Taniel (The Taverner's Daughter I)

110: Saka

Saka did not intend to brush the woman's fingers as she accepted the small square of bloodstained material.

"Is it enough?" asked the woman Olivia, her distaste at the accidental touch souring her mouth. The woman added more insult by wiping the offended fingers down her dress.

Saka was used to this reaction at a client's first meeting.

"When did you collect this spoor?" she asked.

"A few days ago," the woman Katerine said. "Will it do? I have some more on a shirt sleeve, but it is a little older."

Holding their gaze, Saka exaggerated smelling the stain. When her tongue caressed the blood, the woman Katerine shuddered and exchanged a sickly glance with the other one. Saka smiled inside.

The woman Katerine's cup clattered against the saucer and Wizard Ritter looked up from his bed against the dark blue wall where he had been deep in conversation with the Captain.

Saka had also recognised the pirate's favoured gharl, Fisnal, in the group across the aptly named Blue Hall. The wizard and some of the company had a peculiar scorched look about them.

Saka closed her eyes, the better to concentrate on absorbing the spoor. She heard the hiss of twin gasps as the women experienced a rare chance to appreciate her eyelid etchings. Let them look. Let them wonder.

These people made her sick. It was as if they had never seen a person touched by their own wizards before. Even though she could pass as one of them, they judged her only by the trade forced on her.

Saka lost herself in the absorption of aura on the stained linen.

"Is there enough?" One of them repeated herself.

The bloodsmyth opened her lids slowly, knowing her eyes would be blind, white orbs until her body locked in the hunted. Saka knew she should not taunt them so, but she had few thrills in her life. Endlessly tracking living things across Corrangorach grew ever more tedious with each cycle.

"There is enough. The linking has begun." Saka slipped the spoor inside her satchel, keeping her face lowered until her sight returned and her eyes were as normal as they were going to be. Her pupils, amid the pale green irides, would remain tinted with rust until the imminent presence of the hunted turned them a blood red.

When she looked up, the women presented blank faces, pretending to drink their tea. They had themselves under control.

Saka smiled. "The linking is complete," she said. "The hunted is in sight." The latter was a harmless exaggeration for the tug from the north was barely discernible. "Where was the hunted last seen?"

"She left by dragon, from here, before dinner," Wizard Ritter answered. "Olivia saw them leave." The wizard sent the woman Olivia such a venomous stare that she turned away to fuss with the tea things.

Captain Yerro sauntered over to stand by the too-hot fire. "We've heard that the firedrake attempted to use the portal at Skerby but the black dragons put a stop to that," he said.

The Wizard Ritter scowled. "Crafty bugger, Driscoll. Bloodsmyth, I understand your skill can overcome invisibility?"

Saka nodded. "The one you seek is in that direction. I may use a door to there, yes?" At the nods of assent, she stood. "My escort?"

"Escort?" The woman Katerine looked puzzled. Surely, they could not be expecting to send her off and capture the Dragonsworn on her own. Saka suppressed a sigh. Yes, it seemed they had expected just that.

"I hunt," she said. "I do not capture or kill. Nor can I arrive in a door-room without wizard or warder. They would send me back here or home to the Bludsmythery.

"I thought you would have your own escort." The woman Katerine was flustered. "Ryne, should we go with her?"

The tension in the room made Saka uncomfortable. Only the Captain seemed at ease. He raised his odd eyebrows at Saka and winked; an easy smile lifted his moustache. She flicked her attention back to the wizard Ritter.

"Katerine and I will accompany you, Bloodsmyth," the wizard said. "I have men I can call upon if we need them, no matter where the hunt leads us."

Saka nodded. "Then all that is left is the price."

"Of course." The woman Katerine fetched a fat purse from between a pair of stubby candles set on the shelf about the fire pit and passed it to Saka. "It is all there."

"I am sure it is." Saka tucked the purse into her satchel, unexamined. No one cheated the Bludsmythery. "I am ready."

"Now, tonight?" said the wizard. "Oh, all right, but we'll need to pack. Give us a half hour."

He turned to the Captain. "Matt, Baldwin will prepare Fisnal's testimony for the hearing. With Dinsmore gone, our task will be as good as done. We will get that sky ship of yours off the ground in no time." He rubbed his hands together. "Once we have the girl and the crystals, Corrangorach will be ours for the taking."

The Captain grinned and came to his feet. "You'll take Fisnal with you?" At the wizard's nod, he continued, "I'll return to Dakeshott." He turned his charming smile on to the woman Olivia and kissed her hand.

Saka stopped listening. The last minute instructions and goodbyes faded to a background murmur until she was the only one in the Blue Hall.

The bloodsmyth extended her senses, savouring her connection to the woman Taniel: Dragonsworn.

The hunted.

***

 9 April 2017 - replaced with revised scene

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