Dark Moon Defender by Sharon Shinn
“Is anyone inside? Open the door.”
Justin didn’t answer. He quickly ran a hand through his hair, trying to make it look as messy as if he’d been sleeping on it for a few hours.
“Anyone inside?” The query came more loudly, then there was a rattling at the door. “Locked. Someone’s in there.”
“Does one of the keys fit?”
“Too damn many keys to this place! I’d rather break the door in.”
“Knock again.”
“Is anyone in the room?”
Justin let his voice sound rusty and ill-tempered. “What is it? Who’s out there? I’m trying to sleep!”
The door rattled again. “Let us in! We’re men of the noble House of Gisseltess, searching for an escaped outlaw.”
“Nobody in here but me,” Justin said, slurring his words like a man on the point of falling back asleep. In reality, he was as alert as he’d ever been. The knife felt like an extension of his own hand.
Pounding on the door again. “We want to see for ourselves.”
“Go away!”
More muttering at the door, the jangle of keys, the sound of the lock clicking back. And suddenly the door swung open and two men burst inside.
Justin pushed himself up on his elbow and reared back, half-crushing Sabina under him. “Wha—I told you!” he said furiously. “There’s nobody in here! What time is it? I’ve been asleep an hour, do you understand that? Pale Lady curse you, I have to be on the road again in four hours, and you come breaking into my room—”
Unmoved by his tirade, the soldiers made a show of looking around. One of them even bent enough to see under the beds, while the other strolled over and kicked at the pile of clothes. Justin kept up the bitter monologue, fighting back a yawn, pulling himself upright in bed, and leaning his shoulders against the wall. He was trying not to actually sit on Sabina, but he could feel her compact shape against the small of his back. His hand with the dagger he kept concealed under the pillow.
The guards exchanged glances. One shook his head and the other shrugged. “No one here. Our apologies. Get back to sleep.”
“Back to sleep?” Justin repeated. “How am I going to manage that?” He threw a pillow at the door as they closed it behind them, and he heard one of them laugh. He sat forward enough to remove any pressure from Sabina, but otherwise did not move as he listened to the soldiers tramp down the stairs. When he judged they were on the ground story, he slipped out of bed and stood by the window, once again just peering out from the side. In another minute, he saw them leave by the front door and head to the next house.
“They’re gone,” he said, swinging around to look at Sabina and tucking his dagger back into its sheath. “You can come up for air.”
Rather slowly, she folded the covers back and sat up shakily. Her eyes were huge and her face was almost bloodless. “They would have found me if you hadn’t been here,” she said in a strangled voice.
He nodded. “Probably. But I don’t think they’ll come back.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I don’t know that,” he agreed.
“Then—will you stay with me? All the time? Not just at night?”
“I’m sorry, Sabina, but I can’t. I have a job to do—a couple of jobs—and they’re important. I think you’re safe for a day or so. I don’t think they’ll come back and search all the rooms they’ve just been through.”
She was kneading her hands together. “I can’t stay here. I need to get someplace safer. Someplace he can’t find me.”
“You do,” he said. “If help doesn’t come soon or I can’t think of a better plan, well, then, I guess I’ll have to try to take you to Ghosenhall myself.” He read the look on her face and added, “Don’t try to go without me. You won’t get very far. And I won’t come after you if you run, because I don’t have the time. You have to trust me, Sabina. I won’t let harm come to you, not if you do what I say.”
“I trust you,” she said in a very faint voice. “It’s just that— I’m so afraid.”
He nodded. “I know. But you’ll make it through. Just give me a few days to hope that a messenger from the king arrives.”
He sat on the floor and began pulling on his discarded clothes and boots. “You’re leaving now?” she said, trying not to sound panicked.
“For a while. I’ll be back later with a meal. Don’t make any noise. Don’t look out the window. I’ll be back sometime after dark.”
“I’ll be here,” she said.
He had to be careful as he made his way back to the stables. He didn’t want to run into the two guards who had questioned him, who might wonder why he wasn’t still in his room, trying to sleep. But he also wanted to get a sense of how much territory the Gisseltess men were planning to cover. So he made a hasty circuit through town and found the soldiers everywhere. There must be thirty of them, he thought, and they were forcing themselves into all kinds of establishments, from lace shops to barrooms to brothels. He even spotted some of them quartering the finer district of town, as he climbed the hill that took him to Jenetta Gisseltess’s place.
He stood for a moment outside the wrought-iron fence, looking up at serra Paulina’s window. Then he turned on his heel and headed back to the stables.
Delz seemed less annoyed at his absence than excited by the disturbance turning this into an out-of-the-ordinary day. “You see those Gisseltess men all over town?” the owner demanded. “Just came inside like they owned this place, looked in every stall, climbed up to the hayloft. Who are they hunting? Did you hear?”
Justin shrugged. “Outlaw, somebody said.”
Delz made a skeptical noise. “Someone Halchon Gisseltess isn’t too fond of, more like,” he said. “Man thinks he can ride around any of the southern properties and do anything he pleases. People are afraid of him. They hate him, but they let him do what he likes. People who stand up to him end up dead.”
Justin nodded. “That’s the way it happens sometimes.”
“Well, I hope they’re gone soon and they don’t come back,” Delz said. “Bet they don’t even leave their horses here if they decide to spend the night. Wish they’d go.”
Justin grinned a little at the juxtaposition of righteous anger and commercial greed. But he wished the soldiers would go, too.
He put some extra effort into his chores that afternoon, to make up for missing part of the morning, but his mind wasn’t on his work. What was he going to do with Sabina Gisseltess? What if no envoy arrived for another week—or more? He would not be able to hide her forever, and she would slowly go mad from terror if she had to cower alone in his room for too many days. Should he, in fact, abandon his post in Neft and risk the long journey to Ghosenhall? What if one of the Riders came looking for him? What kind of message could he leave that would make it clear a new imperative had superseded his original instructions? What if Ellynor needed him? He had no way of leaving her any information about his whereabouts. What if something critical happened in the city that he was supposed to be observing, and he missed it? He was fairly certain both Tayse and the king would agree Sabina was a prize worth changing their plans for, but he did not like the idea of leaving his post. Still, it might be his best choice. It might be his only one.
Should he leave? And if so, how quickly? Was there anything to be gained by lingering in Neft even another day?
For a moment, he paused in his act of sweeping out the back room and let his hands lie idle on the broom handle. A single pulse of pain drove an ache deep into his skull, and he briefly closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was seized with a sudden conviction. He would stay in Neft another two days. He would know then what he was supposed to do. It was almost as if he had heard a voice, echoing and disembodied, in the back of his head. Wait, that voice had said. He didn’t understand it, he didn’t know if it was real, but he had made his decision. For now, he and the marlady would stay put. If no answer became clear in two days, they would hazard the journey to Ghosenhall.
THE Gisseltess soldiers did not reappear, and Sabina grew a little calmer. True to her word, she seemed likely to sleep away her entire sojourn in Justin’s room, for she was never awake any time he returned—at night, or in quick checks during the middle of the day. He realized she really had nothing to do except sleep, but he thought there might be more to it than that. He thought she might have spent the entire span of her marriage in a heightened state of readiness, prepared for the next insult, the next blow, the next threat against her life. He wondered if she had ever been able to relax for a minute.
No obvious solutions to his dilemma had occurred to him by the time that second day was drawing to a close, and Justin found himself uncharacteristically at a loss. The evening rush of customers had already passed, and Delz had quit for the night; in a few more minutes, Justin would head to his own room. He did not want to leave Neft, but he had to get Sabina Gisseltess to safety. He supposed he’d better look into getting them a week’s worth of provisions and tell Delz the bad news: He had to take a significant leave from this job. He would be back—no doubt about that—but he would understand if Delz wouldn’t want to keep his position open for him—
“You look so deep in thought,” said an amused voice, and he whirled around to see a tall, slim woman standing just inside the main doorway. “If I’d been an enemy, I’d have cut your throat for sure.”
“Senneth!” He had never been so glad to see anyone in his entire life. He crossed the room in three strides and enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug. “You have no idea—where’s Tayse? Where’s Cam?”
“Back on the road a bit. We weren’t sure exactly what kind of trouble you were in, so we didn’t know if we should all come rushing here at once.”
He stared at her. Her returning smile was mischievous. “How did—you can’t possibly—what makes you think—?”
Her smile widened. “Well, now, how exactly do you think I’d be able to know something was wrong with you?” she teased. “From a hundred miles away and with no particular reason to worry?”
Now he felt his bones prickle with disbelief. “Cammon? He could feel—Cammon told you I needed you? Where were you?”
“Halfway through Nocklyn on our way back from Coravann.”
“And he could tell—that boy is spooky-strange.”
Senneth nodded. “He is. But useful, in his own special way. What’s wrong? You don’t appear to have any broken bones. Well, I didn’t expect you to. He said you weren’t hurt, just uneasy. And I said, ‘Justin? Are you sure you’re picking up emotions from the right person? Because I’ve never seen Justin unsure of himself for even five minutes.’ ”
Now he was grinning back at her. Bright Mother blind him, but he was happy to see her. And he couldn’t wait to see the expression on her face when he shared his news. “Well, now, you tell me how you’d handle this situation,” he drawled. “Three nights ago a woman took refuge in the stables. Told me she was running away from her husband and any men he might send looking for her. Turns out her husband is Halchon Gisseltess.”
Senneth looked every bit as astonished as he’d hoped. “Sabina Gisseltess is here? She’s left him? I didn’t think she had the nerve.” She glanced around, as if expecting to see Sabina’s blond head poking up from behind the hay bales. “Where is she? Did you find someplace to keep her safe?”
“Barely. She’s in my room. Soldiers did come through a couple days ago, but I was able to hide her. I’ve been trying to decide if I should risk taking her back to Ghosenhall on my own—but I didn’t particularly want to leave Neft—couldn’t decide what to do.” He thought a moment about that voice in his head. Wait. “Did you tell Cammon to try to think something at me?” he asked slowly. “Because I had decided I should leave, and then I just felt this compulsion to stay a few more days.”
She was grinning. “You felt that, did you? Cammon said he wasn’t sure you’d pick it up, you not being too sensitive to mystics and all. So he made the message as simple as he could.”
He felt the skin on his back tighten and release. “I got it. I didn’t understand it was a message from him, but I got it. That’s—I don’t know that I really like that, Senneth. I have to think about it.”
“You think about it,” she said amiably. “And I’ll go talk to marlady Sabina.”
CHAPTER 22
THEY spent one night in Neft, and then Senneth and her group were back on the road, their party augmented by one. It was clear to all of them that their trip required equal parts speed and stealth, so they covered ground quickly, efficiently, and with a great deal of caution. Once again, Senneth thanked the Bright Mother for the impulse that had made her agree to bring Cammon along on this trip. Not only had he been the one to steer them back toward Neft when he picked up on Justin’s disquiet, but his heightened senses would alert them to danger if they crossed the path of Gisseltess soldiers—or anyone else bent on doing them harm.
Sabina was a better traveler than Senneth would have expected—but that, too, might have been due to Cammon’s presence. He rode beside the marlady for most of the way, talking to her in a low, calm voice that even Senneth found soothing, and she wasn’t particularly nervous. As a result, Sabina was docile, even helpful when they broke the journey to camp at night. She didn’t whine about keeping up the pace, sleeping on the ground, or running low on water. She did what she was told and seemed heartbreakingly grateful that Senneth and her friends had effected her rescue.
“You’re not safe yet,” Senneth wanted to say that second night on the road, when Sabina thanked them again, but she couldn’t bear to add any tension back to Sabina’s pinched face. Still, a quick look at Tayse let her know he was thinking exactly the same thing. Instead she said, as gently as she could, “We’re glad we were near enough to be able to help.”
Tayse had questioned the marlady fairly closely about what she and her husband had been doing at the convent, but Sabina had not had many details to offer. They had traveled to the convent many times before. Yes, even after the king had placed them under arrest on Gissel Plain. No, she didn’t know how Halchon was so easily able to slip through the royal guard sent to Gisseltess to keep him in place; she suspected some bribery and some cunning. They had left in the middle of the night and cut across the back lawns of the estate, guarded by a few loyal men. She rather believed that one of Halchon’s cousins had remained behind in the mansion, pretending to be the marlord. They looked somewhat alike if viewed from a distance. She had no idea if the Ghosenhall guards were even aware that her husband was gone.
“I can’t help thinking that the marlady is peculiarly ill informed,” Tayse said to Senneth that night. They were lying curled up together on one side of the fire; Cammon and Sabina were asleep in their separate blankets. Tayse had just returned from his habitual midnight circuit of the perimeter with the report that all was well. “She has told us very little.”
Senneth grinned and settled her back against his chest. His hand came up to rest on the curve of her hip. “I was thinking the same thing. But I don’t believe Halchon has ever taken her into his confidence and anything she does know she has learned by eavesdropping. And this past year or so I think all her energy has gone into keeping herself alive, knowing that her husband had been considering the advantages of seeing her dead.”
“Why run now?” Tayse asked. “Was it just the opportunity? An unguarded gate, a city close enough to reach? She doesn’t seem to have thought out her escape too well.”
“She said something about that. She heard Halchon tell his sister that the time had come to do away with her,” Senneth said. “She seemed to think that there would be a riding accident of some sort when they left Lumanen. So if she was going to die anyway—” She shrugged. “Might as well die fighting to live.”
“She’d have been dead anyway, if Justin hadn’t found her.”
“And aren’t you proud of him?” she murmured. “Not just that he figured out what he had to do to keep her safe, but that he