Death Comes To All (Book 1) (59 page)

So
far the bree had not returned. The messenger had said that if they
had need of him, all they had to do was call out for him, and he
might hear them. Drom had no idea if there was any truth to that
statement, but so far he didn’t have any reason to test it
either. Once Raiste arrived, then they would call the bree back, and
meet with their leader again. Until then, it was only a matter of
waiting.

The
continued absence of their friend worried them more than anything
else did, though neither of them was willing to voice their fears out
loud. The bree ruler had said that he had been watching the assassin,
or at least that one of his bree had been, and that the man was fine.
Still, it had been over a month since then. In the time since then,
anything could have happened.

They
couldn’t even consider going anywhere else until he came back
to them, and Drom didn’t want their children to be born in the
Hut. He knew nothing at all of childbirth, aside from the basic
information that everyone knew anyway. He wanted to have an
experienced midwife with her when their children were born.

Drom
had no ideas as to where they should go once Raiste returned. He
wasn’t even certain that the assassin would want to go anywhere
right away, but Drom planned on insisting. While he hadn’t
expected to have a family to worry about so soon, he intended on
doing whatever he could to protect that family. That started with
taking Raine someplace that would be safe to give birth to their
children.

He
wasn’t fooling himself into thinking that any place would be
safe enough for very long. He didn’t know if Bloodheart would
be after Raine or not; hopefully the mage didn’t know about her
existence at all. He knew, however, that the mage would most
certainly be after him. After what he had done to Sloan and his men,
there wasn’t any way to avoid that now.

He
did have one hope going for him, which he clung to like a rope over a
deep pit. Everyone in Port Tam believed he had been a human man. They
wouldn’t be looking for someone who looked like a sorvinian. He
now suspected that he didn’t really look like a sorvinian
either, but he certainly didn’t look human when his fur wasn’t
trimmed back. This thought had already occurred to him during the
last month, since Raine had agreed to be his wife and he discovered
that he was soon to be a father.

So
he chose to allow the thick fur that had once covered his face to
grow out once more. He once again appeared as he had been when he had
first met his companions, little more than half a year before. His
best disguise now, he believed, would simply be to be himself. When
he had asked Raine about it, she was inclined to agree. She thought
he looked better in his fur anyway, she confided in him. For now he
would save the hair removing lotion for when he wished to look human
again.

Raine
had only just started to show a small swell in her belly. It was
hardly at all noticeable during the day, when she was fully clothed,
but he had begun noticing the slight change at night. His chosen
wife, he discovered, preferred to sleep in her fur, and nothing else.

Her
clothing choices during the day had changed as well. When they were
traveling she had always worn breeches and tunic in the style of a
man, though no one could ever have mistaken her for one. Her slim,
womanly figure left little question, regardless of what she wore.
Now, however, she had taken to wearing light, loose dresses. On this
night the dress she wore, which was barely long enough to cover the
upper part of her thigh, was a cheerful, mint green color.

Her
choice in clothing was entirely her own. For his part, he found her
beautiful in any style of dress, or in nothing at all for that
matter. He had long since gotten over the awkward shyness that he
once felt when he saw her in the nude. She slept next to him in that
manner every night, and it would be hard for anyone to continue
feeling that way in such a situation. He would worry about modesty
again when they were no longer alone.

“
You’ve
done enough studying for tonight,” Raine announced lightly,
sliding closer on the couch to snuggle up against him. “You can
read more tomorrow. These books will still be here. I was thinking we
should get up early tomorrow, and see if maybe we can try to remove
that tree that fell through the ceiling in the back room upstairs. If
we can get it out, we might be able to repair the roof. Then I’ll
be able to clean that room too.”

“
I
was hoping I might be able to learn something about the bree,”
he grumbled, but put down the book as she requested. “I don’t
like not knowing anything about our new allies.”

“
You’re
the one who convinced me that they weren’t likely to be
enemies, remember?” she reminded him. “Your arguments
were convincing enough for me. Like you told me, if they were enemies
we would have been attacked by now. They didn’t get any
information from us, but instead provided us with information about
what was going on outside these walls. As you also said, they
wouldn’t gain anything by lying to us either.”

“
I
know. If what they said was true though, we’re going to need an
army, and I want to know as much as I can about those we get to aid
us. I don’t know much about warfare, but it seems that the bree
think I’m going to be some kind of commander or something. It
makes sense that someone who is going to lead men into battle should
know as much about those men as he can, so he knows ahead of time
what they are capable of. I’ve learned plenty about the other
races, but I don’t know a thing about these bree.”

“
You’re
not going to be able to solve everything in one night,” she
pointed out. “Besides, from what little we do know about the
bree, I don’t think they are a race that are actually going to
be doing any of the fighting. What would they really do, bite at the
mage's ankles? As for the other races, we don’t know who yet
will be willing to join us. It’s good that you’re
thinking about it, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t want
you to worry yourself more than you need to.”

“
It
doesn’t matter if the races I am studying are going to be
allies or enemies,” he replied. “I need to know the
strengths and weaknesses of friends and enemies alike. That’s
the only way I can think of for us to have a chance at winning a war
like the one everyone seems to think is now inevitable. I...”

Raine
put a finger to his lips, silencing him mid-sentence. They had
already had this same discussion several times during the past month,
and she didn’t see any change in the outcome coming from the
conversation this time around. She emphasized her point by kissing
him soundly on the lips, not pulling away until she felt his stiff
muscles relax.

“
You
should put it away for tonight,” she said in a nonchalant tone.
Drom wasn’t fooled. He knew an order when he heard one. “I
think I’m ready for bed. Like I said, I think it would be a
good idea for us to get up early tomorrow. The sooner we start, the
sooner we can finish up, so you should join me.” She kissed him
once again, quickly this time, her lips barely brushing his.

“
Don’t
keep me waiting too long,” she whispered suggestively, bouncing
to her feet and disappearing through the doorway before he could
answer.

Once
again he knew an order when he heard one.

If
I don’t join her quickly, I’m really going to pay for it
.

He
glanced once at the book sitting on the arm of the couch next to him,
then with a small sigh headed for the living room doorway.

He
had just reached the bottom of the stairway when the sound of
breaking glass upstairs caused him to jolt. He heard Raine cry out,
the sound cut off suddenly as if someone had stopped it mid-scream.
He bolted up the stairs to the rooms they now shared, passing by his
own room, which was still dark, and flew headlong through the door
where she kept her belongings.

This
room was bright with the light of a roaring blaze in the fireplace,
the fresh logs flaring as the lamp oil that coated them burned
greedily. Raine stood in the middle of the room, still as stone. The
bright firelight created heavy shadows behind the objects in the
room, and out of the corner of his eye, Drom caught a blue flicker of
movement as something darted behind one of these shadows,
disappearing from his vision before he could see it.

Drom
didn’t know what it was that had come into their home, but he
wasn’t about to take any chances. This thing had come into his
home, had perhaps threatened Raine. It wanted to hide in shadows, but
he could do something about that.

With
a thought, that came to him now as naturally as breathing, he called
on his magic. He didn’t have Ocean’s Hand, but the magic
was a part of him. He did not need a weapon to call on its power. The
bright blue glow of his power ignited the room, piercing the depths
of the shadows that kept the intruder hidden.

Sapphire
scales reflected the light from his magical aura back at him,
revealing the shaking, frightened dragonling huddling in what had
been the shadow of a night stand, now plainly revealed.

“
Trick!”
Raine exclaimed, running over to the terrified animal. For a brief
moment it appeared that their small friend didn’t recognize
them. He stared at them with wide, wild eyes. With a blink he snapped
out of whatever had held him fast, and he flew directly into Raine's
arms. He tried to bury his head under her arm, but she held him back.

“
Trick,
where’s Raiste?” she asked urgently. Drom immediately
realized her concern. If Trick was here, than surely Raiste couldn’t
have been far away. If the dragonling left his side to come here,
especially in such a state of obvious distress, something must have
happened. He let his magic fade, the bright blue light subsiding,
though the firelight still kept most of the room bright.

Trick
immediately flew to the window, staring out into the darkness. Raine
went to the window and looked out, but couldn’t see anything.
Trick flew out of the window, circling just beyond the light shining
through it.

“
We’ll
meet you out front,” Raine called out to him. The small
dragonling promptly flew off, presumably toward the front of the
building to meet them. Raine sprinted to the door in a flash, flying
passed him to bolt down the stairs. Drom followed only a short
distance behind, pausing by his room for only a moment to grab
Ocean’s Hand by its sheath before following her to the front
door.

As
Raine opened the door, Drom saw Trick fly by from over her shoulder,
but he didn’t fly west toward the only path in or out as he had
expected him to. Instead, the dragonling flew toward the south. Drom
and Raine followed him as far as the edge of the water, where they
stopped. The dragonling flew only a short distance out over the water
before he circled twice, then returned to them. He landed on Raine's
shoulder and gave one short chirp.

“
We
need to go out there,” Raine announced. Drom knew she was
right. From the way their small sapphire friend acted, Drom suspected
that Raiste was, for whatever reason, out there on the water. Drom
listened intently, but he could not hear any sounds to indicate that
something was out there. He instantly feared the worst.

If
Raiste is out there on the water and isn’t moving, it doesn’t
bode well at all.

His
eyes sensed something move in the darkness at the edge of his vision,
ever so slightly, though not a single sound betrayed its presence. He
pulled Ocean’s Hand out of its sheath and called forth his
magic, allowing the magic to form slowly so that only the slightest
of breezes accompanied its coming.

In
the bright blue glow of his magic he saw something move under the
water’s surface, and he brought Ocean’s Hand between that
movement and himself. The water surged in front of him as something
bulky and dark pushed up out of the water toward him. He almost
struck with Ocean’s Hand before he recognized the creature as
Raiste, covered in mud, muck, and underwater debris. The assassin
flopped on the ground at his feet, panting for breath.

“
Raiste!”
Raine shouted, falling to the ground at the assassin's side.

“
I’ll
be alright,” the assassin managed to say, though it seemed to
Drom that it had been hard for the man to speak. Now that Drom could
see him a little better, he realized that his friend’s clothing
was not just covered in muck as he had originally believed. The man’s
clothing hung from him in tatters, no longer recognizable, and
appeared to be scorched in some places.

“
Good,”
Raine replied. “I can see you’ll need a bath. Why did you
come in this way instead of using the path like you should have?
These clothes are probably going to have to be thrown out. I hope
this wasn’t one of your better suits.”

“
There’s
no time for that!” Raiste replied hastily. “We have to
get out of here now! I managed to get away, just barely, a few miles
from here, but it won’t take it long to find this place. We
can’t be here when it does.”

“
What
are you talking about?” Drom asked urgently. He let the light
from his magic subside once again, wanting neither to waste his
energy or to alert anything in the area of their location.

“
One
of Bloodheart's spies found out that I was in Miani. When I left the
city, they had that damn monster waiting for me. It chased me through
the swamp, only a short distance behind me. I decided I would try to
trap it in the swamp and dispatch it myself, but it proved to be too
much for me. I managed to get away in the water, and swam the rest of
the way here. We have to run!”