Free The White Dragon by Laura Resnick Page B

the stranger had fallen. Now he could hear harsh breathing. Someone in pain, trying to make no sound. Moving silently, Tansen came closer still—and slipped on a wet stone. He recovered quickly, believed he made no sound... but the harsh breathing stopped that instant. Tansen peered into the syrupy darkness but could still see nothing, for the stranger had chosen to hide in the murkiest crevices of the rocks even in the moonless night. Now they listened to each other's deadly silence, each one awaiting a sign from the other: friend or enemy?
    Since Tansen was the one creeping up on a wounded person, he decided to speak first. "Who are you?" he asked in shallah dialect, giving away his location.
    He heard a slight whisper of movement and guessed the stranger was rolling to face him.  
    "Who are you ?" came the reply, issued in common Silerian. A grown man's voice, deep and probably powerful under normal circumstances, but laced with pain now and kept soft lest they be overheard.
    Many shallaheen didn't speak common Silerian, but Tansen did. He and his grandfather had been coming down to the coast for several years, after all, and Silerian wasn't all that different from shallah —just enough to be confusing until you got used to it. Tansen hesitated, still unsure. Very few Outlookers spoke any native Silerian dialects, but those that did usually spoke only common Silerian.
    Friend or enemy?
    "I am a shallah ," Tansen said in Silerian. He figured it was a safely vague answer.
    After a pause, the man said, "So am I, come to think of it."
    Tansen switched to the mountain dialect again. "Then why don't you speak shallah ?"
    "I do, but not very... well." This time the reply was in shallah , though the stranger had hesitated over a word.
    "Why not?"
    There was a longer pause. Finally he answered, "I was born in the mountains, as was my father. But I was not raised there, I don't remember him, and my mother spoke only common Silerian with me. You are..." The man gave up and switched to Silerian again. "You are the first shallah I've spoken to in years."
    "That's strange," Tansen said rudely. Strange for someone born to a shallah clan, certainly. Blood ties were everything among the shallaheen . A man was no one without his clan.
    "Yes, I suppose it does seem strange." When Tansen didn't reply, the man added, "The Outlookers are after me."
    "Why?"
    "It's not for smuggling." The voice sounded dry, despite the pain. The stranger obviously knew why a lone shallah would be creeping around the coast in the middle of the night.
    Tansen didn't bother to ask again why the Outlookers were hunting for him. Any reason—or no reason at all—could suffice. Tansen was starting to suspect this was just some stupid toren who'd gotten himself into trouble, because, after all, what assassin didn't know any shallaheen ? However, a toren was bound to have wealth or influence of some kind. Anyhow, it would be bad manners to leave him dying here now that they had spoken.  
    So Tansen said politely, "I will help you."
    "Good." The voice was even dryer as it said, "Because I didn't come all this way to die on the beach."
    Tansen knelt down, close enough now to discover the stranger was soaking wet. "What's happened to you?"
    "I was on a smuggling ship that—"
    "Whose ship?" Tansen interrupted, already dreading the answer.
    "Ah. You were waiting for Aljuna?"
    "What's happened to him?"
    "You're the smugglers he had to deliver some cargo to?"  
    "Yes."
    "Weren't there supposed to be two of you?"
    "The other one couldn't come."
    "I'm sorry," the stranger said, his breath still harsh and labored. "Aljuna's dead by now. I suppose everyone on board died, unless someone else jumped overboard, too, and made it this far."
    "Why would they be d—"
    "The Valdani burned Aljuna's ship."
    "They burned it?" That must have been the light he'd seen hovering on the dark horizon a while ago. "They burned a smuggling ship? Why didn't they just arrest Aljuna's crew and