Li’s hand tightened around mine. Bar, his head high over mine, emitted a long, dreadful hiss. I’d no need to glance up to witness Illan’s death in his fierce raptor’s eyes. I dimly heard Kel’Ratan grumble under his breath.
“Gods above and below,” Arianne swore. “What does he want now?”
Revenge.
The thought entered my head, but didn’t emerge from my mouth. Despite his sincere smile and salute the night before, did Illan harbor ill feelings about his defeat? He lost face before his brother upon my arrival, endured ignominious defeat at my hands, then suffered the horrors of magnanimity. How much more could he take without breaking?
“Illan?” Li asked. “What are you doing here?”
Illan snapped a swift tribal salute, and swung down from his black stallion. “Peace, my brother,” he said, striding forward. His dark eyes, unsmiling, found mine. “I wish but to speak to my liege princess.”
I took my hand from Li’s and returned Illan’s salute. Despite his nonaggressive mien, I couldn’t help but worry his peaceable attitude masked malignant intent. His men, still mounted, watched me with implacable and icy regard. Bar hissed again.
I almost jumped backward when Illan slid to his knees before me. “You leave us, Princess,” he said, his voice low. “That will bring sorrow to the Jha’fhar. You travel north, far beyond our boundaries to the high snows. No Mesaan has ever walked those high peaks, for we are desert-bred. Yet, I wish to accompany you, as your loyal man.”
“You can’t,” I all but gasped. “You owe your loyalty to Li, your brother.”
As Li shook his head, Illan glanced at him, then back up at me. “That once was true, Princess. But we Jha’fhar may also pledge our loyalty to another, if our Clan Chief agrees.”
By Li’s bland expression, I couldn’t tell if he agreed or not. That didn’t matter, however. Once Bar’s menace filled my head with blatant and evil intent, there was no question Illan must remain home. “He comes, he dies.”
“Wait–“
“I’ll rip his throat out and spill his guts on the sand,” Bar snarled. “He won’t see the nightfall, that I promise.”
I didn’t look around as Kel’Ratan’s hand squeezed my elbow. From Illan’s line of sight, I knew he couldn’t see it. But that grip held as much warning as Bar’s hiss. Kel’Ratan would neither forgive nor forget Illan’s challenge. If Bar failed to kill him, Kel’Ratan’s sword wouldn’t. Though Digger and Thunder sat by the fires a short distance away, their ears perked and their fangs shut tight as they eyed Illan. Illan stood zero chance of surviving an hour in my company.
I tried a smile, though I knew it looked forced to Illan. “When I spared your life,” I said, hoarse, “I commanded you obey your brother in all things. I still command it. Where I go, you cannot follow, for I will die up north in the ice. I’ll not see you die in vain.”
“But–” he began.”
My fingers on his mouth silenced him. “I have spoken. Your place is here, at Li’s right hand. In obeying him, you obey me.”
Illan nodded. In rising to his feet, he took both my hands in his. Bending at his waist, he pressed his brow against my knuckles. “I shall never forget your mercy. Should you have need, you have but to call. I will answer.”
The smile I created felt far more genuine this time. “Peace be with you, Illan, my new friend.”
“I am yours, Princess Ly’Tana of Kel’Halla.”
With a swift glance toward his brother for leave, Illan stalked quickly toward his horse. His red cloak rising under the breeze he made, he vaulted into his saddle. I didn’t receive a farewell salute before he reined his horse around and galloped away. Nor did I need one. As his mates followed on his heels, their horses kicking up sand in a shower, I saw his devotion under his heavy-lidded eyes. I killed an enemy yesterday. And gained a fanatic follower in his stead.
Li grasped and squeezed my hand. When I looked up, he smiled. A smile both sad and contented at the same time. “It is good you ordered him to stay, Ly’Tana. He would not fare well within in your band, no?”
I shook my head. “Too many harbor feelings of ill-will.”
“You gave my brother back to me,” he said, his tone low, thoughtful. “I shall always be grateful.”
When I opened my mouth to speak, Li shook his head. I shut it, and swallowed hard. I didn’t like to think of my gift as the gods’ Beloved, and doubted that had anything to do with Illan’s and Li’s new bond. But I wondered.
We’d walked no more than a hundred paces when I stopped, astounded. My hand in his half-turned Li around in surprise. “What is wrong?”
“It’s a good thing we’re leaving, dear Li,” I said, gazing around as the women refilled bowls and platters with bread and cheese, fruits, nuts, raisins, roasted mutton and lamb. Cups flowed with camel’s milk. I found no few long mustaches coated with white. Tor, still growing, drank more deeply of the milk than many others. Wolves wagged happy tails and accepted platters of their own cold roasted sheep and goat, lapped from bowels filled with the divine drink.
“Why is that, sweet Ly’Tana?”
“We’ll eat you out of house and home.”
He laughed. “Sit, girl, sit here, beside me.”
I obeyed him as his first wife, smiling, brought me my choice of warm bread and cheese, with my own brimming cup of camel milk. Hesitant, I sipped at first, then drank deeply, creating my own pale mustache. The sweet stuff treated my abused gut with gentleness, coating it without decreasing my appetite. Like a wolf, I devoured everything offered me. Between bites, I fed Tuatha his breakfast of mushed goat, his tail buzzing happily.
Chewing his own meat and bread, Li brushed at the dirt before him with his hand. “I and a dozen of my warriors will accompany you this day.”
“Why?” I asked, my mouth rudely full.
“Attend, please.”
At his gestures, Kel’Ratan and Rygel moved closer, bringing with them their food and camel’s milk. Satisfied he had our complete attention, Li drew marks in the soil. Crude mountains, I thought, with a squiggly line between them.
“Here, we sit,” Li said, marking a spot with a small stone. “Our river.” He waved his fingers once at the broad, flat, undulating river before us. “These are the mountains ranges to the northeast.”
I glanced up, eyeing the distant, blue-shadowed peaks, year-round snow topping them in ghostly, pale mantles. Where Raine is.
“There are three separate ranges up there,” Li went on, catching my eyes. “There is a pass that lies between them.”
“A pass?” Kel’Ratan asked, his mustache bristling. He forgot his voracious appetite enough to crane his head around and peer at Li’s dirt.
Silverruff and Digger wandered over from the crowd of Jha’fhar, Kel’Hallans and wolves, tails high. Not wishing to interrupt Li, I patted the ground to my left, urging Arianne and Rygel to move over. My furry friends sat, accepting the morsels from my plate with delicate tongues. Tuatha yapped sharply, irritated. I fed him a piece of cheese as Li explained.
“This pass I show you today,” he said, his fingers waggling over the drawn mountains, “will take you straight up. To your lover.”
I forgot the happy mouths instantly. “What?”
Li nodded, his eyes laughing while his lips remained smooth and impassive. “Yes. By your tale last night, your wolf could not have gone beyond this point here. Not in the time which passed since you separated.”
Li’s finger pointed toward a spot midway between the first and second range. “I suspect he has not ventured further than here, given the terrain.”
“How can you be sure?” I breathed.
“You separated here, yes?” Li asked, pointing toward a sand clod that roughly coincided with where Raine departed us at the speed of magic.
“That looks close, I’d say,” I answered slowly, with Kel’Ratan nodding fiercely.
Li drew a very light line straight north from there to where his finger first pointed out Raine�
��s possible location. “Even a wolf would only travel this far,” he said, “given the need to hunt and rest. And a wolf might have trouble circumventing the Route,” he went on sagely. “That in and of itself would have slowed his progress.”
I nodded, knowing exactly how much trouble the Route caused Raine.
“This is how you travelled to me, across the Caravan Route.” Once more, his finger trailed lightly across the crude map to the northeast. I nodded, impressed at how well Li knew his territory.
“Here are we,” he said, pointing to his map of his village by the river. “Now should you travel this pass . . . .”
Li’s line, following the pass between the first and second ranges, smoothly intersected with Raine’s alleged location. I gaped at the triangle that now lay beneath my eyes. Could it be that simple?
“Glory,” Rygel breathed. “It’s true. It’s all bloody true.”
I glanced up the moment Li asked, “What do you mean?”
Rygel pointed to the spot that Li expected Raine to be. “I can feel him, I know he’s in that general area. I know it.”
Now Li gaped, his brows hiked, clearly inquiring as to an explanation. “Rygel and Raine are blood brothers,” I said. “Ehlu’braud. Brothers in the eyes of the gods.”
Li nodded. “I have heard of such, but have never seen it for myself. If we are both correct, then less than a week’s riding will take you to your wolf.”
I couldn’t stop myself. I flung my arms about Li’s neck and kissed him soundly. His wives, halted in the action of serving Witraz and Tor with milk, stared, mouths open. Li laughed, his arm sliding about my shoulders. “You must promise me one thing, Ly’Tana,” he said, his tone grave, his eyes dancing.
“What?” I asked, now wary.
I knew Li knew me well enough by now that I kept all my promises. My hands slid from his neck. What on earth could he want? Dare I not swear my oath?
“Dear girl,” he said, kissing my cheek. “I but ask you to promise on your way back from hell and the death of a monster that, on your way home, you come see Li again.”
At my sudden smile, Li also grinned. “I should like to meet the wolf who has enslaved your heart.”
“I promise, dear Li,” I said, taking his warm brown hand. “But don’t challenge him, I beg you. For I would not see your wives and sons weeping over your corpse.”
He laughed. His fingers under my nose parted a scant inch. “Perhaps just one little fight? I swear I won’t hurt him.”
I shook my head, my hair cascading around my shoulders. “Promise me, Li.”
He sighed dramatically. “I suppose I must find my third wife elsewhere.”
“What can we expect in that pass?” Kel’Ratan asked, dragging our attention away from each other. I suspected he did it on purpose. Tuatha’s quick yap earned him a grin and a piece of cheese.
Li sighed, glancing back down at his crude map. “It is steep,” he admitted. “But for the most part is smooth. There are some twists to its path, but has water in plenty. Game abound, so you may hunt and eat your fill. If there is bad weather, it will fall upon you, for like a river, the snow will follow the pass down. Yet, winter has not yet descended, even up there. I expect you will make great speed.”
“You’re too good to us, dear Li,” I said. “How can we repay you?”
Li opened his mouth. His first wife, wisely, I thought, forestalled him. Her mouth to his ear, she spoke at length, Li nodding at intervals. When she stepped back, Li smiled sadly. “It is time for us to mount our horses and ride, Ly’Tana of Kel’Halla. Come. We have far to go, this day.”
Helping me to my feet, Li’s hand lingered over mine. My boys and their wolves also rose, silent, expectant. Politely, they bowed their thanks to our hostesses, their wolves wagging their own wolfish version of appreciation. I couldn’t help but notice Tor bowed as fluidly as the rest, his new sword at his belt hindering him not in the slightest. Arianne and I curtseyed, receiving grave nods and smiles in return.
“Li,” I asked, touching his elbow. “Tell your lovely wives their fires shall overflow with abundance and they shall have strong sons and beautiful daughters to make them proud.”
After his puzzled translation, Li’s wives smiled and bowed to me, laughing, happy.
“Er, Li,” Kel’Ratan asked, leaning toward the Clan Chief, as though conspiring. “How many children do you have, currently?”
“None,” Li replied.
“Congratulations, my boy,” Kel’Ratan smacked him on the shoulder in a comradely gesture. “I expect they’re both pregnant.”
While Li’s jaw slackened, Kel’Ratan grinned impudently. “You were saying?”
Li gestured vaguely toward a group of warriors and horses, in a large mass by the river. “I think we should be going now.”
“I think so, too,” Kel’Ratan replied, winking at me.
Suppressing a giggle, I allowed Li to steer me toward the huge, milling group. While I dared not ponder too long on Brother Lavi’s proclamation, knowing my words made two women absurdly happy gave life to my heart. Did my simple blessing cause something that might not have happened . . . to happen? Would they not have had the babies they craved without my spoken word? This Beloved of the Gods nonsense confused me, but I knew one simple thing: what I said felt right. As though I was supposed to say it. They felt right because my words made me happy.
That, of course, and knowing within a week I’d have Raine in my arms again. I wanted to sing, dance, but forced myself to the quick, but sober walk Li set. Bar offered no acid comments as he followed, his huge body trailing mine. With Kel’Ratan at my side, Silverruff and Digger behind me, my warriors and their wolves ringing me, I forced my thoughts away from Raine and onto the present.
My hand in Li’s dragged him to a halt. My escort also arrived at a discordant stop, mutters questioned the reasons my strange behavior all the while wondering what my problem was. Damn and blast . . . .
My problem stood munching sweet grass, loaded with huge packs, halters with rope leads around their heads. Servants completed their tasks of strapping down the tremendous loads, adjusting buckles, and checked hooves. They gestured, talked, laughed to one another as they made last minute preparations.
Five large, raw-boned mules, packed with our gear, waited on us. Against their simple rope halters, servants all but dozing on their feet, kept them from wandering far. I’d expected the four horses purchased at Ararak and Rygel’s black gelding to carry our loads. He, too, grazed, his pack not quite as large as his mates, his handler a small boy snoozing at the end of his rope.
I glanced toward Li, my brows rising to inquire an explanation.
He grinned, shrugging, his hand lifting toward the big mules. “We stole them from the Khalidians,” he said. “My people despise mules, as a whole. Your pack horses are too thin and cannot bear the loads. I merely traded you.”
“But . . . five sturdy mules for four skinny horses?” I asked. “That’s not quite fair.”
“Ah, sweet girl,” Li said, grinning, his arm stealing about my shoulders. “We, as a people, consider mules despicable, beneath us. My honor forbade my trading four good horses for four offensive mules. I must throw in another to make the trade good. I would never cheat a friend. Never.”
“Are those tents I see, covering and protecting the packs?” I asked, leaning away from him, my right brow hiked.
“Your people bought very bad tents,” Li replied, gesturing with his free hand. “Canvas, bad protection in the mountains. I would not see you sheltering in such poor conditions. Mish’kra tents will not keep out a mouse much less the icy winter wind. I will use them . . . somehow. Six good tents will keep all your people safe from the cold at night.”
“But that puts me in your debt, good Li,” I said.
“Don’t be silly, girl,” Li said, his eyes once more dancing. “Your story, coupled with your defeat of Illan . . . I owe you for the bragging rights.”
I laughed.
“The abundant food and grain under the tents is from my wives,” Li went on blandly. “They send you a gift, in return for your blessing.”
“My–”
“You remember, yesterday morning. Pray don’t tell me you forgot already.”
“Of course not,” I said, my voice weak.
He hugged me close, under his arm. “You made my wives very happy. That makes Li very happy. You have much food for your people. Save it for when hunting is bad, and hunt when you are able. You will do well, Ly’Tana of Kel’Halla, on your way to hell.”
I grinned. “You know, Li. I think you’re quite right.”
Li’s people hadn’t just loaded the pack animals, they had also saddled and bridled our horses. Young servants held reins as our mounts, complete with packs, saddlebags, and full water skins, devoured as much of the sweet green as they could. Li’s warriors walked amid them, saddled their own animals, tested girths, examined legs. Scantily skirted women and servants offered up full skins and food bags to those mounted, conversing in their language and laughing.
My warriors passed us by, searching for and finding their own horses, their wolves padding at their sides. Mikk grazed on the lush green grass in the middle of the bunch, my saddle, my bow, quiver and saddlebags all in place. At my sharp whistle, he raised his head, dark ears perked. Tearing his reins from the lad holding them, he trotted through the midst of stallions toward me. Many pinned ears at his disturbance, but resumed their peaceful grazing after he passed by.
“He is a fine horse,” Li said as Mikk dropped his muzzle into my hands. “Very good conformation. All your people ride splendid animals.”
I stroked my hands over Mikk’s sleek hide, finding his wounds from the Tongu hounds fully healed. I vowed to discover whatever the Jha’fhar used in their ointments. In the few days since the battle, all the horses looked healthy and pain-free, bloody wounds gone with rapidly fading scars. Already Mikk’s cream hair grew over the old bites.
As a servant brought forward Li’s grey horse, I vaulted into my saddle. They didn’t even girth him too tight, I discovered, something Mikk always hated. A too-tight girth irritated him to no end.
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