Oath Breaker
they're dreaming? I mean, by watching them?"
She stared at him. His mouth was set, and he avoided her gaze. "If you're dreaming," she told him, "your eyes move. That's what Saeunn says." He nodded. "If you see me dreaming, will you wake me up?"
"Why? Torak, what did you see?"
He shook his head. He was like a wolf; if he didn't want to do something, it was impossible to make him.
She tried anyway. "What is it? Why can't you tell me?"
He opened his mouth, and for a moment she thought he would. Then his eyes widened and he grabbed her hood, yanking her down so hard that she bashed her temple on the rim of the canoe.
    "Ow!" she yelled. "What are you--"
"Fin-Kedinn, get down!" shouted Torak at the same time.
As Renn struggled to right herself, something hissed over her head. She saw Fin-Kedinn reach for his knife and slash; she saw Wolf yelp as if stung by a hornet and leap into the air. She saw a line as thin as a thread of gossamer snap and trail harmlessly in the water.
    There was a breathless silence. Renn sat up, rubbing her temple. Torak steered the canoe into midstream and
49
caught the end of the line. "It was taut as a bowstring," he said.
He didn't need to say more. Canoes powering toward a strong line of sinew stretched between trees on opposite banks. At head height. Renn's hand went to her neck. If Torak hadn't pulled her down, it would have cut her throat.
"He knows he's being hunted," said Fin-Kedinn, bringing his canoe alongside theirs.
"But--maybe he doesn't know it's Torak," said Renn.
"Why do you say that?" said Torak.
"If he knew it was you," she said, "would he risk killing you? He wants your power."
"Maybe, maybe not," said Fin-Kedinn. "Thiazzi is arrogant. Above all things, he believes in his own strength. And he has the fire-opal. He may not think he needs the power of the spirit walker. And if that's right," he added, "it means he doesn't care who he kills."
     
50

SIX
The sinew had cut across Wolfs foreleg. It was scarcely bleeding and he wasn't in pain, but Torak insisted on rubbing in a salve of yarrow leaves in marrowfat which he made Renn produce from her medicine pouch.
    "He'll only lick it off," she told him, and Wolf immediately did. Torak didn't care. It made him feel a bit better, even if it didn't do much for Wolf.
He'd nearly missed that sinew. What if he had, and Renn or Fin-Kedinn had suffered for his mistake? The mere thought made his belly turn over. It only takes one mistake, just one, and you've got to live with the
    51 consequences for the rest of your life. Squatting on the bank, he mashed a handful of wet soapwort to a green froth and washed his hands. He glanced up to find Fin-Kedinn watching him. They were alone. Wolf was drinking in the shallows, and Renn was already in the canoe. Fin-Kedinn emptied the waterskin over Torak's hands. "Don't worry about me," he said. "But I do," said Torak. "Saeunn meant what she said."
The Raven Leader shrugged. "Omens. You can't live your life by what might happen." He shouldered the waterskin. "Let's go."
    They followed Wolf up the Blackwater until long into the night, then slept under the canoes, and headed off before dawn. As the afternoon wore on, the Forest closed in. Wakeful spruce thronged the banks, dripping with beard-moss, and even the trees not yet in leaf were vigilant. Last autumn's oak leaves rattled in the wind, and ash buds glinted like tiny black spears.
At last, the hills bordering the Deep Forest rose into view. Torak had reached them two summers before, but then he'd been farther north. Here they were steeper, stonier: sheer walls of gray rock, hacked and slashed as if by a giant axe. The hammering cries of black grouse echoed like falling stones.
    As the light began to fail, Wolf leaped into the river
52
and swam across. Once on the north bank, he gave himself a good shake and set off. Then he doubled back, snuffing the mud.
They edged into the shallows, and Torak got out to examine the mess of tracks. No wonder Wolf was
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