Duskfall (12 page)

Knot moved to the man’s body. After a quick search—he took a small dagger the man carried—Knot found a large satchel full of coins.

Gold.

“Where did he get these, boy?”

“F-from another man, sir. A f-foreigner. Ugly, with a big scar all over his f-face.”

Knot grew very cold. Could be coincidence, but the description matched. The tall man who had led the attack at his wedding had a scar and a Rodenese accent. Lately, Knot was having a hard time believing in coincidences.

“Very well,” Knot said. He slipped a gold coin from the satchel into his own coin pouch—full of coppers and a few silvers, just as he had told the man—and tossed it to the boy. He would have given the boy the satchel, but knew there would be no way for the child to keep that much gold to himself. Not for long.

“Take this and go,” he said. “Buy yourself out of this life.”

Astrid turned, looking at Knot sharply. “He’s seen me,” she hissed. “He knows what I am.”

Looking at the boy, Knot doubted that was true. Maybe the boy had heard of vampires, but he was in a daze. He wouldn’t be able to remember anything clearly, let alone the fact that a child took out half the attackers.

And yet, there was a part of Knot that agreed with Astrid. Not because he thought the boy would present a problem, but because his desire to kill still raged through him. Just as it had after his wedding, after killing the watchmen in Pranna. His hand twitched, fingers clenching.

“Go,” Knot said, through clenched teeth.

The boy took off running.

Astrid stared at Knot for a long time. “You let him go,” she said.

Knot didn’t respond, breathing heavily. The feeling of his blood rushing through him faded, slowly. In its place was only fear.

He had nearly killed the child.

“Canta rising,” Astrid murmured. “I thought
I
was a murderer. You
wanted
to kill the boy.”

Knot shrugged. “I didn’t, though.”

Astrid’s eyes narrowed. “No, you didn’t at that. You showed him kindness, nomad.”

Knot shook his head. “A mercy, not a kindness. That money may bring him more trouble than it’s worth.”

Astrid didn’t respond. She walked over to the fat man’s corpse, retrieving the dagger from his neck. She cleaned it in the snow and handed it back to Knot. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Her eyes glowed, faintly.

Finally, she smiled at him. “You all right?” she asked. “You look like this is the first time you’ve ever killed someone.”

“If only,” he muttered. He saw Astrid looking at the corpses, and something finally clicked.

She was licking her lips.

Before he could say anything, she spoke. “Look,” she said, and for the first time, Knot heard a hint of… what? Sincerity? Embarrassment? “I haven’t fed in nearly a month. It’s about time I did.”

Knot looked at her. It was the first time he had seen her jumbled like this, out of sorts. “Go ahead,” he said. “I’ll just… take a look around, for a minute. Call if you need anything.”

The girl nodded, eyes downcast. “All right,” she said softly, “you do the same.”

Knot walked into the forest. He needed a moment alone, anyway.

“W
HERE
’
S
K
NOT
?” W
INTER ASKED
. She had woken up moments ago in a set of bare apartments, a woman’s face looking down at her. A human woman. Winter had moved as far away from the human as she could, to the far corner of the bed set against a wall. Kali, as the woman called herself, had managed to calm Winter down. But now, despite how jumbled Winter’s head felt, one thing seemed clear. Knot had been there, in the alley. He had found her.

“Knot?” Kali asked. She was older than Winter, perhaps nearing her fortieth summer, but very beautiful. Deep brown hair fell around her face in perfect waves. Her eyes were the color of a warm, summer sky. And she was tall.

“He saved me,” Winter said. “In the alley. Where is he?”

Kali frowned. “Nash saved you. You’ll meet him in a moment. As for this ‘Knot,’ I’m afraid I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“I saw him. I thought…” Winter closed her eyes, trying to control her breathing.

“If there was another man in the alley, we didn’t see him,” the woman said. “Nash intervened just in time.”

Suddenly, the weight of all that had happened came crashing down. The memory of the inn, the man striking Lian and then taking her out into the cold…

Winter couldn’t think about that now.

“What about Lian?” Winter asked.

“In the other room,” Kali said. “He’s all right. He’s been asking about you.”

“I want to see him.”

Kali seemed to consider something, her lips pressing together. Winter pulled the quilt up around her chin self-consciously. She was powerless. This woman could do whatever she wished with her, and no one would care.

Just like last night.

“I’ll bring him to you,” Kali said. “But you need to rest.”

Winter nodded, trying to hide her eagerness. “Thank you.”

Kali left, closing the door behind her, and then Winter was alone. She looked around the room, trying to keep her mind from returning to what had happened in the alley. The room was simple, but the polished wood floors, intricately carved dresser in the corner, and large mirror on the wall bespoke wealth. Sunlight streamed in through the glass of a large window.
Glass and mirrors
, Winter found herself thinking. Two things she had never seen in a tiellan home, that was certain.
What company have we fallen in with now?

Winter blinked in the brightness. She wondered how long she had slept.

She closed her eyes, and wasn’t aware of her thoughts until it was too late. She was back in the alley, on the ground, the man’s weight on top of her. Horror rushed through her.

She flinched as the door opened again, and Kali walked in. Winter was grateful for the interruption.

Behind her was a man Winter recognized. The other man from the inn, the human who had walked in shortly after she had resolved to speak with the… the finely dressed man. Winter realized, suddenly, that this was the man who had saved her. She could see how she might have mistaken him for Knot. He had similar dull-brown hair, and was roughly the same height. An easy mistake, in the darkness.

Then, walking in after the humans, came Lian.

His left eye was blackened, the cheek below it bruised, but otherwise he looked unhurt. He rushed to her side.

“How are you?” he asked, kneeling beside her bed. “I’m sorry about the inn, I’m sorry I didn’t do anything sooner, I…”

“It’s all right,” Winter said, taking his hand. “I’m fine.” What had happened was her fault. Lian had done what he could to stop it, but in the end it had been her fault. All of it. “The man took me out into an alley. He… roughed me up a bit, but fortunately,” Winter nodded at Nash, “
he
saved me before things got too bad.”

Lian turned to look at Nash, then back to Winter. “Are you really all right?”

Winter smiled, squeezing Lian’s hand. “He just hit me a few times, that’s it. I’m okay.”

Kali looked at her strangely, but Winter didn’t care. Lian couldn’t know what the man had attempted. He would only blame himself.

“Goddess, it’s good to see your face,” Lian said.

Winter kept smiling. “It’s not so good to see yours,” she said. “You’re uglier, now.”

“Speak for yourself. He did a number on you, too.” Lian smiled. That was good. He couldn’t know.

Winter took a deep breath, then looked at Kali.

“Where are we?”

“You’re in our home. Or, rather, our home away from home.” Kali looked at the man beside her. “Nash and I are from Triah. We traveled north because we heard rumors about a man we’ve been searching for. Nash was trying to track the man when he overheard your conversation with your attacker. It appears you’re looking for someone as well. We thought that perhaps we might help one another. The man we seek is called Lathe, although he goes by other names as well.”

Winter’s breath caught. That was what the men who attacked at the wedding had called Knot. She exchanged a furtive glance with Lian, but they both remained silent.

“He was once a good friend of ours,” Kali said. “Part of our family, you could say. Unfortunately, he disappeared a little more than a year ago. We’ve been searching for him ever since. We would like to bring him home.”

Winter remained silent. She needed time to figure out how to react. Being in the presence of two humans, being completely at their mercy, did not help.

Lian, apparently, felt otherwise.

“We might be looking for the same person,” he said.

Winter glared at him, but he ignored her. What was he doing? She couldn’t imagine he was doing this just to spite her, not after what they had been through last night.

“The man we’re searching for is named Knot, but… we’ve heard the name Lathe before. We found him in the middle of the Gulf of Nahl, about a year ago. He couldn’t remember who he was, or where he’d come from,” Lian continued.

Winter caught the first hint of surprise on Kali’s face as her eyebrows raised ever so slightly.

“You
found
him?” Kali asked. “In the freezing gulf?”

“Aye,” Lian said. “We were fishing, and found him floating out there. Thought he was dead, in water that cold. But when we pulled him aboard, the cap’n revived him.” Finally, Lian glanced at Winter, a hint of guilt on his face. “He stayed with us until… something happened, two weeks ago.”

“I see,” Kali said, folding her long, thin arms in front of her. She exchanged a look with Nash, then her gaze returned to Winter, who suddenly wanted to shiver.

“And you are searching for this man?” Kali asked.

Winter remained silent. She turned to Lian. If she glared at him any harder, she was sure his head would burst. He didn’t seem to care.

“We are,” Lian said. “We think he might be headed to Roden.”

“
Lian
,” Winter whispered, but she knew it was too late. Whatever information they could have kept to themselves was gone. He looked at her, eyes wide, as if only just realizing what he had done.

“Very well,” Kali said, exchanging another look with Nash. Winter wished she knew what they were thinking. They were kind to take care of her, but Winter still didn’t trust them.

“We must discuss this more,” Kali said. “Perhaps our objectives coincide more than we thought. But for now, Winter needs rest.” Kali walked towards the door and Nash followed. Then she stopped, turning to Lian.

“Lian, it would be best if Winter rested alone. She needs to sleep.”

“You’re not splitting us up,” Winter said. She knew she sounded defensive. Oblivion, she
was
defensive. Part of her feared that Kali would say no, and there would be nothing Winter could do about it.

Kali met Winter’s gaze. “Very well. You are both free to do as you please, of course. We are only here to help.” She looked at Lian. “But please do see that she gets some rest. If we are indeed after the same man, he has a head start on us. We need to move as soon as possible.”

As soon as the two humans had left, Winter yanked her hand away from Lian’s.

“How could you, Lian?”

Lian shook his head. “I don’t know what came over me. Before I knew it I was telling them everything, I… I don’t know.”

Winter glared at him. “I know you don’t like Knot. But that doesn’t mean you can betray him to people we’ve just met. Lian,
we don’t know these people.
We have no idea who they are, or what they can do.”

“That’s not why I told them. Honest, princess, one moment I was just as suspicious of them as you and the next… it was like I
knew
I could trust them.”

“They’re
humans
, Lian. How could you?”

Lian shook his head, his eyes finally showing a hint of anger. “I know,” he said, through clenched teeth. “But so is Knot,” he added, more quietly.

Winter stared at him for a long time, while neither of them said anything.

“I could forgive you for being a naïve fool, Lian,” she finally said. “But not for being an angry one. We’re in danger, whether you realize it or not. These people may be working for the same people who attacked us
at my wedding
. The same people that killed my father. You’ve betrayed us to them.”

Lian’s eyes widened.

Good
, Winter thought.
Let him realize what an idiot he’s been
. She was speaking out of anger and frustration, but she couldn’t help it.

Winter turned over in the bed and faced the wall. She immediately regretted it as pain flared through her ribs.

“Please go,” she said. “Kali was right. I need rest. I can’t get it with you here.”

She was being completely irrational. If anything, they should be sticking together. But she couldn’t tolerate him right now.

Winter heard the door close, and knew she was alone.

Something she immediately began to regret. Alone, she only had her thoughts to keep her company. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to think of anything but her wedding, her father, the man in the alley, the sour taste of his tongue.

N
ASH FOLLOWED
K
ALI AS
she stormed out of the room. She had kept a calm face while speaking with the tiellans, but he could tell she was angry.

“They were remarkably eager to share information,” he said. “I don’t suppose they had any help?”

“Of course they did,” she snapped. “The boy did, anyway. He was easy to break. I could’ve had him singing the crudest version of ‘The Man from Largolan’ you’d ever heard in no time. The girl, however… the girl was not as easy.”

Nash remained silent as they walked down the hall. The two tiellans were a strange pair. The boy, Lian, spoke with the usual tiellan drawl, but the girl spoke like a human. An
educated
human. They seemed to be in Cineste alone, and apparently had some connection to Lathe. Strange did not even begin to describe them.

“I need to talk to Rune,” Kali said, throwing open the door to the room where they’d been keeping their lacuna.