Rebel Mage Page 3

  “Some women are indeed bad liars,” Jules said. “Perhaps, Stan, you can make up for your folly now. We just need another witness.”

  “Oh, leave off, woman!” Stan kept his voice low and looked around. “Come off it! No amount of money is worth blood on our hands.”

  “You owe me. For... everything.”

  “Don’t you dare—”

  Leah stepped forward and bent down so she was in Jules’s face, keeping her voice low so that only the two of them could hear. It was time to make a threat strong enough that Jules would think twice. “Back off. You try anything and I’ll make sure word of Stan gets to the right ears. Too many people have turned a blind eye and let the guilt sour in their gut to not step forward when it comes to light.”

  “I won’t be held responsible for his crimes!” Jules spat.

  “Oh. So you know. That will earn you a lot of sympathy from the mayor and his council, I imagine.”

  “Careful, girl.” Stan’s eyes were cold as he leaned in. “I’m trying to help.”

  Jules paled as Ruc’s horn sounded, it was much closer than it had been before and drew all their attention. Leah wasn’t sure how much time had passed since Kaor had run. She would have expected Ruc to be in a hurry, anxious to get after his quarry. Instead, Ruc strolled up, calm as the dead of night, his dogs milling around him like bees. They snapped at one another, anxious for the chase. The crowd parted around them, giving them a wide berth.

  Scut Grelmer hadn’t moved since Kaor had conjured the lightning bolt and stolen his bow. Leah had been so wrapped up in everything else she hadn’t thought about the boy. He rubbed his eyes, large tears rolling down his face as he blinked and tried to look around.

  The poor boy, he never should have antagonized a rebel. He should have known better. Kaor will feel guilty about him losing his vision.

  One of the dogs brushed against Scut, who lurched away. The dog snapped at the sudden movement and bit his leg. Scut screamed as he toppled over. The dog was on top of him before anybody could move. Scut froze, his cry dying on his lips.

  “Wrong quarry, dog.” Ruc’s voice had a jovial edge to it and if he felt any sympathy for Scut, it didn’t show on his face. “Watch out, boy, he doesn’t take kindly to fast movements. I’ve trained him to bite first and wait for me to shoot second.”

  “Ruc.” Stan’s voice was flat and tired. “Call the dog off. He was blinded by the rebel.”

  Ruc licked his lips, a smile forming on his face. “A fighter,” he said softly. He waved his hand and the dog backed off. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had one of those. It will be good to have a challenge for a change.

  Scut grabbed his leg and sat up, his eyes focusing clearly on the dog while he blinked. Leah felt a swell of relief as Scut backed away, grabbing his leg and whimpering.

  Ruc bent to look at the boy. “We’ll get him. You won’t have suffered in vain. I’ll make him pay. Would you like that?”

  The boy hesitated. He knew Ruc’s reputation. It wasn’t wise to provoke the man. He nodded as Ruc straightened.

  “Well, who’s the lucky rebel this time?” Ruc’s smile made Leah’s stomach do flips and her hands clenched into fists. It took effort, but she was able to uncurl them.

  Ruc’s lips were cracked and bleeding. How could he live like that?

  Light’s above! Leah thought. I hope it’s his blood.

  Some said Ruc liked his meat raw, but she’d never believed it. She was beginning to rethink that. There were some in East Ridge who claimed to like Ruc, but Leah had always suspected they’d only said such things because they hoped Ruc might show them mercy if they turned out to be a rebel.

  Saying such things did them no favors. If anything, Ruc tended to keep an eye on those more than most.

  Ruc’s double swords formed an awkward cross on his back. Despite being full-sized, they looked small against his massive form. He had a long spear, and Leah lost count of the daggers he had hanging from various spots about his person.

  His large fur coat had the skin of several different animals and probably hid plenty of other weapons as well. His hair went every which way and was starting to turn gray, though it was difficult to determine for certain with all the grease. If the man ever took a bath, she’d never been able to tell. He’d smelled for as long as she’d known him.

  Ruc wasn’t self-conscious about it, sometimes joking with others about his stench. Any that heard the frivolity were careful to study Ruc before they reacted, never quite sure if it was some sort of setup.

  Leah’s earliest memory of Ruc was of him whistling as he walked down the road with the body of a young man thrown over his shoulder in much the same way most men might carry a small deer, turkey, or boar. Even as a little child, she’d known there was something wrong with the man. People didn’t behave that way.

  Leah’s dad had picked her up suddenly, hugging her to his chest and obscuring her view of the ghastly scene. He’d tensed as if he were going to speak to Ruc, but many seconds passed before he muttered something under his breath that Leah hadn’t been able to understand. Ruc turned the corner without her father confronting him.

  Ruc had only had the one dog back then—Scar—and that dog led the way today. The other hounds kept a wary eye on Scar, careful to keep their distance.

  She’d never quite gotten over her fear of Scar, but at least she didn’t feel the need to hide from the animal in the way she had when she’d been young.

  “It’s Lidy’s kid,” Stan said, breaking into Leah’s thoughts. “Kaor.” Despite Stan’s words to Kaor earlier and his defense of Leah afterward, there wasn’t the slightest indication on either his face or in his tone to betray his apparent mixed feelings.

  Ruc rubbed his bearded chin and stared at Leah, crumbs falling from it as he did. A small piece of food that looked like fried chicken was knocked loose as well. One of the dogs stopped to lap it up before it continued to circle around him, growling as it did.

  Ruc’s eyes bored into Leah. He knew about them. Cursed night, anybody in town would have known about them if all they did was keep their eyes open.

  “Did anybody help him?” Ruc asked, his wicked smile broadening.

  Stan shook his head. “It’s just the boy. Don’t try to wrap up another innocent person into all this.” He took Jules by the arm and placed a hand on her back. She hadn’t looked ready to say anything but threw Stan a resentful look.

  Ruc growled, his smile turning to bared teeth. “The girl was always with him.”

  Leah sniffed, outraged. “If you have an accusation, make it straight and be done with it! I wouldn’t lift a finger to help a rebel. Kaor is not the man I thought he was.”

  Ruc chuckled, it sounded hollow in his chest. “Seems as close as you two were, you’d have known about this.” He licked his cracked lips. “There’s good money in traitors.”

  Leah stepped forward, fueling her rage with her hurt. “He lied to me but have it your way.” She pulled open her coat. “Here, run me through the heart.” She stepped forward, confronting the big man. “Take my blood. It is freely offered and will condemn you. Make it a fine end to a fine cursed day.”

  Ruc stepped back as she took another forward. It felt good to make the monster of a man do her bidding, if only for a heartbeat.

  “Well, isn’t this rich,” Ruc said, chuckling. “Leah Canes. I won’t come for you.” He paused. “Today.” Without another word, he plodded off in the direction Kaor had gone, his dark chuckle audible long after he was gone from view.

  5

  Leah’s heart thudded in her chest as she watched Ruc disappear down the path Kaor had taken. She was all the sudden cold and pulled her coat shut, tying the sash about it to keep it in place. She let out a silent sigh and tried to ignore all the eyes that looked at her.

  “Good job, lass.” Stan rubbed his hands together and blew on them. When he looked her way, she wasn’t able to tell if his eyes were filled with desire or if it was just her imagination. Des
pite his words to Ruc, both Stan and Jules were further away from Leah than her several steps forward could account for. “I’ve never seen the man so much as blink at somebody and you got him to step back. That’s something. That’s really something. You’ll be remembered around town for that.”

  “You fool.” Jules turned on Stan, her voice low but sharp. It carried to all who were nearby. At first, Leah thought she was going to call him on the lecherous way he’d been looking at Leah—it wasn’t her imagination, Leah decided—but she went a different direction. “All you would have had to do was hold onto the fool boy until Ruc showed up. Do you know what I could have done with our share of the Emperor’s Gift? A couple of minutes and you cost us a small fortune.”

  “Quiet, Jules.”

  She grabbed his coat. “Don’t you dare silence me! Not again.” She looked around and lowered her voice. This time she spoke in a whisper and Leah had to strain her ears to hear it. “There is much I could say.”

  Leah almost swallowed her tongue. It was as good as an admission that she knew what Stan was really doing. If she knew, why didn’t she do anything about it? At the very least, she should kick the man out.

  Stan gave his wife a long-suffering look, but there was more to it than that. He was trying to hide his shame, plain as day. Jules kept talking, but Leah could no longer make it out. Stan’s face was red as a plum when she finished.

  Perhaps all Jules needed to push her over the edge was Stan passing up on money. Blood money. Leah supposed she should be grateful to Stan, but she felt like she needed a bath and wanted to burn her coat just because the man had touched it several times.

  We’ll call it even, she thought. I won’t turn him in now I have confirmation of the truth. The thought sickened her, but what else was she to do?

  Leah stalked away, letting her anger show, even fueling it as she thought of Kaor’s shock. She hoped all would attribute it to her apparent feeling of betrayal, but she noticed more than one considering look. She could feel Jules’s eyes boring into her back. Unable to resist the urge, she turned her head and confirmed that Jules indeed was staring her way. Stan had a hand on her arm and was beckoning for her to go with him in the opposite direction.

  Cursed night. I was hoping to just slip away, but that’ll be difficult with so many eyes eager to see what I do next. It wasn’t required that everybody in East Ridge help build the bonfire for the mage, but people took note of who participated and who did not. Leah usually didn’t, and nobody had ever commented on it. That wouldn’t be the case tonight. She needed to further bolster her claim that she had not been aware of Kaor’s treachery.

  Cursed drat! The night I need the most time I have so little.

  She ground her teeth, thinking again of Kaor’s admonition to help build the fire. He had been trying to make her feel guilty when what he should have been doing was running.

  When she passed by the alley where Franni and the merchant had gone, she wasn’t surprised to see they had disappeared. She hurried on; trying to keep an eye in every direction without looking like that was what she was doing. It made her die inside that there was no way out of helping the townspeople build the bonfire. She needed to make sure people noticed her. She would condemn Kaor to anybody who would listen, just in case, even though she squirmed at the thought.

  As Leah headed toward the town square, she didn’t even think about ducking down an alley. It was bad enough that both Jules and Franni had it out for her, but she doubted they were the only ones.

  There’s good money in traitors. Franni figured I’d run and is lying in wait between here and home.

  Despite the cold late hour, the town square was lit up like Winter’s Fest. It would have been a happy, inspiring sight if not for the fact that all this was geared to help the mage locate and kill Kaor.

  Children who should have been in bed ran and played while everybody who could pick up a log was feeding every scrap of wood they could find into the fire, which was already a considerable size but wasn’t yet half as big as it had been the last time a rebel had run.

  Poor Mira, Leah thought.

  The gong glowed, shining like a beacon in the night. It would stay lit until the mage came. She looked around, careful to not appear too curious as she couldn’t be certain who was watching her. When she couldn’t find the mage or a lucent wolf, she felt a slight ease in the tension. Perhaps Kaor would escape after all.

  It was possible the mage had already come and gone, but she doubted it, not with the gong still lit. They were usually lazy, bored even. While every now and again there was a mage that did join in the pursuit, it was rare. The last time she’d seen that the mage had been a woman. Another rarity.

  The mayor stood beside the firepit, pointing this way and that as he shouted orders. Raon Grelmer was with the mayor, the little boy looking uncertain as he watched the people around him throwing wood onto the fire.

  Leah bit back a curse when she saw the lad. Scut and he had both been nearby when Kaor had picked the flower. Now, Kaor had been careful, to be sure. His hands had barely glowed, but if they’d seen what Kaor had done to the wilted rose, it was all the proof they needed.

  Those two would have been looking for it too.

  To Leah’s knowledge, Kaor had never done anything to their mother, Brin, and wasn’t aware of anything Kaor’s mother had done either. Leah had always suspected it might have had something to do with Brin’s husband Tanor but had never voiced the thought aloud.

  Kaor had given the flower to Leah with a large smile. It had been foolish, pure stupidity!

  “Who’s the hunt for?” A man asked as he and several others passed. Leah recognized them but didn’t know any of their names.

  “Kaor Hund,” another answered.

  “I always suspected him,” said the first. “That mother of his was a witch, I tell you.”

  “Give over, you suspected your own mother.”

  “You’ve not seen what I’ve seen...”

  The men moved out of earshot as Leah looked around to see if anybody was paying attention to her.

  The whole town seemed to have turned out. It was indeed beginning to look like an early Winter’s Fest. She steeled her will and moved forward as she passed another dark alley, imagining Franni at the other end, lying in wait.

  One moment Leah was alone, the next, she was caught up in a group as they all pushed forward.

  “It’s been a while since our last hunt,” Gavon Lar said from beside her. “Nothing like the excitement of that to liven things up.”

  “It’s been dead around here, to be sure,” Heler said on Leah’s other side. She was Gavon’s wife. The two wore thick winter coats and gloves. Gavon carried a bundle of wood, as did Heler. “Look at the snow. I love a good winter’s night.”

  Leah moved away from them, trying to get to the edge of the group while keeping her face still. She didn’t know how long she would stay, but hopefully, it would be no longer than necessary. After she had made conversation and helped throw on some wood, she’d make her exit.

  “I told you Kaor was no good,” Luen Kaller said as he fell in beside her, carrying a large log underneath one arm. The tall man was a decade older and still wore the same hurt look he’d had for the last year whenever they’d crossed paths. His square jawline and massive shoulders drew many female eyes; that, coupled with his land and wealth, guaranteed he had no limit to the number of options available to him.

  Leah wanted nothing to do with the man.

  “There are much better options for you,” he said.

  “I was thinking the same about you.”

  She frowned, refraining from punching him. Luen wouldn’t turn her in and claim she was a traitor, she had no fear of that. She just wished the man would move on. The wide man grabbed her arm, pulling her from the crowd.

  “Perhaps now, we can discuss—”

  “How many times and ways must I tell you no, Luen? It wouldn’t matter if—”

  “Come, be realistic.
What did Kaor have to offer you anyway? The son of a...” He stopped before finishing the sentence. It was a good thing too, because Leah was ready to sock the man if he had. The rumors that still went around town about Lidy years after her death sickened her. She’d never believed them and knew Kaor didn’t either. Both laid the blame for them on Brin Grelmer’s shoulders.

  “A man such as you wouldn’t understand,” Leah said.

  Love, you blind fool, she wanted to scream, I love the man.

  She wouldn’t have said it out loud even if the whole of the town wasn’t clamoring for Kaor’s blood. It was proper Kaor learn of her true feelings before anybody else.

  “Luen. This has nothing to do with that. Or him. If you were the last man in town and I the last woman, I still wouldn’t consider it. I am not interested.”

  Luen winced. “I’ve land—”

  “And a house. And horses and cattle. Get it through your thick brutish head. I’m not interested. I never will be. Ever. There are plenty of women for you to choose from. Select one of them.”

  Luen opened his mouth, not looking the slightest bit ruffled. He was a man who was used to getting what he wanted. Leah pushed back into the crowd and lost sight of him. Maybe if he were a bit smarter, she thought, and kinder. All the things Luen had to offer were appealing but not enough for her to want the man. She’d given him a chance when he’d first made his affections known, but she couldn’t stand him. The man talked of little other than his farm and himself, as if that was all there was in the world. If she’d loved Luen, his wealth might have been a nice perk, but she wasn’t about to promise herself to a man she could barely tolerate. It wasn’t fair to him, no matter that he couldn’t yet see it.

  Hopefully, he would soon. She tired of his relentless effort to win her over.

  The frivolity as people joked and talked made her want to vomit, though she put a smile on her face and laughed along with the others. Through a shuffle of the crowd, Keren Mancer was at her side, she gave Leah a sympathizing frown as they pushed forward to the fire.