Tarrin Kael Firestaff Collection Book 3 - Honor and Blood by Fel ©

by James Galloway (aka Fel)

  Tarrin had to admit, that was a good policy. It also explained why the Blue was the second grade through which an Initiate progressed, when it should have been the last. Tarrin honestly couldn't recall how far into the Initiate he progressed, or what he had learned. What little he remembered of the Initiate was mainly what he learned from Dolanna. It seemed a lifetime ago.

  It was then that he realized that he really had very little understanding of what really went on in the Tower. He had been so against the place that he had refused to learn about much of anything, even when he was here before. But then again, he still had no real desire to learn, for he wouldn't be there much longer anyway.

  He was starting to get like Jesmind, only wanting to learn things that seemed to have practical use.

  Tarrin said his goodbyes to Tiella, and as she hurried over to the long table where the prepared food was kept warm for those drifting through the kitchens, it reminded him about Dar. Dar had shown some interest in Tiella, and he knew that Tiella had a crush on Dar. He wondered if they'd managed to get anywhere yet. He hoped so. Dar was rather cosmipolitan, being an Arkisian, but Tiella was probably still a moralistic, straight-laced village girl. She probably still wouldn't bathe when it was crowded. He'd have to work that out of her. Sometimes human morality was, if not inconvenient, highly illogical.

  Snorting, lashing his tail a few times, Tarrin started off with his plate towards one of the dining rooms.

  The mood on the Tower grounds began to get tense as the days passed. The ki'zadun was coming, and now even the Tower was openly preparing for it. The Vendari and the Knights had erected a vast breastwork and palisade that encircled the entire Tower grounds, running about the inside perimiter of the fence, and they interrogated with extreme prejudice anyone entering or leaving the grounds. More and more Aeradalla had begun to appear in the sky over Suld, ferrying scouting reports and messages from ground-based scouting patrols to and from the command structure, which had set up shop in the Tower. Shiika's Arakite Legions had joined with the Sulasians and the Wikuni on the walls of Suld, serving as the first line of defense. The Wikuni with their gunpowder and muskets, and the cannons they'd mounted on the walls to shoot down on attackers, would prove to be devastating. The Legions were some of the finest warriors in the world, just as extensively trained to defend a walled city as they were in attacking one. The elements of the Sulasian army and militia that were there probably felt a little overwhelmed by the caliber of soldiers they found sharing the walls with them, but it was not doubted that they welcomed them with open arms. Rumor and fact had filtered into every tavern and inn in the city, so everyone knew the size of the force marching on the city. It was going to be a very large battle, they thought.

  Of course, there was also good news. The Ungardt had realized that they were just getting people killed, and had broken off any more attempts to slow down the advancing army. The Aeradalla scouts had reported that the Ungardt were about a day ahead of the ki'zadun, on a forced march to Suld. That meant that there would be even more Ungardt there to defend the city, joining their brothers and sisters who were getting drunk in the city's pubs every night and causing almost as much chaos as the impending army might if they were within the walls themselves. Another bit of good news was that the Selani had finally made their presence known, absolutely annihilating the Dal army that had been pinning down the Sulasian forces just outside of Ultern. True to form, they attacked in the middle of the night, while the Dals were camped, killing their sentries and striking while most of their enemies were asleep. The Selani had great honor, but they saw nothing wrong with attacking an enemy by surprise; indeed, it was even more honor to them for taking their enemies so totally off guard. The reports Keritanima had shown him from the Aeradalla said that it had gone beyond being a victory, or even a rout. It had been an absolute slaughter. The Selani did not take prisoners. That was a well known fact. And they proved that to be a true statement. Selani did not surrender, and they would not accept surrender from an enemy. In battle against Selani, one either defeated them, or managed to flee the field. They had wiped out the entire Dal army, right down to the last man. It may have seemed brutal to some, but they didn't understand the Selani or the environment in which they lived. War was not something the Selani took lightly. The Selani were fully of the mind that an enemy that attacked once would attack again, so it was best to kill them the first time. That was why the Arkisian Emperor was so adamant about preventing gold hunters from invading Selani lands, because he knew that the Selani would come across the Sandshield like a black wave of death and raze the entire kingdom to the ground.

  Tarrin had taken a moment after reading that, as he and Keritanima and Allia sat comfortably around a table in his room, and realized that the Selani and the Sulasian army they would join would be in Suld within a few days. Counting off the days, he realized that the Fae-da'Nar were only one or two days away themselves, and that the ki'zadun were only five or six days away. Things were getting closer and closer, and though he knew it was coming, Keritanima's confidence and the dismissal of it by the Goddess had put him in an optomistic mood about it.

  Tarrin himself had been busy during those days. He and Jenna had been practicing every day, for a good portion of it, until the techniques that the Urzani taught them went beyond being second nature and became absolutely automatic. They had also labored more with Bridging, and had become quite proficient in that as well. They both were just waiting for Spyder to call them again, and they were both very much looking forward to it. Days were spent with Jenna. Afternoons and evenings were spent with any number of his friends, from quiet meals with his bond-daughter Jula--with Kimmie tagging along--to walks in the gardens with Dolanna, to walks around the Tower grounds with Dar as they told stories and remembered their time together in the Novitiate, to evenings spent in quiet domesticity with his parents and Jenna in their apartment, to shouting matches with Camara Tal, to a rather heated exchange with Phandebrass when the fuddled Wizard tried to cut off the end of his tail for magical research. Few men could walk up behind Tarrin with a drawn knife and survive to see the next sunrise. It had never occured to the Wizard to ask. Probably because he would already know the answer.

  What amazed him was that Kimmie had gladly sacrificed a good chunk of her tail to Phandebrass. That was most likely because she was still desperately trying to get him to tutor her in the magical arts.

  Late evenings and nights were spent in his apartments, with his mate and daughter. He did his best to teach his little girl about magic safely during those balmy early summer nights, often with rain pattering against the windows, but it wasn't easy. Jasana's raw power made it hard for him to show her how to use magic without allowing her to touch it, and she couldn't touch it because he wasn't sure if she could control it or he could contain it. But when it came down to it, he realized that he had little choice in the matter, and then strarted the process of teaching his daughter how to actively touch the Weave. She had yet to do it successfully, probably because Tarrin was trying to see if she could touch regular Sorcery before High Sorcery, but he knew it was just a matter of time. Probably just as soon as she stopped listening to him and did things her way.

  In all the hustle and bustle, Tarrin had realized that there were two people he had yet to see, and both of them were rather important. The first of them was Sevren. He had yet to see the spectacled Sorcerer since coming back, and he hadn't thought to ask anyone where he'd gone, if he had gone anywhere at all. Sevren was one of the few Sorcerers in the Tower that Tarrin trusted, and Tarrin considered him something almost like a friend. The second person he had yet to see was Janette, and that made him feel a little guilty. Here he was, in Suld, with an army coming at them, and he hadn't even bothered to go look in on his little mother and make sure that she and her parents were doing alright. When the war started, he absolute was not about to leave them out in the city. Janette, Tomas, and Janine, and their house staff, were going to be in the Tower, right where Tarri
n would know that they were going to be safe. They were good friends with Tarrin's parents, so it wouldn't be like they'd feel that they were being imprisoned.

  It was sunset. Tarrin was sitting on one of the couches surrounding the fireplace, turned around on it so he was leaning against its back and looking out the windows of the balcony door. It was raining again, a kind of heavy, oppressive rain that tried to drown everything, the kind of rain that rarely lasted more than an hour or two. But this rain had been going on for almost three hours now, and he'd heard from Jula when she came up to visit that some of the sewers in Suld were starting to clog up and flood some of the lower streets. Jasana was sitting on the floor near the crackling fire, playing with a small doll that Dolanna had bought in the city and given to her the day before. It seemed odd to see a Were-cat child playing with a human doll, but Jasana did have human instincts. Then again, one of her favorite games with the doll was to make up ever more graphic and horrific ways for it to meet its end. That was the other side of her that most people didn't see, since they were so taken with how adorable she was. Jasana looked like a cute little girl, but they couldn't forget that she was a cute little Were-cat girl. She already had that killer instinct, and her gory games with the unfortunate toy were merely an extension of the instinct to perfect hunting skills that would be needed in adulthood. Jasana's duplicitous nature would have offended his sensibilities two years ago, but now that he had fully embraced what he was, they seemed perfectly natural to him now.

  Jasana was describing in lurid detail how the doll was being mauled by a pack of rampaging bears when Jesmind came into the apartment, carrying a tray of meats and a pitcher of chilled milk. The scent of his mate never failed to brighten his mood, but his mind was a bit preoccupied to turn around and greet her properly. She had been very tolerant of him during his long hours away from her, but when they were alone in their apartment at night, when they were being the family that they were, Jesmind demanded his undivided attention. But there was no sharp demand this time, as she set the tray down on a tea table between the three couches and sat down next to him. She turned around with him and leaned up against him, using her tail to rub up and down his back. "What's got your mind wandering, beloved?" she asked curiously.

  "Just thinking about Janette," he replied. "I haven't even gone to see her yet. I feel neglectful, but with everything that's been going on...." He snorted lightly.

  "You can't be everywhere at once, my mate," she chided him gently. Jesmind knew all about Janette; he kept no secrets from her, and had long ago divulged the entirety of his life when she wasn't with him. "Go see her tomorrow."

  "I think I will," he nodded.

  "I want to go see her," Jasana piped in. "I remember what you said about her, papa."

  Tarrin reached into his belt pouch and pulled out a torn-up, thoroughly destroyed little figure, a small wooden doll that looked like it had been mauled by a panther. It had been Tarrin's favorite toy when he had been with Janette, pretending to be her cat, and he had managed to keep it with him during all of his journeys. He rarely took it out, it was so precious to him. It had been waterlogged, burned, dropped from great heights, blasted by magic, been soaked in blood, and had been hit by weapons more than once, but the nearly unidentifiable little piece of once-colorful wood had managed to endure. It certainly looked like it had been halfway across the world and back, but it wasn't its appearance that mattered to him. It was what it represented. It was something of a good luck charm, and also a link back to the little girl who had saved his life, a little girl he loved as dearly as his parents, or mate, or sisters, or even his own daughter. Janette had saved his life by taking him in and showing him kindness and love, and it was for her that he had started this mad quest. Not to save the world, not to protect humanity, but to protect one little girl, and the world she would grow up to inherit. That had been about his only motivation for such a very long time, outside of his love of his family and sisters, until he had found Jesmind and Jasana. Now he was doing it for them, doing it for the promise of the life he may have with them when it was all said and done.

  He sighed. She had to be about ten now, and a little taller. Those dark eyes were probably a little bigger, more energetic, and she was probably alot more vocal about her objections to how her mother kept trying to plan out her life. Janine's only real fault in Tarrin's eyes was that she was smothering Janette in her attempts to teach her to be a proper young lady, when all she wanted to be was the child that she was. Tomas was probably a bit balder, Janine a little leaner and more hawkish in appearance...and he wanted to see them again.

  "What is that? Oh, is that the doll?" Jesmind asked, pointing at his paw. He nodded and handed it to her, if not a little reluctantly, and Jesmind took it and looked at it, then raised it to her nose and sniffed at it gingerly. Janette's scent was long scoured away from it, but it was an impulse in Were-cats to smell things. Unlike other beings, Were-cats had keen senses of smell, and an identification of an object or person wasn't complete without its scent. Tarrin often thought of his friends or acquaintances not by name or face or appearance, but by their scents. It was the most effective way to separate people in his mind, for no two scents were alike.

  "Good grief, my mate, what has this little thing been through?" she asked. "It has fire smells on it, and blood, and the trees only know what some of those things are I can't identify."

  "As much as I have, Jesmind," he told her absently, looking out the window again.

  "Can I see it, mama?" Jasana asked, dropping the doll and coming over to them.

  "Alright, but you be careful, and remember it's not yours," Jesmind cautioned her as she handed the doll over to the little girl. "And don't play with it!" Jesmind warned as an afterthought. "If you break it or lose it, I'll skin you!"

  Jesmind did not make idle threats, and Jasana knew it, so she handled the little doll with extreme care, sniffing at it exactly the way Jesmind did before her. "You used to play with this, papa?" she asked.

  "Janette would drag it through the house on a string," he chuckled. "I wouldn't play with her any other way, because I wasn't going to take the chance of biting her by accident."

  "I've never seen you as a cat, papa," Jasana told him. "Can you show me?"

  "I guess so," he shrugged. He turned around on the couch and shapeshifted for his daughter's benefit, settling into the form and instincts of a cat. It had been quite a while since he'd been in cat form, and for a short moment, it felt a bit...strange. But that wore off immediately as the old sense of it returned to him, and he sat down on the couch on his haunches and looked up at his daughter calmly.

  "Wow, you're big, papa, even as a cat," she giggled, fearlessly reaching down and picking him up. Her grip was a bit firm, painfully so--Jasana didn't realize her own strength yet--but she took the pressure off of him when she put him back on the couch and put the doll down in front of him. "I didn't break it, see?" she announced proudly.

  "Be glad you didn't," Jesmind said flintily. Jesmind usually seemed harsh with Jasana, but he understood her need for it. Jasana was a cunning little girl, devious enough to do Keritanima proud, so Jesmind had to keep her on a short leash. That devious nature had yet to flare up in her since leaving Aldreth, but that was mainly because Jasana had yet to see something that she wanted. As soon as she wanted something that she couldn't have, she would go to absolutely any lengths to attain it, even doing things that would utterly shock her parents. She had once used Sorcery for the express reason of keeping Tarrin with them in Aldreth, because she had heard him say that if she used her powers, he couldn't leave her. What she didn't count on was him dragging her along with him. But then again, with as much fun as she'd had so far on their trip, she wasn't too unhappy with the results.

  "When can I turn into a cat?" she asked her mother impatiently.

  "Not for a while yet, cub," she replied. "The ability comes around puberty. That's a few years away."

  Tarrin sat down on the couch patiently,
then decided that laying down would be better. "Papa, why are you staying like that?" Jasana asked.

  "Because it suits me," he replied in the manner of the Cat.

  "She can't understand you yet, beloved," Jesmind told him. "The ability to talk to cats doesn't come until we can shapeshift."

  "I didn't know that," he told her, looking up at his mate.

  "Now you do," she said evenly.

  Tarrin had forgotten how much easier it was to think in cat form, where his instincts drowned out most of the thoughts that would distract him from the current center of his attention. He laid down and put his paws over the little doll possessively, his mind drifting back to the problems at hand. The ki'zadun was more or less at the top of that list. They couldn't be much more than ten days away. They should be receving reports that they had reached Darsa any time now. Things were getting closer and closer, and the terrible reality that there was going to be a pitched battle in Suld rode high in his mind. They were running out of time, but from what he'd seen, they were going to be ready. Almost all of the defenses had been constructed, erected, or planned out, and men and Wikuni and Vendari had already begun to practice the duties of the positions they had been assigned by Darvon's general staff. From what he'd heard, one of those generals was the Arakite commander, one was the Wikuni commander, and one was the Vendari commander. Keritanima had gone back to sitting in on the planning sessions, helping out where she could. Things were going to be ready, and both Keritnaima and the Goddess seemed confident that they would win. Tarrin had been as well, at least until he shifted into cat form. Now, he wasn't so sure. Something, he wasn't quite sure what, but soemthing was nagging at him.