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.In fact,Ironfist had been testing Kip the whole time, Kip saw now.Putting him on the rudder had been a test, tosee what he would do, how quickly he would figure it out, and if he would freeze up.Kip wasn t evensure how well he d done on that count.Ironfist was a commander.A commander, the commander.The commander.Oh.Oh my. There s only one company of Blackguards, isn t there? Kip asked.Like most of Ironfist s expressions, this one was quick and quickly muted: the full white of his eyesaround dark irises visible for a bare moment, then a little smirk to cover. Not bad, given the obvioushint, I suppose. So you re the sole commander of the most elite company in the Chromeria.That makes you like ageneral or something? Or something. Oh, Kip said. So that means I should probably be even more intimidated of you than I am right now,huh? Ironfist laughed. No, I think you ve got it just about perfect. He grinned. What were you doing pulling guard duty on that rock? It is a bit more than a rock. Put that way, it did make some sense.The Blackguard had to protect the Chromeria s most importantpeople, and a secret escape tunnel was the kind of thing you had to check yourself. Still, Kip said.They came to a much wider road and Ironfist Commander Ironfist turned onto it, heading west, theopposite direction of almost all of the traffic.He sighed. It s not a duty anyone wants, so it s sometimesused as punishment.Let s just say I ve given the White reason to be displeased recently. Kip said quietly, Or that s a cover so you can go out and check the maintenance of the tunnel. Except that a tunnel is& a tunnel.Don t make things more complicated than they are, little Guile. Huh? Oh. Ironfist could come from the Chromeria side and make sure the tunnel worked.He didn tneed to sail out to the island for that.Some genius I am.Embarrassed, Kip rushed to ask anotherquestion, and asked the question he knew he shouldn t. So what did you do to make him mad at you?You know, the White. Him? Ironfist asked.Page 119 Her? Ironfist turned in at a little house with an oxidized copper dome, unlocked the door, and pointed for Kipto go in. There s hard tack and cheese and olives in the kitchen.Latrine off to the left.Bed straightdown the hall.You re not to leave until I come get you tomorrow at dawn. But we came across those huge waves instead of waiting, I I thought we were going straight to theChromeria. I m going straight to the Chromeria. While I just sit here all day? When you see what you have to do tomorrow, you ll be glad you had the rest. Ironfist moved toleave. But, what what are you going to do? I m going to go get back in the White s good graces. Kip scowled as the door closed.There was a click.He was locked in. That s great, he told the closeddoor. I ll just wait here.I ve been meaning to catch up on my thumb-twiddling. Grumbling, he made hisway to the olives and cheese.Ten minutes later, he was asleep.Chapter 33Karris woke beneath a lean-to constructed of tree branches and a man s cloak.It was either dusk ordawn.She guessed dawn from the dew on the ground.She examined herself with a soldier s efficiency,moving each limb and digit experimentally, trying to gauge her own potential for movement, violent orotherwise.All her fingers and toes worked properly, but her entire left side was bruised.She must havenot only crashed through the doorframe with her upper body there, but also landed on her left side,because her shin ached, her knee ached, there were gravel scratches on her hip, her breast felt likesomeone had mistaken it for a sawdust-filled training bag and punched it for an hour, and hershoulder Orholam, her shoulder.She could breathe without much pain, though, which she hoped meantthere weren t any broken ribs, and she could still move her arm, although it almost made her black out todo so.Her right side hadn t escaped undamaged either.She had long gravel scrapes on her right arm and herstomach, probably some to match on her back, and her neck was sore from Orholam knew what.She dstubbed all the toes of her right foot didn t remember doing that either and her left eye was swollen,not enough to block her vision, but enough to look real pretty.There was also a scratch on her forehead,several attractive lumps on her head, and what the hell, a cut right on the tip of her nose?No, not a cut.A pimple.Unbe A pimple? Now? Orholam hates me.Every one of her cuts and scratches had been smeared with some kind of ointment that smelled ofberries and pine needles.Someone cleared his throat. There s more ointment to your right.I tended themore& obvious cuts. Page 120 Which Karris took to mean that Corvan hadn t stripped her naked. Thanks, she grumbled. What happened back there? Aside from the obvious? Corvan asked, his voice flat. In the church, downstairs.I ve never seen red luxin that didn t burn cleanly.If you drafted it wrong, itshould have evaporated, not formed a crust.And what was that thing you were in? Karris sat up,wincing.Her ankle hurt too.Ow, when had she twisted her ankle? She ignored it, and tried to rememberall she knew about Corvan Danavis.He d been a rebel, of course, but before he d sided with Dazen,he d been a scion of one of the great Ruthgari families.For nearly a hundred years, Ruthgar and theBlood Forest had been bound together in peace, the closest of allies.Noble families from Ruthgar hadintermarried with the leading families of Blood Foresters, holding lands on either side of the Great River
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