"Sarraya said that she was told much the same thing, but the man who visited her threatened Dar. I will have to warn Camara Tal to be careful. And Allia, I will be going with you."
"Why? I can protect myself, Dolanna."
"You are but one," she replied calmly. "A second pair of eyes will give you twice the protection, and with people out there threatening us, I wish us to have additional protection. And I am sure that you do not think I will be dead weight," she said with a slight smile.
"Never that, Dolanna," Allia agreed with a nod. "What about Tarrin and Sarraya?"
"They can take care of themselves," Dolanna said, sitting down at the small table Renoit had in his tent. "Sarraya has her magic to protect her, and there is probably no living thing in Dala Yar Arak that can take Tarrin by surprise."
Tarrin left them without another word, just barely remembering to change back into a cat before he left Renoit's tent. No matter what Dolanna said, he couldn't forget about what he smelled. That woman was a terrifying, unknown force, a woman with strange powers, and she had tried to use them on him. That probably frightened him more than anything else. She had tried to enslave him, to turn him back into what he had killed countless people to prevent. That was the one thing he would never allow. He'd kill himself before he allowed himself to be a slave again. She had tried to take his very will prisoner, and because of that, he just couldn't forget.
He brooded about it the rest of the day, waiting for sunset, waiting for when he could go back out and do what he had come to the city to do. He couldn't let himself go off like that again. If people knew about him, and more importantly, if they were afraid he'd visit their homes, they'd take extra precautions that would slow Tarrin down in his mission. He couldn't afford to slow down. Dolanna was right, he had to go quietly and not raise any fuss. He had to be careful, because those men in the black cloaks were out there too, and they knew about him.
He wondered who they were. His guess was that they were part of Kravon's little family. They certainly knew enough about him, and Kravon's Black Network was the only group that would know so much. They had sent Jula, they had sent Jegojah, so they had to know a great deal about him and his companions. He wasn't afraid of them, but he was concerned for Dar and Allia. They didn't have Tarrin's attributes. Dar especially was vulnerable, because not only was he human, but he was also not even fully grown. Dar needed someone to protect him, and Tarrin just couldn't spare the time, so he was relieved and glad that Camara Tal would be with him. The Amazon was human, but she was a powerul priestess, and there weren't many who could best her in a swordfight.
Strange. Dar was only two years younger than him, but everything that had happened to him had aged him before his time, opened his eyes to the harsh reality of the world, matured him to the point where nothing that would have interested a young man had any meaning for him anymore. There just wasn't anything, for that matter. No interests, only a few friends, and living day after day after day with the fear and the anger that drove him, the fear of strangers and enslavement, and the anger of knowing he was too weak to be his own master. There was little joy left in the world for him, and what little there had been seemed to disappear when Faalken died. All he had was his mission, a mission that had cost the jovial Knight his life, a mission that he had vowed to accomplish.
But regret was for those who could afford to dream of another life. That was the way things were, and it was that simple. He couldn't afford to soften himself with wishful thinking. That would get him killed. After it was all over, then he would think of what was next in his life, but not until then. For now, he waited for sunset. He waited for the chance to go out and do something.
In the night, everything was much more clear.
Tarrin paused a moment in his searching to look up at the moons, perched in a squat on the corner of a flat-roofed three story dwelling. It was still beautiful. Dommammon was full, and Vala and Duva were half full, just rising, as Kava descended towards the horizon in a waning crescent. By tomorrow, Kava would be new, hidden from the night sky, as Vala and Duva bloomed towards their fullness. The Skybands, which were little more than a knife's edge in Dala Yar Arak, cut across the face of Dommammon's upper half, a tight band of scillinting color painted across the smooth white surface of the largest moon.
Things were much simpler in the night. Here, in this place, Tarrin was the predator. He was the king of this jungle, master of all he surveyed, a towering force against which nothing could stand. He accepted this role with eloquent generosity, passing over his lessers magnaminously and allowing them to go about their own business, so long as they didn't interfere in his. The forest of sand-colored buildings spread out before him all looked the same, but the smells and scents drifting on the breeze and the faint sounds from below told him everything that was going on around him. The king of this jungle was a wary, alert king, sensitive to the subtlest change in his environment that could be the approach of danger.
It was strange how happy it made him. Just squatting there and looking up at the moon, partaking in the simplest of pleasures, it calmed him as the magic of the moons worked their way into his Were-cat soul. Everything always seemed so confusing, until he stopped to look at the moons. And then, everything was clear. He knew what he was doing, he knew why he was there, and most importantly, he gained a sense of self that transcended human and Cat, old morals and feral impulses. Fear, distrust, worry, they all melted away in the light of the greatest moon, leaving him with a sense of serenity he rarely felt anywhere other than the embrace or touch of his sisters, Janette, or Miranda. He could almost see Miranda's cheeky face in the face of the white moon. The mink Wikuni was an Avatar, it turned out, blessed by the Wikuni goddess of the sea and navigation to make her a suitable companion to complement Keritanima's innate gifts. A little piece of the moons were inside her, and that was why she seemed to sing to him, the same way the moons did. Looking up at the moons made him feel a little closer to her, and in a way, closer to Keritanima.
He missed that annoying little brat desperately. He missed her smiles and her sharp tongue, he missed the way she always seemed to twist everything into a wry joke. He missed her conniving and chicanery, he even missed how her eyes would flare up when she was mad at him. He needed her, but she was thousands of leagues away, probably embroiled in about thirty seperate plots to bring her father down. He wanted to talk to her, but he was afraid that doing so would cause her a serious problem. His voice could give her away when she was skulking, and he'd never forgive himself if she got hurt because of it. She would have to contact him, and he was starting to get worried. Why wouldn't she call to him? She hadn't done so for nearly a month. With Faalken gone, knowing that they were so far away, out of his reach, it tore at him. If something happened to them, he wouldn't be there to protect them. He wanted all of them with him, where he could keep them safe, and not lose another friend in this mad quest.
Quest. There were three of them down there. Questors. Men that had taken up the search for the Firestaff on their own, dreaming of power and glory. These three were smart ones, they were. He'd been following them for a few blocks after hearing one of them mention the Book of Ages. He was eavesdropping, seeing if they knew where it was. They seemed harmless enough. One of them was a scholar from Telluria, one was a ship's captain, and the third was the scholar's hired bodyguard, a large Mahuut wearing a chain jack and carrying a glaive. He was nowhere near as large as Azakar, the only Mahuut Tarrin had ever seen, but he was impressively tall and very muscular. The Scholar had figured out that the Book of Ages probably had the location of the Firestaff in its pages, and he'd come to Dala Yar Arak after trying the Cathedral of Knowledge in Abrodar first. And from what Tarrin heard, if he didn't find it in the Imperial Library, he'd move on to Suld, to try the Tower Library.