Rebecka Evertrue's Arc

Chapter 56 of 66

The dome held through the night. Rebecka slept two hours on the kitchen floor and woke to Marcus shaking her shoulder. A man stood outside the sigil-line at the north fence. He carried no weapon and would not come closer. "He says he has word of the quiver," Marcus said. "He asked for you by name." Rebecka pulled her boots on. The star-forged arrows were already on her back. Her bow read the man before she cleared the porch. Flesh. Bone. One knife at his hip, sheathed. No mage-signature. The bow gave her no death-warning. He was too far, or he was nothing. He was thin, sunburned, wearing a courier's coat with the seal cut off. He kept his hands open at his sides. "I rode nine days," he said. "I know where the rest of the star-forged shafts went. The ones your father didn't cache. I can name the man who has them." Rebecka did not lower the bow. Too many strangers had come with gifts this month. Two had carried her daughter's hair in dolls. "Name him now." "Not through a fence. Let me sit. Give me water. I'll tell you everything." Aiyana stepped out of the air beside Rebecka. The beaded pendant at her throat caught the morning light. She looked at the man the way she looked at everything, without hurry. "He came alone," Aiyana said. "I walked his back-trail an hour. No second rider. No mark cut on any tree." "That only means he's careful." "It means he's alone." Rebecka lowered the bow one inch. "Bring him in. Not past the second door." Marcus opened a gap in the sigil-line. The man walked through and sat where Rebecka pointed, on a bench inside the greenhouse wall, between glowing beds of herbs. He watched the light in the growing rack and swallowed. Rebecka set a small vial on the table. The glass was polished, the liquid gold and blue. She uncorked it. "Three drops," she said. "Then you talk." He looked at the vial. "Truth serum." "Yes." "I came here to help you." "Then it costs you nothing." He held out his tongue. Rebecka counted the drops. His shoulders eased in a way no liar's ever did. "Who has the arrows?" "A man in the salt town at the river mouth. Calls himself a broker. Twelve shafts in a locked case. He's selling them at the end of the month to a buyer coming down from the north." "Who sent you to me?" "No one. My sister was a courier for the gray-coat woman. You killed the woman. My sister ran. She told me if I ever needed a debt paid, ride to your gate and speak plain." Rebecka corked the vial. Aiyana met her eyes. "End of the month," Aiyana said. "That gives you eleven days." Rebecka set the bow against the bench. "Marcus. Ready the horses."