“Yes.” One word, but she could hear the bone-deep guilt behind it.
“But you were only defending yourself! He meant to kill you! You only—”
“Killed him,” he said harshly.
“On purpose?”
“I evaded his blow and struck him back. He lost his balance and fell.”
“Then it was an accident!”
“He died,” said Kihain flatly. It was clear that, for him, there were no extenuating circumstances.
“Couldn’t your father have done something? He was the pride-lord. Surely…”
“My brother was his favorite. He blamed me for his death. So his mage put the mark upon me and I was cast out.”
“Mark?”
He touched his left shoulder, bared by the sleeveless vest he wore. “You do not see it?”
She shook her head. All she could see was smooth gold-tanned skin.
“Shifters can. They know what I am.” He raised his head defiantly. “So tell the pride-lord why. Tell him that if he harbors me, he harbors a brother-killer.”
“I think Ian would understand. He would!” she said fiercely when he shook his head. “He’d let you make a home here. Even the Lowes might let you belong to their pride.”
“Belonging,” he sighed on a lost breath. She could see how much that meant to him. “I surrendered that when I struck my brother.”
“It’s just not fair!” she said angrily to Ian later. “He didn’t start it and it was an accident. Even Kihain admitted that.”
“Mmm,” Ian said thoughtfully. “Branding him an outcast does seem unnecessarily harsh. Most pride-lords would simply have sent him away to be a nomad in the wild lands and possibly be accepted in another pride. I’ll talk to Kurt about it.”
“I wish you would.” Sierra thumped the arm of her chair in frustration. “I think Kihain loved his brother. He blames himself even more than his father and that pride of his do. He’s carrying all that guilt and he doesn’t deserve to!”
Ian gave her a level look. “He’s done other things, though.”
“They seem more sins of omission rather than commission.”
“Those can be just as bad, Sierra. You’ve got a soft heart and you seem to have forgiven him. I’m not so sure the prides will.”
“What about you? If the prides don’t accept him, would you give him a chance? Allow him to stay here?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps. He’s behaved well so far. Gregor says he’s certain that the boy hasn’t tried to contact Arrhan, so it doesn’t look as if he’s a spy. I’ll discuss it with Kurt. There’s no rush. We have to deal with Arrhan first, then we’ll see.”
He sounded abstracted. Sierra looked around at him and saw the tiny frown in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing. And that’s the problem.” He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “Do you realize that it’s been more than three weeks since Arrhan’s last attack? That invisibility spell can’t be the only card in his deck. Something’s up. It’s been too quiet.”
Sierra caught her breath. “You think there’s going to be another attack?”
“Stands to reason. He’s not going to give up. Trouble is, we have no clue what it might be or which direction it’ll come from. The abilities of that mage of his might be limited in our dimension, but she’s still a mage and anything is possible.”
That was a scary thought. No wonder all the Shifters she’d seen recently had looked so edgy. Kurt called a conference over at his place the next day, but nothing came of it except that everyone was on the alert and even more watchful than before. No one went anywhere alone or unarmed, and most stayed home within their defensive perimeters. Even Nick decided to lay security wires around his house, which he had arrogantly not bothered to do before.
“He’s finally getting some sense,” laughed Ian. “He’s one stubborn son of a bitch and laying that wire is a big concession for him.”
Sierra was working in her studio when Gregor came in two days later. He looked both exasperated and amused.
“Nick’s run into a little trouble with his security system,” he said. “He’s got the wires placed okay, but there’s some sort of glitch in the readings. I’m going to go out there to give him a hand. Shouldn’t be more than an hour.”
“Sure, Gregor. No prob.”
“Stay in here, okay? Don’t go wandering around. Ian is over at Kurt’s and Abel’s on duty, but Kihain will keep an eye on you.”
“He doesn’t have to. I’m going to be busy in here all afternoon and anyway things have been pretty quiet for ages. I can’t see anything happening in an hour.”
“Just in case.” He gave her a forbidding scowl. “And don’t give the kid a hard time by suddenly deciding to drive into town or take a stroll off the homestead. He’d have to stop you and it would freak him out to lay a finger on you, you being the pride-lord’s chosen, the way he sees it.”
The pride-lord’s chosen. Sierra somehow liked the sound of that.
She grinned at Gregor. “I’ll be good.”
Kihain came in diffidently a few minutes after the sound of Gregor’s car had faded into the distance. “Gregor said to remain with you even if you do not wish me to. I will try not to disturb you, but you understand that I must stay.”
He was twisting the ball of his pendant around in his fingers the way he did when he felt ill at ease, but his face was resolute. Sierra smiled at him.
“I don’t mind you hanging around, Kihain. It’s nice to have company. Grab a chair and take the weight off.”
He frowned for a second in puzzlement, then smiled faintly. “Human idioms. Strange but expressive. Is this where you work? May I look around?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
He wandered around the room, glancing at the kilns, the greenware drying on the shelves and the neat rows of tools, glazes, clays and wax resists. His brows rose in surprise.
“It is very professional.”
Sierra laughed. “I should think so. It’s my livelihood, not a hobby. Do you have potters in your world?”
“Yes, but I have never chanced to see how they work their craft.”
“Would you like to help? I was just going to glaze those bowls.”
“Of course I will help. You must tell me what you wish me to do.” He stopped to admire a colorful serving platter on a side table. “This is very beautiful. How was it done?”
She smiled at his back as he bent over the platter. “That one was a bit complicated. I used layered slips and sprayed glazes, then fired it in the soda kiln. What I mean by all of that is…”
She broke off as he turned. The ball of his pendant no longer hung from its chain around his neck. It lay in his palm, split into two halves that were both filled with a reddish powder.
“Kihain…?”
He tossed the powder into her face. She gasped in shock and involuntarily breathed it in. It was light, like dust or talc, and smelled sweet but had an acrid taste upon her tongue.
“Whuh…?”
Her head was suddenly spinning and her knees were folding under her. She flung out her arms desperately, trying to grab a shelf or a table to keep herself upright. Kihain caught her as she fell.
“I am sorry,” he said, his voice harsh and ragged. “You have been kind to me and I did not wish to do this. But I have given my word.”
She barely heard him. Then everything went black.
* * * * *
Sierra came to herself flat on her back in thick grass. For a moment she blinked at the blue sky above her, then turned her head slowly in dazed bewilderment to look around. She was lying in a wide clearing, surrounded by dense forest. A bird flicked past over her head and she could hear the quiet ripple of a stream somewhere nearby. Other than that, there was no sound or movement. She seemed to be completely alone.
She sat up slowly, wondering what on earth she was doing here. Then the memory came back. Kihain. He had thrown some powder at her and it had made her pass out. They had all been wrong about him. He hadn’t been running from Arrhan. He had come on Arrhan’s orders and every move had been carefully planned. Asking to stay with Abel had just been misdirection. What he had really wanted was access to the Raeder spread. Access to her, so he could kidnap her the way Arrhan’s man had tried to seize her before.
But why had he brought her here and left her all alone? It didn’t make sense.
She climbed onto her feet, looking cautiously around. She was still feeling a little shaky and wanted to keep on lying down until the dizziness wore off, but she didn’t dare. She had to get out of here before Kihain came back from wherever he had gone to.
She looked down at herself. She was wearing the blue jeans, white tee and sneakers she had put on this morning. They would be adequate for scrambling through the forest, but she was going to be very cold once night fell. She hoped she could find help before that happened. From the slant of the light it was late afternoon. She should have a few hours before the light faded in which to find a house with a phone or a road with cars that might give her a lift.
She bit her lip. She was kidding herself. These woods looked too wild and desolate. She suspected she was far from human habitation and there wouldn’t be anyone around for miles. But trying to find help was better than just sitting doing nothing.
She had no clue where she was or which way she should go. All directions were equally unpromising. She picked one at random and staggered that way, her legs growing steadier as she walked.
She reached the edge of the clearing and put out a hand to push a tree branch aside so that she could duck under it. A sharp, prickling sensation ran through her arm, part pain and part numbness. It was the kind of shock that would have come from hitting her funny bone on something. Sierra jerked her hand back with a gasp and shook it to get rid of that feeling. Then she tried again. This time the burning shock was even stronger. She recoiled instinctively.
Deep in the forest, something moved.
She bit back a cry with an effort. Then she whipped sideways and hid behind a tree trunk.
“That will not help you,” a jeering male voice said behind her. “We can scent wherever you conceal yourself.”
This time she did cry out. She spun and a form was suddenly in front of her, male, tawny-gold, dressed in black leather pants and an open vest. But it was not Kihain. It was an older Shifter, a stranger with a seamed, cynical face and a twisted, contemptuous grin.
“You will not be able to leave this clearing. You would be unconscious before you even managed to pass six feet into the trees. Did you not feel the tingle? It is a warning. It tells you where the walls of the spell are.”
Sierra drew a harsh breath and got herself back under control. She might be scared stiff of what Arrhan and his people planned for her, but she was damned if she was going to show it.
“Spell?”
“Our mage has put a spell upon you. You cannot leave this clearing unless she permits it.”
“Why keep me here? Kidnap me like this? Why didn’t Kihain or that other Shifter kill me outright?”
“Oh, you will die. And it will be a slow and painful death.” He gave her a cruel smile. “But Arrhan has a purpose for you first. You have a use.”
As bait for Ian. He would come. She knew it. He would try to rescue her, and when he did, they would trap and kill him. And there was nothing she could do to prevent it. Even if she died right now, he would not know it and would come anyway.
“Who are you?”
“A guard. There are also many more of us in the woods. You would not get far even if there were not a spell preventing you.”
She absorbed that in silence. He watched her with malignant eyes and that twisted grin. She could see that he was enjoying seeing her realize how powerless she was.
“I’m thirsty. Am I permitted a drink?” she asked to test her situation.
If she were allowed to drink, that meant they wanted her alive and in reasonably good condition for a while. If not, it meant they wanted her to suffer and implied that the time period she could expect to survive would be short.
“There is a stream.” The Shifter pointed northeast. “Only a few yards that way. Iseya set the spell to allow you to reach it. It is safe to drink.”
She let out a silent breath of relief. No harm yet, and where there was life there was hope. She headed in the direction he had indicated and found the stream, which ran low and fast through a rocky bed. The water was cold and refreshing, clearing away the remaining dizziness from the drug Kihain had flung at her.
There was movement behind her. She turned her head and saw the Shifter standing watching her.
“Return to the clearing now,” he said and she did so obediently.
The spell trapped her as effectively as chains would have. Even if it had not been there, she could not hope to outrun Shifters. She couldn’t even hide from them since they could track her scent.
Outclimb, maybe. Lions could climb, but not far. She eyed a tall pine on the other side of the clearing. But what would she do once she reached the top of it? Just sit there? People could go a month without food, but only a few days without water. And Shifters could climb even better than she could when they were in human form. They’d just drag her down from there or, worse, set fire to the tree under her and laugh while she burned to death.