Мэри Кирчофф - The Black Wing

At another long, narrow table, more than a handful of men were holding small, thick pieces of paper inscribed with pictures and words, which they would occasionally throw toward the center. After a number of these pictures had accumulated, someone would collect the money, while the others looked on grimly.

Was this how humans “earned their money"?

“Do you like to roll the bones?” said a honeyed voice at her elbow.

Onyx turned to look at the speaker, then caught her bottom lip between her small human teeth in a slight gasp. Dark tendrils of shiny hair curled around his face and dropped to rest on broad shoulders. The cheekbones beneath his wide-set emerald eyes were high and arched above smooth, weathered skin. His full, almost purple lips, inside a short-clipped beard and mustache, pulled up into a smile that brought out crease lines around his eyes.

Something about him looked strangely familiar. The green eyes … Onyx gasped again. The man from the globe.

“I usually kill anyone who stares at me for so long,” he said, “especially with such penetrating eyes. You remind me of Vil, a snake I once kept as a pet.” He looked almost coy. “Are you as sly as a snake?”

“Huh?” Onyx tossed her hair back from her face, and the room tilted crazily. Keeping one hand on her mug, she grabbed her stool to stop the spinning in her head. What was wrong with her? Perhaps the food had been tainted….

Grinning, the man took the mug of ale from her hands and pushed it down the polished length of the bar. “It is also my policy to encourage women to drink until they're well past dizzy, but for some reason you inspire chivalry in me.”

The ale had made her light-headed? Too bad, she thought, it had tasted good.

“The name's Led.”

Onyx squinted up into his face, her expression blank.

“It's customary to respond with your name.” The man gave her a penetrating look. “Unless there's some reason you don't want me to know it.”

“No!” she said almost too quickly. Onyx touched her head. “The ale has made me a touch slow-witted, is all,” she managed, borrowing from Aggis. “My name is Onyx.”

“How appropriate.” Led lifted a hand and ruffled the fine, blue-black fringes of hair that lapped at her neck. She drew back slightly, startled by his touch.

Undaunted, Led twirled his finger through a strand of her hair before withdrawing it casually. He almost seemed to enjoy her discomfort. “Where are you from?”

“The North,” she said vaguely. “And you?”

“The road's my home.” His eyes twinkled. “Did I hear you tell Bert that you're a mercenary?”

“That was his word. I said I'm a good fighter and hunter.”

His smile was lazy, patronizing, his gaze over her slight, womanly form skeptical. “Really?”

Onyx's nervously fingered the choker at her neck. “What business is it of yours?”

Led threw his head back and laughed. “At last, the little snake shows her fangs!”

“Don't ever call me that again,” Onyx growled.

“Sorry. It was just a pet name.”

“I'm not your pet.”

Led leaned back, grinning. “But are you a good fighter?”

Onyx drew back at this line of questioning, discomforted by the entire encounter. She took long breaths in the qhen way, struggling to contain—or even understand—the tangle of human emotions. For some reason, her human form responded strangely to this man. Perhaps it was because she'd been surprised, knocked off balance by finding him so unexpectedly. The only thing she knew for sure was that if she didn't gain control of her brain and tongue, she would lose what might be her only chance to discover Dela's whereabouts.

“I can fight,” she said evenly.

“That's interesting.” Led snuffled two coins between the fingers of one hand, watching her closely while he spoke. “You see, I'm something of a hunter myself. A bounty hunter. In fact, I was bringing a law-breaker here for the bounty some months back and, uh, lost two fighters in a freak accident. Struck by lightning, they were. I haven't found suitable replacements, and I need guards to help me deliver a valuable package to a prospective buyer in Kernen tomorrow.” Led's admiring gaze swept over her. “Personally, I'm impressed by what I see”—he shrugged meaningfully—“but I'm going to have a hard time persuading the rest of my party that you're stronger than you look.”

“You're offering me a job?” she asked, trying unsuccessfully to hide her surprise.

“Maybe.” He was looking at her legs in the tight russet pants.

“If you're their leader, why do you have to persuade anyone?” she challenged.

Led's green eyes shot up. “I don't.” They narrowed to slits. “But I can't afford to waste time settling arguments if you can't pull your own weight.”

Onyx propped her elbows on the bar and placed her chin in her cupped hand. “You must know there's more to a good fighter than strength,” she said softly. “Stealth and cunning are probably more important.” She paused. “And magic doesn't hurt, either.”

“You can do magic?” he whispered hoarsely. His eyes narrowed, and he looked around quickly. “Better drop your voice, making a claim like that. Nobody trusts magic or mages, not in this part of the world anyway.”

“Until recently, humans thought dragons were but stories, too,” she said, watching his reaction.

Led shuddered. “I've heard those rumors, too. But why should I believe you're a mage?”

She knew she was being tested on a number of levels. “Why should I care what you believe?”

Led took a long wooden pipe from his pocket and tamped tobacco into the bowl, considering her defiant reply with amusement. He was reaching for a candle on the bar when he felt something touch the pipe clamped between his lips. Led looked down his nose and saw Onyx's index finger in the pipe's bowl. A small flame leaped from her fingertip and ignited the tobacco. She withdrew her finger and blew away a thin trail of white smoke. “You're welcome,” she purred.

Led was too stunned to speak, too impressed to care if anyone else saw the display.

“It's customary to respond with 'thank you,' I believe,” she whispered.

Led chose, instead, to nod, but there was undisguised admiration in his emerald eyes. He pushed himself away from the bar. “The men'll be assembling here just after dawn—if you're interested.”

“What's the job?”

“That's not your concern,” he said, taking three coins from a small drawstring bag and stacking them on the bar. “I'm tired, so we'll have to discuss your pay tomorrow.”

Onyx bit back a stinging retort. Like her, Led clearly would not brook insolence, and she was dangerously close to crossing the line between being intriguing and annoying. Besides, she would find out soon enough if the job involved Dela.

Just then, Led's rough hand touched her cheek, made rosy by the roaring fire, if not the exchange. “Are you going to show up, little Onyx?”

“You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out,” she said slyly. She slipped off the chair and sauntered up the stairs, followed all the way by the sound of Led's laughter.

Onyx sat on the inn's long wooden front porch, her back to a square support post. The sky to the east was still dark purple, though approaching lavender. Few people were moving about yet, as first light began to creep between the buildings. A layer of winter ice and snow covered the whole town, giving the place a false sense of peace and stillness.

Despite Bert's advice to avoid the bounty hunter, whispered over a breakfast of fried bread and eggs, the raven-haired young woman was waiting for Led. If she was to free Dela, she had no choice but to join his band.