Treasures of Fantasy - Margaret Weis [111]
Zahakis walked over to Wulfe. He squatted down in front of the boy, looked him in the eyes or tried to. Wulfe ducked his head, his shaggy hair falling over his face.
“The two men who took you to the Temple looked as though they’d been attacked by a wolf. What do you know about that?”
Wulfe dug a toe into a crack between the paving stones.
One of the soldiers shouted at Zahakis and the commander rose to his feet.
“I’ll want to talk to the boy later,” he told his men. “Take him back to the compound. And see to it that the brat stays out of sight. I don’t want Raegar hauling him off again.”
Zahakis walked off. One of the soldiers had gone after the Legate’s horse, which had not run far, and brought it back. Zahakis tried to persuade Acronis to ride in the litter, but the Legate angrily refused. His men assisted him onto the horse.
The soldiers and Keeper lifted up the broken litter with its sagging canopy and bore it off. Zahakis walked beside Acronis, in case he should fall. Skylan and Wulfe joined the procession.
As they walked past the litter, Chloe drew aside the curtains. Her eyes shone with tears. Her lips quivered and formed the words, “Thank you!”
“She’s pretty,” said Wulfe. “Like a dryad.”
“Yes,” said Skylan, “she is.”
He was nervous, uneasy. He found himself staring hard into every dark alley they passed. When a dog barked, he nearly leaped out of his skin.
“Those were very strange wolves,” said Skylan.
“That’s because they weren’t,” said Wulfe.
“Weren’t what?”
“Weren’t wolves,” Wulfe said. “I tried to tell you. You wouldn’t listen.”
“If they’re not wolves, what are they?” Skylan asked the question reluctantly, knowing he was going to hear some wild tale.
“They are evil fae, bad fae,” said Wulfe in a low voice. “We call them man-beasts. Men who can turn into animals. Raegar hired them.”
“Raegar!” Skylan repeated, startled. He gave a snorting laugh of disbelief. “Raegar hired wolves! To do what?”
“To kill you and him,” said Wulfe, pointing to Acronis. “He hired the man-beasts to kill both of you.”
Skylan eyed the boy. He remembered how the wolves had been afraid of the sword, not of the fire. He remembered the intelligence in the eyes and how their growls had sounded very much like speech. He remembered how they had drawn off Zahakis and the soldiers and penned them up into the alley. He remembered, too, how Wulfe had told him that his father and his family had been cursed, turned into wolves. He remembered the cinders raining down from the torch Wulfe was holding, remembered the boy’s song.
“Did those . . . man-beasts of yours kill the guards who were taking you away?” Skylan asked.
“No,” said Wulfe, and he added softly, after a pause, “I did.”
CHAPTER
17
* * *
BOOK TWO
The dawn glimmered in the sky by the time they reached the villa. Lights blazed from the windows. The entire household was roused by the return of their injured master. Slaves rushed about with hot towels and cold, salve and bandages. The physicians were summoned. Chloe was carried off, against her will, to her bed. She refused to go to sleep until she knew her father was going to be all right, and she insisted on sending the physicians to treat Skylan’s wounds.
The physicians stated that Acronis had suffered no major injuries. He was lucky. His armor had prevented the wolves from tearing out his throat. He had suffered a mild concussion from hitting his head on the pavement, however. He was ordered to rest, but warned not to fall asleep. Slaves were posted at his bedside with orders to rouse him if his eyes closed.
The physicians then went to examine Skylan, who had been taken to the kitchen along with Wulfe. They gave the boy food, which he ate ravenously. The Cook and her female slaves fussed over Skylan, washing away the blood and cleaning the bites, doing more to aid him than the physicians, who glanced at the wound, told Skylan to pray to Aelon, and left.
Assured that her father and her champion were both going to survive, Chloe was at last persuaded to sleep.
Zahakis ordered his