Chapter 2

2

Even the best laid camp may suffer a branch falling upon a tent.

~ Ranger Captain Bonovar

After lighting it with a cinderrock match, Frayvar held up their small travel lantern. Its glow did little to push back the deep shadows under the trees but allowed Kaylina to examine the envelope. It did indeed read pirate on the front. There weren't any fancy stamps or embellishments, such as she would expect from the desk of an aristocrat.

"It doesn't smell like perfume, does it?" Frayvar asked.

"Uh, no. Should it?"

"If it's a love letter from Lord Vlerion, I thought it might." He eyed it warily as if tiny paper hearts and profusions of adoration might spring out.

"I'm sure it's not that." As Kaylina opened the envelope with her knife, she noted how many pages were folded inside. Nope, it wasn't a love letter, not unless Vlerion was as verbose as Frayvar, who couldn't pen a grocery list without turning it into an essay.

"You did kiss him."

"I thought you were behind the shed and missed that."

"I went behind the shed when it was glaringly imminent. I'm observant. I miss very little."

"Uh-huh. Well, as the girl, I'd be the one to put perfume on a letter I sent him. Guys don't do stuff like that." Despite the words, Kaylina sniffed surreptitiously as she drew the folded pages out.

They smelled only of parchment, maybe slightly of taybarri. That made her imagine Crenoch standing over Vlerion's shoulder and watching while the pen scrawled across the page. Could the taybarri read? All the ranger mounts were young, but they got the gist of spoken words.

"If I had a lover and sent her a letter, I might use perfume," Frayvar said. "Do you think Lady Ghara would like that?"

"No. You'd get further cooking for her."

"Hm."

"They're maps," Kaylina mused as she looked through the stack of papers. All except one page showed mazes of tunnels and caverns and burial chambers. "The catacombs under the city."

When she'd gone down there with Vlerion, she'd only gotten a look at one tunnel, a couple of alcoves, and a pool near Stillguard Castle. He'd said there were miles of passageways on different levels—and that some of the deadly traps the original builders, the Kar'ruk, had left were still viable. The idea of exploring down there held no appeal.

Kaylina opened the remaining page to find Vlerion's writing. For some reason, her belly fluttered with nerves, as if it might be the love letter Frayvar had teased her about. As she hoped it would be?

Her name wasn't at the top. Vlerion must have assumed it could be intercepted. The words were as aloof as he so often was when he wore his mask, determined not to let his emotions out, lest the beast be roused.

Hiding in the countryside will not allow you to do as you must, it read vaguely, though she had no trouble filling in clear your name. The letter continued, With these maps, you can move about under the city and travel from place to place. Traps are few on the level closest to the streets. Do not venture deeper. The more important Kar'ruk sarcophagi are down there, and they did their best to ensure their honored dead would not be disturbed. The topmost level is patrolled infrequently but occasionally by the rangers, especially if we have a reason to believe the rebels are skulking down there. You will avoid them.

It sounded like an order rather than a suggestion, but that didn't surprise her. Vlerion was a pompous lord, after all.

Venture above ground only with your face hidden. In the aftermath of the Virt assassination attempt, there are more patrols in the streets. The guards should prioritize capturing the Virt leaders, but they are aware that the queen wants you dead, and they will attack you if they see you. They will shoot to kill. Do not take undue risks. When you have obtained evidence to clear your name, seek me out. I went in search of evidence of my own and have something to add to what you are able to gather. If I did not have watchers right now, I would have already brought it to you.

Kaylina re-read the last sentence. Watchers? What watchers would he have? Other rangers?

Maybe he hadn't been able to convince Captain Targon of her innocence, and he was keeping an eye on Vlerion. Or… Kaylina remembered that the queen and especially Jana had been suspicious that Vlerion would do something foolish because he'd fallen for her. Maybe the queen was the one who'd ordered him watched. Would Kaylina have to clear his name of suspicion as well as her own?

"Is there more on the back?" Frayvar asked.

"Are you reading it?" Kaylina scowled at him. The way he stood ensured he had to do so upside-down, but that wouldn't faze him.

"Yeah. Why is it taking you so long?" He twirled his finger to request a page flip.

"I'm pondering the meaning of his words as I read."

"They're instructions and straightforward." Frayvar gave her the kind of I'm-sorry-you're-so-obtuse-because-it-must-make-your-life-difficult look that little brothers had all mastered.

Exasperated, Kaylina glared at him. "I take it back. Sprinkle perfume all over your love letters to Lady Ghara. She'll adore that."

"I believe you're being facetious."

"And to think, you say you're bad at reading people." Kaylina turned the page over, angling it so that he wouldn't be able to see it until she'd pondered all the meanings. Besides, she hoped it would finish with something more than orders and instructions. Something with more feeling .

But Vlerion might have gotten over his attraction for her in the days they'd been apart. That could be especially likely if it was her anrokk -ness that drew him rather than… Well, she didn't expect him to love her. They hadn't known each other that long, and he'd admitted that she irritated him with her lack of respect, but she'd thought… She thought he cared. He'd sent these maps, after all. That meant something, didn't it?

"You're not reading," Frayvar said. "We can't stay here all night. The guards and hounds will regroup and come after us."

"I am too reading," Kaylina snapped, though she hadn't been. Why were little brothers such pests?

"Your eyes weren't moving."

She wouldn't admit he was right, but she did continue to the lines on the back.

I regret that I didn't stay with you the night you fled from the city. It crossed my mind as we departed through the catacombs. As I told you, Targon ordered me to return, saying he needed my help ensuring all the rebels were gone and the threat to the king and queen was past. Honor and my duty made me comply, but… as I said, I have regretted it. As I am occasionally being observed, you will avoid ranger headquarters and not come to me unless you've gathered evidence to prove your innocence. Once you have, you will come to me, and I will stand at your side as you present it.

The pompous order shouldn't have warmed her body, making her think of their shared kiss, but it did. As did the admission of regret. He did care.

The word pirate was all he'd signed it with. It was enough. More than enough.

She rested the letter against her chest, aware of insects buzzing and chirping. Frogs also croaked now. Hopefully, the threats had disappeared from the area.

Frayvar, growing bored with her tediously slow reading and pondering, was considering the maps.

"He's circled places. I think this access point is by ranger headquarters. We went that way when we fled." Frayvar pointed to another. "I wonder if one of these is an access point near where Jana's meadery is. Nakeron Inn was the name, right?"

"Yes, I think she said it was in the Factory Quarter."

Frayvar nodded and tapped the circle he'd pointed out. "It looks like Lord Vlerion wants us to visit her."

"For pummeling?"

"Or cajoling ."

"I'd rather strangle her until she tells the truth." Kaylina couldn't help but sound wistful.

"Her strangled neck can't be the evidence he wants."

"Probably not." She fished in her pocket until she found the vial of poison that Jana had brought to her dungeon cell, telling her that, if she cared about Vlerion's future and didn't want him to ruin his career on her behalf, she should use it to kill herself. "Bitch."

"Hm?" Frayvar asked.

"I want to make her drink this herself, but maybe if we could find identical vials in her inn, that would be enough evidence."

"Also, if we found the poison maker who sold it to her, he might identify her."

"You don't think she makes her own poisons?" Kaylina asked.

"I suppose she could, but she would have to have bought the ingredients somewhere, so there still might be a trail leading to a person who could point her out."

"Let's hope."

Kaylina lifted a finger, about to ask if one of the circled spots on the map suggested a way into the catacombs from outside the city walls. The access point they'd used the first night had been guarded when they'd circled back two days earlier. Even before Vlerion had sent the letter, Kaylina had planned to eventually return to the city. In addition to clearing her name, she wanted to visit Stillguard Castle to see if the plant in the tower continued to glow purple instead of red—and find out what exactly that meant.

Before she could ask about the map, she noticed that the forest had grown quiet again. Was the malikar stalking their way?

"Put out the lantern," Kaylina whispered.

Frayvar drew it protectively to his chest. "I'm studying the maps."

"Something's out here with us."

He cut out the lantern. "Something or someone? "

"I don't know. Ssh."

In the dark, Kaylina took the maps from him. By touch, she folded them and slipped them back into the envelope with Vlerion's letter. She tucked it under her belt. If they were attacked or had to run, she didn't want to risk losing it. The letter might have started out vague, but there were enough details that someone familiar with the rangers and the situation might guess who'd written it. If Vlerion was already under suspicion because of his association with her, Kaylina didn't want to make his predicament worse.

Ears straining, she listened for the something or someone the silence told her was out there. The nightlife hadn't been disturbed by her and Frayvar's presence. She felt certain something more dangerous was in the area.

Long seconds passed, and she didn't hear anything, but she caught a faint musky scent. That of a predator?

"Do you think it's safe to go back the way we came?" she whispered.

Kaylina wanted neither to spend the night in the preserve nor run into the hunters who might be waiting for them to come out. She doubted the malikar had scared them into leaving the area permanently. Unfortunately.

"No," Frayvar whispered back. "But I'm familiar with maps of the area."

"Does familiar with mean you've memorized them?"

"Not… entirely. But I think I could lead us to the Stillguard River. The waterway cuts through this side of the preserve on its way from the mountains to Port Jirador and the harbor. We could follow it back to the city."

"Fray, in this kind of darkness, you couldn't lead me from your bed to your closet back home. And I know you've memorized the layout of your room."

"Do you want to stay here and sleep under this tree with… whatever you think is out here?"

Kaylina listened to the silence again, the hair on the back of her neck standing up even though she didn't have any confirmation that danger lurked. "No."

"Okay."

She let him lead, mostly because she didn't have a better idea. She hadn't memorized any maps.

As they crept through the undergrowth, tripping over roots and rocks and being whacked in the face by branches, she hoped being an anrokk meant that nearby animals wouldn't attack them.

After they'd traveled what felt like ten miles but was probably less than one, voices made them halt. Clipped voices with a lot of clucks, harsh noises, and tongue smacking. Kaylina didn't recognize the language.

"Those aren't animals," she whispered.

But were they humans? Zaldorian wasn't the only language spoken by men, and she'd heard others from travelers, sandsteaders, pirates, and fishermen who visited the Spitting Gull, but this sounded different.

"I… think that's the Kar'ruk language," Frayvar breathed, almost too softly to hear.

Kaylina wanted to object. There was no way Kar'ruk warriors would be this close to the kingdom capital, not when the rangers patrolled the mountain passes and borders so assiduously, but hadn't Vlerion admitted they were stretched thin right now? Thanks to the rebellion requiring they help the Kingdom Guard patrol the capital and surrounding lands?

"I've only heard it spoken aloud a couple of times," Frayvar added, "but I've seen phonetical spellings of their words in books."

"Can you understand it?"

"No."

The voices grew louder and more intense. Excited. Like they'd found something.

Kaylina swallowed. Her and Frayvar? Why would they want twenty-one- and seventeen-year-old human commoners?

Maybe their age and status didn't matter. If the stories she'd heard were true, the Kar'ruk would enjoy killing them simply because of their race. The horned beings hated humans because they'd long ago joined forces with the taybarri and driven them into harsher northern lands.

Kaylina gripped Frayvar's wrist and took the lead, moving away from the voices. Unfortunately, they had to go slowly. Roots and rocks weren't the only obstacles. Thick undergrowth reached past their knees, and sometimes above their hips, and they risked making noise as they pushed their way through it. The Kar'ruk might have keen hearing or be able to see in the dark. Or both.

" Clak drok !" a voice called.

Kaylina glanced back as the light of a torch appeared, highlighting an eight-foot-tall figure in a chainmail tunic decorated with bones and fangs. The being had a bumpy, broad, gray-skinned face with two stubby horns thrusting from its head above its brows.

She recognized the features from the statues in the catacombs. A Kar'ruk warrior. And it, probably he , was chasing them.

Frayvar wheezed as he glanced back, but that didn't keep him from increasing his pace. His long legs propelled him through the undergrowth.

Kaylina raced to keep up as she groped for something they could do to escape. Negotiate? Barter? She doubted the Kar'ruk spoke Zaldorian. What were his kind doing here?

Not caring about stealth, the warrior crashed through the foliage, gaining on Kaylina and Frayvar.

The sound of flowing water came from ahead. Maybe Frayvar had run in the right direction, and that was the river they sought. But the Kar'ruk had them in sight. Stepping into water wouldn't do anything to shake his pursuit.

Frayvar burst onto a trail and picked up speed. Kaylina barely had time to wonder why there was a cleared path through the rarely visited preserve before he ran around a bend and cursed. They'd reached the river, but only a narrow mossy log stretched across it. He stepped onto it, arms spread for balance, and cursed again when his foot slipped.

"Is this?—?"

Something sped out of the darkness and lodged in a tree scant inches from Kaylina's head. An arrow.

"The way we have to go? Yes." She didn't shove Frayvar, but she did shoo him forward as she glanced back.

Several Kar'ruk with torches and axes had come out onto the trail, and there was the bowman, readying another arrow.

Frayvar hurried across the log, but he'd only made it a third of the way before he slipped again. Kaylina lunged, trying to catch him. All she gripped was his cloak, and it didn't keep him from falling and splashing into the river. It was far deeper than the earlier stream, and he submerged fully, head disappearing among white froth.

" Davrok noft !"

Kaylina glanced back and spotted a nocked arrow pointed between her eyes, poised to release.

Frayvar came up downriver, sputtering as the current carried him away. An instant before the archer fired, Kaylina dove in after him.

No sooner had she submerged, icy water shocking as it enveloped her, than her shoulder struck a boulder. It sent her into a wild spin into the center of the current that swept her downstream after her brother. As she caromed off another boulder, she wondered if either of them would escape the river alive.