No one believes K’lrsa about the threat represented by Aran’s soldiers. And even those who do, think the better option is to flee to one of the other tribes instead of to the gathering grounds. They do at least send out scouts to confirm her story.
In the meantime, K’lrsa and the others are reunited with Lodie and Vedhe (the unnamed pale-skinned slave girl from Rider’s Revenge), and learn that Vedhe now has an Amalanee horse, Kriger.
While they’re waiting, K’lrsa, Badru, and Vedhe learn how to make their horses fly and that they can only fly at night and when the moon is shining. They fly to the gathering grounds and find that the Black Horse Tribe has the grounds surrounded already and that there’s no way through without fighting.
When they return, they learn that the Daliph’s troops have circled behind the tribes and are going to drive them towards the gathering grounds so that they’re trapped between the two forces.
K’lrsa leaves to warn the other tribes while the White Horse Tribe makes its way to the gathering grounds.
When she returns, they follow Badru’s plan and use the horses to fly the children and non-Riders to safety in the gathering grounds. But the next day four members of the White Horse Tribe betray them and escape to the Black Horse Tribe.
The Black Horse Tribe attacks. The White Horse Tribe manages to fend them off, but K’lrsa is devastated by having killed someone she knew.
The next night they manage to get most of the rest of the tribe to safety, but K’lrsa’s mother refuses to go. In the morning she confronts the Black Horse Tribe and kills many of their leaders before she herself is killed.
The other tribes arrive, but there’s no way to get them to safety because as the moon wanes so does the horses’ ability to fly.
The Daliph’s troops appear on the horizon and everyone knows that the next day they’ll attack and the tribes will be slaughtered.
Vedhe says she can lead everyone to safety and does so by taking them along the Trickster’s pathways which are not part of the real world. But the Trickster taunts K’lrsa while she’s traveling them and, on the last trip, K’lrsa and her group are lost in the fog.
K’lrsa manages to have Fallion light their way and lead them to safety in the real world. They appear in the center of the platform where all of the tribes have gathered.
K’lrsa sees F’lia with the other members of the Black Horse Tribe. She’s pregnant and initially angry with K’lrsa.
At the invocation for the gathering, the Lady Moon appears and gives the tribes a choice. Renew their vow to the gods or go their own way. After a day and a half of speeches and discussion, the tribes vote.
It’s a tie.
But then Herin steps forward and asserts her right to vote as a member of the Summer Spring Tribe. When Herin, Lodie, and Garzel’s votes are included, the final vote is to continue to follow the gods. All members of the tribes are required to take a new oath or leave. Many of the members of the Black Horse Tribe choose to leave and they join the Daliph’s troops which have surrounded the gathering grounds.
When it comes time to leave for the Hidden City, Herin tries to keep Lodie and Badru from joining them, but they both insist on coming along even after the Trickster appears and says some of them will die.
K’lrsa, Badru, Vedhe, Herin, Garzel, and Lodie go to the Hidden City. At the center of the city is a labyrinth that will test their body, mind, and spirit before they can choose a weapon which will let them save the tribes.
The first challenge is a dragon. Almost immediately, it kills Herin and Garzel but the knowledge Herin gives them before she dies allows Badru to slice the dragon’s belly open and defeat it.
K’lrsa can’t stand watching the magnificent creature suffer, so she and Vedhe kill it by driving arrows through its eyes. She blames the gods for Herin and Garzel’s deaths as well as the dragon’s.
In the next challenge they have to solve a puzzle that involves pictographs.
Next, they step through an archway and are each met by someone they love. Lodie is led away by a giggling little girl. Vedhe is led away by a man who looks like her brother.
And K’lrsa sees her father. He tells her she’s reached the center of the labyrinth and she now has a chance to rest and spend time with him before she chooses her weapon.
K’lrsa lets herself believe it. Her father is everything she remembered and they spend days talking and playing games until Badru finally finds her and tells her that this is the third challenge and that the man isn’t her father, but just an illusion.
K’lrsa is devastated and a part of her wants to stay even though she now knows the truth, but she forces the man to lead them to Vedhe and Lodie.
Vedhe is willing to leave. Lodie refuses. She says she’s already dead and that she knows she has no hope of finding her daughter in the Promised Plains because it’s been too long since she died and children move on quickly.
When K’lrsa demands an explanation, she learns that anyone who has been revived by death walker magic—which includes Herin, Garzel, Lodie, and Badru—can never return to the real world after they enter the city. This is why Herin tried to keep Lodie and Badru from coming with them.
K’lrsa is furious with Badru, but he says it was his choice to make and he wanted to help her succeed and save her people no matter what it cost him.
K’lrsa, Vedhe, and Badru step through the final arch and are assaulted with all of the knowledge of the place. Vedhe manages to last longer than K’lrsa, but they both learn a lot before they collapse.
Vedhe can now speak fluently in K’lrsa’s language and K’lrsa can understand hers.
L’ral is there and apologizes for betraying K’lrsa father. He asks her to tell F’lia that he’s waiting for her. K’lrsa doesn’t care.
K’lrsa’s dad is also there. The real one. And they talk. She gets to see her mother again as well. Herin and Garzel are also there, waiting for them.
The Lady Moon takes Vedhe and K’lrsa to a room to choose one object to take back into the world with them. Vedhe almost chooses a sun orb that could destroy not only the Daliph’s troops but the tribes, because she was mistreated by both. K’lrsa convinces her to choose a viewing tube instead that lets her see a person’s true nature.
K’lrsa can’t bring herself to choose one of the weapons she’s offered and instead chooses a necklace that allows her to move people any distance she wants.
When she returns to the others, Herin and Badru criticize their choice of weapons, but K’lrsa’s father is proud of her.
K’lrsa uses the necklace to return her and Vedhe to the gathering grounds. It makes her cough blood and she realizes it can’t be used safely since the more people she moves at once and the greater the distance, the more harm it does to those moved.
Instead, she uses the nacklace against the leader of the Daliph’s troops and demands that the men leave or she’ll use it on all of them. She gives them a day.
Some of the Daliph’s soldiers come to ask for sanctuary and K’lrsa grants it after Vedhe judges them with her viewing tube. The only requirement is that they marry into the tribes.
K’lrsa doesn’t want to return to her old tribe and most of the Black Horse Tribe has left, so she decides to form a new tribe to replace them. Many of the newcomers join her and Vedhe as well as some young Riders from the other tribes. K’lrsa also takes on responsibility for her sister, M’lara, and convinces F’lia to join them and leave the Black Horse Tribe.
Most of the Daliph’s troops leave on their own, but the leaders refuse and K’lrsa has to use the necklace to banish them.
They have a celebratory feast that the threat is ended and K’lrsa looks forward to her new life with her new tribe and her friends, both old and new.
About the Author
Alessandra Clarke has been losing herself in the worlds of fantasy novels since she was old enough to borrow her first book from the library.
She loves the worlds of Darkover, Valdemar, and Pern, and wishes she co
uld live a hundred lives just so she could read all the books on her to-be-read shelves while still having time to write, take her pup to the dog park, and see her friends and family.
You can reach her at [email protected] or find her online at https://alessandraclarke.com/. For future updates, you can subscribe to her mailing list.
Books By Alessandra Clarke
The Rider’s Revenge Trilogy
Rider’s Revenge
Rider’s Rescue
Rider’s Resolve
Copyright
Copyright 2017 M.L. Humphrey
All Rights Reserved
Rider's Resolve (The Rider's Revenge Trilogy Book 3) Page 29