hadn’t overheard the conversation.“When I’ve heard you sing,” Ashok said, “I’ll decide if it’s a song worth hearing.”Tatigan chuckled.“Well said, as always, Ashok.I knew the two of you would make interesting companions
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