He went back to the cabin. Gura flattened himself submissively, but the Guardian ignored him. Gura shouldn't have let Rinnie go off alone. Dogs did not make good guards - they were taught to obey the commands of the people they guarded.
Rinnie's scent was here, but it was difficult to pick out one trail from another. He needed Lehr for this kind of job. He lifted his head from the porch step and cast an irritated glance toward the forest; judging by the time Hennea had taken to get from the village to the place where something had happened to Papa, Mother and Lehr should have been back by now. As he turned his head he caught a whiff of an odd scent.
What had Bandor been doing at the farm?
He seldom visited his aunt - both the Guardian and Jes found the village distressful. There were too many people for Jes, and he got confused by their unguarded emotions. To the Guardian, there were too many possible threats. Even so, he knew Bandor's scent of yeast, salt, and soap.
The sound of rapid footsteps made him blend into the side of the porch so that he remained unseen. The wind was coming from the wrong direction, so he couldn't tell who it was until Hennea came out in the open.
One sleeve was burned away and blisters started at her fingertips and trailed up fire-blackened flesh to her shoulder. She slowed to a walk, staggering slightly as she came in sight of the cabin.
"Seraph," she said. "Jes, are you here?"
The Guardian shook with the implied violence of her condition, even though Jes tried to soothe him with the observation that she might have done the damage to herself because the hurt was concentrated on the wrist the geas band had been on. Hennea smelled of anger, fear, and pain, and Jes was tired. The beast snarled silently.
Hennea gasped slightly, and the Guardian knew that she felt the dread of his anger.
"Jes," she said, closing in on the cabin. "Jes, I need to talk to you. There's none here to harm anyone. Please. I need to talk to you."
A tear slid down her face, and she wiped it away impatiently. "Please. I need your help."
If the forest king hadn't given her to him, the Guardian could have ignored her; but she was one of his now. So he slunk away from the porch and let her see him clearly, though Jes would rather have resumed his usual form because he didn't want to frighten her anymore than she already was. Jes liked Hennea.
"Jes," she said, unfazed by the monstrous wolf that stalked toward her. "Guardian. I'm so sorry. I've betrayed you all. I don't know what he's planned, but it's my fault."
It was difficult to get human speech out of his wolf throat, but the Guardian managed. "Who?"
"He planned it," she said, holding her burnt arm awkwardly away from her body. "I thought I was so clever, figuring out that he was playing a game with your family - but his game was more subtle than I expected. He set me up, all but sent me out to find Seraph and tell her that I thought your father hadn't been killed. He knew that she'd go and take Lehr. He knew Rinnie would be left here unprotected. He didn't care about you, he doesn't know what you are. But he wants Rinnie."
Jes helped the Guardian cool his rage, and the beast welcomed the calm that would allow him to accomplish what was necessary.
"He has her?" he asked.
"Not when I left - I thought I might beat him here - but she's gone, isn't she? That's why you're here and not Jes."
"My uncle was here," the Guardian said. "Bandor, the village baker."
"Lark take them all," she whispered. "Bandor is one of Volis's favorites. Would he turn your sister over to Volis?"
"He wouldn't hurt her knowingly," said the Guardian after a moment. "But his intentions are not important." Since Jes controlled his savagery, the Guardian was able to think clearly again and focus his purpose. "We need to find them. Can you run?"
Lehr was right, it was late when they reached Redern, and Seraph was exhausted, both emotionally and physically. Only her obsessive need to force answers out of the solsenti priest gave her the fortitude to start up the steep street of Redern.
She almost walked right past the bakery. If there hadn't been a light in Alinath's room, she