Rebecka Evertrue's Arc

Chapter 61 of 66

Noon was ten minutes off. Rebecka lay on the warehouse roof and watched Thunder Darkwolf cross the street below. He wore another man's face and carried the red cord and the broken coin in his fist. He would walk into the broker's shop alone. Once the door shut behind him, she had no way to warn him. If the buyer's men arrived while he stood inside with twelve star-forged arrows on the table, he would die there before she could put a shot through the window. She touched the vial at her throat. The little bottle was warm from her skin. Katia had pressed it into her hand the night she rode out and told her it carried one whisper, one time, into the ear of whoever she named. Rebecka had meant to save it for Ninka. She uncorked it now and spoke Thunder's name and one sentence. "When I send the crow, run for the back panel." The swirl inside the glass went flat. The charm was spent. She pulled the watchcrow from under her coat. Its feathers caught the noon light in cold blue. She stroked its head once. "Wait on the sill above the counter. Do not move until I call you." The crow lifted and slid across the street and settled on a ledge over the broker's door. No one looked up. Thunder went inside. The door shut. Rebecka counted her breath and watched the roofline east. The eye dipped near her ear. "Four riders. Coming up the salt lane. Two minutes." She drew and did not loose. Four was too many to drop from a roof before one reached the door. She needed Thunder out with the arrows, not pinned behind a counter. She reached for the crow with her mind the way Ninka had taught her and pushed one word down the line. Now. Inside the shop the crow shrieked once and knocked a lamp off the sill. Rebecka heard the glass go. She heard the broker shout. She heard the back panel bang open against the lane wall. Thunder came out at a run with the bundle across his chest. Aiyana stepped from the doorway across the street and put two guards down on the stair before they cleared it. The four riders rounded the corner and saw the open panel and the running man and spurred. Rebecka loosed. The lead rider dropped. She loosed again. The second went under his horse. The other two broke and rode for the wide street. A gate of light opened at the lane's mouth, ringed with pale runes. Storm stood inside it with the crawler behind him, one hand on the frame to hold it steady. Marcus had sent more than a vehicle. He had sent a way through. Thunder went through the gate. Aiyana followed. Rebecka came off the drainpipe and stepped through last with the crow on her shoulder and twelve arrows in Thunder's arms. The gate closed. The salt town was behind her.