Dunedrifter (Warlords of the Sandsea Book 2)

by Elisabeth Wheatley

  The group of mercenaries laughed from the ground. How many of them knew that was exactly what he’d done to the last man who “troubled” her?

  Talitha folded herself against the wall, wrapped in her cloak. The ground was hard and the Dunedrifters were loud, but it was getting late into the night. Soon, they began to slump to the ground, asleep on the spot. Some of them pissed themselves, plenty of them snored.

  Closing her eyes, Talitha tried to rest. She needed to think of how she was going to persuade Ashek to help her in the morning, yet she couldn’t stop thinking about his wolfish grin, his admission that he wanted her. That thought made something in her gut tighten, but with that came a wave of guilt.

  She couldn’t—not with him. It would be wrong and would only end badly for him. Like the last man she’d fancied—a youth of a minor house. Sargon had him whipped and thrown naked in the streets. Ashek was a far cry from that boy and Sargon was long dead. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t be destroyed by loving an ensaadi.

  And Ashek was the kind of man who would probably destroy Ilios, too—intentionally or not. That was the knowledge that had kept her seeking him out sooner, kept her from doing what she’d wanted to do for all those months.

  Inhaling, she closed her eyes, determined to sleep. She could have sworn she heard someone mumble her name from Ashek’s direction, but he rolled over and fell silent.

  Chapter Five

  “What have you been doing for the past year?” Talitha asked quietly, studying the hot coals in front of them.

  Emalek was the only one not hungover within an inch of his life. He had been the one to post guards last night and generally played father to all of them. Had he even drank at all?

  “Has Ashek always been like this?” she asked, nodding to the Dunedrifter still snoring at their backs.

  She’d spent a year unable to stop thinking about him. Sometimes, it was unclear what was distorted by wishful thinking and what was real. Did she really know him at all?

  “No,” Emalek replied. “It started mainly when he was healing from his wounds.” Emalek didn’t need to say which ones. “He can fight again and just as well as ever, but some nights he gets sore.”

  Guilt plucked at Talitha’s chest.

  “Early on, the pain was so bad he began using sativa.”

  Talitha shot a look to the snoring Dunedrifter.

  “That ended a few months ago, but he still uses wine when he’s in particular pain. Or when we have it for the first time in two months.”

  Around them, men stumbled away to vomit or groan in corners. Moderation was something Dunedrifters—and Ilian soldiers—did poorly. Talitha’s own army she could keep disciplined on campaigns, but when they were in the city she permitted a certain level of immaturity.

  She supposed this was as close to a city as Dunedrifters had. With no ensaak and no homeland, they took what they could get when they could get it.

  “Why are you here?” Emalek asked point-blank.

  Talitha let off a slow breath. “I have a problem. I need Ashek’s help to solve it.”

  “A problem of swords or something else?”

  “Swords.”

  Emalek grunted in what could have been approval.

  “There will be compensation.” She tossed a piece of torn rag into the fire. “You know I’m good for it.”

  “You haven’t brought payment?”

  “I only came with two others. It wasn’t possible.”

  Emalek didn’t push beyond that. Despite his misgivings, he hadn’t tried to make her leave or even suggested it. He’d even sent two partially sobered men down to the sirrush pens to fetch Shaza and Kasrei. It was only a few hours to midday and Talitha would prefer the magian didn’t demolish Kilgal.

  The Dunedrifter lieutenant and the ensaadi sat beside the fire as the fifty some men around them gradually roused. He was no longer hot nor cold toward her and it was hard to gauge how he really felt.

  “After Ashek killed the ensaak of Lakesh, we came back here. Found a magian along the way to patch him together more or less.”

  “I…have regrets. About that.” Not looking up, she plucked at a thread on the hem of her tunic. Talitha already planned to have Kasrei help Ashek as much as she could.

  Emalek shrugged. “You chose not to kill him when it would have made life easier for you. In the end, I suppose he was indebted to you.”

  Was that why he had killed the ensaak of Lakesh? Repayment of a debt? Talitha swallowed.

  “Here, Ashek’s grown in reputation as a warlord-killer. It’s made him a legend to most, but more and more ensaaks are hesitant to hire him, understandably. We lost a ten count of men in those first few months, when Ashek couldn’t fight.”

  It sounded more and more as if Ashek had gotten the worst part of the deal.

  “But we’ve been gathering more. What’s happened in Ilios?”

  “I’ve earned as many new followers as enemies,” Talitha answered. “Some love me, some hate me. In many ways, it is much the same as it always has been.” Ever since she had turned Shaza, his father’s grudge against her had intensified.

  Not only was she a faithless heathen, worshipping the archaic Lonely God, but now she had led his son astray as well. Even worse, his son worked openly as her spymaster.

  Traitor, seductress, harpy, blight upon the city—all those were words that could be traced back to the priest, but never confirmed. There were rumors Talitha meant to overthrow her grandfather, but the ensaak had never spoke of it. The one time Talitha attempted to discuss it with him, he’d said he knew it was a lie, but it was her problem.

  Her fists clenched just thinking about it. Everything was her problem unless it had to do with those damnable water caravans.

  Groaning, Ashek dragged himself upright.

  Talitha kept her eyes on the fire, trying not to appear too eager to see him. One of his less hungover men shoved a waterskin in his direction and she heard him gulping it down. With a heavy sigh, he laid down again, staring at the ceiling.

  “Emalek,” he called.

  “Yes, my lord?”

  “Did the ensaadi of Ilios come here last night?”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  “Did I tell her I wanted to make her moan?”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  “Is she listening to us right now?”

  Emalek glanced to Talitha. “Yes, my lord.”

  Ashek grunted, scratching at several days’ worth of stubble. “What a night.”

  “Indeed.”

  Ashek swung himself upright, rubbing his temples. When he lifted his head, Talitha was watching him. His bloodshot eyes met hers for a moment and he sighed. “I need to take a piss.” Stumbling off, he didn’t look at her again. She noted the vague limp in his gait, stiff and immobile in his left calf.

  Emalek and Talitha waited in silence, both waiting, both used to it. Ashek took close to twenty minutes. Talitha tried not to get anxious.

  Emalek didn’t seem surprised and she supposed he knew Ashek better than she did. More men woke and stumbled off to relieve themselves or vomit outside the hovel. She didn’t see why they bothered going outside. The wood smoke only vaguely disguised the scent of the previous night’s debris.

  When Ashek returned, his face was reddened from shaving and he was covered in a light dusting of the sand he’d used to scrub himself clean. His eyes were still bloodshot, but his hair was reasonably straightened while his jerkin and kilt were buckled on at right angles.

  He moved with greater ease than he had a short while ago. Talitha wondered if the pain was especially bad in the mornings.

  “Talitha of Ilios,” Ashek muttered, taking a seat beside the fire. “Tell me what I should make of this.”

  Talitha was silent, collecting her thoughts. She’d had days and all night to collect her thoughts, yet she’d never quite decided on what she would say. In an instant, all her carefully rehearsed, businesslike propositions flew from her mind. “I need your help,�
� was all that came out.

  The corners of Ashek’s mouth quirked. “How did you find me?”

  “This was the last place there was word of you.”

  “I see.”

  She’d ordered her spies to keep an ear out for any mention of Ashek the Dunedrifter. Any and all rumors were reported directly to her. So long as the rumors kept coming, she knew he was alive and had healed from what she’d done to him. Talitha had clung to the knowledge that he was alive day after day after week after month. It had been enough.

  No, she would never admit that last part.

  “Are you alone?”

  “I came with two companions. Kasrei and Shaza.” Not that Ashek had ever met either of them.

  “I sent Miekel and Sesheen to fetch them,” Emalek interjected.

  Ashek’s brows rose. “I expected better for an ensaadi of Ilios. You are still ensaadi?”

  “Last I checked.” Talitha rested her elbows on her knees, leaning toward the fire. “Gilsazi has been taken.”

  Ashek hesitated a moment. “The boy your sister took?”

  “No. My general. The tavrosi.”

  “I see.”

  “You forgot his name?”

  Ashek shrugged. “There was only one name in that city I cared to remember.”

  Talitha swallowed, trying to keep on task. He was either playing her incredibly well or meant every word. It was dangerous either way.

  “Why haven’t you taken your army after him?”

  “The ensaak forbade it.”

  “Really?” Ashek was silent for a long moment. He had witnessed a glimpse of her tumultuous relationship with her grandfather. No doubt he was dissecting her words, weighing them against what he knew of the man. “He forbade you rescuing your liegeman?”

  “Not in so many words. He refused to provision any force I might bring.”

  “Why?”

  “He said it was…” Talitha shot a glance to the other Dunedrifters, just waking. She trusted Ashek, by whatever misguided instinct, but his men were a ragtag assembly of miscellaneous outcasts. There was no trusting them. “Circumstances made it dangerous.”

  “It was dangerous or he said it was dangerous?”

  “Both.”

  Ashek shook his head. “You’ll defy him, but you still defend him.”

  “He never said anything about me going. Or about those I find to come with me.”

  The Dunedrifter exhaled. “As a last resort, you came to me. I’m flattered.”

  Talitha didn’t answer. If he wanted her to tell him she’d come for anything other than his help, he would be sorely disappointed.

  “So what do you know of your general’s abduction?”

  “He was taken by Dunedrifters. We think he was brought here or a nearby den.” Talitha handed him the sigils she had from the dead men.

  Ashek looked them over, brows furrowed. “Xeram had Jak’morians in his band. Grimorians and Parsaris, too.” He handed the medallions to Emalek.

  “Sounds about right,” the other man agreed. “They headed out two weeks ago, as I recall. Shouldn’t be too difficult to find.”

  “Xeram specializes in ransom,” Ashek added, partly talking to himself, partly talking to the other two. “Pudeka and Quar might have those creeds of men, but Xeram is most likely.”

  Talitha glanced between the two Dunedrifters. Already, she had a name.

  “I’ve ridden with him on raids before. He prefers stealth and subtlety when he can manage it, but he shouldn’t be too hard to find.” Ashek exhaled. “We find him, we find your general.” He surveyed his slowly waking band of warriors. “We can be ready to move by midday. Not sooner, I think. We’ll have to work on provisioning, but that shouldn’t be too difficult.”

  Talitha frowned. “You’re agreeing?”

  “Don’t sound disappointed.”

  “I’m not, I—you don’t want to hear my terms? I’m planning to compensate you fairly.”

  “I know you are. That’s why it’s a yes.” Ashek stood. “Emalek, stay with the ensaadi and get the men upright. I’m going to go negotiate with that old miser at the wells.”

  Emalek inclined his head. “As you wish.”

  “Ashek.”

  Talitha took a deep breath and picked up the oilcloth covering at her side. She couldn’t seem to hold it quite steady, but she extended it to Ashek, not able to make eye contact. “This is yours.”

  Ashek frowned, but accepted the parcel. He flipped back the oilcloth wrapping. His brows furrowed in confusion, then rose in surprise. “This is my sword?”

  “Yes.”

  “That I stabbed you with?”

  Talitha’s shoulder ached at the memory. “Yes.”

  Ashek covered it back up with the oilcloth and pressed it into her hands. “Keep it.” Without another word, he spun around, not waiting for her response.

  Talitha watched Ashek go with more confusion than she’d experienced in a long time. Inside she was a tangle of knots, attempting to sort out what motivated the Dunedrifter. Deeper down, she was even more confused over the strange twisting in her chest.

  “Talitha!” Kasrei shouted, blustering through the doorway into the hovel. The magian drew to an abrupt halt, straightening her long robes and glancing between the ensaadi and Emalek. “Is this him?”

  It occurred to Talitha that Kasrei had only seen Ashek once and from a distance. “No. This is Emalek, Ashek’s lieutenant. Ashek is tending to preparations for our departure.”

  Kasrei visibly relaxed. “You were able to convince him?”

  Talitha shrugged. “Truth be told, he didn’t need much convincing.”

  Chapter Six

  Talitha was impressed how quickly the Dunedrifters mobilized. In a matter of hours, they went from being sprawled on the floor with wine sickness, to saddled and riding across the Sandsea.

  Sword slung across her back, Talitha rode beside Ashek at the head of the column, Emalek flanked Ashek on one side and Kasrei and Shaza flanked Talitha on the other. Directly behind them rode the column of Ashek’s men.

  Emalek had told her some men deserted when Ashek could no longer fight. All the same, most of them had remained and new men had joined. Ashek was a strong leader, Dunedrifter or not. He was the kind of man who would find a following wherever he want.

  The most dangerous man in the world is the one who is both cunning and loved, her grandfather had once said.

  Ashek led them on their path toward Xeram’s last known haunt to the northwest. The sun beat down hot and sweltering, but there was little time to waste. It had already been nearly a week since Gilsazi’s abduction.

  As Kilgal faded behind them, Talitha noticed that Emalek was no longer on Ashek’s left while Shaza, Kasrei, and the others had pulled back. She and Ashek led the way by one or two shirrush lengths. She could feel the stares of everyone on them. She glanced to Ashek to see if he noticed.

  He met her eye and quirked one brow. “Has your sister tired of marriage yet?”

  “Esreth hasn’t, no. I’m not so certain about her bridegroom.”

  Ashek chuckled. “Ilios proving below his standards?”

  “More that he is below Ilios’s standards.”

  “Hmm.” Ashek cast a brief glance behind them. “He married into the richest and most powerful city in the Sandsea. That’s more than any third son could hope to have.”

  “She’s second heir,” Talitha agreed. “But yes.” In truth, she had often wondered if that had played a part in his eagerness to bed Esreth. How much of it had really been thoughtless passion?

  “If you keep going the way you are, Esreth will be ensaak one day.”

  Talitha’s spine prickled. There was nothing in the way he said it, more the fact she had found herself discussing succession and heirs with…him.

  “I know,” she said, clearing her throat. “By the oceans, I know.”

  Ashek looked to her. “You half-worshipping the Lonely God doesn’t help.”

  Talitha bristled.
“I believe in the Lonely God. To pray to anything else would be a lie. But To attack Nehemian and his followers would be to attack half the city.”

  “As if warlords never lie,” Ashek chuckled.

  “I don’t,” Talitha shot back. “Or I try not to. But not flaunting my religion is the compromise.”

  “I know,” Ashek replied, so softly she almost didn’t hear it. “They don’t deserve your compromise, Talitha. They aren’t worth it.”

  The ensaadi focused on the horizon, not responding for a long stretch of silence. The slopes of the distant mountains scratched at the skyline, jagged and uneven.

  “Does an infant deserve her mother?” Talitha asked after a time. “Does the sirrush colt deserve the care of his keeper?” She shook her head. “It’s not about what my people deserve, Ashek. It’s about my responsibility to them.”

  The Dunedrifter let off a long breath, but didn’t interrupt.

  “One day—perhaps sooner than later—I will die and stand before the Lonely God. I want Him to be pleased with me.”

  “You can’t earn anything with the Lonely God, Talitha. That’s not how it works.”

  She was a little surprised he knew that. “True, but…giving in to an old priest who swears I’m a curse upon the city honors no one.”

  “I will agree with that.” Ashek nodded his concession. “So why do you give in to him?”

  Talitha chewed her lip. She had no answer. She thought of the smashed idol back in Ilios, but also the sacrifices she’d allowed Nehemian to make in her gardens last month. She figured he would do it anyway—what did it matter where the rituals took place?

  “You have no idea how badly I wish you weren’t ensaadi.” The last sentence was spoken almost in a whisper. “But you aren’t doing anyone any favors by keeping your convictions a secret. Not to your city and certainly not to your god.”

  Talitha tried not to show anything. She should have left it at that, but she didn’t. “I don’t know what this is, Ashek,” she said quietly, gesturing vaguely between them. “I don’t have a name for it or a comparison, but…” Talitha adjusted the reins in her hands. “I can’t let it endanger Ilios. Regardless of what I want.”