He turned his head in the direction of her gaze and stumbled backward. “What’s that?”
City boy. “It’s a brown bear,” she said through clenched jaws. The calm tone of her voice surprised her. Along with the fluttering of her heart in her chest and the sweat that now covered her palms, she should have been quivering in fear by now.
Instead, she breathed in slowly and took her eyes off the bear for a moment, checking their surroundings.
“Maybe it wants to get to the water. Maybe we’re in its way. Help me down!”
Xae, his eyes glued to the bear, sidestepped until he was close to her and held out a hand. She scrambled down backward off the rock. On the way down, she bumped the elbow of her right arm against the hard surface. Her shoulder screamed in protest as the movement jostled it, and air hissed between her teeth. She clenched her jaws shut and ignored the pain, backing up several feet with Xae at her side. They managed to create a clear path between the huge animal and the edge of the lake.
“Go on, bear. If you want a drink, we won’t stop you.”
Xae stared at her. “What are you doing?”
She didn’t take her eyes off the animal. “When I lived in … here before, the bears used to come down out of the mountains sometimes. My father warned me about them when I’d get water from the creek. You’re supposed to talk to them … Wait, maybe that’s supposed to be to keep them from showing themselves. They are supposed to be more scared of us than we are of them.” She hoped her voice sounded more convincing to Xae than it did to her.
“I don’t think so,” Xae said in a half-whisper. The bear started to lumber forward. “Do you see the size of that thing?”
“Xae, the packs!”
Mariah’s heart sank as she stared at their belongings, lying on the ground directly in the bear’s path. The beast probably wouldn’t eat their coin, but everything else was fair game. They would starve if it ate all their food. Well, maybe Xae wouldn’t. He was a scavenger, at least his bird was, but she couldn’t eat rotting animals, at least not while she was human. Her mind began to flutter from thought to thought with no logical direction, only panic.
“Mariah, I don’t think it wants our packs.”
Her head snapped toward him. “What do you mean? Bears eat anything. Our packs are just lunch waiting to happen …” She trailed off. He was staring straight ahead.
The bear had gotten closer but instead of going toward the water, it had turned toward them, its large brown eyes looking right at Xae.
Thirty feet was all that separated them from the huge animal.
Mariah’s good hand went to her waist, fumbling for her father’s knife.
In a slow, lumbering motion, the bear raised itself onto its hind legs. The cream-colored tips of its brown fur reflected the sunlight until the animal looked like some mystical sun creature sent down to deal out their doom. It waved an enormous paw at them and roared, the sound booming off the surrounding trees and reverberating through Mariah’s ears.
“Xae, go! You have to change. Get out of here!”
“I’m not leaving you,” he said without hesitation.
“Who will save your family if you’re dead? I have my knife. Now, go!”
The bear fell back onto all fours and started forward again.
“Go!”
In an instant, the boy was gone. His raven form rose up from the ground, but instead of flying away, he went straight for the bear.
“Xae! Stop!” Her heart caught in her throat. “Just go!”
The bear stood back up on its hind legs and swiped at Xae as he swooped down from above. The raven did not give up. He kept darting and pecking, trying to get at the bear’s eyes. Mariah stood with the back of her knife hand over her mouth, expecting the bear to knock Xae out of the air at any moment. She knew she should run while the beast was distracted, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the dueling pair.
Suddenly, with a strange huffing sound that sounded like a sigh, the bear sank all the way down to the ground and onto its belly. Xae screeched and came in for another hit.
Mariah’s head involuntarily cocked to the side as the animal covered its eyes with its front paws. Then, it was gone.
Lying prone on the ground in its place was a woman dressed in brown pants and a tunic. She had a heavy cloth pack on her back and a short sword at her waist. Her arms were draped over her head. Xae’s surprise was so complete that his aborted dive turned bad, and he hit the ground in a tumble, his screech turning into a squawk.
Mariah stared. Another Ceo San? How had she found them? Mariah lowered her knife to her side but kept it gripped tightly in her hand. She had to remember that she was in Varidian now. Many of her kind here were slaves to the king and his will. She knew all the stories. The Ceo San here were not her friends.
She started forward, her weapon at the ready. Xae was back in human form, stumbling to his feet and brushing the dirt off his clothes. When Mariah was a few feet from the stranger, she stopped. The woman was stocky, and long brown hair flowed down her back, parting around her well-filled pack and the blanket tied to the bottom of it. The blanket, it was almost identical to the woolen ones that she and Xae had gotten from the Herring Hideaway. Had this woman followed them? Mariah hadn’t seen any other guests staying at the inn. Where had she come from?
“Who are you?” she said in as stern a voice as she could manage. “What do you want?”
The woman’s sigh was so deep that Mariah could see her chest rise and fall and hear the sound from beneath her arms.
Instead of answering, she levered her hands under her chest and pushed herself up to her knees.
“That brother of yours is tougher than I thought. I was sure he’d be off at the first sight of me.”
Sitting in the dirt, a grin on her face, was the innkeepers’ daughter. The realization hit Mariah like a punch to the chest. Shira was Ceo San. And now she knew about Xae.
Mariah raised her knife again as Shira got to her feet. Xae stared at her, too, but it wasn’t shock Mariah saw on his face.
“Did you know all along? You called me a dumb bird! Did you know what I was?”
Shira chuckled. “No. Didn’t know until just now. But even if I did, you didn’t have to go trying to peck my eyes out.”
“You attacked us!”
“I didn’t attack. I just … approached.”
“You’re a cursed bear! An approach is an attack!”
Shira crossed her arms with a grimace and regarded Xae. “You obviously don’t know bears very well.”
The boy rushed forward, stopping with his face just inches from hers. They were of a height, and his black eyes bore straight into Shira’s brown ones. His breathing was so labored that Mariah thought his chest might explode. “When an animal the size of a house and with claws as long as my hand threatens me and my fri- … sister …”—he flung his arm in Mariah’s general direction—”you can expect me to defend her. You’re lucky I didn’t do more.”
Shira threw her arms down to her sides, her hands bunched into fists. “What more could you have done, bird boy? Pluck my fur out?” She brought her hands up to his chest and pushed.
Xae went stumbling backward. “Why you …”
He was already coming back at Shira when Mariah stepped between them. “Enough!” she yelled. She raised her good hand in front of her before realizing she still held her father’s knife. She had no reason to trust the other woman, but she slipped it back into its scabbard anyway. There was no reason to get into a battle that she certainly couldn’t win.
“Mari, she attacked us!” Xae didn’t come any closer, but the lines on his forehead were so scrunched up that they were almost touching. He jabbed his finger in Shira’s direction as if it was a weapon.
Shira returned the gesture, her arm nearly slapping Mariah as she leaned toward Xae. “I did not! I just walked up to you …”
“Enough!” she shrieked, and Shira and Xae bot
h fell silent.
When it was obvious that they were not going to start arguing again, Mariah turned slowly toward Shira.
With more confidence than she felt, she spoke. “You need to tell us what you’re doing here.” How much does she know? “Then, we will decide what we’re going to do with you.” Her hand was on her knife again, but she didn’t draw it. Instead, trying not to look at the short sword Shira wore, she left her hand there in what she hoped was a promise of what was to come if Shira didn’t cooperate.
CHAPTER 16
DANGEROUS
After a few short, awkward moments had passed, the three of them settled down on the grassy floor near the shore of Jadenmere. Mariah had her back against a towering boulder, and Xae sat nearby, squarely facing the innkeepers’ daughter. He held out the cup of newly mixed herbs and water to Mariah, his eyes never leaving their unwelcome guest.
“Don’t drink that,” Shira said. She sat with her arms over her raised knees, cleaning under her fingernails with the end of a small knife she had dug out of her pack.
Of course, the boy took offense. “Why not? I mixed it up just like your ma showed me.”
Shira kept right on with what she was doing instead of looking at Xae. “It works better if you let it steep a while.”
Mariah set the cup down in the center of her crossed legs and waited for the woman to speak. Xae continued to stare, and the doubly armed Shira kept cleaning her nails as if her life depended on it.
Mariah sighed, feeling like the only grown-up at the party. It was only half-true. “Why did you follow us? And why didn’t you tell us you were Ceo San?”
Shira’s jaw fell open, and she glared at Mariah. “You’re kiddin’ me, right? You do know where ya are, don’t ya? Maybe that knock on the head was worse than we thought.”
It was Mariah’s turn to glare. “You haven’t answered me. And I know you were having us watched back at the Hideaway.”
Shira reddened. “That wasn’t my idea … and I followed you because I’d a few suspicions about your brother here. Everything about you two was a little off, starting with the fact that you look nothing like blood.” She huffed. “Looks like I was right.”
“How could you have possibly known?” Xae asked.
“He’s right,” Mariah said. “‘Oh, that boy must be the bird I saw outside’ isn’t the conclusion most people jump to.”
Shira remained silent. She put her knife back into her pack and pulled out a small loaf of bread. She tore a chunk off the end and chewed in silence.
Mariah waited, and when the other woman didn’t volunteer any more information, she stood, drinking down the herbs in one long gulp.
“Come on, Xae,” she said when she had finished. “We’re leaving. Don’t follow us, Shira. Next time, I won’t stop him from pecking your eyes out. And don’t think he couldn’t!”
Confusion filled the boy’s face, but nonetheless, he rose and picked up their packs.
Mariah went to the water’s edge and rinsed the cup before shaking it out. Then, she walked back to Xae and tucked it into the top of her bag. Shira was still nibbling on her food, her face turned away.
“We have a long way to go before nightfall,” she said in a low voice to Xae. “If we can camp in the foothills, we’ll have the whole day tomorrow to get up to the highest part of the pass.”
The boy nodded and fell in beside her as she walked back to the main road and headed northwest.
* * *
They had been walking for a good ten minutes when they heard the sound of footsteps rapidly hitting the hard-packed dirt behind them. “All right, all right, please wait. Hey, I’ll tell you.”
Xae sighed. “Just keep going. Please?”
After considering him, Mariah stopped and turned around slowly. She wanted to hear Shira out. She wanted to hear that there was some good explanation, that the woman was trustworthy.
Shira was about fifty feet down the road, bent over, her hands on her knees, gasping. “I was eavesdropping. Outside your room. Right after you found him. Grelem, he was busy, so I went up and stood outside your door. That’s how I knew.”
Mariah’s mind scrambled to remember exactly what they had said to each other. She knew that they had talked about their separation, but the details eluded her. Had she mentioned flying herself?
The other woman continued toward them, her breathing still labored. “You … you’re like him, too, aren’t you? A bird?”
Oh, great. Mariah turned and began to walk away again. She had hardly gotten ten feet when Shira grabbed her shoulder. “A Ceo San. Like me? Am I wrong?”
Mariah spun around. “Do you work for him? The king? Are you a spy? A slave? Are you going to turn us in?” The malice that dripped from her words surprised her. This woman had helped her and treated her like a friend, but now Mariah wasn’t sure of anything.
Shira backed away, her eyes flicking to Mariah’s hand, which lay white-knuckled on the hilt of her knife.
“Of course not! Why would you think …? Maybe I should be asking the same of you. You’re the ones heading straight for the capital!”
“How am I supposed to believe you?” Mariah shot back. Actually, she did believe her, and she hated herself for it. It was her own heart that she didn’t trust. It didn’t seem like that long ago that she had believed in her mother, after all.
Standing next to Mariah, for the first time since Shira had shown up, Xae stood silently. He only stared at the innkeepers’ daughter, Mariah’s accusation reflected in his eyes. He had been betrayed as well.
Shira hung her head, her long hair falling down around her face. “I don’t know,” she mumbled. “I just … I’ve been the only one, you know. Since I was a baby. I just wanted to, you know, be around someone like me. You seemed so nice, and with you hurt and your brother being just a kid, I thought, hey, you could use some help. Maybe someone who knows the way to Glenley.” She was silent for a moment before she spoke again in a barely audible voice. “It’s okay. Go on. I won’t follow you, and I won’t tell anyone about you. I promise. I’ll just go back home.” She turned around and started walking down the road, her shoulders slumped and her eyes forward.
Mariah watched her go.
It was Xae who spoke, his voice raised. “What about your family? Did you tell them? About us?”
Shira shook her head and kept walking.
“You just left them? With no word?” His voice was tinged with anger. “They know about you, don’t they?”
The other woman stopped and turned to them again, her own eyes confused and her mouth hanging open. “Of course, I didn’t tell them! I didn’t even know if I was right. What was I gonna say? Hey, Ma, I was eavesdropping on our payin’ guests, and I think they might be fugitives.” She shook her head. “I told my folks I was going to catch up to you, help you along your way, make sure your sister keeps taking her herbs. Ma hates it when people don’t listen and get sick again as soon as she stops carin’ for them. And I told Pa that when I came home, I’d bring spices and supplies from the capital like I always do. I’ve made this trip at least a dozen times. And as for me, you think a ma doesn’t notice when there’s a fuzzy cub in the cradle instead of a baby?” She shook her head again and stared at Xae as if he were stupid.
Mariah suppressed a chuckle as Xae reddened.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” he asked, all of the anger gone from his voice as quickly as it had come and replaced by embarrassment. “I mean, traveling to the city … all by yourself?”
“The most dangerous part for most is the mountains, and they’re no problem for me. My folks know that.”
There was pride in her voice, and suddenly, Mariah wondered if a woman who could turn into a bear could ever really know the meaning of danger, of fear.
The three of them stood silently on the road for a few heartbeats before Shira spoke again. “Good luck with whatever it is you’re doing. Just remember, Glenley’s treacherous. If anyone
finds out or even suspects what you are … The king’s soldiers and spies are everywhere, especially there. And any peasant wanting to make a few coin in reward will turn you in if they see as little as a suspicious hair on you. If you have any choice, you really should go back to Quell … or wherever it is that you really came from.”
Shira turned eastward again and resumed walking.
Mariah swallowed the lump in her throat. “Come on, Xae.”
“Wait.” He was staring at Shira’s back. He spoke quietly but with firm purpose. “We should give her a chance.”
“You believe her?” Mariah’s eyes widened.
He nodded and touched a hand to her sling. “We can use all the help we can get.”
“The more of us there are, the more likely we will be noticed.”
“Yeah, but in a pinch, she’s a bear, Mari. She’s got more strength than both of us together. We’re nothing compared to that!”
She looked at him solemnly before speaking again in a low voice, trying to keep her warring emotions out of it. “We’re here for you, Xae, for Ayla and Nya. It’s your decision.”
His grin was lopsided, but it was there. He touched her hand before he took off in a run to catch up to their new companion.
Mariah waited for him, hoping that they were doing the right thing.
CHAPTER 17
INTO THE HIGHLANDS
The first hours of their afternoon were unnaturally quiet. Every time Mariah opened her mouth to speak, she clamped her mouth shut, afraid that angry, biting words would come spilling forth.
Shira had misled them. I misled her. Besides, it’s not my decision. Mariah had taken over planning Xae’s not-so-little mission, but it was his family at stake. He’s too immature to make these kinds of judgments. But the hard fact of the matter was that he knew people better than she did. In a life that had been just over half of her own, he had probably had a hundred times more experience dealing with other people than she had. Her parents had sheltered her out of necessity until she was nineteen, and then, after she had the chance to be free, she had chosen to live alone.
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