“Was anyone else hurt?” he asked.
She bent closer to him, so she could hear. She smelled of dust and horse, but he caught a faint floral scent from her hair. He allowed himself to sink into her, just for a moment.
“No one else, Your Majesty. You were the only target.”
“Has the bleeding stopped?” came Dolan’s voice.
She eased the pressure on his shoulder. Kalas let his eyes fall closed. For some reason, the buzzing was back in his head, confusing him.
“No,” she said and he couldn’t remember what he’d asked her.
“Has it slowed?”
Kalas licked his lips, wishing he had some water. For some reason, the entire right side of his chest ached.
“Yes.”
“Ellette,” he whispered, but he wasn’t sure why he was whispering.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
He frowned, but didn’t open his eyes. He couldn’t remember what he was going to ask her. “I need to sleep.”
Her hand smoothed over his brow again, soothing him with her cool touch. “Sleep, Your Majesty. You are safe. I swear it.”
“Tell Dolan,” he said.
“Tell Dolan what?”
“I’m just going to sleep.”
She stroked his hair. “All right,” she said and Kalas allowed himself to drift away.
* * *
“Stravad Leader?”
Jarrett watched the tall, dark haired Stravad come to a halt before Tyla and duck his head in obeisance.
“Vezo, how are you?” she answered, giving him one of her most radiant smiles. Then she looked around the outpost.
Jarrett did the same. The parade ground was well tended, swept and cleared of weeds. A few Stravad practiced hand to hand combat in the central ring, while others worked with horses or tended a vegetable garden to the right of the main house.
“Allistar,” Vezo said. Allistar returned the greeting, then the Stravad focused on Jarrett. “Welcome back, Nazar.”
Jarrett gave him a nod. He and Tyne had stopped here on their way into Loden.
“I didn’t expect to see you back so soon,” he continued.
“I know, but everything looks good here.”
“We’re doing fine.”
“No disease?” asked Tyla.
Vezo’s expression clouded. “We lost Kenyon, but he was assigned to the Cult members that escorted Jax. No one else has shown signs of disease.”
“I’m sorry for Kenyon’s loss,” she said wearily. “How did you prevent it from spreading further?”
“We isolated him and took precautions. We wore gloves and face masks when we took care of him.”
“Good,” she said. “Take the same precautions if anyone else should come down with it.”
“Do you think there’s still danger of that?” asked the Stravad.
Tyla shifted weight, piquing Jarrett’s attention. “These secondary infections seem to have long incubation periods. Don’t think it’s over.”
“Of course, Stravad Leader.” He motioned over his shoulder. “Let me show you to your quarters.”
Tyla started after him, but Jarrett caught her arm. She whirled and yanked free of his hold, her eyes blazing. He held out his hands and gave her a look of surrender. “I just wanted to ask you something.”
She straightened and took a step back from him. “What?”
“Are you all right?” he questioned.
“That’s what you wanted to ask me?”
“No, but you reacted so strangely, I thought it was the best place to start. What’s going on with you?”
“What does that mean?” she snapped.
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
She gave him a severe look. He couldn’t really read what lay behind it. “Because I don’t want to be manhandled, I’m acting odd?”
Jarrett felt offended, despite his resolve to feel nothing. “I didn’t manhandle you. I just grabbed your arm.”
She didn’t respond, just stood staring at him. Behind her, Allistar and Vezo were waiting for them, watching the exchange with puzzled expressions. Jarrett really didn’t want to make a scene, especially after his fight with Allistar the previous night.
“I’m concerned, Tyla. Is that wrong?”
“Concerned about the epidemic, no. Concerned about the outcome of this journey, certainly not. Concerned about me? Misplaced. Worry about yourself, Nazar.” With that she turned on her heel and walked away.
Jarrett let her go. What more could he do? He hadn’t gotten to ask her his question, but he felt fairly certain it wouldn’t matter right now. She was determined to keep him out. He felt in his pocket and ran his thumb over the rock Kerrin had given him. Lord, he wondered if the boy understood what a termagant his mother could be.
CHAPTER 9
Dolan watched the pulse pound in the hollow of Kalas’ throat, reassuring himself that he was all right. He rode in the wagon beside his king, Ellette on the other side. Kalas seemed to be sleeping easily, no sign of fever, no symptoms of poisoning. He’d lost blood and Dolan feared Attis had done more damage removing the arrow than necessary, but it wasn’t a life threatening wound.
Even so, Dolan couldn’t escape the guilt he felt. Kalas could have been killed. The Nazarien had intended that. If Ellette hadn’t reacted, the situation might have been so much worse. Just the fact that he was hurt bothered Dolan.
When the wagon went over a rut, Kalas moaned in his sleep. Dolan resisted the impulse to smooth his blanket, lifting his eyes to the road. It was difficult to see, surrounded as they were by soldiers.
He felt Ellette’s gaze on him. “You behave as if he were your son.”
Dolan gave her a puzzled look. “What an odd thing for a Nazarien to say?”
“Why?”
“Nazarien don’t acknowledge family ties of any kind.”
“They might not acknowledge them, but it does not mean they do not exist.”
“Explain.”
“You care for him. It is evident in your face.”
“Of course I do,” said Dolan. “He’s my liege lord.”
“You are Nazarien. There is no reason for you to have pledged yourself to a Human King, except by choice. Then you chose to follow this one when you could have been free. Why?”
“He’s Talar Eldralin’s son. Isn’t that the purpose of the Nazarien? At least it was until this insanity began.” He motioned at Kalas’ bandaged shoulder.
She gave him an amused look. It wasn’t quite a smile, but it came close. She was the damnedest Nazarien he’d ever encountered. “The way you react to him is not the way a subordinate behaves, and he does not treat you that way either. You care for him as a father would care for his son.”
“How would you know anything about that?” He didn’t know why her words made him bristle, but they did.
She looked down and smoothed her hands across his blanket. “My mother gave her life for me.”
Dolan wasn’t sure how to respond. Honestly, he didn’t want to respond. He wanted to ignore what she said, but he couldn’t. “What happened?”
She met his look. Her eyes had a way of seeing into a man, searching out the thoughts that paraded through his skull. He wondered if she were psychic. “The man who chose me for my first Procreation Ceremony was brutal. The Ceremony had been forbidden by the Nazar, but a few of the Nazarien decided to hold it any way. They took their choice of initiates and dragged us into caves the Nazarien have never explored. I almost died. Many of the girls did.”
Dolan wanted to look away, but he couldn’t. She told the story with such detachment that he had to believe it was the only way she could cope with the experience.
“The Nazar and his closest followers found us. The other men had left us to die. The Nazar brought us back to Chernow where we were given sanctuary. I healed, thanks to my mother who stayed beside me. Once she was sure I would mend, she went in search of the man who harmed me.”
Dolan’s eyes widened. �
��She went after a Nazarien warrior?”
Ellette’s chin lifted. “Yes. She killed him.”
Dolan blinked in surprise, unable to voice the thoughts in his mind.
“She killed him for me, even though she knew there would be vengeance. She never made it home. She was executed the next day.”
“Executed? By the Nazar?”
“No, by the brother of the man who assaulted me. He tracked her down and killed her. Executed her. She never had a chance.”
Dolan looked away. Bile rose in his throat, but he forced it down. Eldon’s star, he’d been gone from the Nazarien a long time. Not that he’d ever fit in. Ellette wondered why he’d chosen to serve Tarnow. This was part of the reason.
“I’m sorry, Ellette.”
“I am not. She taught me love and determination. She taught me that giving your life to protect someone is noble and right. I will never forget her. I owe her my life.”
Dolan looked back at her. “Forgive me for throwing Nazarien precepts at you.”
Ellette shrugged. “We are, both of us, Nazarien.” She shifted uncomfortably. “There is more you should know.”
Dolan waited for her to speak.
She fidgeted with Kalas’ blanket and briefly touched his cheek, then clasped her hands in her lap. “The man who attacked me was one of the rogue Nazarien. He was among those that did not like the changes the Nazar was trying to make.”
“Go on.”
She glanced around them, but no one was listening. Not even the driver who rode just before them on the buckboard. “Bredon Laurel was his name. He was the first to organize the group into anything more than critics and complainers. When he died, his brother Quinn took his place. Quinn is the one who recruited me for the assassins.”
“You follow the man who killed your mother?”
“I know it seems unnatural, but I thought it was the only way I could get close to him. Find him when he was vulnerable.”
“And he didn’t suspect this?”
“He was certain his brother had broken me, taught me the proper deportment of a Nazarien woman. He did not believe his brother had done anything wrong. For so many years, such treatment was ignored.”
Dolan nodded. He knew this.
“Besides, he did not know I knew he killed my mother. I found her body….I…” Her voice broke and she looked down. Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply to center herself, then she looked up once more. “He had carved his initials into her cheek.”
Dolan flinched.
“I planned to kill him, even if it meant my death.”
“But you didn’t?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“He decided to come after the King of Eastern Nevaisser instead.”
“Instead?”
“Instead of the Nazar.”
“But he ultimately plans to go after the Nazar, right?”
“Right. The Nazar and the Stravad Leader.”
Dolan leaned back and allowed the wagon to jostle him. It felt very much like his thoughts. “How many men does Quinn Laurel have?”
Ellette shook her head. “No one was allowed to know how many.”
“Do you believe Quinn was the one who shot the King?”
Ellette stared at him a moment in silence. Dolan resisted the urge to squirm. Lord, the girl had such eyes. “No, Quinn did not do this.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the King of Eastern Nevaisser is still alive.”
* * *
After restocking their supplies, the Temerian Stravad left the Nazarien outpost the next day. Vezo bid them goodbye and promised to send word to Temeron of their safe arrival. The previous night Tyla had questioned him about the numerous posts she’d sent to Kalas in Adishian. Vezo assured her the messengers had come through the pass, stopping at the outpost for the night – three of them, each with the purpose of carrying information on to Nevaisser. But none of those messengers had returned and no post had come from Kalas in response.
Tyla rode in the middle of the Stravad warriors, worrying this bit of news. The outpost sat on the road most used between Nevaisser and Loden. A regular mail delivery passed this way each week. If the messengers had made it safely to Kalas, they likely would have come back this direction and stopped at the outpost on their return journey.
She’d also sent an avian message before she left Temeron. That had gone directly to Sarkisian. She hadn’t expected to hear about that one before she left, but the lack of response from Kalas to her other messages alarmed her.
They crested the pass an hour after leaving the outpost. Tyla glanced back over her shoulder at Loden. The valley stretched away beneath her, a verdant land of green and blue, rising to the mountains on all sides, topped with white. She drew in a breath and held it, slowing her horse to a halt.
Behind her Jarrett stopped his own mount and sat, staring down at the valley, his eyes narrowed against the sun. She wondered what he was thinking, but didn’t dare share his thoughts. He caused such conflicting emotions inside of her. Ten years had aged them both, but he was still the striking man he’d been, if a bit harder and more distant now.
Allistar rode up beside her. “I hate leaving her,” he said.
She smiled at him. “I know, but I think you hate leaving Temeron more.”
“Always.” He returned her smile. “I’ve never been farther than these mountains. In a day or so, I’ll be the farthest away from Temeron that I’ve ever been. It makes me nervous.”
She touched his arm. “Thank you for coming with me. I do appreciate the sacrifice.”
He gave a snort. “Sacrifice? Don’t paint me that noble, Stravad Leader.” He nodded at Jarrett. “You better not let him see us talking. I’m not wanting to fight him again.” He touched his black eye.
Tyla laughed. “Men. You’re all idiots, you know that?”
“So my wife keeps telling me.” He continued to watch Jarrett. “He’s so different now, like all the joy was leached from him.”
Tyla’s smile dried. She’d noticed the same thing herself and she hated it. Jarrett had been so alive before. In her memory, he’d vibrated with energy. She hardly recognized the stern, stoic man he was now. “The Nazarien are a joyless people, Allistar. I wish it wasn’t that way.”
He shifted his gaze to her and studied her intently. “I don’t think it was the Nazarien that did this, Stravad Leader.”
Tyla frowned.
Allistar gave her a sad smile. “I think leaving the woman you love was enough.” That said, he turned his horse and began the descent into Nevaisser.
Tyla watched him go, but her mind was on his words. She no longer blamed Jarrett for leaving, but she couldn’t forget that he had. Her trust in him had been destroyed and she didn’t think she had it in her to trust again. More than that, he wasn’t the man she’d loved. This man, this shell of her Jarrett, wasn’t the same. Everything that had made her love him was gone and she couldn’t reconcile herself with the change.
Turning her horse’s head, she followed after Allistar, forcing herself to let Loden go, forcing herself to put a mountain range between her and her son. Her body ached, but she also forced that worry away. She knew she’d be able to see Kazden in a few hours, allowing her to anticipate the end of this journey and the hope that a solution awaited her beyond Kazden’s coast.
The rhythmic motion of the horse lulled her toward calm and she let her thoughts wander to the dream she’d had about her father. No matter how often she looked at that dream, she couldn’t deny it felt very real, more real than any other dream she’d ever had. But it couldn’t be real. There was no way she could communicate with a man who’d been dead for so many years.
Motion on her right side brought her out of her contemplation. She looked up into Jarrett’s blue eyes.
“Can I ask you a few things?”
Tyla felt a flush of anxiety. She wasn’t sure she wanted to answer any questions he might have. She didn’t want to fight with
him anymore, but she didn’t want to rehash the past ten years either.
“That depends,” she said.
He looked away. “Not about us. I want to know about the epidemic, what you know.”
Tyla exhaled in relief. Every time she talked with him she felt like she was walking through a battle field, waiting to be attacked. “I don’t know much.”
“When Jax arrived in Temeron, was he still coherent?”
“Barely. He couldn’t walk anymore and he was coughing up blood. I should have quarantined him immediately, but I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. His leg was badly infected and that’s where he said the disease began. How it moved to his lungs confused me.”
“When did you quarantine him?”
“After we amputated his leg. I thought that might be enough to save him, but he only got worse.”
“What happened to the Nazarien that brought him to Temeron?”
“I’m not sure. They left soon after he arrived. Obviously, they were infected. Kenyon wouldn’t have gotten it any other way.”
“Do you think they’re dead?”
Tyla didn’t want to answer that. It made it all seem too real, too uncontrollable, but she’d never been able to lie well, especially not to Jarrett. “I’m afraid they might be.”
“Do you have any idea what the early symptoms are? You said Jax was too far along, but would you recognize his symptoms if they surfaced among us?”
Tyla stared at him. She wanted to probe his mind and find out what lay behind this question, but she would open herself up to his intrusion in her thoughts if she did. “Is there a reason you ask this?”
“Before we left Temeron, you mentioned that one of the healers had taken sick. You said she began coughing blood. That’s when you quarantined her, right?”
“Right.”
“What if she exposed people to the disease before she started coughing blood? Were there any other symptoms before that?”
Tyla’s hands tightened on the reins. How would she answer this without alarming him? Alarming all of them? “She never complained of anything, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. She may have thought the symptoms were fatigue or another ailment. But I still think the blood is the exchange. Jax became infected when he cut his leg, blood exchange. The healer became infected because she cared for him when he began coughing blood, blood exchange. We weren’t taking enough precautions because we didn’t know what we faced.”
The World of Samar Box Set 3 Page 66