by Candy Nicks
"Sol, think carefully. I have my wolf. You will have no weapons once we go back through the gates."
"I bested him as a child armed with only a knife. You're the one who insists he's nothing but an old man. Do you not believe I can take him?"
"We're not going back for a fight. Let the wolf return by stealth to discover which of these visions are true. The Crystal knows everything. We only know what we see with our eyes. I will be back well before nightfall and then we will make a plan. If we go charging to the rescue like a hurricane in spring, blood will be shed. I will not have that."
"Out of the question."
Sol's breath puffed out in cloudy mists, mingling with hers in the crisp air. The blunt finality of his tone angered her.
"I will do as I wish."
"And so will I.” In one fluid movement, Sol hooked a leg over the horse and landed with a muffled thump on the ground. He slapped his forehead hard with the heel of his hand. “You can't begin to understand how this feels for me. What that man did to me. Don't ask me to sit here and do nothing while he cuts a swathe through life hurting others as he pleases. Oh Gods in the heavens. This, us, how could I ever think it would work?"
"You don't mean that."
"I can't do this.” Sol raised his eyes heavenward. “Goddess, are you hearing me?” he screamed to the clouds and sky. “Are you enjoying this? Do we mere mortals and our pathetic antics amuse you?"
His voice bounced from the valley walls until the reverberating sound gradually died away. With his face a mask of anguish, he remained staring at the silent sky. The moments stretched out, each of them lost in their own thoughts.
"May I speak?” Tian said, at length.
Sol barely nodded.
She leaned forward to pat Balan's neck. Threaded her fingers through the silky mane of this most steadfast of horses. “The Goddess said she would test me. This, I think, is the biggest test of all."
Sol glanced sideways at her. “How so?"
Tian slid from the horse, landing in the dip made by Sol's large boots. She took a cautious step forward. “Bravery, strength, agility. These are second nature to me. Understanding how this thing between a man and a woman works? That I may never master.” Sol opened his mouth to protest. She stopped him with a raised hand.
"Unless you teach me. You now say this will never work? Do you give up so easily when I remain willing to fight for our future?"
"Ahh, Tian.” Sol opened his arms to her. “You shame me. I spoke out of anger and pride. I didn't mean it."
"I'm glad.” She stepped into the warmth of his embrace. “The secret of a long and happy marriage is that when you go away, you must remember to come back. Am I right?"
"My mother and father are like the moon and the sun, yet their love is constant as the stars in the heavens. His life is hers as mine is yours."
"Good. No matter how the winds blow, we will always find each other.” She held him in place. Not testing, only asking he be entirely hers for one short moment. Sol stayed dutifully still, stiff with tension.
"I love having you to myself but it won't always be this way. When you take over from your father, you will belong to everyone at Wolf's Valley."
He softened a little. “I will always belong to you first. But Janelle might need our help. We must go back."
"How simple it is to you. The strong help the weak. You do not question or hesitate. I have only ever cared about my mother. Hidden behind her magic, I had no need to worry about matters of honour and obligation."
Sol regarded her fondly. “I too have dreamed of an uncomplicated life, somewhere in the mountains. Nothing to do but hunt and fish and make love to my wife..."
Tian shook her head. “You need people around you. Family, friends. You will always need to prove and test yourself. The life you were given is the life you must lead. If we concentrate, do you think we may be able to control the visions? Find out whether Janelle really is in danger?"
"It's worth a try. If we're going back, we must do it now. We stay together, agreed?"
Her answer came without hesitation. “If we split up, he will take one of us and use them against the other. I see that now. You will not leave my sight."
* * * *
He had no right to feel so excited. This wasn't about his pride or about revenge.
If he said the words often enough, they might become true.
"Have we broken it? Tian asked, brow creased with concern. “Why isn't it responding?"
Sol bit back his frustration. To the uninitiated, the Crystal was nothing more than a lump of glass-stone, common enough in most regions of the planet. For those the Goddess favoured, it became a conduit to another world. A place of energy and magic, of wishes and dreams.
His mother knew how capricious the stone could be. How it revealed only what the Goddess allowed. Sometimes full-blown visions, at other times tangled threads that made no sense. In the hands of a skilled reader, the Crystal made magic. At that moment, in his and Tian's hands, this particular Crystal appeared dead.
"Perhaps it's already revealed what we were meant to know. Your father is planning to use Janelle to lure us back to the Township.” He pressed himself against Balan's warm flank, grateful for the heat. Studied the thinning clouds and the startling blue of the winter sky appearing between the breaks. With no cloud blanket, the temperature would drop uncomfortably low for camping.
"Let me hold it,” Tian said. “Put your hand over mine."
"We've already tried it every which way. It gave us a warning and we now have to act."
"I wanted only to meet the man and look into his eyes. To put flesh on the bones. To hear his voice for myself. Why all this drama?"
"Because it gives him the advantage. He's making us panic and giving me a message I can't fail to understand."
"You mean he's doing to her what he tried to do to you?"
"And this time, he'll make sure he succeeds.” Sol tipped back his head and closed his eyes, infuriated that the terror of the time spent as the man's captive had never completely left him. “We're fools to have started this."
"Perhaps. Now he's issued this challenge, neither of us will back down. Let's move, I'm cold."
"You are,” he said, touching his fingers to her cheek. “On the horse with you. If this turns out to be a false alarm, we'll say I left my favourite riding gloves behind. If it isn't, we deal with it.” He cupped his fingers to boost her up. Mounted behind her, taking the reins when she leaned forward for them. “Let me,” he said. “We need to move quickly. You lead the mare. And promise me, no heroics when we arrive."
Balan responded to the squeeze of Sol's thighs, and retraced the trail of hoof-prints still visible in the snow, happy to be on the move once more. Sol glanced at his wrist chronometer, checked the position of the sun. With luck, they should arrive at the boarding house in time for the midday meal. The thought of Janelle's home-cooking made his stomach grumble in anticipation. Tian had been so amusingly jealous of the woman, but she too had appreciated the change from field rations and fresh kill.
He slowed the horse to a walk, using their measured steps to meditate and calm the turmoil in his mind. Tian remained uncharacteristically quiet, wrapped in her own thoughts as they picked their way along the trail.
A pang of home-sickness hit him when he caught the first glimpse of the distant township. If only it were Wolf's Valley and journey's end. He wanted his own bed. The hearth so big you could walk right into it. In the winter the family would gather in the great-room after the evening meal and while away the evening with good ale and stories and banter. Tallin would sing bawdy songs and make everyone laugh.
It all felt very far away. Like a life lived by someone else.
Tian shivered and snuggled into him. “You'll be careful, too, won't you? Keep your temper and don't let him goad you."
"I'll try.” It was the only promise he could make. The well-cooled dish made the best revenge and yes, the years had allowed him to come to terms wi
th the indignity of being kidnapped and leashed and dragged half-way up a mountain by a raving madman. He'd long forgiven his childhood self for falling into the trap and his father had assured him many times he brought no shame to the House of Faylar. And yet...
Sol snapped himself out of the past. His protests that they ride directly home and ignore Tian's father had barely masked his need to lay childhood phantoms to rest. Tian, or perhaps her wolf, had seen the truth behind his words even if he had not.
The Eagle warrior welcomed the chance to right this wrong. His Moon-Child side urged him to forgive. He would do both. Show Tian's father what he'd become, then put him out of mind and get on with his life. Though the sword itched in his hand, he would not shed the same blood running through Tian's veins.
Unless the man foolishly attempted to make a claim for her.
For all her strength and focus, Tian had vulnerabilities she would never acknowledge. The legal claim to his daughter was only one way this man might take her from him.
Two powered transports lumbered into view. Rare this far into the foothills. Tian turned to him, eyes widened in wonder at the sight. How different the world must seem to her.
"My father has one,” she said when the clanking metal cages had passed. “I saw it in one of the visions. How do they move without beasts to draw them?"
"Energy transfer has been around for a long time,” he replied, never taking his gaze from the retreating vehicles. “Very costly ‘though. You never used to see them this far off the main trading routes. Now they're reaching into every corner of this world. I'll explain it to you one day."
"If Father has one, he will be able to move more quickly than the horses. My wolf can cut across country, climb the rock faces. Shall I go on ahead?"
"If the vision spoke the truth, I'd prefer we arrive together. Not only for your physical safety. I want him to see we're one. To know you have me watching your back."
She nodded. “As I will be watching yours. If I cannot reconnoitre as wolf, how can I help?"
"Should your father try to assert his claim to you, I will be forced to fight him. You can pray it won't come to that."
"I don't think the Goddess is listening."
"Oh, she's been playing this game for a long time.” Sol spurred on the horses. “She's listening and watching. Laughing at the way we mortals stumble through our lives. Ultimately, we both belong to Her. She'll do with us as She wills."
Tian murmured her agreement. Those blessed by the Goddess would always owe her first allegiance.
"Don't falter, now,” she said. “We'll play her games and claim our reward. You said my brother, Finn, walked through fire for her. We will do the same."
Sol gave a dry laugh. “The Goddess knows us better than we know ourselves."
"She sees things we don't, although it suits her to keep them from us at times. What is her ultimate game, do you think? What does she want from us?"
"Our faith,” Sol said without hesitation. “When she asks me to leap from a cliff, I have no choice but to obey. Put on your sun-shades and use those extraordinary senses of yours. Tell me as soon as you feel or hear anything."
She was immediately alert. Hard and tense. “We will look foolish when we find this is merely a flight of fancy."
"I'd rather look foolish than be wrong. Open your mind, Tian. Seek him out. Let's get this over with. And then go home.
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Chapter 12
"You've lost your gloves? Oh, how unfortunate. No, I haven't seen them."
Tian opened her senses, reached out to the house and stable. Nothing.
"A shame you returned for nought.” Janelle continued to scatter grain for the squabbling hens crowding her legs. “Can I at least offer you a meal now you are here? Will you stay another night?"
"We won't be staying, but food would be most welcome.” Sol flashed his most charming smile and slapped his stomach. “Starving,” he announced. “Would you mind if I did a quick search of the room. For the gloves? In case you missed them?"
"Family heirloom, are they?” Janelle tipped the remaining grain onto the snow and shook out the bucket. “Please, go on up. Will you stable the horses?"
"Perhaps relieve them of their saddles for a short while. Tian, you might help Janelle prepare the meal, since she's being so generous."
"Or I could unsaddle the horses.” Without waiting for an answer, she took the mare's reins and called Balan to follow. “Go look for your gloves,” she said when he didn't move. “I'll be in the stable."
Janelle cast them each a curious glance. “Not for me to say,” she said to no one in particular, “But I think a woman is more than capable of unsaddling a horse."
Solidarity from Janelle? Tian didn't stop to question it. Likely the woman wanted to steal a few moments alone with Sol. She'd looked far too pleased at his return. Or perhaps she wanted her to go into the stable?
Tian turned her back, giving Sol no option but to enter the house with Janelle. Janelle had shown genuine surprised at their return. She might also be a consummate actress. They'd imagined her in pain, a prisoner but here she was, smiling and relaxed.
Tian stopped at the open stable door. The woman did not smell of fear. No nervous glances or twitches. Janelle didn't appear to be hiding anything. Tian listened and heard only the cackling of the hens fighting over the grain, the horses huffing out their breath.
She sensed no human in the stable. No wolf. Standing in the doorway, she removed her eye-shades and searched the dark corners, the hay-loft. Opened her mind to listen for father's voice.
Still nothing. Strangely disappointed, she led the mare into a stall and set about removing the saddle. Balan found himself a stall and waited patiently for his turn. When he, too, had been unsaddled, she fed and watered both beasts and while they ate, she took up a brush and brushed them down. The distraction of buckets and feed, warm sturdy flanks and smooth leather offered a welcome respite from the ever-circling thoughts and images of her father.
"He's not here?"
She continued brushing, knowing before he'd spoken that Sol had entered the stable. “I smell human traces, but how do we know if one belonged to my father? I only know he's old and grey-haired. I have no idea of his scent, the depth of his aura. He could be anywhere."
"Which means we must stay vigilant. Come inside. Janelle is putting together a quick meal for us."
Tian placed the brush on the shelf and felt in her pocket for the Crystal.
"Should we ask where he is?"
"No. I'd rather not lead him here. We'll try again when we're on the road."
"You took your time searching the room. You sought to leave me alone with my father?"
Sol slid an arm around her shoulders. Stooped to place a kiss to the top of her head. She felt his warm lips through her knit cap.
"It's what you wanted? To meet him alone?"
"Yes. Thank you."
"See, I'm learning, although I'll admit to hovering, in case you needed my help. I'll never trust the man.” Sol dropped another kiss onto her head and ushered her from the stable. “When we're settled in Wolf's Valley, I'll show you ten fun uses for a hayloft."
She pulled off her hat and stuffed it into her pocket. “You're thinking of sex at a time like this?"
"Hard not to when I'm near you. Damnation, now we might have to stay another night, look at that sky.” A thin strip of feathered cloud streaked the sky, already obscuring the sun.
"The first skies of winter,” she murmured. “My mother used to call this time of year the first skies. Blue one moment, heavy with cloud the next."
"We call it winter's-eve. Let's risk it. I don't want the horses walking in more snow than they have to or to be stranded here. We'll press on towards the next township. Once we leave these lower slopes, camping won't be a problem. We'll be snug in Wolf's Valley when the big freeze starts."
"If my father doesn't find us first."
"Smile, Tian. Janelle's watchin
g.” Sol nudged her, inclining his head towards the window. Janelle waved them cheerfully inside.
"I'm prepared for all eventualities,” Sol said. “Pay Janelle a compliment, by the way. She has a new gown, apparently."
"Which she donned especially to show you, not doubt?"
"Can I help being handsome and charming?"
"If she tries to claim you, I will fight her,” she muttered in return.
She ducked under Sol's arm when he held open the door, wishing she had more to wear than her threadbare shirts and pants. Janelle stood waiting, her red shimmering gown catching the light from the candles in the centre of the table.
"Lunch will be filled-loaves. I hope that's acceptable to you,” she said adjusting her cleavage. “I get few visitors at this time of the year I thought I'd celebrate my new gown.” She waited, smiling.
"We're honoured.” Sol returned the smile. “The gown is beautiful."
"It's too small.” The words were out before Tian could stop them. Sol hastily cleared his throat.
"What my wife means is ... it's ... a very flattering cut. May we sit down?"
Janelle acknowledged the compliment with a nod, the smile a little fixed now. “The man said it would stretch to fit. That's why I'm wearing it, actually. Yes, please do sit."
Man? The wolf leaped, begging for release.
Sol placed a warning hand on her back. “Traders? At this time of the year?"
"Oh, he arrived in the Township at the turn of the first moon. Furs, he was selling, in the open-market. Had a few luxury items on board and well, this was a thank-you gift for services rendered. Sit, please. I'll bring in the food."
"It could be anyone.” Sol whispered, catching Tian's stricken expression. “The world turns on the market-traders. They're everywhere."
"She said it was a thank-you gift."
"More likely a payment. Stay calm. And keep down your wolf. I can see your eyes flashing behind the shades."
"I can't help it, my wolf is screaming to be released. He could have..."