“I know.”
He glanced past her, to where Solomon was standing, eyed him up and down.
“An Ancestor. How wonderful. Come on, then. Kirin will be delighted to meet you…”
And he turned back to the mountain, bounded up and up again like a goat, sword in one hand, skins tucked under the other. The tigress glanced back at the Ancestor before making her own way across the rocks.
***
The evening was, like most had been lately, cold and spectacular.
“Have you found water? Elbow up and hold.”
“Yes, I have found water. Much water, in fact. A river, a sea and the water that seems to be in all things, like the fire. Which would you prefer?”
She pivoted, clasped her hands and reached them high and far over her shoulders, arching backwards in the Crescent Moon. She watched as he mimicked her perfectly, all the while, the cloth still wrapped around his eyes.
“Enough to fish. Spread your fingers wide. Wider. Good.”
“Ah, that feels remarkable. I should do this more often.”
“You are lazy.”
“Sometimes.”
“We will go tomorrow.” She swung her arms forward, bent her body, touched the ground with the palms of her hands.
“Yes, Major.” He did the same.
The Moon Salute was the perfect way to end the day, channeling Chi, soothing tense muscles, preparing for sleep. He had been practicing with her every night since his death and to keep him sharp, every night she changed the routines. Even blindfolded as he was, he could still follow her perfectly.
“What did you say?” he asked.
One last stretch to finish with the Mountain Pose.
“Nothing. I said nothing.”
He stretched, finished with the Mountain Pose.
“You said ‘meehahn.’”
She released a long cleansing breath. “I said no such thing.”
He cocked his head. “But you did. I distinctly heard you say ‘meehahn.’”
“Your breath. Release your breath.”
He did.
“I did not say ‘meehahn. I do not know what a ‘meehahn’ is.”
He cocked his head again, only this time, like a bird. “It is a name,” he said softly, and instantly, she recognized the tone. “It is her name. Mi-hahn.”
Very far away in the distance, a falcon cried.
The sun was setting, turning the sky a brilliant red. The cliffs around them were black in silhouette, and suddenly she knew that they wouldn’t be searching for water in the morning.
They would be waiting on a falcon.
***
It was a lengthy climb, although Kerris managed it well, even with the sword in one hand and an armful of wet dinner in the other. Fallon on the other hand, was quite bruised by the time she neared the top, for the latter part of the climb was literally on hands and knees and her body ached from the strain of it all. It was almost dark now, and he had disappeared over what she prayed would be the last ridge, when he thrust a hand back down for her.
“Here,” he said. “I’ll pull you up. But don’t go in. Wait for me.”
“Um, sure, okay…” And she took his outstretched hand and let him pull her up and over the rocky ledge onto flat rock.
As he went to help Solomon, she studied their new surroundings. They were quite high up in these small mountains, and she could see the land spread out beneath her. Stars had begun to appear in the hazy twilight, and behind them, the mountain continued to climb. But, as it did so, it appeared to have left a cleft, a groove in the rock, and small trees grew above and beside it like pillars by an open door. There were piles of sticks by that open door and animal carcasses and bloody rags.
She swallowed, for she feared what she would see inside.
“Oh damn,” muttered Solomon as Kerris hauled him up and onto the rock. “Let’s hope we don’t have to do that climb again for a while…” And he sat, panting, trying to catch his breath, allowing his own eyes to wander over the grand view below. “Wow. Pretty…”
“Come, come, but be quiet. Kirin doesn’t like the noise,” said Kerris, picking up an armful of sticks and moving swiftly to the crack in the stone. Fallon thought his voice sounded a little strained and fear tugged again inside her. She pushed herself to her feet and trotted after him, hearing Solomon mutter as he too struggled to his feet.
The crevice was just wide enough to squeeze through if she turned sideways, and it took several moments for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. There was a small firepit, embers dying but still throwing off a faint orange glow. The cave smelled damp too, like wet moss on old stone, but there was another smell too, a smell that once smelled, was never forgotten.
“Kirin, look. We have company.” Kerris dropped the sticks beside the firepit, bent down to poke at the dwindling hearth with a branch. The ashes sizzled and spat. “They can help us, Kirin. They’re here to help.”
Slowly and with a thudding heart, Fallon moved toward Kerris as he began to lay kindling. She felt Solomon lagging behind and wondered if he felt the same dread tightening his chest.
It was hard to make him out at first. It was so very dark, but as the grey lion tended the fire and flames began to lift their golden heads, the light pushed the shadows further and further back. He sat facing the fire, knees up, headed bowed, arms wrapped around his torso as if in a knot. As if he could make himself very, very small and disappear completely, or slip into shadows, becoming one in the process.
She sank to her knees and began to weep.
Kerris continued talking, putting the pheasant carcass on the fire for roasting, lifting wet skins to his brother’s swollen mouth for water. In fact, if she didn’t know it was the Captain, there would be no way to recognize him. His face was beaten beyond all knowing, his once golden pelt laced with dark red stripes, his uniform torn and in bloody rags. But that was only the beginning.
She wished she could look away. For the first time in her life, she wished she were a normal girl, making proper allowances for privacy and discretion and tact. But try as she might, she could not tear her eyes from the sight of him, from the creature he had become, and she could only begin to imagine the horrors that had been visited upon him, and she wondered how in the Kingdom he could possibly have endured it all.
His tail was gone.
The tuft that only lions bore, plus several inches of shaft, gone, severed, leaving scraps of pelt and tendon trailing behind.
His claws were gone.
Not only his claws, but she could tell by the split flesh of his fingers that part of the bones were gone as well, and that they had likely been torn, not cut, from the rest of his hand. The tissue had grown stiff, rigid – ‘proud flesh’ they called it in the University – and she could see flashes of bone beneath.
And his mane.
Oh his mane. What had once been his glory, a mane to be boasted about even amongst the fairest of the fair Races, long straight, silky and pure, pure gold. Gone, torn out in clumps so that only rare patches were left and those were matted and sticky. The rest of his head was blood - hair and skin both torn from the scalp, and there was no hope, she knew this immediately, of it ever growing back.
It was a thing that sat before the fire, a bloody pulpy mess of a thing, still wearing the tattered sash of Imperial gold.
“Quiz caught us some dinner,” Kerris was saying as he hovered and fussed. “A nice fat pheasant too. Should be done soon. You’ll eat this time, won’t you? It promises to be very tasty.”
A shape moved past her on one side. As if in a dream, she saw Solomon step toward them and kneel down beside the Captain. He reached for the man, but a grey hand caught his wrist, dark claws plucking the cloth and flesh of his arm.
Solomon looked up calmly. “Kerris, it’s alright. I am a physician. I need to examine him before I can help.”
She could see the grey claws dig in.
“Kerris, you’re hurting me. If you hurt me, I won’t be able
to help”
They locked eyes for a long moment before Kerris finally released him.
“If he so much as whimpers,” Kerris growled. “I will kill you.”
“Agreed,” said Solomon. “When was the last time you slept?”
Kerris stared at him.
“Okay then. You need to sleep. Fallon dear, can you take Kerris over there somewhere, see if you can get him to sleep?”
“Um,” she rose to her feet, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Okay…”
“No,” said Kerris, struggling to stand as she approached. “The pheasant isn’t done yet. He needs his dinner. He hasn’t eaten anything. And he needs water, but I don’t know how to get it up here. I’m trying to make a water skin, but I have no needles. It’s all my fault. I should have brought some needles. I’m drying sinew for thread, but it takes so very long to dry…” Kerris was backing up, wringing his hands as she came closer. “He’s not very good, not very good at all, and I don’t know what to do…”
“You’ve done a wonderful job,” she said firmly. His arms were shaking as she caught them. “We’re going to help, remember? Solomon is a physician. He’ll know what to do. Now please,” she turned him away from the fire, away from the sight of his brother. “Sit down, right here. You need to sleep—“
“No, no, he needs –“
“Can I tell you a story?”
He froze, brow furrowed, mouth open in mid-sentence. She took that as a yes and lowered herself to the stony ground. She pulled him down with her.
“It’s a story of Kaidan. You remember Kaidan, don’t you?”
He blinked at her. His expression hadn’t changed.
“Well, Kaidan is a very famous cat. A legend. A ghost cat, people call him. Some people say he’s a tiger, some say he’s Sacred. I believe he’s a lion, a very special ghostly grey lion. Actually, he probably looks very much like you…” As she spoke, she worked his hands, squeezing his palms, his fingers, his wrists. “Anyway, he’s been on this amazing adventure for almost a year now. He’s battled snowstorms and avalanches, rats and pits and fires, bandits and bears – oh wait, not bears. That wasn’t him. Anyway, he made it all the way to the very borders of the Upper Kingdom, and do you know what?”
She slipped a hand round the back of his neck, pulled him down beside her.
“On the back of a wild little mountain pony, Kaidan went Beyond…”
He was asleep in a heartbeat, and she continued talking, telling her own story, as Jeffrey Solomon the physician worked by the light of a spitting fire on a man that had once been a lion.
***
He spent the night in meditation, he said, but she knew he was speaking with the bird. They had been moving south ever since the night of his death, but through mountains and forests, it was slow going. She wasn’t sure if they’d ever reach the Shiriyan border, and frankly, she didn’t care overmuch. She was at peace here in this wild land. She was needed, and for the very first time in entire span of her life, Major Ursa Laenskaya was happy.
She watched him from the corner of her eye. He was smiling and she felt the anger stir within her breast. Stupid, she thought to herself, to be jealous of a bird. She had almost liked the last one, had even mourned when it had died. But they had shared a bond, the falcon and the Seer, and she had only observed, intruded, never truly shared it with them. Now, with this ‘Mi-hahn’ somewhere in the cliffs above them, she realized that she did not wish to be shut out again.
“Major,” he was calling her over. The makeshift blindfold was still across his eyes and when she approached, he reached out a hand. He had taken to removing his gloves more and more often as of late, and now, they remained tucked in his obi. She knelt beside him, but did not take his hand.
“She is very young,” he said. “This is her first summer. She and her siblings were a late clutch, and she knows little of falcon-life, let alone feline. Here, feel her mind, here…”
It was odd, she thought, that he couldn’t feel her resentment. Or perhaps he could.
So she took a deep, cleansing breath, and reached for his hand.
??????
Ursa, his voice in her head, this is Ursa sense her Mi-hahn She is your friend
???Ursa?? Ursa!! Mi-hahn!!!!
And suddenly she was airborne, diving from a great height, spinning like a child’s toy, strong wind in her eyes, her mouth, her feathers, pulling up from the dive and soaring above the cliffs, the night sky so black and yet she could see.
!!!Ursa Sireth Mi-hahn!!!
It was impossible to separate herself from the young falcon, and the soars and dips and spins and dives were making her sick. She was a snow leopard, at home in mountains, not jungle, not desert, and certainly not sky. Suddenly the connection was gone, and it was only the Seer’s hands on her arms that brought her back down to the ground.
“That is madness!” she wailed. “I do not wish to do that ever again.”
“In time, dear. Give it time.”
“Dear?”
That grounded her better than any hand on her arm.
“Dear?”
She spun around on him, and he released her as if releasing a scorpion.
She leaned into him, willing him to feel her wrath. “When I am healed, I will bed you. I will bed you as you have never been bedded before. You will experience such pleasure and such pain and you will weep and moan for days afterwards and you will never, ever, ever think to call me ‘dear’ again. Do you understand, Seer?”
He swallowed. “Yes, Major.”
“Good. No more talking to birds. Go to sleep. I will protect you.”
“Yes Major.”
He quickly dropped to the ground and lay flat as in sleep, and Major Ursa Laenskaya couldn’t help but think she was the happiest she’d ever been in her life.
***
She was having the most wonderful dream.
They were lovers once again, and she was in his arms in a romantic cavern and he was kissing little kisses on her neck, chin and throat.
It felt so real that she didn’t mind the waking for in fact, she was waking to many, many little kisses on her neck, chin and throat.
“Good morning,” said Kerris, and he smiled at her, the sun, moon and stars rolled into one, just for her. And he stroked her forehead and kissed her there, and then her cheeks with kisses there as well. He seemed happy to keep going, so she shrugged, grinned, and snaked her hands in his hair, pulling him over and on top of her.
“Aw geez,” came a voice from the fire. “That’s why momma always threw the cats outside…”
Kerris grinned. “And good morning to you, too, Solomon.”
Fallon cupped his face in her hands. “You remember? You remember his name?”
The grin broadened. “Of course I remember. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Oh, um, no reason. It’s just, well, yesterday and…um, well, your brother…”
“Kirin? What about Kirin?” Suddenly, the blue eyes grew round, and he breathed in sharply. “Kirin!”
And he scrambled off her, knocking her with elbows and knees in his dash to the fire. Shafts of strong early morning light sliced in from the cleft, and the fire was quietly burning away its wood, throwing a healthy glow over everything else. The grey lion dropped down beside them, hands moving all over his brother’s form, as if testing to see if he were indeed solid, if he were indeed still there.
“Is he fine? Did you help him? Did he eat? Why did you let me sleep?” The questions poured out of him as Fallon lowered herself down as well. Solomon passed a roasted carcass toward them. Kerris waved it off, but Fallon accepted happily and began to peel strips of white flesh and pop them into her mouth.
“Calm down, Kerris,” said Solomon. “You were right yesterday. He’s not good. He’s in what we would call shock, he’s lost some blood, but what is really going to kill him is dehydration. We do need to get some fluids into him. I’m amazed he’s lasted this long.”
Kerris sagged, defeated. “I knew I s
hould have brought some skins! It’s all my fault!”
“I said Calm. Down.” And he said it in such a way that both lion and tigress felt the urge to utterly and completely obey. It was the way of things. Or rather, it was the way of Ancestors.
“Yes, yes,” muttered Kerris. “Forgive me. What can we do?”
Solomon sat back, plucked at another of the roasted birds. “Well, what he needs is water, so we can do one of two things. One, we can go back to the Humlander, get the supplies that we need and bring them back here, or Two, we can bring him down to that river. Ultimately, that’s what we need to do, because its cold and clean and we can bathe his wounds without worrying about spreading infection by using those bloody cloths.” Both Kerris and Fallon were nodding, as if they understood. “But I’m afraid that right now, in his condition, carrying him to the river might just kill him, so here’s my plan.”
He rose to his feet. The cats did likewise. He laid a hand on their shoulders, looked them in the eyes, as if charging them with some solemn vow.
“Kerris, you will take Fallon and your pony back to the Humlander. Get everything you can carry. Fill the skins with water from that stream. But I need you both back here before nightfall. He needs water ASAP, and might not last another night.”
He turned his attention fully on Kerris now.
“Kerris, you need to stay here,” he tapped the lion on the side of the head. “You need to stay with us, completely, no exceptions. You need to protect Fallon, get the supplies and get back, otherwise your brother will die. Do you understand?”
Eyes wide, Kerris nodded. “I, I’ll try. Really hard.”
“You need to do this.”
“Yes.”
“And I know that you can. You saved my life the other night. You saved your brother’s life. Fallon’s told me of the times when you saved her life. You are a protector at heart. A lion heart. You need to believe that.”
Kerris swallowed, nodded again. “Can, can I take the sword?”
Solomon nodded now and the lion moved to where it lay on the ground by the fire. He picked it up in his left hand, tested it for balance, released a long breath.
The Way of Things: Upper Kingdom Boxed Set: Books 1, 2 and 3 in the Tails of the Upper Kingdom Page 68