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examination, Malthus carried Tempest's body to his packhorse and tied it down,
covering it with a blanket. He retrieved the priest's staff and shoved in
under the saddle flap. It was best to get this over with before evening when
the lycans would be returning home from their fields and shops. He would leave
the body in the forest well away from his home.
Serpent's Quest [Lycan Blood Vol. I]
by Janrae Frank
118
Now there was only Nikko to be dealt with. And possibly
Kynyr. It would not do to forget about Kynyr.
* * * *
The camp's children sat in the little schoolroom on benches behind long
tables. Nikko sat at the front in his chair beside the slate board. They were
waiting for Tempest, who taught the second half, religious studies. They had
arrived back from their break with bright, expectant faces, for everyone loved
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Tempest's lessons, which were filled with tales of gods, monsters, and heroes.
Morning turned into early afternoon and still Tempest had not arrived. Nikko
began to worry. He watched the children start to fidget, crossing and
uncrossing their legs, drawing on the tables with their fingers, shifting on
the benches. The little boys began to pick at and poke the little girls. He
wanted to reprimand them for it, but he felt restless himself and remembered
too well how it had been when he was their age.
Why is Tempest making them wait so long?
"Go outside and play, but don't go far. I'll find Tempest and see what's
keeping him."
The children rushed from their seats without a backward glance, and Nikko went
to the rear door of the schoolroom that he had helped to build with such
loving care. The rear door led into a U shaped hallway. The door to his right
led into the shrine itself. He turned left and then right, passed the door
into the outside, right again brought him to the door to
Tempest's apartments first on his left and another door into the shrine on the
right beyond it.
Serpent's Quest [Lycan Blood Vol. I]
by Janrae Frank
119
He knocked at Tempest's door and received no answer, beyond the frantic
barking of Tempest's fuzzy, little dog, named Moss. Nikko's brow furrowed. In
the four years that
Tempest had been here, the priest had never failed to notify
Nikko when he would be away and where he could be reached in an emergency. The
two of them worked hand in hand together.
Nikko let himself in. Moss leaped on him, whining frantically. Like many
lycans, Nikko had a strong affinity for natural canines. He disrobed, changed
into a wolf, and settled on the floor to ask Moss when was the last time it
had seen its master. What the dog communicated to Nikko disturbed him. Moss
had been locked up here since early yesterday, without food or water. That was
not like Tempest. He would never have left Moss uncared for. Usually, when he
was going away, he brought Moss to Nikko's mother to watch. Tempest was a kind
soul.
Nikko changed back and dressed. Moss watched him, periodically giving his
plumed tail an uncertain tock tock back and forth. Nikko went into the kitchen
and returned with a bowl and Moss' leash, buckled it on, and took him outside.
He tied Moss to a tree and dipped him some water from a barrel.
While Moss lapped water, Nikko walked to the center of the main yard.
"Has anyone seen Tempest?" Nikko shouted. "Anyone at all? He didn't show up to
teach the children."
"Maybe he's gone to the next village," Beth said. "He does that sometimes."
Serpent's Quest [Lycan Blood Vol. I]
by Janrae Frank
120
Nikko shook his head vigorously. "Not without informing me so that I could
arrange a substitute for him."
People began gathering down wind of him, watching him in a manner that made
Nikko uneasy. None of them came close enough for him to get a good sniff of
their emotional scents, not that he normally intruded in that manner. The
young lycans who worked at the camp came closer than the rest, hands on their
hips, regarding him with what? Hostility?
Contempt? Nikko wished they would come nearer so that he could get a whiff of
them. The lycans among them would be shielding their emotions, of course, so
that their scent did not broadcast as strongly. But the others...
Malthus strode up to him. "Have you checked his home?"
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Why had Malthus come forward? The way that the others hung back and regarded
Malthus it was almost like he was their leader. His nostrils flared and he
tried for a scent clue from Malthus. Malthus was one of the mostly tightly
shielded humans that Nikko had ever encountered. "Yes. Moss hasn't had care
for two days."
"Check the taverns and infirmary, before you start worrying people," suggested
Shalto in a disparaging tone.
"You worry too much, Nikko."
Nikko scanned the crowd but no one seemed ready to join or support him. No one
offered to help. "I suppose." Nikko walked off with his shoulders slumped.
"But this isn't like him."
"When you've checked every place else, then come back here and we'll get a
search going," Shalto said, following his words with a derisive noise.
Serpent's Quest [Lycan Blood Vol. I]
by Janrae Frank
121
Nikko scowled, his insides quivering. He saw no respect in any of the faces [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]