Fireborn Law

New clothes and a bath did wonders for Caimbeul and Pandeena soon had him looking acceptable. She missed his long hair, but the mats and snarls had been so bad when she set to work on it, that Pandeena had been forced to cut it short and close to his head.

Caimbeul stood in front of the mirror in his room at the Sleeping Dog Inn and wagged his head at the image reflected there. "I can't say if I like it or not, Pandeena."

Her nose wrinkled at him. "I imagine it took a lot of scrubbing to get the dirt off."

"Well, yes and no." Caimbeul grinned and left her to make what she would of the implications. "So I'm to be Lawgiver of Wolffgard."

Pandeena had spent the past days giving Caimbeul more details, and he had mulled them over. The facts of the situation bothered him greatly. The previous lawgiver had been unusually young; Nikko Softpaws had received his place at the age of sixteen and held it for only three years when he disappeared. He was believed dead, although his body had never been found. Bits of his flesh had been discovered lodged in the teeth of several dead imps. Imps ate their prey alive. The bits and pieces of Nikko's flesh were Read, and found to contain traces of Devil's Silver, a deadly poison to lycans, but not to imps. Imps did not use Devil's Silver. Myn did. He had scrutinized all of the information that Pandeena had given him and found her reasoning sound.

"Does it bother you? The idea of being senior to all the lawgivers in Red Wolf?"

His eyes went distant and he crossed the room to a small table where his pipe and tobacco pouch lay beside a small box of lucifers. He settled into a chair, filled his pipe, and lit it. "A century ago… I would have leaped at the chance. Gwythyr would have been proud of me… he was anyway… but you know what I mean." Caimbeul caught the look in Pandeena's eyes and made a fending off gesture. "I don't want to talk about our son. I'll try to stop mentioning him. But you must understand, Pandeena… not a day goes by that I don't think about him."

Her eyes softened. "How does this affect your willingness to go to Wolffgard?"

Caimbeul looked away, his head lowered; then he sucked in a deep breath and straightened. "I'm not as sure of myself as I used to be."

"I know that."

"Have you picked our route?"

"The direct route is across the Hellblade Corridor. However, that's heavily patrolled and I don't wish to reveal myself. It would be in the best interests of our people if no one knew that the Second Mother was at large in the world again."

Caimbeul considered that a wise decision. Before the Lycan Rebellion of 997, Red Wolf had touched on Silverpaw in the north. When the Waejontori crushed the rebellion, they seized that strip of land and fortified it in an effort to isolate the two strongest of the Nine Great Clans: Red Wolf and Silverpaw. That area currently lay in the hands of the Waejontori Queen Tomyrilen the Bastard, who had raised a revolt against the Sharani.

"So you won't simply Jump us there?" He tried to keep his gaze on her face, but his eyes kept drifting across her exquisite body in spite of his best efforts; and he wondered by what cursed chance he had managed to fall in love with the Second Mother of the lycan race. All lycans, to one degree or another, traced their ancestry to Pandeena, a yuwenghau — a minor divine.

"Same reason."

Caimbeul nodded and puffed on his pipe for several minutes, thinking. "That leaves only making a detour through Waejontor proper. We'll still be dodging Queen Tomyrilen's forces until we reach Sharani held territory."

"We're taking the same route back that I took getting here. I know what I'm doing."

"There are things I will need to buy along the way."

"I guessed as much." Pandeena unfastened a pouch from her belt and tossed it to him.

Caimbeul caught it in mid-air with a speed and ease that belied his obvious age, noted the weight, and opened it. Coins filled the pouch, mostly silver, but with a substantial amount of gold. "All of this is mine?"

"I said I would take care of you."

A small smile lit his grizzled face. "You always were as good as your word."

"Don't spend it all on whiskey. A drink or two at the inns we stop at is one thing… but if I catch you lost in a bottle… I'm going to beat the unholy hell out of you."

"You have my word. I will stay sober."

The final purchase at Running Horse had been two pack animals and a gentle gelding for Caimbeul. He had thrown a fit, wanting a spirited animal like he had ridden in his youth. Pandeena overruled him; she had no idea how badly his skills might have deteriorated after spending years in the bottle. The single thing she had no doubts about was the condition of his mind: he was as sharp as ever.

They rode out of Running Horse three days after Pandeena appeared at Caimbeul's shack, winding their way down through the western foothills of the Eiralyskali Mountains, heading into Waejontor proper. The Waejontori — and hence the Sharani also — considered the lands of the Nine Great Clans to be part of Waejontor. The lycans considered themselves independent and neutral. The Sharani had respected the lycans' right to rule themselves; while the sa'necari aristocracy of Waejontor never had even to the slightest degree, and with the rise of Queen Tomyrilen, were beginning to pressure the clans. The situation did not bode well for the lycans.

They entered Waejontor in the evening of their second day of travel, stopping for the night at a lycan-owned inn on the outer edge of the town of Skinner's Hollow. Pandeena got them rooms with a connecting door and had dinner sent up to Caimbeul's room. They sat together eating in silence, worn out by the tensions of the day. Pandeena had been bending her Wilderkin talents to avoid the guard patrols, the birds and the beasts alerted her whenever one was near and they got off the road.

Caimbeul pushed his plate away and settled back in the chair with his pipe. "You still haven't told me if you have a suspect."

"I do and I don't. It's hard to explain."

"Try."

"Claw Redhand extended a kindness to the women and children fleeing the war, by creating and supporting a refugee camp they call the Sanctuary."

"Humans?"

Pandeena nodded. "And five sa'necari women with lycan offspring. Some of the children are sa'necari-born."

That brought a frown to Caimbeul's face. "Sa'necari murdered his sons and he's taking their offspring in? Where'd he get that?"

"His grandson is sa'necari. His daughter had a bastard child by a Dark Brother of the Light, possibly a descendant of Dawnhand."

"I thought they were all dead. That massacre ten years ago�." Caimbeul took a long draw from his pipe.

"There were two survivors. Isranon and his sister. The sister perished three years later. According to Lokynen Willidar, Isranon is now calling himself Dawnreturning."

"What's the cub's name?"

"Darmyk. He's a sweet little cub. However, there are several odd things about him. He's Wilderkin. And he has a wine-stain birthmark on his left shoulder in the form of the Willodarian bear."

"Godmark?"

"I suspect so. I haven't been able to contrive an opportunity to examine it."

"We are living the old curse about interesting times. I've never heard of a sa'necari child who was godmarked and Wilderkin."

"Neither have I. But he is."

"I'd like to have a look at him."

"You will. Any way. There's a mon at Sanctuary who has a lot of influence with the young wolves. He's human. I touched him, so I should know. However, I swear he tried to Read me."

"Mage?"

"No sign of it. His name is Malthus Estrobian. My gut instinct says that's not his real name. He came to the camp with two sa'necari born nieces, orphans. When Lokynen found Nikko, the young wolf said something that sounded like Marl or Mal or something like that, and that there was a sa'necari in Wolffgard who shot him."

"You have five of them to pick from."

"You mean the women? No, they've been there for several years now and they're spellcorded."

"So you think he meant Malthus?"

"Possibly. The mon makes me uneasy."

"Well, you've given me a lot to think about. I'll probably have more questions later."

After Pandeena had gone to bed, Caimbeul slipped downstairs and purchased three bottles of whiskey that he stowed in his packs. He would keep his word about staying sober on the road, but once he got settled into Wolffgard, Caimbeul intended to tie one on.

GODWAR CENTRAL

Fireborn Law