She stopped, her gaze resting on Reisil with an unsettling intensity. Reisil swallowed. She had already thought of these things—of having to kill in order to save others. She nodded, agreeing, knowing she was committing herself to horrors she could not yet comprehend, but also that it was necessary and that in doing so, she served the callings of both tark and ahalad-kaaslane.
“Good. Then I have one more gift to give you.” The Lady bent so that She was eye-to-eye with Reisil.
“Your journey has taken you into the realm of Pahe Kurjus, the one you call Demonlord. I have little influence in his lands, as he has little in mine. But he permits magic in his realm, and therefore you may benefit from this.”
She reached out her hand so that the razor-edged talons of Her thumb and forefinger hovered before Reisil, filling her vision. Then they shot forward, stabbing into Reisil’s eyes.
Reisil screamed as hot pain exploded and tongues of fire swept through her head. Then as fast as it had come, it was gone.
She blinked and could see. The Lady stood upright, stroking the weirmart as if She’d never moved.
“You know of the wizard sight—to see in utter darkness without light. Now you have such sight also. You will find also that your skill with healing will be greater than before. Focus your mind on what you want to accomplish, and it will happen. But I warn you, use what I have given you sparingly. It will drain you even to the point of death. There will always be more illness than you can heal. Remember you are both tark and ahaladkaaslane, and that you must allow the cycle of life to happen.” She looked at Saljane for a long moment and Reisil could sense a conversation between them.
She looked back at Reisil. “Serve me well in this, for I depend upon you to choose the right path.”
Reisil nodded dumbly, overwhelmed, and once again the silvery-gold light suffused the glade, closing around Reisil like a cloak of cedar-scented feathers, warm and comforting. The light faded and Reisil found herself back in the clearing, the scent of cedar filling her lungs.
“Reisil! At last you have come back. Are you well?” Sodur aided her to stand, careful not to jar Saljane. Reisil smiled at him, feeling a spurt of amazement that she could see him so clearly in the dim firelight. She glanced around, seeing Juhrnus sitting with Esper, the two communing together, nose to nose. Kebonsat had been caring for the horses, and now approached her, a look of frowning thunder on his face.
She saw everything with crystal clarity, as if the moon shone like the sun.
“I am well, though Saljane is poking holes in me, and I wouldn’t refuse a bath.” Sodur fetched her gauntlet and slid it up over her arm. Saljane shifted so that he could maneuver it beneath her and then he buckled it in place. Reisil flexed her arm and stroked Saljane’s head, the bird ducking down so that her ahalad-kaaslane could reach better, crooning deep in her throat.
~I am glad you are here. I didn’t think I was going to see you again after Upsakes dumped me down the bank.
~I would fly through fire for you.
~I know. We are ahalad-kaaslane. I am understanding what that means. I know you have half my heart, my soul. Together we are one.
~Yes. Saljane bumped her head harder into Reisil’s hand, radiating pleasure and joy.
“What happened to you?” Kebonsat stood opposite her, hands on his hips, his feet splayed, looking like a bull trembling on the edge of rage. Reisil knew his rage stemmed from concern. To fight and kill one of the men he trusted most in the world, then to have his companions evaporate into thin air—he was off balance, and only in anger did he find comfort and control.
Reisil gave a gentle smile and reached out for him. She caught her breath. The welts on her arms were gone! And for the first time she realized the pain in her ribs and face was gone as well. Her smile widened, dazzling in the firelight gloom.
“I have been with the Blessed Amiya. And look what She has done!” She held her arms out so that he could see.
“Saljane—how do you feel?”
~Strong. Can fly high and far.
Reisil laughed. “She is well. Now we will be able to ride fast and Saljane will spy out the way.”
She put her arm around Kebonsat’s shoulders, feeling the tension in him. “The Lady wills that we shall find Ceriba and prevent the war. I have much to tell you all, but first I would wash and then eat.” She glanced at Juhrnus and then to Sodur. “You might try to get him cleaned up as well.”
With that she retreated down to a shallow scooped-out cove along the river where the water chuckled merrily over its stone bed. When she returned, she found Kebonsat turning a pair of fat grouse on a spit. Sodur and Juhrnus were nowhere to be seen.
“Bathing, downstream,” Kebonsat told her when she asked.
Reisil nestled close to the warmth of the fire, studiously ignoring Upsakes, who lay hunched on the ground where Sodur had left him. No matter that his feet and hands were bound, that he could neither see nor speak through the blindfold and gag. Reisil felt his presence like a sucking vortex of hate and rage in the evening stillness.
She concentrated on pulling her comb through the tangles in her hair, letting the repetitive motion smooth her jangled emotions even as she smoothed the wild mess of her hair. Saljane perched on the stack of firewood nearby.
“If this wandering about is going to be my life from now on, I think I ought to just cut it all off,” she complained with a yelp when she tore out a knot.
“I have often thought the same thing,” Kebonsat said with an unexpected lightness. He came to sit behind her, taking the comb and sliding it through her hair. “It’s a tradition that nobility in Patverseme keep their hair long, but damned inconvenient, especially when traveling across country.”
“Don’t you usually have squires or someone to help?”
“Aye, and tents and armor and cooks and furniture. Not on this journey, however. And I have never been a good housekeeper or valet.”
“Must be a terrible hardship for you,” Reisil teased.
“Terrible. Ah, what wouldn’t I do for a bubble bath, a hot brandy and someone to clip my toenails.” Reisil glanced over her shoulder at him. He looked perfectly earnest and she giggled.
“You know when I first met you I thought you were an ass,” she said. “Arrogant and puffed up, staring down your nose at everybody. You surprised me, though. You let Ceriba badger you in the kohv-house, and the way you smiled at each other—pure mischief.”
“Thank you, I think.” A shadow crossed over his face and his smile leached away.
“We’re going to get her back. She’ll be all right.”
The look on his face was haunted, his eyes full of inexpressible pain. “I’ll not forgive myself if—”
“There are no ifs. We are going to get her back and she is going to be all right. Now give me back my comb and get to turning that spit. If you burn our dinner I’ll tell your father you simply cannot be sent out into the wilderness without a full entourage, including your own personal nail-clipping, brandy-warming bath maid.”
Kebonsat began to laugh and Reisil smiled. This she knew how to do—to break the tension, to help someone deal with fears and pain. She prayed to the Blessed Lady that she was right, that they would find Ceriba safe and rescue her.
And then prevent a war.
Simple.
Reisil sighed and yanked on her hair. It was time to tell Juhrnus and Sodur about Kaval, and Upsakes’s lies. And then make a plan.
Chapter 13
After supper, expectant silence fell as Reisil settled beside the fire with a cup of mint tea, resting her elbows on her knees. Esper coiled in Juhrnus’s lap. Juhrnus circled his arms around his ahalad-kaaslane, eyes red-rimmed. Lume stretched full-length beside Sodur, his silvery fur gilded by the light of the fire’s flames. Kebonsat sat to the side of Reisil, his expression lost in the shadows. The night was chill this high in the mountains, and Reisil hitched herself closer to the fire.
But she must soon speak and tell the others what she’d l
earned. Seeking assurance, Reisil clasped her pendant. Sodur bent forward.
“May I see that again?”
Reisil opened her hand and held it out to the length of the ribbon around her neck. Sodur stared at it, then nodded, giving Reisil a wondering glance.
“Do you know what you hold there?”
“It belonged to Talis. The Lady told me.”
“Aye, Talis first, then Galt two centuries later. It’s like seeing the past come alive. Wherever did you get it?”
“It was a gift,” Reisil said cryptically, unwilling to say any more, though not certain what made her reticent. How had Nurema come by it?
“Indeed. It could not come to you another way.”
“What do you know of it?”
“The Blessed Lady chose Talis—a tark he was! Well, now, how did I forget that?” He scratched his newly shaven jaw and then shrugged. “Anyway, the histories of the time are rather muddled, but legend has it that the lands of Kodu Riik, Patverseme, Scallas and Guelt were all of a piece then. That was long before those we know as Scallacians invaded. The lands were ruled by warlords who were constantly fighting over their little territories, sending the yeomanry into endless battles and leaving the women to work the fields and their babes to grow up without fathers. Sons marched off to war as soon as the first fuzz marked their chins, returning home now and again for a visit and a tumble in a lonely woman’s bed before marching off again. Most died before they had twenty-five summers under their belts. Talis served one such warlord. He patched up the boys and sent them back out to hack pieces off one another. The lands grew wild and populations dwindled. Illness and starvation swept through farms and villages and the Lady grew angry, seeing the destruction.
“At that time, most of the gods weren’t too interested in humanity except for sport. But the Lady saw great potential in us and offered Her Light to those who would obey Her laws.
“So she sent Kolvrane, a falcon, to Talis. She told him to gather all the people he could and bring them to what was to become Kodu Riik. If they followed him, if they put their faith in Her, then She would give them the ahalad-kaaslane and guard them from harm, expelling the warlords from Her borders. As a further mark of Her favor, she gave Talis that pendant, Her talisman. With it and Kolvrane, Talis marched across the lands spreading Her words, and many people followed. Soldiers deserted their warlords, mothers dropped their hoes in the fields, children fled in the night. They escaped to Kodu Riik and the salvation the Lady offered. They say that though not one refugee came with more than the clothes on his back, no one starved and no one died in the exodus. The Lady provided for all.
“Eventually the warlords banded together and sought to retake the land of Kodu Riik. But they were repelled. There are legends of Talis calling down fire from the heavens, of his curdling the earth so that no one might cross. . . .” Sodur paused, stroking Lume with a smile. “Some have argued that the eastern crescent of Kodu Riik, with its fens, quicksand and swamps, happened when the warlords sought to land ships. They say that if you dare go into them a little distance, you can find bits of armor and bones from the warlords trapped by Talis’s magic.” Sodur shrugged. “I am no scholar, and have only a fitful memory for the tales. If you want to know more, you must needs ask someone else. In Koduteel there are scholars who delight in keeping track of such things. They would know more than I.”
“You think the pendant gave Talis such powers?” Reisil asked.
“Who knows?” Sodur spread his hands. “You will find out soon enough, I think.”
“That was before the lands divided into countries. Perhaps this Talis had wizard blood in him,” Kebonsat offered.
Sodur shrugged and Reisil remembered that wizard magic didn’t work in the Lady’s demesnes. Mostly.
“What else can you tell me about it?” she asked, shifting the topic back to the talisman.
“That I know of, there are no stories of lightning about Galt, though some legends say he could walk through fire. His ahalad-kaaslane was a lava-lizard. Oh, yes, such creatures do indeed exist. It glowed ruby-bright, like lava itself, and it could start fires with its breath. The stories go that Galt was an explorer, traveling far and wide, returning with treasures of rare metals and jewels, wonderful artifacts from faraway places no one had ever heard of. Then one day he returned from one of his adventures with both the talisman and the lava-lizard.
“Galt’s return was timely. Hordes of krakmurs had burrowed through the Melhyhir Mountains and began to nest in the highlands. Rotten little creatures—no taller than three or four feet, but with powerful shoulders and legs, and great shoveling hands tipped with fierce claws. They ate whatever meat they could find, including people. Especially people. Galt knew them from his travels and organized an attack. It was a dreadful battle, with many losses. There were so many of the krakmurs—endless numbers, it seemed—and they carried with them pestilence. Eventually Galt prevailed and the krakmur burrows were sealed. But you still hear stories of krakmurs attacking farms and villages.”
“The Blessed Lady said he was also a tark,” Reisil said.
“Very well might have been.” Sodur smile ruefully. “I have been taught much as an ahalad-kaaslane. But I must admit to being an indifferent scholar. The old stories never appealed to me, and I don’t remember as much as I ought to. Upsakes—” He broke off, looking at Upsakes’s prone body. His fingers curled in Lume’s fur. “Some of us learned better. When you go to Koduteel, you may find more answers.”
“Answers. That brings us back to me. I have something to tell you. I’ve told Kebonsat some—I felt I could trust him and I didn’t know about anyone else. The Lady told me more.”
And with that Reisil plunged in, telling Sodur and Juhrnus of what she’d seen through Saljane’s eyes, of Kaval and his companions. She then told them of Upsakes’s lies, that he’d influenced the herald to say Iisand Samir had threatened Kallas, that it had been a lie to muster hatred for the Dure Vadonis.
“I wondered as much,” Sodur muttered, his head caught between his hands as he stared at the ground. “Yesterday. You asked why Iisand Samir would threaten his own people and I remembered that the herald who brought the news was a good friend of Upsakes’s. I did not believe he could do this, kidnap this young woman and push us back into the war. I did not want to believe it.” He looked at Kebonsat. “I swear to you on the Lady’s name that we will find your sister. After the war, after Mysane Kosk, I have no great love for the Patversemese, but this treaty is good for Kodu Riik. It is good for both countries. And this conspiracy is naught but evil, serving only the Demonlord.”
“Thank you for that,” Kebonsat said soberly, his face drawn lean and hard.
Ordinarily Reisil would not have been able to see him clearly. But her wizard-sight cut through the shadows and she saw the strain molding his lips into a knife slash, saw the dreadful dying hope in his eyes. He kept up a good front during the day, but now he was beginning to understand the extent of the conspiracy. This had been well planned and executed. What chance did Ceriba have against such plotting?
Reisil pondered out loud. “Kaval was gone for weeks—how could he have been involved? I saw his reaction when he learned of the treaty. He was dumbfounded.”
“Must have been Rikutud,” Juhrnus said. “Kaval would never have done anything without his father’s permission. Tied to him like a girl on her mother’s apron strings, that one. Rikutud has to be in this up to his neck.”
Sodur looked at Juhrnus, bushy eyebrows drawn low, his thin face stern. “A good observation, my young ahalad-kaaslane. You know Kaval well, do you?” The suspicion was evident in his voice and a warning rang in Reisil’s head. The ahalad-kaaslane were in danger of imploding. They must trust one another, yet with Upsakes’s betrayal, could there not be others plotting against the Lady’s wishes? Would they now turn on one another, destroying the trust that bound them together?
“No. If you must travel that road, then you should know that Kaval and I shared a
bed. Another bad choice I’ve made.” Reisil looked steadily at Sodur. Before he could respond, Juhrnus intervened, stunning her.
“You’re not all to blame for that. Kaval liked to play the hero, and if I hadn’t picked on you so much, maybe you would have seen through him.” He dropped his eyes.
Sodur rubbed his hands over his face in a tired gesture.
“My apologies. I also can’t help thinking I should have known about Upsakes. How can I blame either of you for not knowing about Kaval?”
“The Lady would not want us to fail because we lost faith with one another,” Reisil said. “It is true that I don’t like Juhrnus, and that he does not like me. But we will work together because we are chosen. Is that not so?”
Reisil turned to Juhrnus. A flush had crept up his neck to his cheeks and he looked feverish.
“That is so. I serve the Blessed Lady. She has given me Esper—twice now. And I know She wants peace between Kodu Riik and Patverseme. I will do whatever necessary to make that happen. Both of us will.” He clutched Esper closer.
“Good. Then we should sleep, and in the morning Saljane shall search for Ceriba. There is just one more thing I must tell you, though I would not have it go any farther than this fire.”
The others looked at her warily and Reisil grinned. “We are not to be so suspicious of one another, remember?” she chided gently. “It is just this. The Lady gave me another gift, there at the end. She gave me wizard-sight. I tell you this now because I believe She has foreseen another attack like that in the forest.”
“I would agree,” Sodur said, nodding.
“Then we must do all we can to prepare. When I was lost, I did not try a torch—I couldn’t find anything to burn, even if I could find my flint. Did anyone try?”
“They cast a small light. We were able to see perhaps a foot in front of us,” Sodur answered.
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