Traitor's Moon

ambushed here.
    It made for hard riding, and though Alec made no complaint, Seregil saw him take several quick swigs from the flask Nyal had given him. He was about to suggest stopping for the night when Alec’s horse suddenly lost her footing and stumbled down a rocky slope, nearly going down on top of her rider.
    Alec managed to stay on, but Seregil heard his strangled cry of pain.
    â€œWe’ll make camp there,” Seregil said, pointing to an overhang just ahead.
    Tethering their mounts on a loose rein in case of wolves, they crawled in under the overhang and spread their stolen blankets.
    It was a cold vigil, watching the moon arc slowly to the west. They could hear the hunting cries of wolves in the distance, together with occasional sounds nearer by.
    Tired as he was, Seregil couldn’t sleep. Instead, he pondered theambush, wondering how a force of that size could have outflanked them in this country.
    â€œThose weren’t bandits, Alec,” he muttered, fidgeting restlessly with his belt knife. “But how could anyone track us down fast enough to set up an ambush?”
    â€œNyal said they didn’t track us,” Alec replied drowsily.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThat’s what I thought, too, but he claims he didn’t see any signs of anyone else chasing us. They were there already, waiting for us.”
    â€œThen someone sent word! Someone who knew exactly where we’d be, except that I’m the only one who knew which pass we were heading for. I didn’t even tell you. Your lightstone, Alec. Do you have it?”
    With the aid of the light, he stripped the saddlebags from their stolen mounts and emptied them into a pile. There were several packets of food, including fresh bread and cheese.
    â€œSoft fare, for bandits, wouldn’t you say?” he noted, carrying some up to Alec. Returning to the pile, he sorted through the oddments there: shirts, clean linen, a jar of fire chips, a few simples.
    â€œWhat’s that?” asked Alec, pointing to something among the tangle of clothes. Hobbling out of the shelter, he pulled a wad of cloth free and held it to the light.
    â€œBilairy’s Balls!” gasped Seregil. It was an Akhendi sen’gai.
    â€œIt could be stolen,” Alec said. Stirring through the clothes, he found no others.
    Seregil went back to the horses and found a second one concealed under the arch of a saddle, just where he might have hidden such a thing.
    â€œBut they were going to kill you!” Alec gasped in disbelief. “Why would the Akhendi do that? And how did they find us?”
    â€œBy the Four!” Seregil tore a pouch from his belt and emptied it out beside the rest. There among the coins and trinkets lay Klia’s Akhendi charm, still flecked with dried mud.
    â€œI forgot I had this,” he growled, clutching it. “I was going to take it back to Amali, then Magyana’s letter came—”
    â€œDamn. Someone could have used it to scry where we are.”
    Seregil nodded grimly. “But only if they knew I had it.”
    Alec took it and turned it over on his palm, holding it closer to the light. “Oh, no.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œOh, no no no!” Alec groaned. “This bracelet is the one Amali made for Klia, but the charm is different.”
    â€œHow do you know that?” Seregil demanded.
    â€œBecause it’s mine, the one that girl gave me in the first Akhendi village we stopped at. See this little crack in the wing?” He showed Seregil the fissure marring one wing. “That happened when I had the run-in with Emiel that turned it black. It’s the same sort of carving as Klia’s, though, and it was covered in mud when I found it. It never occurred to me to look more closely at it.”
    â€œOf course it didn’t!” Seregil took it back. “The question is, how did it come to be white again for a while, and on Klia’s bracelet? We saw Amali make this for her, and you still had yours then.”
    â€œNyal must have given it to her,” Alec told him, once more thrown into doubt about the Ra’basi.
    â€œWhat was he doing with it?”
    Alec told him of the day he’d met Emiel in the House of the Pillars and what had followed. “I got rid of it so you wouldn’t find out. You were already upset enough and I didn’t think Emiel was anyone who mattered. I was going to throw it away, but Nyal said it could be