Sun Wolf 1 - The Ladies Of Mandrigyn by Barbara Hambly Read Free Book Online

Wolf’s rages. A man who had taken a bribe to betray Sun Wolf could expect from her no mercy and certainly nothing even remotely quick.
    She glanced up at Ari, who stood behind her chair. He looked doubtful, as well he might; Thurg had always proved himself trustworthy and had, as he had said, been with Sun Wolf’s troop for years. She herself was puzzled, as much by the utter unlikeliness of Thurg’s story as by the possibility of betrayal. In his place, she would have thought up a far better story, and she had enough respect for his brains to think that he would have, also.
    “Where did Ari speak to you?” she asked at last.
    “In the square, sir,” Thurg said, swallowing and glancing from her face to Ari’s and back again. “He—he came out of the alleyway the Chief had gone down with that girl and—and walked over to where we were sitting in the tavern. It was getting late. I’d already talked to the innkeeper once about keeping the place open.”
    “He came over to you—or called you to him?”
    “He came over, sir. He said, ‘You can head on back to camp, troops. The Chief and I will be along later.’ And he gave us this big wink. They all laughed and made jokes, but I asked didn’t he want a couple of us to stay, just in case? And he said, ‘You think we can’t handle City Troops? You’ve seen ’em fight!’ And we—we came away. I thought if Ari was with the Chief . . . ” He let his voice trail off, struggling within himself. Then he flung his hands out. “It sounds like your grandfather’s whiskers, but it’s true! Ask any of ’em!” Desperation corrugated his sunburned little face. “You’ve got to believe me!”
    But he did not look as if he thought that this was at all likely.
    They said in the camp that Starhawk had not been born—she’d been sculpted. She considered him for a moment more, then asked, “He came out of the alley, came toward the tavern, and spoke to you?”
    “Yes.”
    “He was facing the tavern lamps?”
    “Yes—they were behind me. It was one of those open-front places—I was at a table toward the edge, out on the square, like.”
    “And you saw him clearly?”
    “Yes! I swear it!” He was trembling, sweat trickling down his scar-seamed brown cheeks. Behind him, just outside the rippling shade of the awning, two guards looked away, feeling that electric desperation in the air and not willing to witness the breaking of a man they both respected. Frantic, Thurg said, “If I’d sold the Chief to the Council, you think I’d have come back to the camp?”
    Starhawk shrugged. “If you’d thought you could get me to believe you thought you were talking to Ari, maybe. I’ve seen too many betrayals to know whether you’d have sold him out or not—but I do find it hard to believe you’d have done it this stupidly. You’re confined to quarters until we see whether the Council sends out the money they promised.”
    When the guards had taken Little Thurg away, Ari shook his head and sighed. “Of all the damned stupid stories . . . How could he have done it, Hawk? There was no way he had of knowing that I wasn’t with ten other people—which I was!”
    She glanced up at him, towering above her, big and bearlike and perplexed, the slow burn of both anger and hurt visible in those clear, hazel-gray eyes. “That’s what inclines me to believe he’s telling the truth,” she said and got to her feet. “Or what he thinks is the truth, anyway. If I’m not back from Kedwyr in three hours, hit the town with everything we’ve got and send messages to Ciselfarge . . . ”
    “You’re going by yourself?”
    “If they’re hiding what they’ve done, I’m in no danger,” she said briefly, casting a quick glance at the piebald sky and picking up her sheepskin jacket from the back of her chair. “I can fight my way out alone as well as I could with a small bodyguard—and if the Council doesn’t know the Wolf’s missing, I’m not going to tell