Miami Days and Truscan (K)nights

by Gail Roughton

  He was obviously partially domesticated, tamed and trained by a Truscan; a farmer perhaps, from one of the outlying villages, or even a pet of one of the guards. Dal had told me of one such wolf. But it was only partially tamed, and he still sometimes felt the urge to roam the woods at the head of his pack. It was my good fortune that he had chosen this night to roam.

  I felt reasonably certain that no attack was eminent so long as I remained where I was. I didn’t know what would happen if I stood up and attempted to stroll leisurely into the woods, but didn’t feel it worth the risk. And besides, where would I go? I was as safe here as anywhere, and I leaned back against the tree. I would wait for morning, when the wolves would certainly disperse into the trees, and then I would start walking. The horses, of course, had broken their tethers at the start of the bloody battle and were long gone. My kingdom for a falton! I would walk south.

  Surely Andromeda had made it back to the stables, and the guards would be moving through the woods, looking for me. Perhaps by morning, word of my abduction would have even reached Dalph, and he would be riding back, leaving the rest of the Tornans behind him in Pegasus’ dust to search for me himself. And on that comforting thought, which even the thought of his considerable displeasure at my stupidity in leaving the Rata could not mar, I closed my eyes, just to rest them, and slipped into the doze from which my senses would rise and fall throughout the rest of this interminable night.

  I moved in and out of the light dreamless sleep several times, and it must have been several hours later that I woke to see the leader perk his ears and raise his great head toward the east. He got up and gave a short bark, and as one, all the wolves which had slept in various positions around the clearing, got up. They turned, as if one beast, and moved off into the trees. The young wolf who’d lain closest to me had a slight limp, I noticed, and I hoped it caused him no trouble in maintaining his position in the pack. The leader was the last to depart.

  I looked after them, feeling somewhat abandoned at their departure. I could see no hint of dawn myself, as I gazed around the trees, but of course, their senses were much more attuned to the cycles of nature than mine. There was certainly not enough light for me to feel comfortable in rising and striking out toward the south, so I settled back and waited. For sure, there was no chance that I would fall back into sleep, light or otherwise. Within the half-hour, light began to trickle from the sky.

  I stood up and glanced around. No water, damn it. Well, we’d crossed enough streams and no doubt I’d find some soon. I headed to a likely looking patch of bushes, though what difference bushes made, I couldn’t imagine. There was certainly no one here but me and the grisly, mangled remains of what had once been living men. I quickly averted my eyes.

  And having attended to the inevitable call of nature, I emerged from the bushes but only walked a few steps before I heard the pounding sound of horses’ hooves coming at a fast pace. Feeling it expedient to avoid confrontation until I was sure of whom I was confronting, I bolted back toward the bushes but halted when I heard the distinctive whinny. Pegasus! In Johnny’s expressive phrase, “Thank all the gods of both worlds!”

  The Tornans surged into the clearing and Dalph stopped Pegasus so quickly that he reared. He jumped from the saddle, throwing the reins over to Dal, and ran toward me, arms outstretched.

  “Don’t you ever put me through anything like that again!” he ordered, enveloping me, close to inflicting broken ribs.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, so stupid,” I chanted, my voice muffled against the fur of the battle tunic.

  “You’re all right?”

  “I am now,” I assured him, waiting for his relief to clear enough to allow him to vent the rage at my utter stupidity that was sure to follow.

  We stood a few seconds, and he raised his head.

  “Dal, take the Tornans and start back. I need a few minutes with the Queen.”

  No one said anything, they just wheeled the mounts around and left, Dal delaying long enough to drop Pegasus’ reins in the branches of a sprawling bush.

  I merely waited; I deserved everything he was about to say, and when the last horse had disappeared back into the woods, he finally spoke.

  “I’ve died a thousand times since yesterday afternoon,” he said, and picked me up, heading to the tree which had served as both prison and bed at different times during the night. His arms lifted me higher, pinning my back against the tree, and then his hands moved, adjusting clothing.

  And I realized that as I had needed him before he left, so much so that I’d felt I’d die if he left me before this royal marriage was finally consummated, so he needed me now, to reassure himself that I was safe. Again, he never reacted the way I expected him to and maybe in time, I’d actually stop having expectations and simply accept. I gave myself over to his warmth and put my arms around his neck to savor the moment more fully, noting that the advantage of our current position was that my face was actually slightly above his at the moment and I could watch his expressions. I moved my hands behind his neck, and that was when I felt the metal links of the long chain. I moved my hands forward, down his chest, running them over the links down to the circular amulet, half hidden under the fur of his tunic.

  Past comments and past scenes flashed through my brain in lightning sequence, taking no more than a few seconds. I heard Johnny’s voice as we entered Trussa for the first time: “For God’s sakes, don’t expect armor. Dalph’s knights have protection of a different sort.” I heard Kiera’s voice: “Always, at this time. Night patrols. It is how things are. How they have always been, how they will always be.” I heard Dal explaining the Tornans: “The night riders. The ones who ride night patrol. Not everyone does. Not everyone can. They’re special.” And I heard Dalph, overriding my objection to his taking Dal out on the rescue mission. “You don’t understand and I don’t have time to stop and argue or explain.”

  I looked down into Dalph’s eyes, which could be so expressive or so blank, and saw the naked soul of my King, who had realized immediately that I knew, vulnerable as I had never thought to see him, frozen in motion, as he waited for my acceptance or my rejection.

  I smiled down at him and lightly shook the chain.

  “And you were going to tell me about this when? When our babies grew fur?”

  His breath expelled in relief, he laughed shakily, and began to move again, making the world explode for both of us.

  Chapter Nineteen

  When we had regained our senses, made ourselves presentable, and prepared to catch up with Dal and the Tornans, he paused before helping me mount Pegasus, and gently touched the large bruise on my cheek left by the hard, hoof-like hand of the Prian.

  “Which one?” he asked.

  “The Prian. But I don’t think you’re going to do much more to him than you already have.”

  He glanced around the circle as he boosted me up for the stirrup.

  “No, I suppose not.”

  I settled into the saddle and he swung up behind me.

  “I killed Toron,” I said as Dalph set the falton in motion. “By sheer stupidity. I killed him.”

  “Green Eyes, listen to me carefully. Toron died a soldier’s death and would have wanted no other. If you had not come out, they would have gone inside the Rata after you, and there is no way to know the outcome of that or how many would have died. And if I let myself carry with me the burden of the men who’ve died under my command since I had to take the throne, I could not walk under the weight. The past cannot be called back, mistakes are made, and the dead are dead. We have to worry about the present.”

  “The Krenorian Tornans? Crayton? Cretor?”

  “Safe. It was a well-orchestrated distraction.”

  “By Baka?”

  “Assuredly so. Several months ago, we lost two Kabras, and though it’s unusual for us not to be able to account for bodies, it sometimes happens. We’d assumed they were dead. I don’t remember the last time one of our ranks deserted, I don’t
think since my father’s time.”

  Pegasus was moving at a steady pace, but not at sufficient speed to hamper our conversation.

  “And now what will you do about Baka?” I asked, knowing that this could not be allowed to pass, proof positive or not.

  “What should I do about Baka, Tess? As Queen of Trusca, tell me.”

  I didn’t hesitate. “Nuke him,” I said.

  “Nuke?” I heard the smile in Dalph’s voice behind me.

  “Take him down, take him out, do your thing.”

  He laughed outright. “I’m familiar with the term. Johnny’s bemoaned the fact that we can’t nuke Pria before. I just wanted to see what you’d say. Yes, Baka’s a dead man walking, another term I’ve heard Johnny use. But he won’t be in Trussa, probably he’s not even still in Trusca at all, so it’s a moot point.”

  “How do you know?”

  “He masterminded a failed plot to deliver the Queen of Trusca to the Prians. Where would you be?”

  “As far away from you as possible,” I admitted. “And while I’m thinking about it, is there any other small little secret I should maybe know?”

  “Let’s see. I’ve been so in love with you since the first time I saw you that I would have sold my soul to have you as long as it didn’t endanger Trusca. I came up with the plot to force you into marriage while you were unconscious. I have no idea where the stone that’s supposed to protect my country is or what I’d do with it if I did know. I turn into a wolf during the full moon. I think that’s about all. But if I do think of something else, I promise to tell you.”

  “That’d be nice,” I said.

  “And now, we need to catch the others.” I heard the smile in his voice, and Pegasus surged forward. It was only a matter of minutes until we caught Dal and the other Tornans. Dalph moved to the lead and slowed Pegasus so that he moved at the same speed as Dal’s mount.

  “Glad to see me?” I asked, leaning over to touch his shoulder.

  He turned a brilliant smile toward me.

  “More than glad! Can’t you imagine how hard he’d be to live with now without you?” he asked and jerked a finger toward his father.

  I laughed. “Good to know my importance in the great scheme of things. Dalph, how did you find out I’d been taken, anyway? I forgot to ask.”

  Dal jumped in quickly. “We have signals that we use. They can travel very fast.”

  “The howling,” Dalph said. “We pass howls back and forth. Our hearing at such times is extremely acute.”

  “Abba!” Dal exclaimed, a horrified look on his face.

  “She knows, Dal, no more secrets from Tess. Doesn’t that make you happy?”

  Dal addressed his father, as though I wasn’t there. “Yes, but-but-does she still love us?” he asked mournfully.

  I almost fell off Pegasus trying to hug him. “I will always love you, sweetie. You’re my hero!”

  “And me?” asked the elder Randalph from behind me.

  “You betcha fur you are.”

  Dalph laughed, even in this crisis time, more relaxed than I had ever seen him. “I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult, my Queen, but before you get any more personal, we need to speed up. I want to be back in Trussa by late afternoon so I can plan tonight’s patrol.”

  “Do you really have to go back out tonight?” I asked. I wanted him near, whether in human or wolf form. Reaction, I supposed.

  “It hurts us if we can’t run, Tess.”

  And with that, Dalph moved to the front of the group and allowed Pegasus more speed, the others urged their mounts forward, and conversation ceased.

  I stood on the battlements that evening toward sunset, watching the Tornans ride out again. Johnny stood beside me, having forgone the night’s raid.

  “Damn, I’m getting old. I’m so happy to stay here tonight with Kiera I don’t know what to do.”

  “She needs you,” I said. Crayton and Cretor were safe, but as Tornans who needed to run during the full moon, they had gone back out with Dalph and Dal, giving Kiera little time with them to reassure herself of their safety. “And what do you do when they ride night patrol, anyway?” I asked, before stopping to consider that sounded rather insulting. “I mean—I didn’t mean you weren’t useful, I just—”

  Johnny, laid back as always, took the question in stride. “I know what you mean. Ordinary folks have to go with ’em, Tess. Somebody has to keep a guard at camp and watch the horses.”

  “Oh, of course,” I said. That had been rather stupid of me.

  “And I’ve done it for nigh on twenty-five years now, and I’m pretty glad to turn it over to the younger crew every chance I get.”

  “You’ve earned it,” I assured him.

  “Tess, the other night, you really meant it?”

  “What?”

  “You really meant you forgave me?”

  “For setting me up? I said I did, didn’t I?”

  “But do you? Really?”

  “Yes, Johnny, really. It’s so obvious to me now. I can’t believe I was the last to see it. I was the last to see it, wasn’t I?”

  “Yeah. You and Dalph, darlin’, if I could figure out how to harness electricity, I could power Trusca with the sparks you shoot off each other. Never thought to see such a couple again after Brentar and Madeline. But still, it’s an arrogant, arrogant thing to play with people’s lives, no matter how sure you are that you’re right, and it’s weighed on me. Real heavy.”

  “Well, don’t let it weigh anymore. Why don’t you go be with Kiera?”

  “Already dark. You coming in?”

  I heard the first howls come back from the distance. Dalph. I knew it. The voice was too strong to be anyone else.

  “Not for a little while, I just want to listen a bit. Do you recognize by chance, is that—”

  “Oh, yeah, that’s Dalph. I’d recognize that howl anywhere. Well, don’t catch a chill, now, you hear?”

  “I won’t,” I promised, and stood for a while, listening to the pack in the distance, until they moved out of my limited human hearing range, marveling over my life, so radically changed in so short a time. And when I finally went in and readied myself for bed, I discovered that Mother Nature had come to call, just as I’d known she would if I ever got myself calmed down enough, which I took as another promise of good things to come.

  Chapter Twenty

  I woke the next morning, focused on a decision I knew I’d made sometime during my captivity but hadn’t quite formulated yet. Apparently, it had resolved itself into a full battle plan during the night and I wanted to find Johnny as soon as I finished breakfast and dressed in fresh riding gear.

  “Oh, and Kiera?” I paused on my way out the door and called back over my shoulder.

  “Yes?”

  “Get me some more riding clothes. A lot. Five or six more sets, all black or brown and black, something that blends with terrain, please. Like battle gear.”

  “But why?!!” she wailed. “Your closet is full of such beautiful—”

  “Yeah, it is, but Dalph didn’t know me real well at the time. Maybe I didn’t know me real well either, but I do now. Riding clothes. In battle colors. As soon as you can get them.”

  I found Johnny on his way to the stables, preparatory to riding to Warrior Fields, which I thought rather fortuitous.

  “Johnny, listen. You have to help me.”

  “Sure. Not in a position to tell you no, now am I?”

  “This isn’t going over too well probably. Well, maybe it will. I’m not sure how Dalph’ll take it. But it doesn’t matter, it’s happening anyway.”

  “Tess, will you stop babbling and tell me what you want?”

  “I’m in pretty good shape, you know. I mean, I made an effort, so many hours behind a desk, in an office. I didn’t work out every day or anything but for sure a couple of times a week. And I ran a good bit. Haven’t done much but ride since I’ve been here, but it’s not like I’m starting just from scratch.”


  He stopped mid-stride and stared at me. “Your point being…?”

  “I have to train. And I need one of those wooden swords Dal says the children have as toys, to learn swordplay. And a knife, and whatever the hell else is lightweight enough for me to use. And somebody to show me how to use them. I know a little basic self-defense, but I want to know a lot more. Who can teach me? Can you set this up?”

  “Dalph will—”

  I interrupted before he could tell me how just how unhappy this was likely to make Dalph. “I don’t care if Dalph doesn’t like it. I will never be helpless again!”

  Johnny laughed. “Let me finish, Miss Impatience. Dalph is going to be so proud of you he won’t be able to see straight.”

  I stared in surprise. I didn’t think Dalph would try to stop me, but I did rather think his reaction would be more amused tolerance than anything else.

  “Really? You think so?”

  “Really. I know so. Trusca’s first Warrior Queen.”

  I smiled. Purpose was good. I’d been at something of a loose end during my first month in Trusca, with no real goal. Now I had one. I didn’t plan to ride out just on excursions Dalph deemed safe, either, and he’d probably yell about that, but I’d cross that bridge when I got there.

  “So who do I see?”

  “Let’s go to the Fields and I’ll get some equipment to bring back. I don’t think he’d want you training out there, at least not to begin with. You need to train where nobody can see you. Guess you’re stuck with me the next couple of days. The guys get back, we’ll work you up a schedule. Dal’s a natural swordsman, was from the first time he picked one up, he’s the one for the sword. For starters, anyway.”

  “Dal?” I asked, surprised. Dal was exceptional but still—

  “Oh, yeah. Dal’s been on holiday, getting to know you, good for him, and every kid needs a chance to be just a kid. But that don’t mean he’s not tough as leather. And he’s got an edge that’ll work well for you. He’s had to learn to compensate for his foot. Knows how to take a liability and turn it to an advantage. And Crayton and Cretor got some good moves, Dalph’ll want to do the hand to hand stuff himself though, I imagine. So he won’t slip up and kill somebody if they misjudge and leave a bruise on you.”