His lips found her own and they neither spoke then, for the feast of love was laid out before them, the fruits of which were lush and bountiful, and each time they joined Talis felt their bond strengthen, not only between the two of them, but the child within her who would be so much a part of their lives.
When the tumult of their passions had subsided and they lay smiling at each other, she asked, ‘How could I have spent so much time with you and not noticed how gorgeous you are? Even when I was little and you were rescuing me from battlements I’d climbed, you were gorgeous.’
Though it showed him lacking in a warrior’s humility, Talis could not help but grin. This was not the first time she’d posed the question. ‘I do know not,’ he replied. ‘Perhaps you were blinded by the beauty of my cousin who swears himself to be —’
‘Pagan? Give me a break.’
Talis kept his expression serious. ‘He claims to be the most comely specimen of—’
‘All right. All right.’ She kissed Talis to silence him. ‘Pagan is handsome, but he is not gorgeous,’ she said firmly. ‘You are gorgeous.’ Then she kissed him again and Talis felt his desire stir.
‘If you continue to compliment me, we will not leave with the tribe,’ he said.
Khatrene looked at him, sighed. ‘Then Pagan would have to wait for us. He won’t get to moon over Noorinya and we’ll be stuck with his grumbling all day.’ She nodded at her beloved’s wisdom and kissed him quickly before moving to gather her discarded gown.
Talis pulled on his breeches then paused, content to watch Khatrene dress, smiling as she struggled with her bodice which had grown tighter lately. ‘You will need new gowns before we go much further,’ he said. ‘The waist of this one will not long contain its precious burden.’
Khatrene smiled. ‘I know something you don’t,’ she said.
Talis wondered if this ‘something’ would be about her brother whom she had not mentioned lately, though her longing to be reunited with him had clearly not diminished. Until they could be sure of the King’s support, however, they must remain with the Plainsmen and Khatrene had accepted this. Yet some excitement had set a sparkle in her eyes, and Talis waited for her to reveal this new knowledge.
‘My baby is growing fast,’ she said. ‘I think it’s on Magorian time.’
Talis shook his head. Did not understand.
She cradled the small bump in her hands. ‘It will be born in two months instead of nine. I’m almost half way there.’ Though her smile was reassuring, Talis felt greatly disturbed at this news. He had thought they would have many months to find a place of safety. Now they would have only a few weeks.
‘Are you sure?’ he asked. ‘I know the legend says The Light will not live by the days and minutes of our existence, but —’
‘I have it on good authority,’ she said and patted the mound.
‘The babe tells you this?’
‘Not exactly,’ she said, ‘But I know. Why do you look so worried?’
‘It is not worry but surprise,’ he said and struggled to find his own smile.
She finished lacing her bodice and came to sit beside him, kissing his shoulder before looking deep into his eyes. ‘You know, if I died tomorrow, I’d die a happy woman.’
Though he knew her words were all of love, Talis felt dread tighten his chest. ‘You will not die,’ he told her.
‘Thus speaks the Champion,’ she said and kissed him again. ‘Although you could be right about that. I scraped my knee last night falling over a rock —’
‘You did not say.’
‘It was nothing.’ She pulled up her skirt to show him. ‘Then this morning I looked, and it was literally nothing. Gone. Healed.’
‘The child,’ Talis said and nodded. ‘Its power protects you. Just so did it teach me that it does not require my feeble assistance.’
Khatrene’s smile widened. ‘I’m sure he didn’t mean to put you to sleep.’
Talis merely raised an eyebrow.
‘All right. But he’s only done it twice.’
‘Because I have only ventured twice to assess his condition. And will not try again.’
‘It doesn’t look as though you need to,’ she said, dropping her skirt. ‘He seems quite capable of looking after us both.’
‘And I am glad that your health is so well protected,’ Talis said firmly.
She looked at him closely then and the smile that grew on her lips had the same crooked tilt as her brother’s. ‘So now you’re thinking we don’t need you any more,’ she said, seeing into his heart as she so often did. ‘Let me tell you something, mister. This baby might be able to heal, but there are a couple of things you do for me that he’s no help with at all.’ And here she leant forward and captured Talis’s lips, rolling them both back onto the bedding where Talis let himself be reassured of her love and the passion that burned between them. Moments later, however, they were interrupted by the piercing whistle of a sentry’s alert and pulled back to gaze at each other in alarm. Both understood the message of the undulating tone.
A large force approached within five hundred paces.
Talis’s heart slammed into his chest. He leapt up to take hold of the shelter’s funguswood frame, rolling the fibre cover up with the narrow beams that supported it. Khatrene scrambled to her feet behind him, ignoring her bodice which his restless touch had unlaced a moment before. She snatched their meagre belongings and threw them soundlessly into a sack, assisted by Pagan who arrived seconds later. Talis secured the dismantled shelter to his cousin’s back with a quick rope loop and took up the sack.
Steep mountains shrouded in deep shadows rose around the now-empty campsite which had been placed at the junction of many paths to ensure varied escape routes. Noorinya’s bedmate Breehan had waited to lead them away and now stood with raised nose and closed eyes, turning his head this way and that as he used his Plainsman powers of perception to detect the approaching Guardsmen in the mists. Seconds ticked over and Pagan grew restless, yet nothing was said. Any noise at this distance would alert their enemies.
At last Breehan opened his eyes and put his fists out in two directions to indicate the incoming force. North-east and north-west by Talis’s reckoning. Then Breehan pointed with a single finger to indicate the path they would take. Due north.
Before Pagan could think to argue with this, to suggest they should flee south which would be the easier route for Khatrene, Talis tapped Breehan’s shoulder to show acceptance and indicated that he should lead them.
Khatrene’s hand stole into his and Talis smiled at her in reassurance. A grim smile. They had eluded capture on many occasions and would do so again. The destiny of The Light demanded no less.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Lae huddled in the dark Cliffdweller tunnel, her two hands held by her friend.
‘It’s itchy and it hurts,’ she whispered.
Hush squeezed her fingers as though to reassure her, but Lae was past reassurance. The only person who might have calmed her fears, Mooraz, had stood by stony-faced while her father’s physician had performed the rite, inscribing the swirling tattoo of Be’uccdha adulthood onto the right side of her face. All who saw the mark would know her to be the heir to the title of The Dark, and the day of her confirmation in that role couldn’t come soon enough.
Though tears had blurred her vision, Lae had suffered the pain in silence, looking to the time when she could take the misused power from her father’s hands.
Mooraz had d
utifully escorted her back to her quarters but he had offered no words of comfort and Lae had not spoken to him then or in the two days since. Loneliness, which she had tried to keep at bay, ate at her heart.
Hush released one of Lae’s hands and made the separation signal, a slap on her arm, then followed that with the clasp of betrothal.
‘I miss Talis,’ Lae admitted. ‘But I don’t miss the stupid boy.’ No matter how much she kept thinking about that stolen kiss.
Hush touched her shoulder and then squeezed, the symbol of protection.
‘Mooraz?’ Lae tried to laugh, couldn’t. ‘He is no friend of mine.’ But when Hush added a tap on her right forearm Lae felt her throat tighten. ‘My father …’ And could not speak of the anger and fear that lay in her heart, not even to Hush. ‘The innocence of her childhood was over and she would no longer deceive herself by looking for good where there was only evil.
Because of her father she had lost Talis whom she had trusted, if not loved, more than any other man on Ennae. Worse, she was sure her father planned to give her to Kert Sh’hale at the Ceremony of Atheyre this very month. Lae had considered running away again and Hush pressed for that, saying they could winter in the Cliffdweller caves and then head north into the Echo Mountains, or perhaps hide in the lush forests around Verdan where native fruits were plentiful. But Lae would not.
Firstly there was the matter of her tattoo, which had begun to scab and tighten the surrounding skin. It marked her as the daughter of The Dark and could not be disguised no matter where they went. Second, and most important, was Lae’s conviction that if she stayed at Be’uccdha she might find an opportunity to thwart her father’s plans. Talis and Khatrene had not yet been found, but they would be captured and brought back to Be’uccdha. Lae couldn’t run away from the opportunity to help them. Talis would do the same for her, even though he loved Khatrene.
Hush climbed to her trotters and pulled Lae to her feet. She was right, it was time to go back.
‘I will try to come again tomorrow,’ she told Hush. But if something happens and I don’t, you’re not to worry. I will come when I can.’
Hush squeezed her hand again and they set off down the tunnel, the muffled clopping of her nub feet on the stone floor comforting Lae. They came towards the juncture of a lit tunnel and Hush hung back. Her fingers danced in the air in front of her face, making the sign of tears and sorrow. She pulled Lae into her arms for a hug, something she rarely did.
‘I’ll see you soon,’ Lae said, surprised by her friend’s uncharacteristic display of affection.
Hush pulled back and shook her head.
‘No?’ Lae frowned and it hurt her face. ‘You won’t see me soon?’
Hush made the palm slap movement then chopped her hands together as a break.
‘Never again?’ Lae shook her head. ‘Are you abandoning me?’ She clutched Hush’s hands and wouldn’t let them go.
Hush pulled one loose and pointed at Lae, then walked her fingers away.
‘I’ll never leave you,’ Lae said but Hush nodded at her solemnly, the beginnings of two tears cresting her thick eyelashes.
She pulled her other hand free and stepped back from Lae, put a hand over her heart and then offered the palm face up.
‘And I’ll always love you,’ Lae whispered.
Hush gazed at her a moment longer, her halo of fuzzy curls glinting in the faint light, then she turned and was gone, disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel with only the fading rhythm of her swift departure to mark her passage.
Lae stood for a long time where Hush had left her, and when the tears of grief had stopped stinging her scarred cheek she turned towards the light and the tunnel which would return her to her father — the man she must prepare herself to betray if she would save the life of her friends.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Khatrene snapped awake, eyes opening in the darkness.
Talis was with her. She could feel his body curled around hers, arm draped protectively over her. His even breaths against her hair should have been reassuring, but outside an unnatural silence hung in the air. Menace seemed to lurk out there.
What’s going on?
Her baby stirred within her and Khatrene put a protective hand over her huge belly, feeling the flesh move as the child rolled. Something pushed against her palm. A hand? A foot? Despite her anxiety, she took time to imagine cuddling her child from within, as Talis had taught her.
A moment later she felt the contentment her baby projected, like purring but with no sound. Talis pulled her closer in his sleep and she snuggled back against him, listening. There was still no sound outside, no clue as to what had woken her. The child moving?
She listened for a moment longer then dismissed her fears, was just closing her eyes and relaxing back into sleep when she heard a whisper outside their tent.
‘Cous.’
Khatrene stiffened but Talis came instantly awake. He had his breeches on and was outside with his sword before she could even sit up. Khatrene heard them murmuring as she stumbled to her feet.
‘What is it?’ she whispered when Talis came back in. He reached for his thick battle jacket and sick premonition welled inside her.
‘The distant-placed sentry has not returned the call,’ he told her, covering his beautiful chest with the thick quilting which in nightmares she’d seen covered in his blood.
Khatrene felt a moment of panic before calm washed over her. She had a baby to protect. They’d done this before and could do it again. If their enemies were at the distant-placed sentry they had at least five minutes. ‘Do we pack and leave?’
‘We go north. Breehan and the children will accompany us.’
‘The children?’
‘Now,’ Talis said and snatched up the emergency pack he’d kept ready for just such an occasion. He took her hand.
Khatrene’s resolve faltered. The memory of Weedah’s twisted and broken body came into her mind. ‘Why are they sending the children with us? Wouldn’t they be safer with their parents?’
Talis paused, then looked back into her eyes. ‘The adults of the tribe will attempt to delay our pursuers. If we are caught on the Plains you may die and your child with you.’
Khatrene stared at him in horror. ‘What if they’re killed? Breehan can’t look after twenty children alone. Wouldn’t the Plainsmen stand a better chance if you stayed?’
‘They have made their decision,’ he said. ‘As I have.’
Khatrene opened her mouth to argue but the voice spoke first.
THE GUARDIAN’S FIRST DUTY IS TO PROTECT THE CHILD WITHIN YOU WHO WILL JOIN THE WORLDS. YOU MUST DO THIS ALSO.
Khatrene looked at Talis and saw what she should have seen to start with — the stiffness of his shoulders, the tight grip he had on the pack.
‘I’m sorry.’ Talis would be more worried about Noola and the others than she was. She grabbed her cloak. ‘Let’s go.’
The Plainsman camp was eerily deserted, a nest of silent tents surrounded by the thick mists of the Plains. Dawnlight had begun to bleed onto the Plains and Khatrene held Talis’s hand tightly as they met up with Breehan and the silent herd of children, then followed them as they skirted the edge of the camp and headed away at a fast walk. The air was surprisingly cool but Khatrene soon worked up a sweat, puffing as she strode at Talis’s side. They’d barely gone any distance before a figure loomed out of the mist in front of them. Khatrene stifled a cry. It was Pagan.
‘Perimeter guards to the south and east are silent,’ he said with barely restrained excitement. ‘We are being encircled.’
Breehan gestured for silence and several of the children looked at Pagan with ill-concealed disgust. A moment later, Breehan’s fist rose to push into three different directions, then he swept his arm around to indicate that the approaching forces were converging on the camp.
Khatrene squeezed Talis’s hand. Let’s not panic, her eyes said.
Inside her mind the voice spoke. BE AS DUST ON THE PLAINS.
Of course.
She tapped Pagan on the shoulder, waved at Breehan then put a finger to her lips and motioned for them all to lie down. Talis obeyed immediately, helping her to sit and then lie silently on the cracked earth. The children waited for Breehan to gesture them down then they obeyed, some of the boys with hands on their daggers. Pagan was a moment longer, but finally he spread himself out beside Khatrene. She turned her head to glance at him, to make sure he was going to be quiet and he surprised her with a ferocious grin.
She rolled her eyes and turned back to Talis. You’ve got a Kamikaze cousin, she wanted to tell him, but she had to be silent. She could only hope Pagan’s lust for glory would on this occasion be tempered by commonsense.
Footsteps came then and Khatrene wasn’t sure if she heard them or felt them through the ground beneath her ear. Fear crept up on her and she closed her eyes. Talis squeezed her hand. Were there shapes sliding through the mist nearby? Was Djahr among them? She couldn’t look. The dull, distant clunk of swords rattling in their sheaths could be heard and she tried not to be terrified, for the baby’s sake if not her own.
A yelping call came from the Plainsman camp behind them; Noorinya, luring their enemies away. Khatrene gritted her teeth as the sound of the approaching force grew louder, then another yelp came, from far to the right. After a time the clunking grew softer and Khatrene forced herself to relax. Their attackers had been diverted, but Khatrene was still a fugitive and she might be hiding for years if she wasn’t captured or killed by either Djahr or her brother. Mihale wouldn’t harm her, but he might give her back to her husband and that would amount to the same thing. Torture and then death. She shuddered at the thought of being Djahr’s prisoner again, then felt cold dread when she imagined what he might do to Talis.
Destiny of the Light: Shadow Through Time 1 Page 42