She blurred and vanished. He whirled and saw her, a pale silhouette fifty yards away. A voice floated through the woods and whispered in his ear, cold and mocking. “Too slow, Preceptor.”
He sheathed his sword and took off after her. She was lying through her teeth. When he caught up to her, he would strangle her with his bare hands.
Elara waited at the edge of the forest. He should’ve been out of there by now. To the north, against the backdrop of the tall hill and the severe lines of the castle, the Waterson, Garcia, and Lincoln families were picking pears from the orchard. The pears made good wine and the way the birds had been going at them, they had to be at the peak of ripeness. A few more days and they’d get pear mush instead of fruit.
“If I chop off your head, will it grow back?”
Elara spun around and almost ran into Hugh. He loomed over her, his eyes dark, his face cold. A man that large shouldn’t have moved that quietly.
“I don’t know,” she said, keeping her voice iced over. “We could do an experiment. You try chopping off my head and I’ll try to chop off yours. We’ll see who’s left standing.”
A spark flashed in the depths of his blue irises. “Tempting.”
“Isn’t it? You just have to tell me which head you want chopped off, the top one or the one you usually think with.”
“Take your pick.”
Elara narrowed her eyes. “Maybe later. We’re being watched.”
He glanced at the two girls waving at them from the orchard. Elara waved back.
“Is that supposed to stop me?”
She hated that she had to look up to meet his gaze. “You would kill me in front of the children?”
“In a minute.”
“But you healed the dog.”
“How do you know?”
“I know everything.”
“You saw Sharif running out of the woods.”
Hugh leaned toward her half an inch. Elara fought the urge to step back. The man could project menace like a raging bull.
She forced herself to stand still and glare back at him. “The point is, a man who would save a dog wouldn’t usually do something to scar small children.”
“A completely arbitrary connection.”
“Saving a dog implies a certain set of ethics.”
“I don’t care about the children.”
Elara shrugged. “In that case, we should get on with killing each other or start walking back. The sheriffs will be here soon.”
For a moment Hugh appeared to waver, then he indicated the path to the castle with an elegant sweep of his hand. She strode down the path and he walked next to her.
The girls at the orchard waved again.
“Wave back, Preceptor. Your arm won’t break.”
Hugh spun toward the orchard with a big friendly smile on his face and blew the girls a kiss. They dissolved into giggles and ran away. He turned to her and she almost shivered at his expression.
“We had an agreement. You broke it.”
The man homed in on crucial details like a shark sensing blood in the water. “I didn’t speak to the authorities. I didn’t order anyone to inform the county. You’ve made it perfectly clear that we are wearing the same straitjacket.”
“It got out, because you wanted it to get out.”
Elara sighed. “What did you want me to do? Muzzle everyone around us?”
“I expected you to stay true to the spirit of our agreement. I know you didn’t.”
“Let’s review. I came to you, because I wanted to go to the authorities. You demanded that I didn’t. I told you it was stupid. I told you things always got out. You dug your heels in.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Wait.” She held up her hand. “Let me check if I care.”
Hugh glared at her.
“No,” she said. “Apparently, I don’t. It’s good that we got that straightened out.”
She strode up the path, climbing the hill toward the castle. He had no trouble keeping up.
“By the way, Vanessa left.” She couldn’t keep a hint of sadness out of her voice. “She packed her bags and took off last night.”
“And this makes you sad why?”
“She was one of mine.”
“I suppose you’re blaming me for it?”
“No. Her decisions are her own.”
An Iron Dog emerged from the trees, on a roan horse, a cowboy hat on her head. Irina, Elara recognized. One of Felix’s scouts. That meant the sheriffs weren’t far behind. Here comes the county.
“Take my arm,” Hugh said.
“Ugh.” She rested her hand on his forearm and slowed. They strolled toward the gates.
“Why did you heal the dog?”
“Because he did his job. Loyalty must be rewarded.” There was a touch of an edge to Hugh’s voice. “And there are practical considerations.”
“Such as?”
“The other dog died in the forest. This dog didn’t turn back. He chased the wolf down alone, tried to kill it, and did a decent enough job fighting. We’ll need to breed him. He’ll make good war dogs.”
“War dogs? To fight people?”
“And undead.”
Yes, but it wasn’t about the war puppies. It was about loyalty. She knew the story as well as everyone else: Hugh d’Ambray had served as Roland’s warlord; then they had a falling out, Roland exiled Hugh and now his pet necromancer hunted the Iron Dogs. And that’s all anyone knew. Despite everything she tried, the details of what exactly happened and why eluded her.
The way he said loyalty signaled there had to be a lot more to the whole mess. Whatever had happened between them left deep scars. She’d have to work that sore spot. If she could dig deep enough, she would figure out what made him tick. Know thy enemy. That’s the ticket.
The sheriffs emerged, a small party of four people and a pack horse. The first two riders carried rifles and bows. The third had a staff strapped to his horse. Another sheriff’s deputy brought up the rear.
“Three deputies and a forensic mage,” Hugh assessed. “Happy now?”
“I didn’t invite them here. But they’re here now. They’re the law.”
“They are the law back home. Here, we are the law.”
“Is that so?”
“Sheriffs, state troopers, and cops are for normal people. I thought you would’ve learned this by now.”
He threw that ‘normal’ in there casually, but Elara knew Hugh was watching for her reaction, looking for a soft spot in her armor. He wouldn’t find one.
“Nobody wants you to be the law, Hugh. Least of all me.”
“You went behind my back, wife.”
“That’s the second time you used the ‘w’ word in the space of an hour without us being in public. You’re past your quota, Preceptor.”
“I’ll remember this. Your tab is getting longer and longer. The next time you need something from me, I’ll remind you.”
“Be still my heart.”
“I wish. Ready?”
She plastered a welcoming smile on her face. “No time like the present.”
“Happy couple in three... two...” Hugh grinned and waved at the party. She waved too, fighting the feeling of sudden dread climbing up her spine.
One look at Deputy Armstrong and it was clear he was some sort of law enforcement, Elara reflected. He was in his thirties, short, but stocky and hard, with short blond hair, a clean-shaven square jaw, and sharp eyes. He held himself in a relaxed way that was almost casual, but she had no doubt that if a threat appeared, he would act fast and probably without thinking.
The other deputy, about fifteen years older, gray haired and white, was beginning to get thick around her middle, but had the same kind of look to her: calm but alert. The forensic mage, a black man in his mid-twenties, looked slightly bored. Veterans. The only outlier in the group was the third deputy sheriff, a man who was barely twenty and clearly out of his depth.
And Hugh worked them like they were butter.
“No, we haven’t heard from them,” he said, his face suitably concerned. “I wasn’t even aware there was a settlement that way, but I’m new to the area. Honey?”
“Sometimes people come to the woods to get away from the world,” Elara said. “You said it was a small settlement?”
“That’s what the trader said,” Deputy Armstrong confirmed. “He didn’t go in, but he could see some houses from the road. The gates stood wide open.”
She turned to Hugh, concern on her face. “Couldn’t be dire wolves. There would be bodies.”