Hunting Read Free Page A

turned his head, but
didn't slacken the stallion's swift walk. "To the palace."
    "Why?"
    "I told you. I need a seruilis."
    "And I told you, I'm not going to be
your seruilis. I've better things to do with my time." Ash wasn't
in the mood to mince words.
    "There are some who might consider it
an honour to serve me in that capacity." He sounded amused, not
offended.
    "Well, why don't you go give them the
opportunity? And stop lying to me, while you're at it. Seruilisi,
in case someone never explained the concept to you, are supposed to
be the children of Luinsel learning the duties of their parents.
Why are you really taking me with you?"
    "I've thrashed men, in my time, for
calling me a liar," he said, still in the same pleasant tone.
    "Then that should give you some idea of
just how tiresome a seruilis I'd be," Ash said reasonably. "Think
of the energy you'd save if you had a seruilis happy to let you fib
all day just to avoid being beaten up by someone twice his size."
Part of this response was her grief and anger resurfacing, but only
part. Most of the rest was calculated risk, with a fraction of
enjoyment at saying outrageous things. "Anyway, I'm going to run
off the first opportunity I get," she informed him.
    "Why?" He wasn't the slightest bit
perturbed, guiding the stallion expertly through the bustle of the
city's busiest road.
    "The Landsmeet's a viper pit. And as I
said, I've better things to do with my time than playing your
servant."
    "Revenging your aunt?"
    She supposed that was a natural
conclusion. "Yes."
    "From what the Captain said of her, she
didn't strike me as the kind of person who would wish her nephew to
burden himself with the cost of vengeance."
    Ash didn't reply immediately, not
wanting the tears in her eyes to be obvious in her voice. He was
wrong, besides. Genevieve had had a highly complicated attitude
toward the question of taking life. For all that her guardian had
never believed that she could balance the debts of her past, she
had refused to be paralysed by the fear of damnation. It was Ash
who would hesitate at the thought of killing, no matter how
necessary it felt.
    "Genevieve would expect me to not
charge in headlong, but do my best to prevent further murders.
Which is beside the point. If you need a seruilis, go commandeer
someone suitable for the role from the Kinsel."
    "But none of the Kinsel I've
encountered were raised by a herbalist," he said, matching her
earlier tone of implacable reason. "Nor would a book of herbalist
lore be their first choice of objects to take with them when being
precipitately evicted."
    "So you want a herbalist, not a
seruilis."
    "I want an ally whose skill with herbs
is not generally known, and who has every reason to not align
himself with the killer. Someone with no connection to the
Landsmeet."
    That had the tang of truth, which made
it harder to simply reject the idea. "You think the person behind
the killings is among the Luinsel?"
    "Perhaps. It seems clumsy and obvious,
but this could be a precursor to an attack on a much-scrutinised
target. A friend asked me to aid the Guard in their investigation
because I have Estarrel blood which, if nothing else, allows me to
confirm that the same person brought about all the deaths. Consider
me a source of information, and an opportunity to hunt for the
motive for all this."
    It was true that Ash had few immediate
routes of investigation, though there would be many eager to aid
her in finding Genevieve's murderer. Estarrel blood was a surprise
– he meant he was related to the family of the Aremish Rhoi,
descendents of the Sun and the World.
    "If I stick around, do I have to bow
and scrape to you?"
    "What a burden that would be. In
public. For the sake of verisimilitude, if nothing else."
    If he had hoped to stump her with the
word, he was in for a disappointment. It was one that Genevieve had
used often when Ash had first come to her. And there was the rub.
This new deception may well compromise the old, and the