Lexin's Quest (Knights of Kismera Book 2)

by Tamara H Hartl

  Drace placed a hand on the woman’s tangled hair. “We will find her. What’s her name?”

  “Kareema,” she whispered and then buried her face in her husband’s shoulder.

  Once Ki was remounted, the group moved onward. They met up with another small group led by Cearan on the road outside the village.

  “We found blood here and here,” Cearan pointed. “Judging from the amount, I do not think Riordan is badly hurt.”

  Lexin looked down at the blood splatters and then at Cearan. “Perhaps it is not Riordan’s, he commented dryly.

  Ki looked thoughtfully at the ground and then down the road. “They seem to be headed to Trevess. They were men Reya did not recognize. She only described one to me: small and thin with greasy, graying black hair.”

  Lexin’s head came around to look at her. “Greasy?”

  “That is exactly how she said,” Ki replied. “Does that mean anything to you?”

  “Perhaps,” he said. “I cautioned Cerise when we looked for Riordan to be careful of her words. I did not think she had drawn anyone’s attention.”

  “I detect a ‘but’ here,” Drace commented.

  “Aye,” Lexin said. “At an inn called The Ruins, there was an old sailor fitting that description who gave me the information on where to find Riordan. I led him to believe that we searched for him to bring him to an inheritance here.”

  “So he was taken for ransom,” Ki mused.

  “Most likely,” Lexin replied. “But I do not think that man would take him all the way to Trevess. Even outnumbered, Riordan would get the chance to escape eventually.”

  “Not if he fears for the child’s life,” Cearan reasoned, having been informed of little Kareema’s kidnapping.

  “Traveling that far with an angry Werre and a small child will be difficult,” Drace added. “And they won’t dare stop at the next outpost.”

  “I think they will hole up out on the plains somewhere,” Lexin said thoughtfully. “And as close to the village as they feel safe so someone can arrange the ransom.”

  “So we should split into small groups, two or three, and hunt for them the lion’s way,” Ki said and eyed the surrounding countryside.

  She then sank to her haunches and with the tip of her dagger she outlined a plan in the dirt.

  Using the shadows of late afternoon to their advantage, the riders moved off the road. Two or three rode into the brush. One lone rider emerged, followed by movement in the tall grass.

  Riordan leaned back against the rough bark of a tree, letting the little girl curl as close to him as possible. His hands were bound in front of him, making it awkward with her trying to wedge underneath one of his arms, but the decided chill in the air made him grateful for her shared body heat.

  His captors sat around the small clearing of a cold camp. It was obvious to Riordan that they feared making a campfire this close to Oralia. In this he figured it was the only intelligent thing they had decided on the whole day.

  He glared at the other men, his lion’s eyes making them uneasy. One man visibly swallowed and turned away from his line of sight. The man moved a few paces away to put space between Riordan and himself despite the noose around the Werre’s neck tied to a branch over his head.

  The little girl whimpered and moved against him, drawing a barely audible grunt as she pushed against a bruised rib.

  He stroked her head. “Hush little one. Be a brave cub now for me,” he whispered in Werren. “Your Lady will be looking for you.”

  The small child looked up at him, drawing his gaze away from the others. “Will she find us soon?” she asked in a trembling voice.

  “She will try,” he replied softly.

  “When? These men frighten me,” she whispered, daring a look at them over Riordan’s arm.

  “As soon as she may. Try to sleep little one. I will keep you warm and safe until then,” he answered and hoped he was not telling her an untruth.

  As the child settled, he studied the men. They still carried a trace scent of the sea. Most of the six men were dressed as sailors with two exceptions, who appeared to be no more than some village’s troublemakers.

  None of the six should have been able to take me, not even in numbers, he lamented. It was the man they called Beckett who had grabbed the child, which had made him pause. He had agreed to go peacefully with them to ensure her safety. Once I am able to guarantee her safe, I am going to rip the man apart. A cruel smile graced his lips and he growled just loud enough for the man to hear.

  Beckett pulled a long narrow dagger from his belt and approached Riordan, stopping at his outstretched feet. “I’d be careful, lion man, if I was you. I can stick her before you can get up or change and you know I will.”

  After witnessing his treatment of the girl’s mother, Riordan had no doubt Beckett would hurt her. If he changed into his lion form, the noose would probably choke him before he could get released.

  “When I get free,” Riordan whispered, the smile still on his face. “I will gut you and strangle you with your own entrails.”

  Beckett paled and took a step back. He took a second step when the little girl bared her teeth and hissed like a lion cub.

  Beckett muttered a curse and returned to his companions, silently contemplating how much ransom he deserved in compensation for all the trouble and danger he had incurred.

  “Was I brave sir?” little Kareema whispered to Riordan.

  He awkwardly stroked her hair with cramped fingers. “Very,” he replied gently. “Now let us try to sleep. It grows late for little girls to be awake.”

  Kareema gave a big sigh and put her head on his chest. Soon her breathing slowed and she became a limp weight against him.

  Riordan leaned his head back once more and closed his eyes, searching for sleep himself. He wanted to be rested in order to escape if the opportunity presented itself. He was hoping the men would grow careless late tonight so he would have the cover of darkness in which he and the girl could disappear.

  A few hours later, Riordan awakened slowly to the realization one end of the noose lay in his lap and the rope around his wrist was parted. He looked up and saw Lexin standing with a finger to his lips.

  Lexin used subtle hand signals to show a plan and then gestured down where a sword lay next to Riordan’s leg, opposite where the child lay sleeping. At Riordan’s nod of understanding, Lexin blended like a wraith back into the darkness.

  Keeping his movements as slow and inconspicuous as possible, Riordan put a hand gently over Kareema’s mouth to stifle any sound she might make as he woke her.

  “I need you to be very brave now, little one,” he whispered in Werren. “Make no sound when I let you go. Do you understand?”

  Kareema nodded, her eyes huge in her pale face.

  “We have friends here to help us and there may be fighting,” he told her as he removed his hand from her mouth. “When it is time, I want you to go behind this tree and stay out of sight. Can you do that?”

  She nodded again.

  He felt her lean against him when a lion gave a coughing call in the darkness. She tensed further when he moved to take the sword in hand.

  A second lion called from the opposite side of the clearing. The men lying scattered around the camp began to stir, sitting up warily.

  Becket jumped up from where he had been dosing against a tree. “Who is on watch?” he demanded, just as a man screamed in the gloom. Two lions roared nearby.

  All the men jumped to their feet, reaching for weapons. One looked at Becket in an accusing fashion. “They be after the lion man.”

  Beckett turned to look at Riordan who still sat against the tree. Something didn’t look quite right though, and when Beckett realized that Riordan no longer had the noose around his neck, the lion man sent the child scrambling behind the tree.

  Riordan rose slowly to his feet, a sword in his hand and an expression that had Beckett backing away toward his men.
He moved faster when another Werre man appeared from the darkness to stand beside Riordan.

  Just outside of the clearing, the lions called to each other from opposite sides. Far off in the night, two more answered.

  Tension and fear had the outsider men who had accompanied Becket crowding together in the center of the clearing.

  Beckett suddenly realized that he had underestimated the speed at which the Werren warriors could organize a search party. If they were in Trevess, he could have hidden the man where no one could have located him. He also grasped with horror that he would have to fight to escape the lion kin’s forms of justice. He drew his dagger in preparation, but saw none of the men with him doing the same. “What are you doing?” he exclaimed, shoving the man closest to him. “Draw you weapons.”

  “You said this would be easy,” spoke the man who had seemed to know the lions were after Riordan. “You brought us all this way for this? I’m not risking my life for some so-called heir. We’ve seen no proof.”

  Lexin moved closer to the group, sword at the ready. Beckett gasped when he recognized Lexin from their meeting at The Ruins. “This heir is the son of the High King, Beckett. You have guaranteed yourself a death sentence with your actions,” Lexin informed him firmly.

  Several pairs of hostile eyes turned to Beckett and he now knew that he faced danger on both fronts. These were not men known for loyalty to anything but coin.

  The man Beckett pushed reached slowly for his dagger and then dropped it to the ground. He looked over at Lexin and raised his hands in surrender. “I’m not fighting you, lion man.”

  “Me either,” another seaman agreed, tossing his weapons next to his companions.

  Soon all but Beckett followed their example and stood weaponless next to him. They bunched tighter together when two lions materialized from the darkness of the trees into the clearing. Dawn was caused the open area to lighten, leaving the men able to see the formidable teeth of the big cats.

  The tattoo of hoof beats announced a rapid approach as Ki and Drace rode into the clearing accompanied by two other warriors. More big cats could be heard calling as they moved closer.

  “I see your hunt has been successful,” Ki said to Lexin as she sheathed her sword.

  Lexin looked up at her as she easily sat her restless stallion. “Yes, but now I ponder these outsiders’ fate,” he stated, making the word outsider sound like an oath.

  Ki looked at the men huddled together in surrender. Only one looked ready to fight back. She then looked over at Riordan. “I think it is my lord’s decision,” she stated. “The crime has been committed against him. Riordan?”

  Severely disappointed in the loss of a battle, Riordan returned her gaze and then looked at the prisoners. He was a king’s son and it was in his blood to lead, so he put his personal wishes behind him.

  “They will be taken back to Oralia and held until spring when they will be returned under guard to Trevess. If any show their faces again in Kismera, they will be killed.”

  Riordan walked slowly up to Beckett, his sword extended. He placed the tip against Beckett’s throat, causing him to drop his knife in fear. “This one will be tried in front of all Oralia and his punishment by my hand will serve as an example.”

  With a nod of acknowledgement, Ki said, “So be it.” She turned her horse to face the others in her party. “Take them.”

  Riordan took a deep breath and lowered his sword as the men from Trevess were gathered and made to move in the direction of Oralia.

  He walked to the tree where little Kareema sat hiding. “Come little one. It is over,” he called softly. He knelt down to take her in his arms when she came out. “You were the bravest cub I have ever seen.”

  She hugged him hard and then pulled back to look at him. “Is it true you are the king’s son?” she asked in awe.

  “Yes, I am truly his son. But I have been lost until now. Lord Lexin found me and brought me to Oralia.”

  “Like he found us here?” Kareema looked over his shoulder at Lexin who stood looking on in amusement.

  “Yes,” Riordan replied. “He is a tracker like I once was. Come. I want you to meet someone.”

  He rose easily with her in his arms and walked to where Ki and Drace still sat astride their horses, watching the men from Trevess being taken away.

  “My lady, my lord, I would like for you to meet Kareema the Brave,” he introduced, brushing tangled hair from the little girl’s face.

  Drace smiled broadly at her and bowed his head in greeting while Ki moved her horse closer. She placed a gloved hand on the little girl’s head. “I am honored to meet you,” she said softly. “Let us get you back to your parents. They are much worried.”

  A horse was found for Riordan who took the child up with him. The warriors were all called together and the large party headed back to Oralia, the men from Trevess in the center of the group.

  As the group neared the village, Beckett became more nervous. Finally his terror got the better of him and he bolted, dodging under the neck one of one warrior’s horses, he ran back into the savannah.

  Ki grabbed the reins of Riordan’s horse. “Hold, all of you!” she called out to the others. “Give me the child,” she commanded more softly to Riordan.

  He handed the girl over to Ki who settled her in front of her. “That man wronged you and this child. He is yours to punish as you see fit. Go after him.”

  Riordan nodded sharply and drew his sword as he spun his borrowed mount.Ki gave the signal to resume their journey back to the village as Riordan disappeared over a slight rise in pursuit of Beckett.

  Meanwhile, Beckett ran for his life, hunting for some place to hide, not daring to look back.

  A horseman passed him on his left, pulling up sharply almost in front of him and spun the horse to the side. Beckett tried to slow but slammed into the horse’s shoulder, causing the horse to rear and back away a few steps, nearly falling. Riordan swung down and shoved the horse out of his way. He kicked the downed man hard in the ribs. “That is for Kareema’s mother,” he snarled and backed away. “Get up.”

  Beckett coughed and put a hand to his side. He staggered to his feet. “Please, my lord, have mercy.”

  “Would you have had mercy on that little girl if we had not been found?” Riordan asked, moving around the man, stalking him as he drew his sword. “If a ransom had been delivered, would you have let the both of us go?”

  “Yes!” Beckett screamed and jerked back a step as Riordan lunged with the sword and nicked him on the arm.

  “I think not,” Riordan returned and darted in, cutting Beckett this time on the face. “To come all the way from Trevess, you would have wanted to travel quickly back to the sea. There would be no time to return prisoners and you know I would have followed you if you just let us go.”

  “No!” Beckett cried, falling to his knees one hand over his face. “Please, my lord, I beg you.”

  An unfamiliar scent came to Riordan and he paused. He had never seen a dogue but Drace and Cearan had talked in great detail about the large hyena dogs that roamed these plains. His horse caught the dogues’ scent as well and whickered nervously. Catching the dangling reins, and swung into the saddle without using the stirrups. Riordan sheathed his sword and fought to control his horse as it became more restless.

  “The gods have their own way of handing out justice. If you can survive, you will be free.”

  A high pitched yipping sounded to their left and Beckett turned in that direction. “You mean to leave me?” he asked as he turned back to face Riordan.

  “I give you as much mercy as you would have given that child.” Riordan’s horse half reared and neighed as it began to panic. He spun it in the direction of Oralia and put his heels to it. With the pair of dogues so close, the horse needed no more urging and leapt into a racing gallop.

  Beckett watched in disbelief as Riordan rode away. He stiffened as he heard a low growl behind him. Turning
, he faced two animals the likes of which he had never seen before. As large as a lion, with muted black and white stripes, a pair of dog-like creatures moved to surround him, saliva dripped from their gaping jaws. Fierce teeth snapped together as one lunged at Beckett’s leg. The man squealed in fear, jerking back.

  An evil laughing bark came from both as they continued to circle, waiting for their prey to make a fatal move.

  Riordan slowed his horse when he felt it falter as it became winded. A distant scream ended abruptly had him pulling the horse to a halt. He turned his mount to face the direction from which they had just come.

  A shiver ran up Riordan’s back as he turned the horse once more and kicked it into a slow canter, wanting to put a safer distance between himself and the dogues.

  When he rejoined Ki and the rest of the group, she looked at him curiously. He nodded once in answer to her silent question and then rode past her into the village.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Lexin was exhausted when they rode into the courtyard. After the long ride from Bellmore and then the rescue of Riordan and the young girl from the village, he wanted nothing more than to wash and curl up in his bed with Cerise.

  He rubbed his horse down, fed it and then headed for the main hall. He shivered as a cold wind blew through the courtyard, hinting of snow in the next few days.

  “Lexin!” he heard Cerise cry as she ran out the door and jumped into his embrace, heedless of his chain mail shirt or the dirt and sweat.

  “Ah, ehmar,” he sighed into her hair as he held her close.

  “God, I’m glad you are home safe,” she whispered, her voice choked. She squeaked when he squeezed her quickly.

  “You are well?” Lexin asked, setting her gently back on her feet and looking down into her worried eyes. “The babe?”

  Cerise smiled broadly and took his hand, leading him into the hall, which smelled of breakfast.

  “We are both fine, but you must be starving. Estelle has made a huge meal for all of you.”

  Others soon sat around the tables, eating and talking. One warrior had his head cradled in his arms on the table and appeared to be fast asleep.