The Lesser Kindred (ttolk-2)

by Elizabeth Kerner

  I turned and enjoyed the scene. It was the innkeeper, come to light the fire and to prepare breakfast, and he had found two of his guests already present and quite a decent fire in the grate already.

  "We've kept it in, I thank you," said Jamie, very kindly I thought. "But breakfast sounds wonderful. I'd cheerfully maim for a pot of chelan." The innkeeper laughed and disappeared through a door. He emerged moments later to put two pots on the main fire to boil, one water, one a smaller vessel that he kept stirring. "I hate to intrude, but the kitchen fire is taking a while to get going. Soon have chelan and porridge for you. Did you sleep well?"

  We looked at each other and laughed. "Not yet," I said. "But after I've eaten I'm going to go and give it a damn good try."

  You grow used to such strangeness when your life is lived as it comes instead of according to a plan. Neither Jamie nor I had trouble falling instantly asleep after we'd broken our fast and knew that the innkeeper would raise an alarm if need be.

  When we finally wakened again the early cloud had dispersed and the sun was bright and high. We both felt rested but wondered why none had sent to waken us. We washed quickly in cold water and entered the common room together—

  —to applause. Lanen and Varien sat next to the two healers. Varien, I noticed, was wearing his circlet openly now. Will sat a little apart from the rest with the most amazing expression on his face.

  "Well done, Jamie," called Lanen, laughing. "For once in your life you're later up than I am. I'm proud of you!"

  "Be silent, wench, and pass me some of that chelan," he growled. She laughed again and brought mugs for Jamie and me. We sat with Will at the other table.

  The innkeeper was serving a midday meal, and after we'd all eaten we drew two tables together and—well, wondered what to do next.

  I turned to Lanen. "My girl, you're looking fine for a change. How do you feel?"

  "Like spring after winter," she said. "Mage Vilkas, I—"

  "Please, just Vilkas," that young man said. He seemed pleasant enough, if only he'd smile now and again.

  "Vilkas, I owe you my life," said Lanen simply. "How can I possibly repay you? What fee can you charge for such a gift?"

  "None," he said. "For you were not the only one whose life was changed last night." And my wish was granted, for he smiled then, a broad glorious smile that lit up his face and showed the joy that danced behind his eyes. "In fact it seems that few of us escaped unscathed by the whirlwind of the powers that were abroad last night. Will here is away with that dragon of his, no matter where his body might be."

  "Where is she then, Master Willem?" asked Jamie over Will's protests.

  "She's gone out to hunt, but she'll be back," he said. Turning to Varien, he added, "That reminds me. Why is she so fascinated by you, and how in the world do you know so much about dragons?" He turned to me next. "And you! What were those names you said, and what did you mean, they sent her greeting? I—"

  Varien interrupted him. "Master Willem—"

  "Just Will, if you please," he said.

  "Will, the full truth is a very long story that must wait another time, but Rella, Lanen and I were on the Harvest ship that returned from the Dragon Isle last year. We have all spent time with the Greater Kindred—with the True Dragons that live there, and several we know by name. One in particular, Shikrar, has spent much of his life seeking to contact the Lesser Kindred."

  "The Lesser Kindred are Salera's people?"

  "Yes."

  "Why do they want to contact them?"

  Varien smiled. "I saw the love you share with her last night, like father to daughter. The Lesser Kindred were brought into being by one known only as the Demonlord. He sent an army of demons to rive their soulgems from them. The ones who were attacked were changed in other ways as well." Varien paused a moment. "Our history says that they became as beasts, but it is wrong. Salera is not a beast, not in that sense. She is of—of the same kindred as the True Dragons. So were all the Kantri who were changed by the Demonlord. They were made smaller in stature and bereft of their soulgems, but kindred none the less."

  "What's a soulgem?" asked Aral. Interesting as all this was, she seemed particularly fascinated by my circlet. "And if you'll forgive me, what is that stone you wear?"

  Varien

  I looked long into her eyes before I answered her. There was something I trusted there, so I told her the truth.

  "The answer to both of your questions is the same. A soulgem is the only physical remnant of the Kantri, the True Dragons, after they die." She gasped, her eyes wide, and put her hand to her chest. "This stone I wear is a soulgem, lady," I said slowly, not releasing her from my gaze, "though I think you knew that before."

  "Not until this moment. Oh, Shia, it makes so much sense!" She drew forth a pouch from under her tunic, opened it, and gently took from it a soulgem red as ruby. It might have been Shikrar's.

  I could not stop my body, though it was not acting on my command. The instant I saw it I sprang to my feet and grasped her by the throat. "Where did you steal this from? Where did you get it?"

  "Varien, stop it! Stop it! Akor, let her go you idiot!" cried Lanen in my mind. I only gradually became aware that everyone was shouting. I released the Healer with great difficulty.

  "Think, man! None have disappeared from the Place of Exile, have they?" demanded Lanen. "What, do you think this Healer has killed one of the Kantri from all this distance and brought the soulgem back to taunt you with?" "Put yourself through the Discipline of Calm, Akor, or something like it," she added in truespeech. "This woman helped heal me, she's not demon-touched. You're overreacting." I heard her mindvoice smile ever so slightly. "Bloody Dragons, they're all the same."

  I tore my eyes away from the soulgem and with an effort managed to bow and say, "Your pardon, Mistress Aral. Forgive me, I pray you. I am ashamed. This is ill repayment for

  your healing. I crave your pardon. Lady, Mage Vilkas. La-nen is right, I reacted without thought. Please understand, it is how you would feel if I revealed that I carried a human skull about with me as a trophy."

  "There's no need to kill me for it. I didn't know," said Aral, massaging her throat. She called up her Healer's power and let it spread around her neck. After a moment she breathed a sigh of relief. "That's it fixed. Damn." She glowered at Varien. "You could have killed me. You don't know your own strength. That hurt like all the Hells."

  Lanen

  "Aral, I beg your pardon. I'm sorry my husband reacted so violendy. Can I do anything to help?"

  "No, I'm fine now," she said. "Damn good thing I'm a Healer." She turned to Varien. "It's not like I have this set as an ornament. I wear it next my heart. It is very precious to me.

  "He was a Dragon, Aral," I said quickly, before Varien could respond. It seemed pointless to me to keep Will in the dark at this stage. "I know he told you last night, but it can take a while to sink in. For the purposes of argument he is still one of the Kantrishakrim, and you've just shown him that you wear the mortal remains of one of his kinfolk round your neck."

  "Oh," said Aral. She was embarrassed. "I didn't realise— sorry, Varien," she murmured.

  "The Kantri can talk to their Ancestors, did you know that?" I added, as lightly as I could. She didn't know, poor soul, and she had the grace to look appalled as I explained. "They use the soulgems to contact them. In his eyes, you have kept this particular Ancestor prisoner for—well, they left five thousand years ago. Prisoner for about that long. Do you wonder now that he's angry?"

  Aral said something extremely rude that was, on the face of it, physically impossible. I was impressed. I'd been collecting oaths for a while now and it was a new one to me. I

  made a mental note of it. "I'm truly sorry, Varien," she said. "I never meant—I didn't know, how could I?"

  "How do you come to have such a thing?" I asked.

  "That's what I wanted to know," said Will. "She used it yesterday—sweet Shia, was it only yesterday?—to fight off demons. It was
amazing."

  I put my hand out to restrain Varien, but to my surprise he nodded. "We are the life-enemies of the Rakshasa. Did the Ancestor grant you assistance?"

  Aral nodded. "It—it always reacts violently when mere are demons around, and if I channel my healing power through it I can disperse them with a touch." She frowned down at the gem gleaming in her hand. "I had cut myself once, by chance, and my blood touched it—then the power was amazing."

  "Astounding," said Varien. "Perhaps the life in the fresh blood quickens the memory of the Ancestor." He sat down again, obviously relieved. "If the Ancestor assists her, it means that he or she approves of the holder," said Varien to me privately. "Though I have never heard of one so willing before, or one who worked with the Gedri. J must ask Shikrar who this could be!"

  "Whence came you by so precious a thing?" he asked Aral again.

  "My mother carried it," she said, "and her mother, and hers, back to my great-great-grandmother. She—well, it's a long story, but they say she found it in the deepest chamber of a cavern in the mountains when she was in need of aid, and that aid came to her soon thereafter. She carried it always afterwards, in memory and in a kind of gratitude. When she knew she was dying, she passed it to her daughter, and so on until it came to me." Aral was staring into the gem's depths. "I am the first Healer in the family. It was pure chance that I learned it was proof against demons."

  She looked up. "You are certain mis is a soulgem?"

  "Absolutely certain," said Varien. "There can be no doubt—though if you must have proof I can supply it," he said. Taking off his circlet, he touched the gem in Aral's hand with his own for just a moment. They both began to glow gently from within, unmistakably the same in kind.

  Varien replaced his circlet. The glow in the red gem faded swiftly to darkness.

  "I hate to disturb you," said Vilkas, his voice unexpectedly harsh, his smile gone forever it seemed. "It is gratifying to know that the power that has been assisting us is glad to do so, but that does not alter the fact that we have wasted a good deal of time this morning. We are bound westward this day and we should be leaving," he said, glaring at Aral and Will. "We do not wish to stay too long in one place lest Berys should find us."

  "Polite as ever, Vil," sighed Aral. "We both needed sleep and you know it, but you're right. We only left Verfaren yesterday and we were attacked by a score of Rikti before the day was out. Who knows what he might do given time to think about it?"

  "Which raises a question," said Rella, looking at me. "Where precisely are we bound, now that you are well? If Berys is coming out into the open with his powers, it would be madness to try to get to the library at Verfaren now."

  I laughed. "Thanks to Will we do not need it! Unless in your time there you learned more about Salera's people than you knew before?"

  "No," he replied. "No, I read all the books the library had to offer and none of them said any more than the common knowledge. They certainly didn't say where they had come from," he said, gazing at Varien. "So they are truly kin to the great dragons away west?"

  "They are," said Varien. "I was hoping that in all this time—we try to speak to them every year, as I tried last night, but they cannot hear us nor we them."

  Will bristled. "She hears as well as you or I."

  "I spoke of the Language of Truth. Lanen tells me it is called Farspeech among you." He sighed. "The mark of a sentient people is that they can speak and reason. I have little doubt of Salera's ability to reason, to some extent, but she cannot speak."

  "But she can! She said her name to me the moment she arrived!" cried Will.

  Well, that stopped everyone cold just long enough for the room to be suddenly full of dragon.

  Salera

  I watched as He slept and my heart was light with the joy of it. The touch of him, the smell, the sound of his voice, the sound even of his night noises, eased my fear and calmed my soul.

  I had much to think of as I lay near him. The other two-legs I had seen were so different, especially the silver and green one. That one haunted me, for his touch was like cold water on my face, like flying out of a cloud into birght sunlight.

  Like dawn.

  When He woke I nuzzled him to reassure him, then I went out to hunt. It was a good place for hunting, the small creatures did not know my scent and I could catch them easily.

  However, as the sun rose overhead I found myself restless again. I had thought that finding Him would settle my heart but it did not. I could not stay in that place, where there were so many of his kind and none of mine. Perhaps all would be well if we returned to our old home, and on the way he could meet my people.

  The thoughts were not so clear as that, you understand. All I felt at the time was that I had to return to the high place with Him. But the result was the same.

  I entered in the open door of the place he sat eating, surrounded by the other two-legs.

  I wrapped the very tip of my tail around his leg.

  Will

  I had to laugh. "So you want to go as well, do you? That you and Vilkas should join forces against me! It's not fair you know, kitling," I said, reaching out to stroke her neck.

  She tugged ever so lightly at me. I knew how it would go if I didn't move. "Very well! I must pay my shot and get my cloak, then we'll be on our way." She knew the tone of voice and let me loose as soon as I stood up. I shooed her out the door—she knew what I meant and left—and I turned to the others.

  "I don't know where you're bound, friends, but I'm going home. I've just been told." I grinned. "She's a good persuader."

  Vilkas and Aral stood as well, and Gair came over. No idiot, my friend Gair. He knew the signs and he'd seen Salera leave. I expect the sight of her had kept him distant, true enough—Gair is not made to deal with wonders, or even with beasts other than horses and dogs—but once she was gone he made sure he was in amongst us.

  "Was all to your liking?" he asked briskly, not letting anyone answer. "Good, good, I'm glad."

  Rella was not best pleased. "We've paid, master," she said.

  "Not for a ruined mattress and sheets," he replied promptly. "And Will, I can't let you have this on account I'm afraid. I'll need silver."

  Damn. I'd forgotten I had not a single copper piece with me. Just as well that Lanen took over.

  "Of course you will, master innkeeper," she said. "That is my concern, for it was I who ruined your goods. Now come, let us not disturb the others ..." She drew him away, her arm around his shoulder.

  "You wouldn't believe that girl had never done a thing outside farm work until the autumn," said Jamie, with a kind of awed pride on his face. "She's amazing. You mind out," he said, turning to Varien. "She'll have you wrapped around her little finger if you're not wary."

  "Alas, Master Jameth, I am already lost," said Varien, gazing after Lanen.

  It takes all kinds, I suppose, I remember thinking. You must remember I didn't know her then, and she wasn't that much to look at. Certainly it was good of her to pay for our bed and board, but I was going to have a word with Vilkas. How did he expect to live on the nothing we had brought with us? The woman had been near death, he could have charged her a few silver coins at least for his pains!

  Salera called from outdoors, a kind of half-roar. I hurried to collect my cloak from the room I'd slept in. Lady knows I had nothing else to carry.

  When I returned everyone was outside. Jamie and Rella had gone to saddle the horses, and it turned out that Lanen had paid for our room and board, arranged food for the journey for both parties and had purchased blankets for Vil and Aral and me, which she had rolled and made ready to tie on behind various saddles so we wouldn't need to carry them. I was embarrassed and offended and grateful all together— and if you don't know what I mean then you've never been poor—but when I tried to thank her she shook her head and said, "Oh, no, Master Willem, take no offense I pray you. These are in the nature of a bribe, pure and simple. The four of us beg your leave to accompany you and Salera
wherever you may be bound, and in earnest of our good faith we offer food, and blankets that are soon going to smell very strongly of horse."

  I stared at her. Jamie was right, this one was cut from a different cloth. I blinked.

  "Well, Master Willem? Will you allow me and mine to travel with you for a time?" she asked politely, but her eyes were twinkling. There was a smile deep down in there somewhere.

  I couldn't help it, I grinned. "Caught you, Mistress Lanen! What would you do if I said no?"

  She burst out laughing. "Follow you anyway!"

  "Of course you would." With that expression on her face she looked half her age, a happy girl with a passing resemblance to my little sister. "Come then and welcome," I said, and my last doubts about these strange folk fell away. "My place is small, but it's a roof and four walls and I'm sure we'll manage somehow. I live about four days' easy walk up in those hills. Let us be off, before this wretched child knocks me off my feet again," I said, for now that we were outside Salera was stood beside me, nudging me with her head. "You're not very subtle, are you?" I said, patting her neck and murmuring happily to her. "I'm so pleased to see you, littling."

  When the horses came up they had to be convinced about Salera. Her kind were uncommon enough that they had never encountered one, and there was a certain amount of snorting and backing and a kick or two, but Jamie knew what he was doing. Salera, too, did what she could to calm them, standing still to be seen and smelled.

  "A moment, Will, of your kindness," said Varien, when the horses were calmer. He had kept quiet ever since I'd said that about Salera saying her name, but it was obviously something he wanted to get clear before we got moving. He came up right close to Salera, staring for all he was worth. She stared back at him. "You said she spoke to you?"

  "She said her name," I said, proud of her. "Clear as day."

  It was a most peculiar setting: a bright copper dragon with eyes as blue as the spring sky above, sitting with furled wings on the road outside a wayside inn listening intently to a man who looked unsettlingly like her, though I couldn't tell you how exactly.