The Doom of Kings_ Legacy of Dhakaan - Don Bassingthwaite [41]
A dozen black-clad goblins flowed through the moonlight like rats or ferrets.
“Who are they?” Ashi whispered.
“Shaarat’khesh and taarka’khesh,” said Ekhaas. “Goblins of the Silent Clans.”
“The assassins?”
“When they need to be.”
Sentries posted outside the delegation’s carts looked studiously away. The goblins went to the third cart, the one that carried the tigers and that, as Ashi had observed, seemed so empty. One of them tapped a soft rhythm on the cargo door. A moment later, the door slid open and the goblins of the Silent Clans vanished into the cart. The door closed and they might never have been there at all, except for one goblin who remained outside—and looked up at Ekhaas and Ashi with glittering eyes in a dark stained face. They’d been seen. The goblin pointed at Ashi, his eyebrows and ears lifting in an unspoken question. Ekhaas nodded. The goblin turned back to the cart from behind which he and the others had emerged. He beckoned.
Another figure stepped into the moonlight, a shifter with a pack over one shoulder and the heavy shape of a hobgoblin sword at his side. Ashi started. “Geth?” she said, then “Geth!”
Before Ekhaas could say anything or even move, Ashi was on her feet and clambering down to the ground. Below, Geth stared, then ran to meet her. Ekhaas closed her eyes for a moment and let out a sigh of relief before climbing down the ladder as well. Inside the cart, the rest of the delegation was stirring in curiosity at the commotion outside. Ekhaas heard Tariic telling them to be calm and to remain in the cart.
He emerged just as she reached the ground. “So he’s here,” he said. “They found him.”
“Did you doubt it?” Ekhaas asked.
“I sometimes doubted that they’d bring him in alive.”
Ekhaas couldn’t say anything to that. The same fear had nagged at her. She turned away and went to her friends, grateful that death hadn’t been a necessity.
Ashi was talking more than Geth was, spilling her reasons for being in Sigilstar with a delegation of Darguuls and asking after him seemingly in the same breath. “What are you doing here? Where have you been? Where are Singe and Dandra?”
“Bear and Boar!” said Geth. “One question at a time! I wasn’t expecting to find you here either.” He pulled himself away from Ashi and gestured to the black-clad goblin who still stood by the lightning rail cart. “This is Chetiin. He’s an elder of the taarka’khesh. Him and his people found me in Lathleer in Aundair. We almost fought until Chetiin explained why they’d come looking for me.”
Chetiin bent his head to Ashi. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes lingered on the lines of the dragonmark that patterned her face. She bent her head in return, but Ekhaas saw her self-consciously tug her scarf into place as she looked back to Geth. “What were you doing in Aundair? How did they find you?”
Ekhaas raised her voice. “I told them where to look,” she said. Both shifter and human turned to her. She held her ears proudly stiff and reminded herself she’d done nothing wrong. “It’s good to see you again, Geth.”
Ashi and Geth both spoke at the same time, Geth greeting her with the same respect, Ashi staring and spitting out, “You? You knew he was coming? Khyberit gentis, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t tell you,” said Ekhaas. “I—”
“She had orders not to say anything about it,” said Tariic as he joined them. “Not to you, not to anyone. What is happening is larger than your friendship. Chetiin, ta muut.”
“Cho, chib,” said Chetiin. His voice was thick and strained like a scar. He spoke in the human language, following Ekhaas and Tariic’s example. “It was a small task. Ekhaas duur’kala’s magic guided us to the right area, and the taarka’khesh among my band were able to locate him easily enough. He travels quietly for someone not of the Silent Clans.”
“High praise from you,” Tariic said. He looked to the shifter. “Geth, I’m Tariic of Rhukaan Taash, nephew and emissary of Lhesh Haruuc Shaarat’kor.