Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart (73 page)

"
No
," Firekeeper replied a trace sullenly.

"
Here we are hunting not a rabbit but a den of weasels
—
weasels we must stalk without waking them, weasels we must catch without hurting. Surely that merits a little thought in advance
."

"
They are thinking more than a little
!" she protested.

Blind Seer huffed at her. "
You are still such a pup! I tell you, this is more dangerous than any hunt we have ever attempted. My fur stands on end just thinking of it. Rather would I go into a she-bear's den in spring and attempt to eat her cubs than do what we must do here
."

"
But you are with me
?" Firekeeper asked anxiously.

"
I have sworn before our people to be with you
," the wolf assured her. "
But I do not think they knew what they were asking when they sent you out
."

To Firekeeper's surprise, Edlin Norwood was the one who halted the seemingly endless cycle of plan, counterplan, and refinement.

"I say," the young lord said, "but isn't it getting rather late? I mean," he went on diffidently, "shouldn't we get a move on?"

"Are you saying, Lord Kestrel," asked Grateful Peace, a touch of astonishment in his voice, "that we should essay this challenge tonight?"

"Well, I do think so, rather," Edlin replied boldly. "I mean, tonight you got out of there, no one the wiser. Will you be so free another night? What I'm trying to say is that you're at the beck and call of this Ass-fellow…"

"Apheros, the Dragon Speaker," Elise corrected quickly, clearly horrified at this lapse in diplomacy.

Edlin didn't seem to notice her dismay. He simply grinned his thanks for the correction and continued speaking.

"Right, Apheros, well, what if he needs you, Grateful Peace, tomorrow night? What if he wants you to do some watching or whatever it is you do? What if there's some big experiment in the laboratories you need to supervise? What if—and don't get me wrong, old chap, but these things do happen—what if Lady Melina gets her hooks into you again? I mean, we know about the way in through the sewers and all, thanks to you, but we don't really know how to get through them right and how to come out right and a dozen other things. I say we go for it tonight—right now. We have hours and hours of darkness left and folks there in the tower will be getting tired and well…"

Edlin trailed off, a bit confused by the flood of his own eloquence.

"Lord Kestrel," Grateful Peace replied slowly, "does have a point. As I told you earlier, I took my fellow Three, Xarxius, into my confidence this evening as the fastest means of learning about you. I trust Xarxius as much as I do any man…"

"
And that
," Blind Seer muttered, "
is not very much at all
."

"… But a servant could have passed on word of our meeting and conclusions might be drawn. However, I will say that I think it unlikely we were betrayed—my servants, after all, are loyal to me. A much more real threat to our success may occur if Lady Melina chooses to act against you."

"Against us?" asked Edlin, surprise making the words sound rather like a gulp.

"You," Peace agreed. "I recognized her anger when she learned that you were residing in the city. It is not impossible that she might choose to have action taken against you. Something as simple as voiding your residence permit—a voiding based on some minor technicality, nothing that could be traced to her—could force you to leave Dragon's Breath. Even if you were able to hide nearby in the mountains—an onerous task this time of year—our chances for a successful raid would be reduced. If she insisted that you be escorted to the border…"

"She could do this?" Derian asked.

Firekeeper noted with some satisfaction that her red-haired friend was clearly worried. If Derian was worried, then it was likely they would move tonight.

"Apheros could, or the Healed One." Peace shrugged. "I can think of a dozen ways that such an escort could be arranged without giving reason for you—or your government—to take offense. Since I believe neither Apheros nor the Healed One are able to refuse Lady Melina anything, it is much the same."

"Then tonight," Elise said, wonder and no little fear in her voice. 'Tonight we must be ready."

"Within the hour I should say," Grateful Peace replied. "I came to you straight from my meeting with Xarxius. We have talked for some hours. Most of the residents of the Earth Spires will have retired. I wish we could know how many are at work in the Granite Tower."

Firekeeper grinned.

"I can have that learned," she said, leaping to her feet. "Elation will fly at night, as will Bold. They can report to us here. I will tell them to look especially for Lady Melina. No need for us to go to her place—her room—if she is with the artifacts."

The wolf-woman felt some satisfaction at Grateful Peace's evident surprise. He hid his reaction well, but there was a momentary widening of his eyes that told her much. The thaumaturge's scent—now that she had learned to separate it from that of his cosmetics—altered, too. She did not need to hear Blind Seer's tail thumping muted applause on the boards behind her to know that she had pulled off a coup.

Still swelled with wolfish pride, Firekeeper woke the birds, explained their task, and promised rewards for swift return and detailed reports.

Cold wind swirled in through the window when she opened it to set the birds free. Above the sky was dark, the stars undimmed, for the majority of the city lights had long since been extinguished.

Once, Derian had told her that the Waterlanders believed that the stars held the undying spirits of all who had walked on the earth. These spirits were thought to look down on the living with interest. Sometimes they even granted wishes.

Firekeeper turned her face to the stars and wished with all her heart that tonight's venture would be successful.

E
lise saw Grateful Peace's surprise when Firekeeper suggested sending the birds out to scout, but she doubted that anyone else—except possibly the wolf-woman herself—had noticed. She decided that explaining that Firekeeper was really able to talk to animals—and probably being disbelieved for her pains—would waste valuable time.

The thaumaturge also apparently thought that the time for questions was past, for though his lips parted momentarily, they closed again without a word being spoken.

"Let us be at it then, friends," Grateful Peace said, the last word softening what had been a distinctly autocratic tone of voice. "I have shown you the buildings that hold our targets. I have also done my best to tell what you should do when you get inside. Let me emphasize once more that I would prefer that my involvement be minimal."

"Fine," Firekeeper growled to Elise's dismay. "Be this minimal. Let us get on with the hunt. The birds can find us in streets. I have told them to be looking."

"Well and good," Grateful Peace replied without any of the pique Elise had feared he would feel. "However, there is one thing that must be done before you can get on with your hunt. Without a disguise of some sort, you would not go ten feet without being stopped."

"Disguise?" Firekeeper tilted her head to one side in inquiry. "That word… I forget."

Wendee Jay rose as Derian began to explain. Elise turned to the thaumaturge with a question of her own.

"Do we really need disguises, sir?" she asked. "It's not as if we're trying to infiltrate the Granite Tower. We're simply going in as raiders."

"Night raiders smear blackening on their faces lest the reflection be seen," replied Peace, indicating his own features with a graceful flourish of his long fingers. "In the same fashion, the longer you can pass for people who belong in Thendulla Lypella, the more time you will have to obtain your objectives.

"Remember," he added seriously, "not only must you get in, you must also get out."

Elise bit her lip. Wendee's return saved her from needing to reply.

"We bought most of these in Gateway, Lord Peace," Wendee said, displaying the bundled robes and the boxed cosmetics, "though I've added some since."

Perhaps in response to Elise's surprised expression, Wendee added:

"They're lovely things, Lady Elise, and I thought if we didn't need them here, we'd take them home with us."

Elise patted her hand. "You've done well, Wendee."

Peace was less pleased, but his displeasure was less at Wendee than at the mixed nature of their purchases.

"These," he explained, indicating their Gateway purchases, "are flimsy things—woven expressly for sale to foreigners. You'd never see such in the Earth Spires. These, however," he tapped a few robes, "are of fine quality. Goody Wendee definitely has judgment.

"Together," he concluded, "they are as mismatched as yellow stripes on a stallion."

"We hardly need to make a fashion statement, what?" said Lord Edlin. "Just to get in and out again."

Grateful Peace nodded. "But the mixture will make the getting in, much less the getting out, harder to do. Still, we shall manage. Happily, Goody Wendee has laid in a large supply of red tones."

Wendee blushed. "I thought they would do for cosmetics when we got home. Much less outlandish than the blues and purples, lovely as those are."

"Whatever your reason," Peace said, "they will serve well. The working costume in the research tower is a red-painted face and grey robe—not a deep grey, a pale shade close to that of undyed material."

"Why?" asked Derian, looking as if he was slightly surprised to hear himself asking.

"Because, young counselor," Peace replied, "the red is striking—a visual warning even to peripheral vision that someone else is near. The paint or stain is laid on thinly enough that facial expressions can be easily read through the color to help eliminate misunderstanding."

I wonder
, Elise thought,
if that means the rest of the time they actively court misunderstanding
?

"Grey robes," Peace continued, "are easily cleaned or at least easily redyed. Now, my thought is to disguise those of you who are going in as researchers. Although the teams contain many important people, each sodality has sent over lesser members to do the scut work—sweeping up, grinding components, and the like. No one can be said to know everyone, so you should pass—at least for a time."

"Two questions," Derian said, raising his fingers. "One, you say 'those of you who are going in.' Are you suggesting we leave someone behind?"

Peace shook his head.

"Not precisely behind," he said. "Rather, I suggest that one or two of your number be delegated to pack your belongings and clear out of this house. Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Have you the means to drug your landlady and her servants?"

Elise, knowing Doc's strict medical ethics, pivoted to look at him, ready to step in before he could say something too damaging to their cause.

The indignation she expected to find on his hawk-nosed features was not there. Instead, Sir Jared was nodding agreement and understanding. Something about his expression reminded her that he was a cousin to Earl Kestrel—a man whose devotion to scheming was as sincere as it was efficient.

Jared said, "I can do it more easily if they'll drink what I have. Wendee, did you notice if Hasamemorri was awake when you went to get the costuming supplies?"

"She was," Wendee said, looking up from where she had been sorting the reds from the other colors. "I heard her speaking to her maid about fetching a bit more firewood."

Wendee's blue eyes twinkled with wicked glee.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she heard our late caller arrive and is staying awake deliberately in hopes of learning what emergency has brought him."

"Very good," Doc said. "When you can tear yourself from your labors, come with me. I think we'll be sending them up some refreshments along with our apologies for the disturbance."

"Wait," Derian said. "I mean, do you think we should leave Dragon's Breath tonight?"

"That's right," Peace replied a touch acidly. "Surely you don't think that if you are successful Apheros will wait until morning to call and ask what you have been about?"

Derian sighed. "No, I suppose not. Who should stay to clear us out of here?"

"Pause and think on that," Peace advised. "What was your other question?"

To Elise's astonishment, Derian looked positively uncomfortable.

"The disguises," he muttered.

"Yes?"

"About them," Derian said. "Do they include shaving our heads?"

Even before the thaumaturge replied, Elise knew what the answer would be.

What will my mother think?

"Of course," Grateful Peace replied. "Only peasants wear all their hair—and usually only those who must labor out-of-doors. It is quite out of fashion among the sodalities to wear front hair."

There was a startled silence. Somehow, even when everyone had been considering disguises earlier on, no one had anticipated this contingency.

Wendee said slowly. "In the theater, we wore false head-fronts made from waxed cloth, but they had to be custom-fitted and even so they looked right fake up close."

Running her hand over her already ragged haircut, Firekeeper gave a hoarse chuckle.

"Never will I have a good coat," she said with a rueful smile. "That I were a wolf!"

Wanting a moment to adjust to this new inevitability, Elise returned to the matter raised by Derian's first question.

"Who of us shall stay and who shall go?" she asked.

"I go," Firekeeper said firmly. "And Blind Seer with me. From what this Grateful Peace say, Blind Seer will have some places to hide and if he do not…"

She shrugged.

"The power of the wolf," Grateful Peace replied, "is certainly worth some risk. How many among you speak our language?"

"I do," Elise said, her hand moving involuntarily to touch her hair. "And Wendee does as well."

"I've picked up a little over the last few days," Derian said, "but it's spotty."

Grateful Peace tugged at the snowy length of his white braid.

"I suggest that both of the ladies go, then," he said. "Being able to understand what you hear may be more valuable than any skill with weapons."