I smiled. “Yes, that.”
Wren’s brow lifted with skepticism. “You really think they’ll keep their word?”
Jase loathed the idea. His brothers were furious. But yes, I did believe they would keep their word—that lofty Ballenger pride. It was a business transaction they had agreed to. “They’ll not only keep their word—they’re doing the work themselves. It was all part of our deal. The Ballengers will be digging fence posts.”
Wren grinned. “You’re evil,” she said. “You could steal the nose off a man’s face, and he wouldn’t know it was gone for a week.”
“It’s genius, I admit,” Synové said. “Even Natiya would crack a satisfied smile at that one. Any sign of our man yet?”
Our man. The reason we were here. I heard the tension in her voice.
I shook my head and explained that it was a large, sprawling compound with multiple homes and offices that were as big as palaces. “And there’s the tunnel too, though I’m not sure it leads to much. To search everything is going to take a while, plus there’s a lot of people who work there that I—”
“And dogs!” Wren interjected. “They have crazed dogs! Did you know that? Dozens of them!”
Dozens? I had only seen two. Becoming friends with that many might be more of a challenge than I thought. Wren said their efforts to look for me inside the walls of Tor’s Watch were thwarted by the nasty beasts.
“A few arrows could have taken them down,” Synové replied.
Wren frowned. “And a dozen dead dogs just might rouse the guards’ suspicions.”
Synové shrugged. “Could have taken them down too.”
“And killing everyone in sight just might go against the queen’s orders,” I reminded her.
Synové knew that. We were ordered not to kill anyone in order to catch our game—unless our own lives were threatened. There was still some distrust when it came to Venda—we weren’t to make it worse for Vendans who were trying to settle in new areas. Get him and get out. That was our task, and that was it. Like plucking a rotten apple from a crate.
I told them that we also had the bad timing of being plummeted into the middle of a power war spawned by Karsen Ballenger’s death. Other factions wanted control of Hell’s Mouth and its riches. “And these other factions were the ones who sent in the labor hunters. They paid them up front with no other expectation than to scare the citizenry and create a mutiny of sorts in order to gain control. It could be they were the ones who really attacked and burned the Vendan settlement too.”
“No,” Wren argued. “Caemus said—”
“Caemus said the Ballengers took a short horn as payment. That is all.”
“That’s enough. It’s still stealing.”
“I’m not disagreeing with that, but it was too dark to see who attacked and pillaged the settlement that night. Maybe someone else is trying to stir the w
rath of the Vendan queen. Jase denies it was them.”
“And you believe him?”
I shrugged. “It’s possible.”
Wren and Synové exchanged a long knowing look.
“I know what you’re thinking but—”
“He’s duped you, Kaz,” Wren moaned. “You of all people. I can’t believe you’ve fallen for—”
“I haven’t fallen for anything, Wren. I just want you to know there are other risks here besides the Ballengers, and we have to watch out for them. Someone’s been setting fires too. Six so far. Have you seen anything?”
“We set one of them,” Wren answered.
“Maybe two,” Synové added.
“You what?”
“I had no choice!” she said. “It was the middle of the night, and we were still hiding from corner to corner trying to get out of town. I shot a burning arrow into an oil lamp and another into a woodpile. I had to create a distraction so we could get our horses out of the livery. You know that bastard stable master stole our saddles and gear?”