Bastion

her hair out of the way, wiped her face, given her water to take the taste out of her mouth, and said simply, “So did I.”
    She would cry later, and he would hold her. She would never be the same. And yet, he was certain that in the end, she would be all right.
    “I hope you do not mind that you are putting up with my presence until your Guard comes to free you,” Bey continued, after biting off a corner of crust and closing his eyes in pleasure.
    “Mind that we’re sharing our living space with a multiple murderer?” Lita asked, dryly. “Of course not. You’re our multiple murderer.”
    “Oh, Elder Singer, you say the kindest things,” crooned Bey. “Perhaps I should take you back with me. You would make the hair on the head of the Shadao himself stand on end.”
    Lita just smirked.
    “I’ll go den up in my own little lair when they arrive,” Bey continued. “You can take credit for taking out all the Sleepgivers yourselves. In fact, I think you should. Publicly. And, of course, this fight is where my cousin will have died. It’s as good a venue as any, and he’s been wearing the talisman since it ended.”
    Jakyr and Lita nodded, and Amily held very tight to his hand. “Do you think there is any chance at all that the Shadao will think this is a ruse and send more Sleepgivers?” Amily asked anxiously.
    “I would never say never, for only a fool would do that,” Bey replied, after a long moment of deep thinking. “But I think it highly unlikely. He has lost twelve of the high second-rank Sleepgivers on this venture. You people, whom we thought so soft, have proven to be anything but soft. There are a limited number of us, and losing twelve, plus the four he had already lost, means he has also lost revenue. We do not kill for pleasure, we kill because we are paid very well to do so, and it will be hard to replace sixteen Sleepgivers of the second rank. I think he will accept the ruse, even if he thinks it is a ruse, because he must.”
    Silence reigned after that. It was very hard for all of them to find Bey charming, even admirable, and yet hear him say things about being a paid killer so casually. Only Lita seemed undisturbed.
    “But, my friends, you should be deciding what you are going to do now,” Bey continued.
    “Well, first of all, the Guard has a great many roads to clear, and a Herald on Circuit is not exactly on a schedule,” Jakyr pointed out. “We may end up waiting until a thaw. It’s not as if we don’t have supplies enough to last until then.”
    “And we can hunt for fresh meat,” said Mags. “I wouldn’t mind doing that.”
    “I would relish a chance to hunt for meat.” Bey’s eyes gleamed at the thought. “Could we do so tomorrow, do you think?”
    “Dunno why not.” Now that was interesting; Bey was positively nonchalant about using his skills to kill humans, but got excited at the idea of hunting. Maybe all that nonchalance was a mask . . .
    :Don’t count on it,: Dallen warned. :I know, it’s hard. I like him too. But he is what he is. And fortunately, once he goes home, he is no longer our problem.:
    “I think we all need peace and quiet and rest,” Jakyr said, with a long look deep into the fire. He and Lita were sitting together, quite close together, although he didn’t actually have an arm around her. Yet. Mags wasn’t at all sure about how that was going to turn out. They had at least made up their decades-long quarrel and were friends again. Would they ever be anything else?
    He didn’t know. He wasn’t about to predict. And it wasn’t his business, it was theirs. Some things not even a Herald was meant to meddle in. Not the loves of other Heralds. Not the morality of assassins.
    “I would like that. I would not mind being snowed in here for a month,” Lita sighed. “Bey knows the caves. If we get tired of each others’ company we can go off exploring on our own.”
    “I know the caves on this side of the valley, at least,” Bey replied. “And without false modesty, I can say I know them very well indeed. They are all interconnected, provided you don’t mind leaping or bridging a few holes to nowhere.” He ate another bite of his meat pie, and sighed. “They are quite fascinating. It looks as if—something—lived down here, and lived very well.”
    “In fact, several somethings,” Jakyr said, brightening, and proceeded to explain the Hawkbrothers, their lizard servants, and some of the other creatures that lived in and