by Linda Mooney
Mistelle moved in her lap. Atty tucked the blanket more tightly around her daughter, who settled back to sleep. Behind her someone approached, and she smiled, recognizing the stride.
Keelor dropped onto the rug beside her. The young woman’s face was flushed and her eyes sparkled, but also radiated concern. “I hope it’s okay to intrude, but I needed to get away for a bit to catch my breath.” She kept her voice low to keep from waking the baby.
Atty chuckled. “They’re thrilled you survived and have been returned. Give them a few weeks. Their enthusiasm will eventually wind down.”
Throwing out an arm to encompass the area, her sister shook her head. Her semi-transparent, butterfly-like ears floated from side to side. “This place has changed so much. I just…” She shook her head again and clasped her hands in her lap. “I never thought Normals and Mutah could live together. I never imagined there could be this kind of, I don’t know how to put it. Prosperity. Yeah. Prosperity. I don’t remember ever seeing our compound prospering like this. And everyone says it’s all because of you and Yulen.”
“It wasn’t a singular effort on our part,” Atty informed her. “There are still a few dissenters, which is to be expected, considering how many years we’ve been mortal enemies.”
“I just spent the last hour talking with Simmy Hill and Poleeta.” Keelor’s expression suddenly grew serious, and her eyes scanned her older sister as if trying to find something. “They told me about the first time Yulen and his men raided the compound. They told me about the slaughter, and how you killed sixteen of his men before you were captured. They said you were taken captive and forced to go back to the Normal’s compound, and that’s when the two of you fell in love. Osimia has a book someone wrote that tells about you and Yulen, and how the two of you are changing the way Mutah and Normals interact.”
“I’ve read that book,” Atty admitted with a grin. “It’s pretty accurate. But Kee, we may be changing some people’s attitudes, and we’ve been successful in promoting better relations between our peoples, but we have a long way to go. A very long way to go before we feel like we’re making any permanent headway. Yulen and I know we won’t be completely successful in our lifetime, but hopefully our children, and their children, and their children’s children will carry on our legacy.”
Keelor played with the rug’s fringe. Atty sensed her sister’s continued uneasiness, but waited for her to speak before trying to guess why.
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you,” the woman finally broached. “I know you’ll eventually go on to Alta Novis. I mean, that’s your home now.” She paused. Atty waited, unsure as to the point her sister was trying to make. “Atty, I know Wallis is my home, but…”
It suddenly became clear. “You don’t feel comfortable with the idea of staying here,” Atty softly guessed.
Sniffing, Keelor nodded. “I’m not the same person I was. Mohmee is gone. Pawpee is gone. This compound, although it’s familiar in so many ways, it’s also changed. And there’s also…”
“Also?”
“They look at me with pity in their eyes. I hear them whisper behind my back, thinking I can’t hear them, but I can.”
Atty understood. Her baby sister’s unique ears gave her extraordinary hearing. “Let me guess. They’re curious as to what you endured when you were taken away.”
“Yes.” Keelor took a deep, shuddering breath. “I want to forget those years, Atty. I want to push them behind me. I want to bury them so deep, they’ll never see the light of day again. But if I stay here…”
Reaching out, Atty took the young woman’s hand where it rested in her lap and gave it a squeeze. “I would love it if you would come with us to Alta Novis and consider making it your new home.”
Keelor gave her a grateful smile. “I want a fresh start,” she explained. “Everyone here wants to hear my story, but right now they’re too polite to ask about what happened to me and Mohmee when the Bloods took us. I think they think I’ll eventually tell them.” She shook her head, dropping her gaze once more. “But I can’t. I can’t tell them, Atty. Ever. I don’t think I could take their pity if they did eventually find out. It’s bad enough now with them talking about me behind my back. Can you imagine what it would be like afterwards?” Lifting her tear-stained face, she stared out into the distance. “I don’t even know where I would live if I chose to stay here. I know several families would offer to take me in, but they’re not…they’re not my family.” She turned to Atty. “You’re the only family I have left. You. And Yulen.” Smiling, she leaned over to lightly touch the top of Mistelle’s blanket. “And Mistelle.”
“Don’t forget Mattox,” Atty reminded her.
“Yes. Mattox. I can’t wait to meet my nephew.”
“There are so many people I want you to meet. Kee, I haven’t told you, but Tory and Fortune now live in Alta Novis!”
“That’s what Fortune told me! Did you know Memnon and Corianne got married?”
Atty nodded. “That’s one of the reasons why Tory and Fortune moved to Alta Novis. They gave Memnon their home here in Wallis as a wedding present.” She looked out over the compound where tables had been set up and people were beginning to arrive for the feast. “Although Mohmee will always be my mother in my heart, I now think of Tory as being my substitute mother. My second mother. She’s helped me get through some very difficult times. I don’t know if I could have made it if she hadn’t been there for me.”
The young woman leaned against her sibling, resting her cheek against Atty’s shoulder. “There are times I wake up and think these past few days have been a dream. I think I’m still at Rocky Gorge. I have to get up and look outside the tent to convince myself that it’s all behind me.”
Atty reached up to pat her sister’s cheek. “It will take time, Kee. You may be able to make it fade into the back of your mind, but it will never vanish for good. I still have nightmares, but not as frequently as they used to be.”
“Has Yulen helped you?”
“Yes. Very much. He’s my life, Kee.”
“I hope I find someone who’ll love me as much,” the woman wistfully replied.
Fighting back tears, Atty swallowed the lump in her throat. “So do I, Kee. So do I.”
Chapter 5
Request
Yulen watched the two sisters as they sat in front of Atty’s tent. He knew his wife was worried, and why. He was worried, too, but not for the same reason. She feared something would happen to him. His focus was more on his compound. On the hundreds of people whose lives he swore to protect. More specifically, on Mattox. With the birth of Mistelle, his children were his and Atty’s legacy. To continue the work he and Atty had begun with negotiating and upholding the treaties between Normal and Mutah. To continue defending Alta Novis and see to the protection of the other compounds, both Normal and Mutah, which were now under his aegis.
“D’Jacques?” A man with eyes embedded in his cheeks stood to the side. He motioned for the Battle Lord to follow him. “The hunters are waiting.”
After one more glance at Atty, he hurried to join the others who were gathered inside the hunters’ lodge at the far end of the compound. The nearly two dozen Mutah turned when he entered. With a slight nod in greeting, Yulen strode to the front of the room and took one of the empty seats. Mastin, Paxton, Del Ray, Renken, as well as Batuset and his second, Dardin Tabb, were also in attendance. Presently, a hunter by the name of Balinkar disengaged himself from the other hunters to approach them.
Yulen eyed the giant of a man with the saucer-flat face. The man who’d taken Fortune’s place as spokesperson for the hunters when Fortune and Tory moved to Alta Novis. Although Yulen hadn’t known the man for long, his first impression of Balinkar was that of an intelligent, no-nonsense hunter who preferred to use a heavy scimitar as his choice of weapon. As the man walked up to him, Yulen got to his feet to meet him. The two silently shook hands.
“How can we help you?” Balinkar asked, getting
straight to the point.
“I need three of your finest hunters to accompany me and my men to Alta Novis. I’m taking a small, select group of my best warriors to make our way past the Bloods, and I need your Mutah instincts to aid us.”
The Mutah frowned slightly. “You do realize that you are married to the best warrior Wallis has ever seen?”
“I do,” Yulen acknowledge with a single nod. “But she can’t leave our newborn daughter. Neither can we take the risk of taking the babe with us.” His announcement appeared to surprise the Mutah hunters. One spoke into Balinkar’s ear before the man responded.
“Does Atty know you’re leaving without her?” he bluntly asked.
“Yes. She’s not happy with my decision, but she understands it.”
Balinkar wiped his mouth with a shirt sleeve. “Very well. But in all honestly, all of us are equal in our own right. Is there any particular skill or ability you’re needing?”
The Mutah with the eye cheeks stepped forward. “What do you plan to do once you reach Alta Novis, if you manage to elude the Bloods long enough to get there?”
“I need to see if the compound has been attacked. I need to send out forces to check on New Bearinger. I need to che—”
“What about your Mutah compounds?” the man challenged. “What about them? They fly your flag. You’re supposed to make sure they’re protected, too, aren’t you?”
Yulen lifted his chin slightly, resisting the urge to put a hand on the hilt of his sword. Doing so would be construed as an aggressive posture. Although this compound accepted him and his men, as well as his marriage to Atty, there remained the small group of dissenters who never stopped trying to keep the friction going between Normals and Mutah.
“What is your name, sir?”
“Perrault.”
“What is your specialty?”
“The bo.”
Yulen started to ask what that was when Perrault strode over to the side of the room and snatched a long wooden stick approximately two meters long from where it was propped against the wall. The man gave it a little twirl, unable to do more because of the number of people crowded inside the small lodge.
“I’ve seen that method of fighting in the past. Personally, I would like to learn some of the techniques. Hopefully you’ll be able to give me a couple of lessons.” He added a small smile. “I know Atty would insist on learning it, as well.”
Yulen’s attempt at reconciliation didn’t appear to have any effect on the man. “You haven’t answered the question,” Perrault reminded him.
Yulen shifted back to being all-business. Straightening, he faced them as their Battle Lord, and this time he didn’t hesitate to rest a hand on his sword. His posture was not lost on the men.
“I barely have forty men with me at this moment. Once I reach Alta Novis, I can dispatch larger battalions to all those compounds. I am concerned for the safety and well-being of every person in those compounds, but as long as I remain here, my hands are tied. My men do not know if I’m still alive, or killed, or captured and being held hostage. Returning there is imperative.”
“Then why don’t you take all of your men with you? Why take just a few? Wouldn’t you have a better chance at making it to Alta Novis with your whole squadron?” a third Mutah spoke up. This time Yulen didn’t hear any belligerence in the tone, only a sincere question.
“Because I know my Mutah compounds are less able to withstand repeated barrages. You are not trained warriors. You are hunters. You haven’t had enough time to learn how to defend yourselves.”
“We’re better at it than we were last year,” Balinkar remarked.
“Yes, you are. But if I were to pit any of you against any one of my men, you would be flat on your back within seconds, and with a sword or arrow pointed directly at your throat. I have to leave my men here to protect you.”
“And to protect Atty and the babe,” Balinkar added, his insinuation obvious.
Yulen didn’t deny it, but redirected his intent. “She’ll be instrumental in getting your soldiers in combat form, along with Paxton, her second.”
“How long do you anticipate these assaults will last?”
“I have no idea. I can’t even give you an estimation because I don’t know how big a force we’re facing. It could be hundreds. It could be thousands. It could be tens of thousands.”
“D’Jacques, do you have any idea why the Bloods have returned? It’s been nearly a year. We thought they’d moved on.”
“So did I, but something has brought them back.”
“Something or someone,” Balinkar stated. “The big game was starting to come back into the area, but in the past few days they’ve become scarce again.”
“Do you have any idea why the Bloods have returned?” Perrault queried.
“We’ve discussed this with Twoson,” Zane Batuset spoke up. “Although we don’t have any proof, we believe someone is leading them.”
“We were told the Bloods are using weapons. Specifically, spears. Not the usual clubs and rocks,” Yulen included.
Balinkar shuffled his feet. “Okay. Say someone is behind this. Say they’re not returning because they’re following the food. Then it’s possible that once we take this person out, the Bloods will leave.”
“That’s possible,” Yulen admitted. “But there’s also the chance that if that person… Look, we can’t even assume it’s just one person. It could be, but we also have to be prepared for the possibility that this person or persons have a second in command, the same way as I have Mastin. The way Atty has Paxton, and Batuset has Tabb. If that’s the case, then taking that one person down may not solve our problem because his second could assume command. That puts us back to square one.”
“Then we’ll have to take the second down as well,” Perrault claimed.
“But first we need to find this Blood leader,” Balinkar flatly stated.
Yulen agreed. “I’m hoping that our exodus will draw him out. If we’re lucky, we can nip this in the bud and send the Bloods running before they attack again.”
“If we’re lucky,” the Mutah hunter remarked. “Unfortunately, we seem to be having as much a shortage of that as we are of game.”
Yulen couldn’t argue with that.
Chapter 6
Protests
Fergus Thrasher waylaid him on the way back to the tent where Atty was waiting. As the physician hurried up to him, Yulen’s first instinct was apprehension until he realized there was nothing urgent in the man’s countenance.
“I need to speak with you. Have you got a couple of minutes?”
Yulen paused and glanced around. Where they stood was relatively private. Facing the doctor, he nodded. “What’s the problem?”
“I understand you’re going to take a small squadron to Alta Novis.”
The Battle Lord immediately realized the cause for the man’s concern and bluntly addressed it head-on. “I can’t take you with us.”
Thrasher gawked for a second. “Why not? You may need medical attention!”
“You’re not a trained warrior. That makes you a liability.”
The man’s face reddened. “So my services make me a liability?”
“I didn’t say that. If you were able to defend yourself, I wouldn’t think twice about taking you along. But you can’t, so the answer is no.”
The young physician visibly bristled. “You’ve taken MaGrath with you when things got hairy.”
“That’s true, but not in these types of circumstances. If Liam were here, I’d tell him the same thing. I can’t afford to take anyone along who can’t wield a sword or other weapon.” Lowering his voice, Yulen also softened his tone. “This is going to be an ugly dash for the compound. Anything can happen, and probably will. You know as well as I do that Liam is getting on in years. And although he won’t tell me everything regarding his health, he’s not getting any younger.” The Battle Lord managed a small smile. “You will take Liam’s place when he’s gone. He’s alrea
dy handed over a large majority of his patients to you already. Fergus, did he ever tell you about Dr. Macintyre?”
“Vaguely. Liam was training him to be a physician until the man was killed in an attack.”
“He was. He went with me to Bearinger when the Bloods attacked there, and he was killed when the compound was overrun. Liam took it personally and blamed himself for allowing Macintyre to go in his stead. I cannot risk your life, Fergus. You are too important to me, to my family, and to my compound. If something should happen to you, I don’t think Liam will ever forgive me. On top of that, there’s the greater chance he could die before he had the chance to fully train another to take his place.” Yulen shook his head. “I need you here to watch over Atty and our daughter. Gilter may also have need of your expertise.”
Thrasher backed away as his anger dissipated. “What if you don’t come back? What if the Bloods manage to get to you? What if they overrun Alta Novis?”
“Then Atty and the rest of our men will need you more than ever, won’t they?”
A laughing couple hurried by. Yulen waited for them to pass before turning back to the doctor. “Fergus, right now I fear leaving Atty more than facing anything that’s waiting outside this compound. That woman is my sole reason for living. I have to be able to leave here with the knowledge that she will be protected. And that’s another reason why you have to remain here. Because I trust you to see that she and Mistelle are kept safe.”
Thrasher bowed his head. “I’m not going to argue with you. I know and understand what you’re saying, but I don’t like the idea of you heading out without some sort of medical aid.”
Yulen laid a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Neither do I, but I don’t have any other choice.” He clapped the shoulder a couple of times. “Listen, have you ever tasted Diad’s verbossa?”