"What are we going to do with her now?" Allia asked, looking at the inu.
"Nothing," he shrugged. "If she wants to follow, let her follow. We can't do anything about that."
The inu remained even after the sandstorm was over, and that irritated Tarrin just a little bit. He didn't want to be nasty to her, but he didn't like the idea of her following along behind him either. Not that it bothered him or he feared her, but if she followed them, she wouldn't hunt, and she was going to get weak. If she followed too long, she was going to get too weak to hunt once she did break off. Tarrin felt kind of responsible for her, but he knew the instant he fed her, he'd never get rid of her. And taking an adult inu home with him would cause Jesmind to absolutely explode. He went to sleep worrying over that, understanding that he'd have to run her off in the morning, for both the good of both of them.
It turned out that Allia totally destroyed any chance that they would ever get rid of the inu. When Tarrin woke up the next morning, he came out of the fissure to see his Selani sister feeding the inu a rather large umuni. She had a strange, bright look in her eyes, and she was stroking the animal's sand-colored flank gently, almost affectionately. The inu seemed to enjoy the attention, even sidled up against the Selani and growled in a playful manner, nuzzling at her side with her wickedly toothed snout.
Tarrin groaned. "Allia!" he admonished in expasperation. "Now she's going to follow us around all the time!"
"Let her," she said with a strange kind of enthusiasm. "Sarraya may have joked about it, but now the idea of taming inu intrigues me. They would be excellent hunting partners. Inu are swift and intelligent, and we respect their ability."
"What about the domestic flocks?"
"Some of those sheep-herding men use dogs to control their flocks," she shrugged. "Dogs are predators. It would just take some training on both sides to keep them from fighting."
"It's a bad idea," he warned.
"I'll find out in time, won't I?" she asked pointedly.
Tarrin blew out his breath. "Alright, have it your way," he said shortly.
"Naturally."
"Before you get too attached to idea, you should consider what we're going to do with her when we go up to the Cloud Spire."
"Take her with us, of course."
"Are you out of your mind?" he said hotly. "If I take an inu up there, they may throw us off!"
"They would throw you off if you took a kajat," she said calmly. "But not an inu. She's too small to be a danger, and you and Sarraya can explain things to her so she doesn't cause any problems." She patted the inu 's flank fondly as the big predator bent down and ripped the umuni carcass apart with her long, dangerous teeth, swallowing it in huge, bloody chunks as she held the remaining carcass down with her wickedly clawed foot.
This was an argument he knew he was destined to lose. He knew when to cut his losses and at least bow out with some measure of dignity. "All right, but I'm not going to help you in any way. She's your burden."
"Yes you will," she said absently. "You'll argue, and you may even try to put your foot down, but we both know in the end, I'm going to win." She flashed him a bright, affectionate smile. "Because you love me."
"Sometimes love really stinks," he said with a snort, turning and stalking away.
They didn't have to slow down much for their new pet. The inu that Allia named Talon could keep up with them rather well, a testament to her stamina and her will to keep up. Inu were born runners, but Tarrin hadn't realized how much like the Selani they were until he saw Talon and Allia together. They had the same basic survival instincts. Both inu and Selani were nomadic, going to where the food was, and that meant that both groups were used to travelling great distances. Inu were fast sprinters, but they were also effective distance runners, able to eat up the longspans with an easy stride that they could hold for hours on end. He realized that the Selani had probably learned from the inu when they first came to the desert, for the inu 's hunting tactics were similar to the Selani's. They used ambushing tactics, running down a meal in a furious sprint, and a pack cooperated during hunts meant to bring down more than one prey animal, with one group chasing meals to where the rest lay in wait. The Selani did the same thing, able to either run down lone prey or chase them into an ambush set up by the rest of the hunting party. The Selani had found the desert a harsh, forbidding place when they first arrived, so they probably turned to those who thrived here and learned the secrets of survival from them. Selani were alot like inu, and it was no surprise that someone had finally noticed that.
Talon herself surprised Tarrin a great deal. She was very intelligent, playful, and seemed quite happy to stay in their rather unusual pack. She seemed a formidable, intimidating predator to him, but at the same time she was affectionate and very social, and surprisingly gentle. It amused him that he realized that he'd done the same thing so many others do, only see the bad side in a thing. He'd judged the inu from a bad experience with a pack and their fearsome reputation, but hadn't once thought about how they lived. A pack of wolves seemed dangerous and forbidding, but wolves themselves were very social and intelligent animals, capable of great expressions of devotion and love to members of the pack. Inu were like wolves that way. They were ferocious, and they were dangerous, but they were also mothers and cub, mates and pack members. To members of the pack, they were cordial, even compassionate, dutiful and loyal, and protective. That, he realized, what was caused them to attack in what some thought was a suicidal manner. They weren't attacking mindlessly, it was a powerful instinct to defend the pack against a dangerous enemy. That instinct to defend caused them to be wildly aggressive, attacking even things like kajats, because the concept of pack lived on even if the entire pack was killed in the fight. Even the last surviving inu thought in terms of pack, as we instead of I, and would continue to fight on for the pack. It took the realization that the entire pack would die unless someone retreated to make them break off from an attack.
Talon had adopted Tarrin and Allia as her own pack, and she had assumed a place in it. Inu were exactly like wolves; they had a hierarchy of command that ran from the leader all the way down to the lowest member. She assumed that lowest place willingly, not willing to challenge the mighty Tarrin over his role as leader, and sensing that Allia was just as deadly. She wouldn't challenge Sarraya because she was a Druid, and that left her in the most submissive position. Besides, she was a very young inu, and the youngest occupied the lowest ranks. After all, they still had much to learn.
Allia seemed entranced by the inu, and Talon seemed just as taken with Allia. She had gained the animal's trust, and after Tarrin used Druidic magic to speak directly to it-something he'd done with Sapphire before she could speak-some ground rules were laid down and some Selani was taught so she could obey Allia's verbal and hand-signed commands. After that, the two of them would go off and hunt together, and they would often drag back animals too big for either of them to catch alone. Or at least seemingly. Allia's intelligence and understanding of her environment and the animal she was stalking allowed her to take on virtually any animal in the desert. It would be a bit dangerous, but she could do it. But with Talon's help, they could easily bring down any size prey animal, from the largest sukk to the most heavily armored kusuk. It seemed odd that Allia would choose an inu as a pet, but on the other hand, a sleek and deadly raptor fit in with his sister's personality. The fact that Talon was just as big as Allia only made it seem even stranger.
There was no doubt as to who Talon's favorite was. She was friendly with Sarraya and Tarrin, but she behaved like a puppy around Allia, prancing about and almost trembling with delight every time the Selani stroked her scaled flank. She was right by Allia's side almost all the time, and Allia was so trusting of her that she'd even let the inu groom her. She had no fear of the animal, but it seemed to him that fear of Talon was woefully misplaced. She was a deadly predator, but she was also an animal with a pack mentality. Since she'd adopted them as pack, it made her as safe and secure a
travelling companion as they could have.
Sarraya found the whole thing quite amusing. "Next thing you know, Kerri's going to bring home a kajat," she teased, giving Tarrin a wolfish grin one fine desert evening, as the two of them sat on a short rock spire, staring out into the desert to make sure no little surprises were close enough to cause any problems.
"As long as she feeds it, it's her problem," Tarrin snorted, which made the Faerie burst into laughter.
Several days of light travel as they adjusted to the inu seemed to fly by, but not without news of the outside world. Keritanima and Jenna projected out to him about every other day with news. Keritanima's news was redundant, for they were safely entrenched in his grandfather's house in Dusgaard, and were surrounded by an army of watchful Ungardt. They would probably be just as safe in the arms of the Goddess herself. The only real news there was that Auli seemed to be playing games with the human that had been altered to take his place. Fox, he was told, was an overly clever young man with a penchant for causing trouble, and someone like that would immediately catch Auli's attention. Tarrin wondered if the young human knew just how much trouble he was getting himself into. It wouldn't seem too strange for outsiders to see that, for Tarrin and Allia were quite close, and were known to tease and play with each other from time to time. Triana would be there to step on it if it got out of hand, though. She was visiting about every other day or so to keep an eye on Jula and make sure things were going alright for them.
The news from Suld wasn't as light-hearted. The strange inciter still hadn't been caught, and the crowds he was whipping into a frenzy in whichever square or marketplace he appeared in that day were getting bigger and bigger. Jenna had a real problem on her hands with him, and no matter how hard they tried, he always seemed to slip away during the chaos of the riots he would incite. On the king front, she reported that she had made significant progress. She had dropped Arren's name in the right places around Suld, and now there was open verbal speculation about the worthiness of the respected duke of a far-flung desmense. That was the first step to getting him on the throne, and Jenna told him she intended to go see him in a couple of days and order him to accept if the throne was offered to him. And she would make sure that it was offered to him. Jenna had a great deal of power, and her power inside the boundaries of Sulasia rivalled the monarch's. Picking a king was well within her abilities.
Jesmind had still yet to talk to him, and that was bothering him a little bit. She knew he was angry, but he figured she would have put that aside to make sure he was alright. That wasn't normal for her, and he realized that maybe he was going to have to put his anger aside for a little while and check on her himself. He was depending on her to let him keep tabs on his daughter, Mist, and Kimmie as well. Then again, tht may be one of the reasons she wasn't talking to him. Jesmind had shown a great deal of jealousy over him, and he had the feeling it was because Mist and Kimmie, her two rivals, were right there. If they weren't around, she'd probably be alot less jealous, but with them there, she felt she had to compete for his attention.
Probably not. As a reason, anyway. Jesmind could do something that Mist and Kimmie couldn't do, and that was talk to him any time she wished. That she wasn't using her advantage meant that something else had to be bothering her.
He knew that it had to be Jasana. Having to punish her that severely had strained her, but she knew it had to be done. That was another reason to talk to her, if only to cheer her up a little bit.
The next morning, the four of them ran with a sandstorm threatening from behind, and they came over a rise and looked over the very gentle hills that crowned the distant cloud on the horizon, not yet hidden by the wavering air caused by daytime heating. They pulled up and looked at it a long moment. "Here we are," Allia said. "We'll be there by the midday heat."
"I wonder why we haven't seen any Aeradalla," he growled, looking around in the sky. "The last time we came, we saw a bunch of them before getting this close."
"I was wondering the same thing myself," Sarraya agreed. "I didn't think we were this close, seeing as how we slowed down so Allia's pet could keep up with us."
"They don't normally go in this direction," Allia said. "They seem to hunt to the south of the Cloud Spire. You don't see them very often when you approach from other directions."
"As often as they fly just for fun, you'd think that we would have seen some of them by now," Tarrin fretted. "It's strange."
"Well, by this afternoon, we'll know," she told him sedately. "Let's move, brother. We're wasting valuable travel time."
"We'll find out now," he said bluntly, setting his feet. "I'm not about to wandering around up there unless I'm sure of things."
"How do you propose we do that?" Allia asked.
"Easy." He put a paw to his amulet. "Ariana."
"I forgot about that," Allia chuckled.
There was an interminably long pause. "Ariana," he called again.
"Tarrin?" came the startled reply. "Is that you?"
"Would it be anyone else?" he asked archly. "Where are you?"
"At home," she replied.
"Good. I'm about twenty longspans northeast of you right now. Why aren't there any Aeradalla in the sky?"
There was a long pause, then her laughter reached him. "What are you doing in the desert?" she asked brightly.
"That's not important right now," he told her. "What's going on?"
"It's the imbralla," she told him. "A religious observance. For one ride we don't fly unless we're hunting or moving from tier to tier. We do it memory of our distant past, when we had no wings and couldn't fly. After the imbralla, we have a grand holiday to honor Shaervan and the gift he gave us. You're just in time for it, my friend," she laughed. "The imbralla ends the day after tomorrow."
"Do you think we'd cause much of row if me and a friend or two come up?" he asked.
"Not at all," she replied. "I think you'd be the only outsider we'd allow in. Andos hasn't forgotten what you did for him, you know. Neither have I. Do you know I'm the richest merchant in Amyr Dimeon now?" she asked with a laugh. "I also just happen to be the Queen," she added with a smug little smirk in her voice. "I'll tell Andos you're coming, and if he doesn't allow you to come up, I'll do the allowing for him."
Allia smiled, and Sarraya laughed. "She hasn't changed," she snickered. "That's the same girl we saw flatten the nose of a fresh patron in that bar."
"From barmaid to queen. What an interesting turn of events," Tarrin chuckled.
"I'll tell you all about it when you get here. Do you need me to come and get you?"
"I can get up on my own."
"I rather thought you could. I've seen you fly before in Suld. Remember where the palace is?"
"One of those four buildings on the top tier surrounding the obelisk, right?"
"Just so. It's the one facing north. I'll tell the guards to expect you."
He was about to reply, but a power of staggering greatness suddenly broke in between them. "Tarrin, come back immediately!" it was Ianelle's voice, and she sounded frantic. Almost panicked. "Tarrin, you have to come back right now!"
"Ianelle?" he asked in confusion.
"There are Demons on the grounds, honored one! We need you!"
Tarrin was shocked, and Allia and Sarraya both gasped. Demons on the grounds! No wonder things had been so quiet! They were going to lure him back by attacking the Tower, because that's where his mates and children were!
Well, it was going to work. "I'm coming right now!" he said quickly, letting go of the amulet.
Demons on the grounds! The horror of the battle of Suld rose in him again, but this was a different kind of horror. The guards and Knights would have no way to fight against Demons, and only someone with an extensive knowledge of Sorcery could fight against them. Tarrin and Jenna had that knowledge, and she would need him to help her.
Everything was out the window now. They were attacking the Tower, and it held many things that were precious to him. Th
e Goddess, his sister, his mates, his children. So much of his life tied up there, and he could not turn away, no matter how dangerous it may be to go back.
Without a thought, without even a warning, Tarrin enveloped the four of them in the weaves of Teleportation, and they vanished from the desert, within sight of the goal they had decided upon when they arrived, within sight of a goal they did not reach.
So close, yet a world away.
To: Title EoF
Chapter 11
Because he had no idea what was happening or where things were taking place, Tarrin Teleported them back outside the towers, in the sand-filled area where the Knights trained their cadets. It was the one place that he knew would be empty at that moment; if there truly were Demons on the grounds, then every body that could swing a sword would be fighting against them.
He felt it the instant he arrived. The Weave was literally thrashing around the Tower as he felt several powerful Circles scattered through the grounds, all of them wielding High Sorcery. Even from that distance, he could feel what they were doing, and he was a bit startled at their ingenuity. Sorcery could not harm a Demon, since it was a part of the world. Only things not of the world could harm one. Since they couldn't use Sorcery, what they were doing was sucking all the Wizard and Priest magic they could get their hands on out of the Weave. Because both forms of magic were other-worldly in origin, and therefore could do injury to a Demon. At that moment, Tarrin seriously doubted that any Wizard or Priest anywhere on the entire planet could cast any spells. If he tried, the power of the Sha'Kar and the katzh-dashi were intercepting the power before it could reach them, pulling it back to the Tower grounds, and then unleashing it as raw, magical force. They couldn't shape the Wizard magic because they weren't Wizards, and the same applied to the Priests. They had to use both types of intercepted magic in their primal states, but that primal state was more than enough to do significant damage to anything it struck. Raw magic was a destructive force, not a benign force. The power they could unleash in the real world wasn't even a fraction of what was in the Weave; Tarrin realized that doing what they were doing was horribly inefficient, and only a small portion of the magical energy they drew actually managed to manifest in the real world. They had to draw vast amounts of energy to form an attack with enough power to kill. That was why they hadn't already wiped out all the Demons.
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