Page 72 of Lake of Sorrow

He let go of the tail and wiped his hands on his clothes several times before standing—and several times after. Kaylina couldn’t blame him. A bath sounded appealing, but she doubted they would have an opportunity for that any time soon.

The two taybarri started walking away. At first, Kaylina thought they’d done what they came to do, somehow knowing she and Frayvar needed assistance, and were leaving. But Levitke paused and looked expectantly back.

“Do we follow? Are you leading us somewhere helpful? Like Stillguard Castle?”

The affirmative whuff was promising.

Kaylina and Frayvar followed the taybarri. Surprisingly, they didn’t stop and offer themselves as mounts. Instead, the creatures’ big heads kept swinging toward each other as they strode ahead, walking side by side over the rain-dampened cobblestones. It was as if they were exchanging meaningful looks. Did taybarri do that the way humans did?

After passing the fountain, the taybarri led them several more blocks, turning at a stone building that seemed familiar. It wasn’t until Kaylina saw the river and a bridge in the midst of being repaired that she identified it. The last time she’d visited the city jail, they’d entered through a back entrance.

The taybarri stopped in front of the area where Vlerion and Targon had battled Virts who’d been buying time for a jailbreak. Tonight, there wasn’t anyone in view—not anyone upright anyway. Levitke stopped in front of a cloaked figure lying prone on the ground. Lying… dead on the ground?

Frayvar sucked in a breath as he spotted the person, and he and Kaylina were the ones to exchange long looks.

The nearby jail made Kaylina hesitate to get close. What if guards walked out and spotted the body, and her and Frayvar standing next to it, and believed they’d been responsible? Kaylina’s entire episode with the rangers had begun because she’d been caught in proximity to a murdered noble.

“Let’s leave that for the authorities to find,” Kaylina whispered when Levitke looked expectantly back at her again. She pointed down the river in the direction of the castle. “I’ve got some honey I can share once we get to Stillguard.”

Levitke’s tail swished, but she didn’t leave the body. The male sniffed the air again, his long furry form tense, his tail not moving. If he’d heard and understood the honey offer, he gave no indication of it.

“Is something dangerous about?” Kaylina asked. “The person who did this?”

Against her better judgment, she crept toward the body. After a quick look, they could leave. If the taybarri wanted, they could stay until some rangers found them.

A dark damp puddle had formed on the cobblestones under the man. Blood. This couldn’t have happened that long ago, or the earlier rain would have washed it away.

Even before she got close, Kaylina suspected he hadn’t been run through with a sword. And she was right. Something with claws had torn out his throat—it had torn his head half off.

The male taybarri moaned. Kaylina hadn’t heard that noise from one of them before and didn’t know what to make of it until she realized the fallen man wore black leather armor. Ranger armor.

“Is this one of your people?” Kaylina peered more closely at the face and realized it was one of the men who’d accompanied Targon into the preserve. He must have returned and been sent out on a patrol of the city. “Or,” she guessed, her intuition striking, “your rider?”

The male taybarri moaned again.

Levitke looked at Kaylina.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do anything.” She didn’t understand why the taybarri had brought her here. Why didn’t they go to ranger headquarters for Targon and some of his men?

Levitke stepped closer, facing Kaylina fully and gazing into her eyes as if she longed to convey a message. Or… a warning?

“Do you know who killed him?” Kaylina wished she could read the taybarri’s thoughts.

The male sniffed the air again, then lowered his large snout toward the dead ranger. With their keen noses, they might know exactly who’d killed the man.

“An animal, right?” Kaylina asked.

It had to be. Though the body and the claw marks reminded her uncomfortably of the dead Virts from the dungeon under the royal castle—men the beast had killed. She didn’t believe Vlerion could have had anything to do with this murder though. He wasn’t even in the city.

The two taybarri exchanged long looks again. She almost wondered if they could read her thoughts.

“Or maybe one of the Kar’ruk sneaked into the city?” Kaylina suggested. “Do they by chance tame wild animals and train them to fight?”

Levitke whuffed, but Kaylina couldn’t tell if it was a negative, an affirmative, or an acknowledgment of the possibility. Maybe the taybarri wasn’t answering at all and was simply unsettled by the situation.

“It wasn’t anything to do with Vlerion, right?”

The taybarri looked at each other and shifted their weight on their large paws. The male’s tail swished in agitation.

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