A King's Ransom

by Lia Black

  Although the man's words were surprising and a bit confusing. Crow had not felt desired for as long as he could remember, and had been looking at the prospect of never feeling that way ever again. "Does that mean... does that mean you find my appearance to your liking?"

  Lucania's face was getting redder. "Yeah, but really--please, don't worry about it, I would never, never, ever do anything inappropriate."

  "You wouldn't?" Crow cocked his head.

  "No," Lucania shook his head from side to side.

  "Not even if I asked?"

  Lucania's blue eyes went wide and he opened his mouth but before he could speak, Engel started calling to him, demanding that he do something-or-another.

  "Your guard captain is calling you." Crow said and pulled down his hood, taking up his crossbow and bolts. "I'm going to find us some dinner."

  *~*~*

  Dreams, Crow believed, were the gods' way of communicating with mortals. He hadn't dreamt in over six years, which seemed to correspond with his understanding that the gods had forsaken him. Although it was foolhardy to question the insight of his queen, he couldn't help but take the dream he'd had as a sign. These men, these preshcali and the Dulath had been kind to him even after he'd told them how he'd disgraced himself and his clan. And they had admitted to the same sorts of behaviors, which meant he was not such an abomination as he'd been told. In fact it was for the love of a half-blood prince that Kaidos risked his life, and Crow sensed that the Guard Captain Engel had a similar purpose.

  Crow knelt down, brushing aside some leaves and twigs to clear a spot in the dirt. He carved a symbol in the soil to focus his energies on prayer to T'ival ut Andullune. Pulling out his dagger, he cut his finger and let a few drops of blood stain the earth. Crow was never one to consult the gods on a whim. He felt it was not his right to ask for their attention because he'd believed he had displeased them. But in this case, with a decision so important, he hoped that the gods would consider his request.

  He closed his eyes, chanting a prayer of guidance under his breath. He did not want to kill the humans, but would not doubt that the gods spoke their will through the queen unless they sent him a sign that proved otherwise.

  There was a rustling in the trees and Crow opened his eyes, searching out the source. At first he only saw a few of his namesake flying up from a thicket. Then they seemed to open up--spreading their flight in all directions--and from their center came a pure white crow.

  Crow gasped and the bird flew up then spiraled and landed on the symbol before him. It cawed then took to the air once more and then he saw it--a large stag lifting his great horned head--offering himself as sacrifice to nourish the bodies of the humans. To keep them alive.

  Crows decision was clear to him now.

  *~*~*

  After dinner, Crow revealed his obligation as set forth by the queen. He'd expected to be killed immediately for his admission, but the humans accepted the information gravely.

  "So what does this mean for you?" Engel asked him as they sat around the fire.

  "I...suppose it means that I shall be punished for denying my queen's command."

  "That's not fair." Lucania frowned into the fire. "Come with us, little scout."

  "I..." Crow looked around at each set of eyes in surprise, then sighed and bowed his head, "I would like to, but I must answer to my queen. She speaks with the voice of the gods, yet I disobeyed her command and thus, the gods' decree."

  "But didn't you say that the gods had given you a sign?" Kaidos asked, holding up a bone from their dinner.

  "But I am still bound by the queen's authority."

  "I don't get it," Lucania combed his fingers through his hair, his hand visibly shaking, but for what reason, Crow was not certain. "They condemn you and force you into exile, yet still expect you to serve them?"

  The Dulath's eyes burned enough to feel them even when Crow could not meet his gaze. "They are…were my people," Crow said in a small voice.

  Lucania stood up. "Come with me, little scout. I wish to speak with you."

  Crow felt his heart drop into his stomach. He stood up, setting his weapon aside with a shaking hand and followed after the Dulath, accepting the fact that this might indeed be the end of him.

  They stopped well outside of the campfire light, inside a small ring of trees. Lucania turned to look down upon him but Crow could not raise his head.

  "Before you kill me, I wish to tell you that I have enjoyed your company Dulath…Lucania. Your words to me have been kind, and it pleases me the name you call me."

  "Little scout?" Lucania's voice rumbled.

  Crow nodded. He felt a lump rising to his throat and hot tears stung at his eyes. Gods, he'd cried so much the first several months of his exile. But after going so long without comfort or conversation, he'd forgotten what it felt like to cry, or laugh, or feel much of anything. In a way, he was pleased that he could experience emotion like this one last time.

  Warm arms encircled him, pulling him against the Dulath's solid human shape; but Crow was not smothered as he'd expected. A sob escaped him when he realized he was being comforted instead of killed.

  "Hush, little scout. You thought I meant to punish you." Lucania's warm breath stirred the hair on the top of Crow's head.

  Crow nodded, but still did not raise his head from Lucania's chest. So warm.

  "Crow, little scout; they do not deserve you—those who threw you away. I would be honored to make you part of my sleuth. Please, come with us. I ask you for nothing in return."

  "N-nothing?" Crow finally raised his face, the combined heat of Lucania's body and his tears had made his cheeks feel raw.

  "Perhaps friendship." Lucania was smiling down at him, and in the darkness his pupils shone like silver disks.

  Crow reached up and pressed his hand to the man's shaggy cheek, feeling the silken roughness of his short beard and the heat of his skin beneath. Touching him, being held; it felt too good, and Crow was certain the gods would strike him down on the spot. But there was nothing except the sensation and the sound of his own blood pounding through his ears.

  "Let me think on it. Give me tonight to consider your words." Crow let his hand slip off of Lucania's handsome face.

  He felt him sigh with something that sounded like disappointment, "All right, little scout," and Lucania let him go.

  Back at the campsite, Engel and Kaidos were engaged in a tense conversation, and Crow hesitated to enter the clearing, pausing to listen to their words..

  "I don't know how much longer I can take this…" Kaidos was saying, shaking his head as he looked at a map Engel had scratched into the dirt.

  "Not giving up already, are you?" Engel raised an eyebrow.

  "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Guard Captain?" Kaidos mirrored the other man's expression.

  "No. I would not. Don't you think I have had the same fears as you, Vailinn?" Engel grumbled and stood up, stretching his spine. "Despite what you both think of me--well deserved though it may be--I do love him, and I've tried like hell to protect him through the years. I never meant to...I never meant to get involved with him...like that. By the time I realized I had fallen in love with him, the only thing I could think to do was to get married and hope that my feelings for him went away. I don't deserve Veyl. You don't deserve Veyl. But that's not up to me to decide."

  "It's up to Veyl. And I will not disappoint him." Kaidos stood up, pulling out his dagger. "Despite what Crow said, I for one am sleeping with one eye open tonight. I trust him, but not his clan." He went to his bedroll and settled in for sleep, folding his arms across his chest.

  Crow felt Lucania move up behind him. He sighed and continued forward into the firelight. Trust. These men whom he'd just admitted he'd been told to kill would still offer him trust.

  "Please," Crow said to Engel, "allow me to take watch through the night. It would make me feel a sense of redemption."

  Engel opened his mouth but then closed it again and nodded. "I appreciate it
, Crow. Come wake me in a few hours should you need rest yourself."

  "Thank-you, Ahrn Engel." Crow watched the guard captain settle into his bedroll, then turned his attention to Barlan once more. "You should sleep as well, Lucania."

  "I will keep watch with you, little scout." Lucania said with a kind smile and he sat down with him so their backs shared the same lichen-covered boulder.

  They sat in companionable silence for a few hours until the big Dulath fell asleep and now lay snoring beside him. Crow sighed, letting himself be comforted for a while by the heat of the large body so close, as he waited away the night. He pondered the price of these mens' forgiveness as compared to his queen's. She would not forgive him unless he committed an unforgivable sin against those who had been kind to him.

  The white crow had accompanied him back from his journey of guidance, and it perched on the toe of his boot, cocking its head as though listening to sounds that no mortal could hear. Crow was always very faithful to the gods, but this was the first time he'd ever asked them for something so directly, and that they had answered him was as astounding as it was troubling. In the years prior, when he still lived among his people, he could not remember such a time that the ruler of the Northern Wind Court had beseeched the gods and received anything more than divine wisdom.

  The bird looked at him as though he'd spoken aloud, and Crow shook his head. He knew to his very soul that this bird's appearance was not coincidence, yet he could not allow himself to consider what it meant.

  *~*~*

  In the morning, Crow was gone.

  Kaidos and Engel had to fight to keep Barlan from doing something stupid like going back into the woods to look for Crow, which was not at all simple. The man was as stubborn as he was huge. For all Kaidos knew, and despite what he wanted to believe, Crow might have betrayed them and was going to bring reinforcements to do them all in. Of course, he wasn't fool enough to say such a thing to Barlan.

  Currently he and Engel were each putting their full weight—one across each outstretched arm—on Barlan as he lay on his stomach grumbling.

  "Barlan, we can't let you leave and we can't stay here," Engel was trying to reason with the big man using cold logic, but Kaidos understood he should be trying a more emotional approach.

  "Barlan," Kaidos said calmly, "I know what you're going through, believe me, more than anybody. Crow just needs some time alone. He's smart and he knows these woods. He'll be all right. Just have faith and give him time."

  Kaidos felt the tension in Barlan's muscles slowly relax.

  "You think he'll come back?"

  "Yeah, if that's what he wants to do, then he'll come back." Maybe it wasn't the most reassuring answer that Kaidos could have given him, but it was an honest one and he respected Barlan enough to be truthful. None of them really knew Crow to the point of understanding what went on behind his mask of stoicism; likely Crow didn't really know himself.

  *~*~*

  Kaidos' reasoning worked, and they set off, following a direction they believed was east, but after several hours, it seemed as though they had made no progress at all.

  "Does anyone have any idea of which way we're going?" Kaidos moaned, leaning against his horse's neck as he saw what looked like the same fallen log they had seen three times already.

  "This damn forest is a maze." Engel swore, standing up in the stirrups and trying to get a lay of the land.

  Barlan said nothing. In his bear form, he'd been brooding quietly since they coaxed him away from camp. Kaidos felt bad for the big guy. It seemed that he'd given his heart away too easily and had lost it in the process.

  "Face it. We're lost." Barlan finally grumbled, plopping down on his rump.

  Kaidos was about to concur when he saw a flash of white and followed it out of the corner of his eye. The others noticed as well, also trying to make out the source of the movement through the thick leaves. By the time they had lost whatever it was completely and resigned themselves again to the trail, a familiar figure dropped down in front of them.

  "Crow!" Barlan gasped and lumbered towards the elf.

  Crow was out of breath, as though he'd been running and his hair was slick and dark with sweat. He bent over to try and take in some deep breaths.

  The flash of white they had seen earlier was clearly a bird, and the albino crow landed on Crow's shoulder. Barlan stopped a few feet short of Crow and resumed his human form. The elf lifted his head and they locked gazes. Kaidos watched Barlan's hands flexing and fisting as if he was unsure whether to hold Crow or hit him.

  "I'm sorry," Crow said to Barlan, "I was nearly back to the Court when I realized…" he stood up, straightening his spine. "I would rather die nameless with someone who can accept me as I am, then to die at the hands of those who took my name."

  The albino crow hopped onto Crow's head and Barlan embraced him. "You won't regret it, little scout."

  Crow struggled, the bird started flapping its wings, and Kaidos laughed as Barlan, blushing, gave the poor elf a chance to breathe.

  "Thank the gods," Engel sighed, "we never would have gotten out of this damn forest without a guide."

  Barlan resumed his bear form once more, crouching so that Crow could ride on his back again.

  "I've spent the last several hours covering your tracks," Crow said, climbing up. "We need to get moving, however. It would be best to be as far away from our last campsite by nightfall as possible."

  "How far have we gone?" Kaidos asked.

  "Four miles...south." Crow answered.

  "South!? Damn it all!" Engel cursed. "We need to go east!"

  "Four miles in three hours?" Kaidos shook his head. No wonder that damn stump looked so familiar.

  "It's an enchantment. The trees know that you are not of the heartwood." Crow explained. "They will let us pass now. We must hurry, the queen's scouts will not be fooled for long."

  CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

  An Unexpected Reunion

  The scouts did not take long to pick up on their trail. There were only six of them, Lucania had informed them as he scented the air, but six was number enough, and undoubtedly would soon be met by others.

  Crow still did his best to keep them one step ahead. He'd been loyal to the god of the heartwood and in exchange the forest bent to his will far more easily than the others of his kind could see through it.

  "Go on," He said to his three companions, "I will meet you at the edge of the wood. You'll know you're safe once you pass through the Breezefower bushes."

  "I'm staying." Lucania came to stand beside him, his voice was a deep rumble as he retained the form of a bear. "I won't let you face this alone."

  His gaze was earnest, and the words, so similar to what he'd heard in his dream, sent a chill through him. Unable to speak, Crow simply offered a terse nod and steeled himself for the amount of power that he was about to unleash through the forest. Pressing his hands against two trees, soft words in the Ancient Tongue tumbled from his lips. He could feel the forest breathing around him, through him, and the beat of the Heartwood drown out the sound of the hoof-beats from the horses of his fleeing companions. Crow felt the magicks swirling inside of him, building up until he was ready for them to be released. Sending his energy through the ground, the roots of the trees in the forest took it and transformed their boughs and bark for him just enough to confuse the trackers.

  The border of the Northern Wind's territory was only a few miles away. If Crow could hold the scouts back long enough, at full gallop, the humans on horseback should make it within an hour.

  Suddenly Crow's magick slammed into something as hard as stone. He gasped and dropped to one knee, clutching his aching head. Through the trees, deep brown eyes found him, and the lone scout slid from his horse and began to approach. Crow's pulse beat through his temples.

  "Crow—" Crow heard Lucania's voice behind him but he was trapped, caught by those eyes and the painfully familiar face of someone he knew.

  Klimri, the reason for his e
xile; the man he'd once loved. Crow pulled together the remainder of his energy and stood up to face him.

  The man's eyes widened and he blinked several times, and Crow knew that he'd recognized him as well. Klimri stopped a few feet from him, staring and doing his best to ignore the growling of the enormous bear. Or perhaps, Crow mused, he was so shocked that he hadn't noticed Lucania yet.

  "Crow. Is that what you are called now."

  The question was rhetorical. Crow could not tell if it was pity or disgust with which Klimri had intimated the words. He stood there dressed in the greens and golds of the queen's military; one shoulder was swept with the braids of a high officer. His silver-blonde hair was pulled back into a tight braid, accentuating his sharp, handsome features. His appearance used to make Crow's heart skip a beat, when he'd been rejected, it made his heart ache. Surprisingly, now his heart felt nothing.

  "Klimri. I suppose it is right that the gods have chosen you to be the one to mete the queen's justice. I see you are a Commander-in-Court now." Crow said, lowering his eyes.

  Klimri was silent for a moment and Crow could feel his gaze sweeping over him.

  "I did not realize it was you we were looking for. Now it makes sense," the other man said; and then more softly, "you've cut your hair."

  It was an odd observational statement, but Crow felt Klimri's nervousness tangling with his own in the space between them. "So I did." Crow said. "Lucania, it's all right." He turned his face, his eyes pleading with the growling bear to be silent.

  The golden-furred bear huffed and sat back on his haunches, but the growling stopped.

  "Lucania?" Klimri asked, his eyebrow's rising in surprise, "you have a pet?"

  "Lucania is Dulath. He is my friend," Crow felt proud to say it and he looked back at Lucania. The bear's forehead rose. His ears perked forward, and his blue eyes softened. Crow felt his heart warm and he offered a trace of a smile before turning back to Klimri.

  "A Dulath. I see." Klimri looked between them briefly, but his eyes stopped on Crow. "You should have lied…" Klimri said softly. "Then none of this would have happened."