The next day we made very good time. A tailwind sped us along and we flew farther into Zandria than we'd expected. Still the flight tired us, and despite the closeness to our destination Marana reported, night fell before we could reach the target. We agreed to get up at dawn and head out immediately to complete our task.
We reversed our watches and Jevin suggested to me that I might want to show Marana a clear river pool set below and behind our hilltop campsite. The mischievous glint in his dark eyes belied the innocent way he made his suggestion. I ignored his grin and accepted his advice willingly.
Water flowed gently down the valley between several hills and filled a broad, dark pool. The warm evening breezes swept the insects away. Marana and I lay back on a soft bed of ferns and talked for what seemed like hours on end. We listened to the water and laughed at nothing at all. Happiness filled us both with giddy energy, and everything felt right and perfect.
Carefully and slowly we removed each other's clothing. We made love beneath the stars and reaffirmed in each other the discovery of our ideal counterparts. To me Marana offered the love and support I'd once known before the war destroyed my family, and I gave her the love and unconditional acceptance of the family she'd never known.
I returned reluctantly to the campsite and relieved Jevin. Marana offered to stay up with me, and tried to convince me she couldn't get to sleep because of the ring. I kissed her and wrapped her in my blankets. She fell asleep soon enough, and was very much rested when I woke her to take the final shift.
I sat on my blankets and kissed her. "Be sure to wake us before dawn, Marana. We want an early start."
She stood and smiled. "I will, my lover, now get some sleep."
I dropped off quickly and enjoyed very pleasant dreams.
* * *
Jevin nudged my ribs with the toe of his boot just once. I sat bolt upright, and before he could tell me, I knew what was wrong. Marana was missing!
I swallowed hard and shook my head to disperse the dreams. "When did you notice she'd gone?"
Worry scored his forehead with black gashes. "Just now. It's an hour after dawn. She couldn't have left before then."
I kicked my blankets off and wriggled into my leather breeches. "Why didn't she wake us?" I wanted to scream. My family had died while I slept and now I slumbered while someone stole my Marana away.
Jevin's lips curled back in a grim snarl. "The ring, it has to be the ring." He looked over at me and his black gaze bored through me. "Never trust magick."
I shuddered and broke eye contact. "I agree." I stood and pulled my tunic on over my head. "Look, Jevin, get your Hawk up. There might be an off chance you can spot her
Hawk in the air. We were dead line heading south toward the Hatu River Valley."
The Fealareen nodded. "What will you do?"
I buckled my swordbelt in place. "I'll fly Valiant in a circle around this camp to see if I can spot her. The kidnappers might have passed by here and Marana headed off after them, intending to get back to us." Jevin knew I was clutching at straws, but he nodded. I forced a laugh. "If Valiant is half as good as Erlan says he is, catching you should be easy."
Jevin mounted up and took off. I followed after I killed our fire. I untied, mounted, and unhooded Valiant. He screamed at Jevin's swiftly receding Hawk. Valiant spread his mighty wings and in seconds we soared above the Zandrian countryside. I guided the Hawk in a grand circle around our camp, but I found nothing.
My heart sunk. The lush landscape below held as much interest for me as a desert because it bore no sign of her. I wanted something to tell me Marana still lived. If her Hawk had broken a wing or she'd slipped from the saddle, I knew I could find her and make her well- again. She had to be alive, I needed her to be alive.
In my panic it never occurred to me that she might have been better off dead.
I turned Valiant south and on the horizon I saw Jevin's bird as a black spot against the pale wall of clouds encroaching on the green valley. I urged Valiant forward and tapped him on the back so he'd fly faster. He complied and we soared ahead to slowly gain on Jevin. By the time the spot had grown to the size of an Imperial, Jevin's Hawk circled once and headed to the ground.
Valiant felt my anxiety and pushed hard, but it felt to me as if the air had thickened to slow us. It took me another five minutes to reach the area where Jevin landed. I circled once and saw Jevin's Hawk clearly enough. A hundred yards in front of his position I located tents hidden among the trees on a river sandbar.
I landed Val next to Jevin's Hawk and noticed Marana's Hawk hobbled and hooded beneath the nearby trees. My spirits picked up—at least she'd landed safely. I hooded Val and followed the trail Jevin left for me. I found him lying on his stomach atop a hill overlooking the kidnappers' camp.
He waved me down and I lay beside him. "It's bad," he whispered.
I reached forward, carefully parted the long, green, summer grasses before me, and watched the camp. I counted a dozen men and four women. They had Marana bound to a stake and had piled wood all around her feet. Marana appeared awake and unhurt, but I could not tell for certain because she alternated between being defiant and terrified. The former was Marana through and through, but I'd never seen the scared woman bound to the post before.
My fear drained all the color from my face. "What do you think?"
Jevin grimaced. "We go in fast. You get to Marana and cut her bonds. She's been in and out since I've been watching."
I frowned. "Do you think she's drugged?"
Jevin shrugged, then shook his head. "I don't believe so." He folded some of the grasses down and studied Marana's struggle. "I still think it's the ring. If she has a rapport with the Emir's wife, she's reflecting the woman's terror."
I nodded. That made sense. "The first thing to do, then, is to free Marana and get the ring off her hand. Then she can help us free the Emir's wife. Do you know where the hostage is?"
The Fealareen shook his head. "No, not assuredly, but Marana stares at the blue tent when she's herself. I'd guess the hostage is in there."
I nodded and rose. We crept down the hillside to the river's edge. We avoided all fallen branches and skirted all dry leaves. At the base of the hill the river reeds hid us, but the slow, muddy river cut off any further stealthy advance. All we could do was spring across and hope our very presence would be enough of a surprise to give us an advantage. I reached out and squeezed Jevin's shoulder.
We were off.
I splashed through the shallow river with high steps that sprayed water everywhere. I reached the sandy islet before any of the kidnappers had time to react and summoned my tsincaat. Mercilessly I chopped through the first man I saw.
My first victim fell and another man darted toward me. He made to draw his slender scimitar, but never completely pulled it from the scabbard at his hip. I swept past him and slashed him across the stomach. He spun away, but before he fell to the ground, my return cut tore his face in half.
Beyond him, I reached Marana. She writhed and screamed. I touched her to let her know I'd come to save her, but she recoiled from me and hissed like a cat. I looked in her eyes and saw hatred flash through them. I did not know this woman.
I sliced through her bonds with my tsincaat in one, clean stroke. With my left hand I pulled the ring from her finger. Almost instantly her eyes cleared. "Nolan, thank the gods. Look out!"
I ducked and twisted away as she summoned her tsincaat and blocked the cut intended to remove my head. Marana riposted through the man's throat, then darted toward the blue tent. A women opposed her with only a dagger, but Marana slew her remorselessly. I marked her action and it made me uncomfortable, but I never could have guessed what it meant.
I had no time to consider it then because two enraged warriors charged me. I blocked the first man's overhand blow high above my head, then retreated to the right so the first man blocked the second. I feinted a lunge at the first warrior to back him off, then switched my tsincaat to my left hand and
slashed low to that side. I caught the second man advancing and opened a gash across his thighs. He fell and I stabbed his compatriot through the chest while he hesitated, and watched his companion thrash painfully on the ground.
Suddenly the fight ended. Jevin stood amid five surrendered, wounded or dead fighters. Two men stood on the edge of the camp with firewood piled where it dropped at their feet and their hands in the air. One woman lay in a pool of blood between me and the tent, and no one offered us any resistance.
Without warning a scream pierced the blue tent from within and ripped through the camp. I instantly recognized Marana's voice in the shriek, but it echoed upon itself and terrified me. I dashed toward the blue tent, leaped over the dead woman, and threw back the tent flap. Stunned, and utterly unable to believe my eyes, I sank to my knees and let the flap enshroud me.
The cry came from two throats that shared identical bodies.
An old woman knelt beside me. "Thank the gods you have come, Talion." She pointed a trembling, bony ringer at Marana. "You must kill the demon before she kills us all."
* * *
Jevin separated the twins and took Marana back to our camp. The people we'd attacked were Temuri kinsmen of the Emir who trailed out after the kidnappers all by themselves, and had not been discovered missing until after the Elite had been dispatched to summon us. They'd found the kidnappers, killed most of them in a battle nearby, and were heading home when we fell upon them.
I slowly recovered from my numbed shock and returned Bethany's ring to her. I helped as best I could to bind up the wounds I'd caused, and that was taken as a good omen by the Temuri, though it did nothing to ease their pain or bring back their dead comrades.
The old woman heated some water and made me some tea. It was hot and must have been fragrant because it rose through my head, but I'd not know it again. The sight of two Maranas screaming in terror at each other haunted me.
The old woman sat across from me and rested a liver-spotted hand on my leg. "I was present when they were born."
I nodded. I knew from her tone that what she was telling me was vitally important, but I had trouble focusing my mind on anything. I sipped more tea and swirled the leaves around in the bottom of my bronze cup.
"I helped Bethany from the womb first." She smiled with the recollection. Beyond her, back in the shadowed part of the tent, the Emir's wife slept restlessly. "She was a strong and happy baby, too happy to have a demontwin." The old woman spat and twisted her fingers in a sign to ward off evil. "That woman, she came second, and was left out on a hillside to die."
The old woman pulled on my arm. "You have to slay her. She is a demon. It is unnatural for her to be alive. You must slay her!"
I pushed the old woman away and stared at her as if she'd lost her mind. "You don't know her, she's not a demon!" I set my cup down and stood. "I've known her for the last five years and I know she's as normal a human as you or I."
The old woman narrowed her eyes. She reached out and took up my teacup. She swirled the liquid, then splashed it out on the ground. "Ah!" she cried triumphantly. She pointed at brown bits of leaves and how they lay on the wet, golden sand. "Slay her, Talion, slay her today." She stared up at me with eyes as deep and dark as the night sky. "If you do not, she will be the cause of your death!"
* * *
I flew back to our camp and Jevin met me before I could see Marana. He looked very tired. "She's sleeping, Nolan, finally."
I nodded grimly. "Marana has to return to Talianna. She can't go to Temur. They think she's a demon and they'll kill her."
Jevin shook his head. "She can't travel alone. She said she was inside Bethany's head." The Fealareen looked up at me with eyes full of pain and tears. "She's not well."
I felt cold all over. I nodded. "I understand, Jevin." I turned and looked back toward the Temuri camp. "You should fly with the Temuri and guide them back to Betil." I faced him again. "I'll get Marana back to Talianna."
* * *
I watched Jevin until his Hawk faded to nothingness against the horizon, then walked to the camp. Jevin had done his best to make her comfortable. Marana lay swathed in blankets, but only slept lightly. Her tan flesh had faded to a deathly pale ashen color and pockets of shadow hung beneath each eye. She looked more dead than alive.
I squatted next to her and her eyes popped open. She took one look at me and started sobbing, so I sat and dragged her into my arms. I hugged her tight and rocked her. I told her stories my grandmother and father had told me when I was a child, and somehow managed to keep the fear and pain out of my voice. Her tears mingled with mine, but some of her pain drained away and she slept again.
I lifted her up and carried her from our campsite and down to the pool. Gently I laid her where we'd lain together the night before. The soothing gurgle of the stream coursing down into the pool reached her even in her sleep. Her breathing became more regular and she slumbered on more peacefully.
I wandered around the woods—never straying too far away—and found a medicinal plant I remembered from childhood. The plant was an herb called vila in Sinjaria. I discovered a fair-sized patch of the pale green-leafed plants and harvested several of them. I used the leaves to brew a narcotic tea that I fed to Marana so she could sleep more soundly.
I estimated, based on the amount of tea she drank, that she'd sleep through the afternoon and evening, and perhaps into the next morning. I built us a lean-to and gathered rocks to build a fireplace.
I didn't like staying down at the base of the hill when the Hawks were up above, but I realized anyone or anything that got too close to them would get what they deserved. Besides, everyone knew only Talions kept the giant raptors, and that should be warning enough for even the most mad of men.
I carried Marana over to the lean-to and undressed her as the sun sank behind the Ell mountains and splashed the sky with shades of purple and red. I wrapped her in blankets and settled her into a comfortable position. Then I stripped off my tunic and lay down next to her.
I did not plan to sleep, but the day had ground me down more thoroughly than a mill grinds grain. I lost consciousness faster than a drunken sailor beset by alley-bashers.
* * *
A sharp kick in the ribs shot pain through me and snapped me awake instantly. Five Temuri, different from the people we'd attacked, surrounded us. They wore blood-soaked bandages and looked exhausted, but seemed surprised and pleased at finding us.
Their leader had kicked me. He turned to the others and laughed. "Look, they thought they'd run off and lead us away from Bethany with a false trail. They left one boy guarding her." He had an old scar running from cheek to cheek across his nose.
I clenched my fists in anger and frustration. I slowly realized these were the kidnappers who had escaped the Emir's kin. I shook my head. "This is not Bethany. Leave her alone, she's sick."
The leader dropped to one knee, grabbed my throat with a greasy hand, and forced me to look up at him. He licked his lips and ran his other hand across his stubble-bearded cheeks. "Boy, your life is in my hands. Don't make me kill you before I want to."
His men laughed and he slowly tightened his grasp on my throat. These were the men we'd come after, and we'd slain brave, noble people because of them. Why? a voice screamed in my brain. That is not justice!
One of the others tore the blanket from Marana's naked body. Fury flooded my sight with a blood-red haze. My nostrils flared and I lashed out with my right fist. I smashed their leader in the groin, rolled to my feet, and raised my left hand to stop the others.
I pleaded with the four of them. "She is not your Bethany. Leave her alone. I don't want to kill you, there's been enough killing already." My chest heaved with labored breaths. I concentrated and summoned my tsincaat, but none of them understood the true significance of a sword appearing in my hand that way.
"A magick sword, I want it!" one of them cried aloud, and they rushed me.
The Temuri people, as Marana had told me so long ago, were
known for their skill at archery. As swordsmen, these four men made better archers, and came at me as if they wanted to die. But I did not want to kill them. I parried and backed several times to show them they stood no chance against me, but they blundered forward, absolutely convinced they had me on the run.
Finally they trapped me and, cheering their good fortune, they forced me to slay them.
I beat the first man's lunge down with a ringing slap to his blade with my tsincaat, then eviscerated him with a backhanded slash. He dropped to his knees and tried to scream, but only managed a weak whimper. The second Temuri cut down at me and I sidestepped his attack. He'd thrown himself off balance and I split his skull with diagonal slash to his head.
My anger over the useless slaughter of the morning and my worry about Marana combined to numb me. The third man tried to spit me with a straight thrust, but I parried his blade to the ground. Grinning like a demon, I trapped his sword beneath my right boot and slid my tsincaat through his chest in a lethal imitation of his attack. I twisted the blade, then tore it free.
The fourth man had seen enough to be scared and tried to scurry away. He raised his hands to hold me back, and dropped his dagger, but only his death would sate me. I chased him back over the ground he'd laughingly conquered with his companions, and stood above him gleefully when he tripped and lay on his back begging me, like a dog, to spare him.
I nodded sincerely, and when he smiled hopefully, I lopped his head from his shoulders with a single, sharp stroke. He stared at me disbelieving until the last of his consciousness slipped down and out of his neck with his blood.
I howled maniacally and closed on the scar-faced kidnapper still writhing in agony near the lean-to. I drank in the cloying, sweet scent of blood and reveled in the acrid stench of his fear. I stalked slowly toward him and unmanned him with a hideous, barked laugh.
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