All around them, the other buildings of the Hidden City were shaking and breaking apart and collapsing in on themselves. The long avenue they’d followed from the gate buckled like it was a living and breathing snake.
Fallion and Kriger were there, waiting for them, and launched into the sky as soon as they were in the saddle. As they flew away from the city, it broke apart, sinking into the desert, the sand swallowing it until nothing was left.
Chapter 86
Father Sun had told the truth.
F’lia was back with the White Horse Tribe and she confirmed that K’lrsa’s parents had passed on to the Promised Plains as soon as Aran was killed. She looked better, but she wasn’t yet her old self. And talking to her, K’lrsa realized she might never be again. The girl who’d shone like the sun was still kind, still soft where K’lrsa was hard, but her light had been dimmed. And no wonder.
Tragedy did that to you. It took a little bit away. Left behind a reminder that at any time the perfect day could turn dark. The love could go away, the storm could come.
K’lrsa knew that feeling, too. She’d lost her father and her mother and that belief she’d had that she could do anything, be anything, conquer anything. She’d won her battles, but it hadn’t been easy. And she’d been changed by it all. Hardened in some places, softened in others.
She hoped, at least for a bit, that the world would leave her alone now. Give her time to enjoy what she had left. To raise her sister, to spend time with the man she loved, and with her two friends who’d been through so much and were still hurting.
Epilogue
K’lrsa stood in the center of the tent, nervously adjusting the thin strips of fabric that covered her body. She waved her hand through the air, watching as the strips of cloth danced and flowed through the air.
She’d never felt this nervous in her life. Everything she’d been through. Everything she’d done…
This one moment scared her more than all the rest of it combined.
She touched her hair—long and flowing down her back—and stared into the small hand mirror that had once been her mother’s, wishing for some of Sayel’s makeup to brighten her cheeks or define her eyes a little more.
But she didn’t have that. She just had herself to offer.
She bit her lip and stared at the tent flap, too nervous to move.
“K’lrsa? Are you ever going to come out?” Badru called. “It’s a gorgeous night…”
She took a deep, shuddering breath.
No point in waiting any longer.
The moon was full and ripe, and it was a beautiful night, not too hot, not too cool. They were all alone, in the midst of the desert where none could see them.
At last, after so many moons of waiting and wanting, she could dance the Moon Dance with the man she loved.
She took one last deep breath and stepped outside.
Glossary Of Terms
Amalanee: An extremely rare type of horse known by the teardrop mark in the center of its forehead.
Daliph: Leader of a Daliphate. Usually a hereditary position. The current Daliph can designate any of his sons or grandsons as his successor using any criteria he chooses.
Daliphate: One of seven territories ruled by a Daliph. (plural: Daliphana) Male-dominated society that engages in slavery and is heavily reliant on trade.
Death walkers: A secret religious sect that can heal someone's wounds or bring someone back from the dead if done within a short time after their death. Must trade one life for another when they bring someone back to life.
Dorana: One of a Daliph's chosen consorts. Considered the highest honor a woman can receive. The more dorana a Daliph has, the more powerful he is. A dorana can be released from her service. She is given a golden ear cuff for each year she serves as dorana.
Grel: Type of desert vulture with gray, greasy wings and red, beady eyes. Move slowly and are known to start eating before their prey is fully dead.
Hidden City: A city in the middle of the desert, put there by the gods to make it harder to find. Where the dead and the living can meet and also where dangerous artifacts are kept.
Moon Dance: A dance done under the full moon either to honor the gods or with one’s lover as a sign of love and commitment.
Index Of Primary Characters
Aran: Current and former Daliph of the Toreem Daliphate. Badru's grandfather. A death walker capable of coming back from the dead. Kidnapped Herin. Cut out Garzel's tongue.
Badru: Former Daliph of the Toreem Daliphate. Rider of the Amalanee horse, Midnight.
B’nin: K’lrsa’s father. Former Rider of the White Horse Tribe.
D'lan: K'lrsa's brother. Rider for the White Horse Tribe.
Fallion: K’lrsa’s Amalanee horse.
F'lia: K'lrsa's best friend. Member of the White Horse Tribe. Had intended to wed L'ral before his death. Pregnant.
Garzel: Husband of Herin. Formerly of the tribes. Has been in the Toreem Daliphate serving as Herin's poradom. Has no tongue.
Herin: Grandmother of Badru, wife of Garzel, former captive of Aran's. Formerly of the tribes. Missing the top joint on each finger as a result of each attempt she made to kill Aran.
K'lrsa: Member of the White Horse Tribe. Sister to D'lan and M'lara. Daughter of V'na and B'nin. Rider of the Amalanee horse, Fallion.
Kriger: Vedhe’s Amalanee horse.
Lodie: Herin's sister. Formerly of the tribes. Former slave.
Luden: Former solider in the Daliph’s army. New member of the tribes and of the Council.
Midnight: Badru’s Amalanee horse.
M’lara: K’lrsa’s sister. Eight years old. Both parents dead.
Vedhe: Pale-haired and –skinned slave girl brought from the North by a slave caravan. Fled to the White Horse Tribe with the assistance of K'lrsa and Lodie. Rider of the Amalanee horse, Kriger.
V'na: K'lrsa's mother. Former Rider of the White Horse Tribe.
Summary Of Rider's Revenge (Book 1)
K'lrsa loves her life as a Rider for the White Horse Tribe. She spends her days riding her Amalanee horse Fallion and her nights avoiding her mother's attempts to settle her down. But there's unrest in the tribes. Trade has brought change and her father is concerned by the way the other tribes have succumbed to the temptations brought from the outside.
When her father finds out that one of the tribes, the Black Horse Tribe, is also helping bring slaves across the desert, he campaigns amongst the tribes to have them expelled.
But before that can happen, the White Horse Tribe is raided by men from the neighboring Toreem Daliphate. Her father rides out to confront them along with his other Riders, but leaves K'lrsa behind.
When her father doesn't return, K'lrsa goes looking for him and finds him dying in the desert, staked to the sand with his eyes gouged out and belly slit open. She swears to avenge him by going to the Toreem Daliphate and killing the Daliph.
Her father doesn't want her to go.
She promises him she won't to appease him, but then secretly vows to do so.
Her father begs her to kill him and put him out of his misery. She does even though it devastates her to do so.
That night she dreams of Father Sun who shows her a trading caravan that will lead her to the Toreem Daliphate.
She lets the caravan capture her, almost killing herself and Fallion in the process.
The healer traveling with the caravan, Lodie, is a slave and former member of the tribes who recognizes that K'lrsa's wounds are self-inflicted. Instead of turning K'lrsa in to the caravan master, Harley, Lodie counsels K'lrsa against going to the Daliphate.
One of the slaves in the caravan is a pale-blond woman who they were going to present as a Northern Princess but has been ruined by exposure to the sun. Harley gives K'lrsa the choice to take the woman's place and be sold as a "Desert Princess" or to just be one of the rest of the slaves made to walk across the desert and sold at the earliest opportunity.
K'lrsa chooses to take the woman's p
lace.
After watching how the woman is abused as a result, K'lrsa feels guilty and helps the woman and Lodie escape. In order to do so, K'lrsa makes Lodie a sister of her blood and gives Lodie her moon stone. They steal a horse belonging to G'van of the Black Horse Tribe and flee.
When G'van discovers his horse missing, he attacks K'lrsa. She fights back.
Harley breaks up the fight, but when G'van then threatens Harley, Harley kills him.
Most of the slaves are sold off in Crossroads, but Harley takes K'lrsa and a handful of slaves deeper into the Daliphate.
The Toreem Daliphate is completely foreign to K'lrsa who is used to a nomadic life where all are equal. She struggles to adapt to its different ways.
She befriends one of her captors, Barkley, and eventually confesses to him that her plan is to go to Toreem and kill the Daliph. Barkley arranges for a friend of his in the city to write to Harley offering to purchase K'lrsa if Harley will bring her to Toreem.
On the plains outside of Toreem, their small party—now just Harley, Barkley, Reginald, and K'lrsa—run into a man on a black Amalanee horse, Badru. He's the same man K'lrsa has been dreaming about the entire journey.
He's accompanied by an old woman, Herin, who knowns Harley and tells him to leave. She's also Lodie's sister. As they're turning away, K'lrsa calls on their blood connection and demands that Herin help her.
Herin has the party arrested and orders the soldiers to kill anyone who speaks.
They're taken to the dungeons of Toreem where all the others are killed except K'lrsa.
She wakes up in a luxurious room in the palace to find that she's been chosen as a dorana—an honored concubine—to the Daliph of the Toreem Daliphate. Herin is furious, K'lrsa confused. But it's the best chance K'lrsa has to avenge her father.
K'lrsa finds training to be a dorana incredibly hard. She's not allowed to look at anyone, not supposed to speak. They dress her in ornate costumes that keep her from moving freely. Her fingers are bound with the meza so that she can't even feed herself. And, even if she could, she's not supposed to.
Everything she needs is done by her poradoma—Sayel, Tarum, and Morel. Sayel is her head poradom and very fond of her although exasperated by her inability to be a proper dorana. Tarum hates her and takes liberties when he dresses or feeds her. Herin is there to supervise with her constant companion, Garzel.
Weeks later, Badru finally comes to see K'lrsa. She's still been dreaming of him every night and is so grateful to see a friendly face that she confesses to him her plan to kill the Daliph.
He tells her she can't do that and leaves. She waits in her room, certain he'll betray her, but instead Herin and Sayel come the next day and tell her it's time to present her to the Daliph.
She's dressed in even more ornate clothing than normal, including the tiral—a full-length coat crocheted of gold that binds her movements to the point she knows she won't be able to attack the Daliph.
Finally, she's brought to the throne room. Just outside they run into Badru who she learns is actually the Daliph. He's furious she's there and demands that Herin take her back to her rooms. K'lrsa is devastated to realize that the man she loves and the man she wants to kill are the same.
She refuses to continue training as a dorana and is punished by being left alone, unattended with no food or clothing, her fingers still bound by the meza.
Eventually, she continues her training and is once more brought to see Badru. This time she enters the throne room, still conflicted about whether to kill Badru or not, but before she can reach him, she overhears a man insult her and turns to confront him, something a dorana is not supposed to do.
Badru sees what happens and declares that an insult to his dorana is an insult to him and has the two men responsible whipped even though they are both senior advisors of his.
After, Herin tries to convince K'lrsa to escape, but K'lrsa refuses, not trusting her.
Badru comes to her rooms and she attacks him, but fails to kill him. He swears to her it wasn't his men who killed her father but she still doubts him.
She asks Badru to free her because she can't possibly be with him if she isn't free to choose to be with him.
The next day he takes her out riding and frees her from slavery and gives her Fallion back. He also declares that any slave owner who chooses to can free their slaves and that any freed slaves can have their property back. His court is in an uproar over the decision.
A courtier insults K'lrsa while on their ride and Badru banishes him even though the man is the son of an important advisor.
When they return, Badru has to leave to attend to an urgent matter and K'lrsa is left alone in the stables where she overhears the arrival of K'var of the Black Horse Tribe who demands more weapons and soldiers to destroy the tribes that oppose him.
She confronts Badru about K'var's demands and he says he'll have no choice but to back the Black Horse Tribe unless K'lrsa can find his people another way across the desert.
K'lrsa throws him out of her room.
In the middle of the night, Tarum comes to kill K'lrsa. She manages to kill him first, but he uses a poisoned blade in his attack and she collapses shortly after.
She awakes to find Herin at her bedside. Her wounds are fully healed and Herin tells K'lrsa she has been accused by Balor, another poradom, of having an affair with Tarum. Balor claims he's the one who killed Tarum when he found them together.
The penalty for a dorana cheating on the Daliph is death by beheading performed by the Daliph himself. Herin leaves and informs Badru and the others that K'lrsa confessed to the affair.
K'lrsa is able to convince Sayel that she's innocent by showing him the healed scars from the attack. He tells her she was healed by death walkers, those who can also bring back the dead and are feared above all others, and agrees to stand by her side.
At the trial, Badru clearly believes K'lrsa even though the crowd is against her. Since Balor claims he subdued her by force, Badru proposes that they battle to the death to see who is actually telling the truth.
Before the fight, Balor takes a poison that makes him incredibly powerful. K'lrsa shatters her foot and Balor crushes her arm during the fight, but the poison eventually kills Balor and she's declared the winner.
Herin and her husband, Garzel, spirit K'lrsa away immediately after. Sayel follows.
K'lrsa and Sayel learn that Herin was the death walker who healed her wounds the night before in an effort to protect Badru. Herin says she learned the death walker magic from the former Daliph, Aran, who would use it to kill Garzel and bring him back to life again and again in order to torture Herin. She heals K'lrsa again.
Sayel tells Badru that Herin and Garzel are death walkers. Rather than turn them in to the temple where they'd be killed, he banishes them to their quarters.
K'lrsa begs Badru to let her go home and warn the tribes about the threat from the Black Horse Tribe, but Badru asks her to give him three more days. He has her attend court where she learns that K'var was the one who killed her father and that L'ral, who was going to marry her best friend, F'lia, was the one who lured her father to his death.
One of Badru's senior advisors demands K'lrsa's death because he claims she cheated in the trial by combat. Badru replies that there are no rules to such a trial and that if she did poison Balor that was allowed.
Badru frees K'lrsa from being his dorana and brings her to court dressed as a Rider and places her at his side, something no one approves of. He calls K'var of the Black Horse Tribe forward and accuses him of conspiring against Toreem and sentences him to death.
Before the sentence can be carried out, the former Daliph, Aran, shows himself and demands his throne back. In the chaos of the ensuing fight, Badru is killed by one of his own guards.
Sayel and K'lrsa fight their way to Badru's side and flee with his body through a hidden passage behind the throne. They take Badru to Herin and Garzel to be revived.
All four are trapped in a room and
running out of time. Sayel gives his life so Badru can be brought back.
Badru wants to stay and fight to regain his throne, but they convince him they have to flee.
They wait until night and then make their way towards the stables.
K'var is waiting for them. K'lrsa fights and kills him, avenging her father at last.
Herin, Garzel, Badru, and K'lrsa flee Toreem on the two Amalanee horses.
They stop outside the city and Garzel uses his sun stone to "awaken" the horses who can now fly. They leave before the guards can reach them, racing to warn the tribes that Aran is sending troops to destroy them.
Summary Of Rider's Rescue (Book 2)
K’lrsa, Badru, Herin, and Garzel flee Toreem on Fallion and Midnight in an attempt to warn the tribes that Aran has sent troops to attack them. The only hope for the tribes is to reach the gathering grounds where they’ll be safe until K’lrsa and the others can go to the Hidden City and bring back a powerful enough weapon to defeat Aran’s soldiers.
However, when they reach the White Horse Tribe, K’lrsa is taken into custody and accused of murdering her father. While she did technically kill him, no one will listen to her and let her explain what happened. She eventually is able to tell her story to her sister, M’lara, who then tells the story to K’lrsa’s brother, D’lan, who sides with K’lrsa.
She’s released, but people still distrust her. She also learns that her best friend, F’lia, gave herself to the sands after K’lrsa and L’ral went missing.
Rider's Resolve (The Rider's Revenge Trilogy Book 3) Page 28