They found the north access road, and Dana maintained a steady speed. Brenna knew they were well out of the City when stars began to emerge in the sky above them, and Tristaine’s Seven Sisters glittered again in the heavens. Brenna craned her neck to see them through the small window, and a tight muscle in her chest relaxed for the first time in days.
Then she saw the adult Elise appear there, in the midst of the stars. Her glowing figure stood quietly, her arms at her sides, the basin gone. Her beautiful eyes were clear, loving, and tearless. Elise lifted a hand in benediction, and the truck trundled on through the night, carrying them higher into the hills.
*
The first rays of dawn ignited the eastern peaks before they made it to the ridge where Vicar and Hakan waited.
“Thank the Goddess, Jesstin.” Hakan jumped down off the high boulder where she’d been keeping watch. “Did you find—”
“We have what we came for, adanin, and more.” Jess tried not to lean so heavily on Brenna’s shoulder. She was grateful when her old friend asked no questions and just herded their party back to their camp.
They made for a bedraggled group. Brenna walked beside her, her arm around her waist, so weary she stumbled every third step. Elise was a rumpled lump sagging in Eva’s arms, wan and exhausted.
“You all need rest.” Hakan took the satchels from Dana. “I’ll find you some breakfast before you bed down.”
“We all have more ground to cover before we sleep.” Jess drank in the sight of their horses, grazing peacefully in the small pasture next to their holdings. She saw Vicar, wrapped in blankets near the embers of a campfire, sitting up against a fallen log. She limped to her, and lowered herself with a stifled groan to one knee.
“Home from the hunt, Stumpy. Well met.” Vicar was pale and her voice rasped, but she clasped Jess’s hand tightly. “You look as dainty and pampered as ever.”
“We have the Clinic’s remedy, Vic.” Jess was dismayed by the dark circles beneath her cousin’s eyes. “You’ll be strong again soon. How are your spirits?”
“I miss my wife.” A vulnerable wave softened Vicar’s strong features and then faded. “But your ugly mug gives me hope again. Sit down, Jesstin, before you fall on me.”
“You’re both getting injections, right now.” Brenna went to Hakan and unzipped one of the bags.
“Aye, but then we move on.” Jess settled onto the ground beside Vicar and accepted the canteen she handed her. “We have to assume they’re after us, adanin. Our escape from the Clinic wasn’t as blithe as we’d hoped.”
“Jenny can ride with me, and Eva with Vicar.” Hakan hunkered down on her haunches and stared at Elise. “And I’m sure one of us can carry this wee lass.”
“Hakan, Vicar, meet Elise.” Kyla’s weariness vanished as she smiled at the little girl. “Samantha’s daughter.”
Hakan grinned, her white teeth flashing against her ebony skin. “Cybele be praised!” She extended a large, gentle finger toward Elise, who grasped it in her small hand and shook it solemnly. “Our queen’s granddaughter. Jesstin, it’s a miracle.”
“Aye, Hakan. One of many.” Jess swirled cool water in her mouth, then winced as she swallowed. Her sisters had gathered in a close circle. “Hear me, adanin. We’ll be traveling with injured, and a small child. We can’t possibly ride at full speed. Hakan.” The big warrior was a dark blur to Jess, but when she squinted she was able to focus on her intent gaze.
“I’m sending you ahead, sister, with half the medicine in these bags. Tristaine’s master of horse can travel much faster alone. Our clan needs this remedy badly, and as fast as Gaia allows.”
Hakan’s big hand smoothed across one of the carrying cases. “My Valkyrie’s fresh, Jesstin, and so am I. We’ll bring these to our lady with the speed of winged Pegasus.”
“Watch me, Hakan. You’ll need to show Shann.” Brenna knelt beside Jess, uncapping one of the hypos and inserting its tip in a vial. “This is one dose.” She showed Hakan the amount, and then injected Jess’s arm smoothly, the tiny sting melding with her myriad other aches. Brenna’s soft sigh stirred Jess’s hair before she turned to prepare an injection for Vicar.
Hakan was watching Brenna carefully. “And should some disaster fell me, Jesstin, you’ll still carry enough to save us?”
“Aye, we will.” Jess shifted against the rough log bracing her back. “Your portion of our stock will cure those already sick. We’ll bring enough to prevent anyone else from falling ill. But I warn you, Hakan, Tristaine is in turmoil. I send you not only as courier, but for your strong arm to defend our queen.”
“Shann is ill, adanin.” Brenna had been checking Vicar’s wounded shoulder, but now she looked up to meet Hakan’s stricken look. “And there’s a rebellion in Tristaine, a faction of women who want to take their children off the mesa to escape the plague. Shann is doing all she can, but she’s getting weaker. I’m afraid it might come to bloodshed if we don’t get home soon.”
Hakan had obviously heard enough. She inserted two fingers between her lips and unleashed a curling whistle. Moments later her large stallion came loping out of the small pasture toward them. “I’ll make ready, Jess.”
Vicar kicked off her blankets and extended her hand to Dana, and Jess curbed the urge to stop her. Vic looked worse than Jess felt, and that was going some. “Get me up, youngster.”
Dana pulled Vicar slowly to her feet. “We’ll get the horses, Jess. Let Brenna take a look at you.”
“What a fine idea.” Brenna sat beside Jess and opened the small bag containing her medical supplies. “I vote for Dana to be queen.”
“We have a camp to pack,” Jess pointed out.
“Yes, and Jenny and Eva are seeing to that nicely. And Kyla’s looking after Elise.” Brenna nodded at Kyla, who was fitting Elise with one of her smaller tunics. “We’re going to take time for this now, Jesstin, unless you want me stitching you on Hippo’s back. What a lovely scar that would make. Let me see your side first.”
Jess let her unsnap what was left of her tattered shirt. She heard Brenna draw in a quick breath, and felt her cool fingers touch the heated ache high on her right side.
“This has to be killing you, honey.” Brenna palpated the area carefully.
“I can draw even breath, so no ribs are broken.”
“I’ll wrap them anyway.” Brenna brushed Jess’s hair off her forehead, a faint line of worry between her brows. “You have a concussion, Jess, you know you shouldn’t ride.”
Jess smiled down at her. “Not much choice, lass.”
Light was flooding their small clearing as morning dawned in full. The distant stench of the City still reached Jess, but at least the disinfectant stink of the Clinic itself was a bad memory again. She rested against the log and tried to ease the tightness in her shoulders.
“Jesstin.”
The bleak note in Brenna’s voice coaxed Jess’s eyes open.
“You wouldn’t have taken that blow to the head, if I’d made it to the Clinic in time.” Brenna touched the burn below Jess’s throat lightly. “You probably wouldn’t have this, either.”
“Bren, it could have played out a hundred different ways.” Jess knew she couldn’t absolve her lover with empty words, but she had to try to ease her sadness. “What matters is we’re together as the sun rises.”
“I’m trying to tell you I’m sorry.” Brenna lifted Jess’s hand. “Just hear that, okay?”
Jess raised Brenna’s fingers to her lips and kissed them. “Aye, Bren. I hear.”
They looked up as Hakan’s braided head, high over her towering Valkyrie, was outlined by the rising sun.
“I ride for Tristaine, Jesstin.” Hakan’s touch on her stallion’s neck calmed his prancing impatience. One of the canvas bags was lashed securely across the horse’s withers. “I’ll guard our lady’s life as my own.”
“Safe travel, adanin.” Jess sketched a blessing in the air. “We follow fast.”
Hakan spun Valkyrie in a tight ci
rcle then raised her hand in farewell to the others as she cantered out of the clearing.
Elise stumbled over to them, watching the retreating horse with wonder. The big beast was a marvel to her, and Jess studied the child with equal fascination. Samantha’s lost bairn, alive and safe. Jess loved Brenna’s younger blood-sister well, and she would give much to be with her when she returned the child to her mother.
“Go get my pickers.” Elise stood in front of them, looking uncertainly from Brenna to Jess. She didn’t seem to expect her command would be obeyed. She clenched the soft fabric of Kyla’s tunic, which fell almost to her ankles. She turned and pointed back toward the City. “I left them there.”
“What are pickers, sweetheart?” Brenna asked.
“Of my real mom. That I drawed of her down there. I hid ’em from her.” Elise turned from side to side. “She wasn’t my real mom.”
Jess looked at Brenna. They both knew whom the child was referring to.
“No, she wasn’t your real mom, honey.” Brenna brushed the dust off Elise’s forehead gently. “But you’re going to meet her real soon. She’s going to be so happy to see you.”
“Me too!” And Elise smiled for the first time, a dazzling sight. Then she turned and trotted back to Kyla.
“Hakan’s right. It’s a miracle.” Brenna leaned against Jess, as they watched Elise help Kyla pack their food supplies. “I can’t believe we’re bringing her home. Even when I let myself hope she was alive, I thought it would take years to find her.”
“I thank my Mothers for such miracles.” Jess pressed Brenna’s knuckles to her lips, remembering those sick moments last night when she feared she’d lost her to the City.
Jess shifted against the log and cradled Brenna’s face. Her blond hair lay across her brow in matted clumps, her cheeks were streaked with dust, and she was more beautiful than Jess had ever seen her. She drew her closer and brushed her lips with her own, savoring their warmth.
“Now, lass,” Jess murmured, “stitch me and wrap me, and then we ride.”
Chapter Thirteen
Their campfire had burned down to embers, but even this high into the hills the night air was mild. They needed only their lightest furs and blankets to sleep warmly.
Brenna rested against Jess, pleased to know that her training in anatomy was sound, and there were, indeed, six hundred and fifty muscles in the human body. She could confirm this personally now because every individual one of hers ached like hell. Jess’s heartbeat was slow and steady against her ear. She lifted her head with an effort and checked Vicar, who slept deeply nearby.
“Well, I have it on the highest authority that Samantha’s daughter was placed with a farming family outside the West Borough over a year ago.” Jenny slapped shut the pages of a computer printout in disgust, then tossed them into the glowing coals of the fire. The flaring red light illuminated the dirty, exhausted faces around their circle. “My sister is an idiot.”
“Not necessarily.” Sitting across the fire, Eva smiled at Jenny. “I mean, yes, Gina’s an idiot, but that database did tell us something. Elise spent her first two years in a Youth Home. This Caster only had her the last year or so.”
The child was curled on a blanket beside Jenny, dead to the world. Brenna looked at her, troubled. She had suffered four full seasons under the care of that twisted psyche. Elise was well nourished and the right size for her age, and there were no signs of physical abuse, but Brenna feared for her emotionally. She didn’t know as much about child development as Jenny, but she knew Elise had been mothered by a monster during her most tender and formative stage of inner growth. They could only pray Tristaine’s nurturing would heal her.
“This is one tuckered out little girl.” Jenny tucked the blanket around Elise’s feet. “Kids this age have only two speed settings, full and off. This is off.”
“Man, I hope she holds on to that gorgeous hair.” Eva smiled down at Elise. “Isn’t it beautiful, that shade of honey-red?”
It’ll get darker, as she grows up, Brenna thought. Elise will have chestnut curls like her father. She contemplated the night sky and the glorious starfield above her.
She had told only Jess about her harrowing encounter with Matthew. Was there any way she could protect Sammy from knowing the devastating reality of his fate?
The mere fact that Matthew was alive was rendered nightmarish by the horror his life had become. Must Sammy learn about his betrayal, and the torture that compelled it, how Caster had maimed the man she loved? That the depths of her young husband’s self-hatred had plunged him into drugs, whiskey, anything that would keep Matthew from remembering her face?
Brenna focused on the Seven Sisters and drew comfort from Jess’s fingers drifting down her arm. It would do no earthly good for Sammy to know, and she would never have to. Jess would keep her counsel. Neither Dana nor Kyla had asked her yet about the liquor she had consumed, but they would. They had every right. But they would accept Brenna’s heartfelt remorse, and her word that, for good reason, she simply could not tell them what happened.
And then I won’t have to tell Sammy what happened. Brenna heard her own inner voice again, calm, but firm. I won’t have to tell my little sister how my actions led to even more grievous pain than she knew. Who am I trying to protect?
Brenna yearned for Shann’s counsel as painfully as she craved a soft bed after nights on stony ground. Shann and Jess would help her with this decision.
“Hey, Brenna?” Dana was carefully arranging the supplies in their second case. “Sorry, but you have to explain this to me again. The woman you kept seeing in your vision, that was our little Elise? Some future version of her?”
“I think the Elise I saw in my vision is kind of timeless, no particular age.” Brenna turned her head stiffly on Jess’s shoulder. “She’s Elise’s essence, for lack of a better word.”
Kyla stretched out beside the fire. “Do you think you’ll see her again, Bren?”
Brenna was quiet for a moment. “I think the Elise I saw on the spiritual plane needed our help desperately. Now that Tristaine is free from Caster in our world, I really doubt she’ll appear to me again. The purpose of the vision was fulfilled.”
“The spirits of Dyan and Camryn returned to us when Tristaine needed them most.” Jess’s voice was a low rumble in Brenna’s ear. She was resting comfortably on the furs, and if her fever hadn’t diminished, at least it was no higher. “Once our clan was safe, we said our last goodbyes. We won’t see those adanin again in this life.”
“Can I just say again that I can’t wait to see Tristaine?” Eva’s kind eyes sparkled behind her glasses. “Vision quests, ghosts popping in and out. Most of it scares the holy crap out of me, but I can’t wait.”
Soft laughter rippled around their circle.
Brenna returned Jess’s drowsy smile, and then looked at Dana with some consternation. “Dana? What are you doing with—whatever it is you have there?”
“Just keeping this cold.” Dana lay another slender pack inside the satchel in her lap. “These chemical ice packs last longer than I thought.”
“What are you keeping cold?” Brenna sat up with a wince. “Kestadine doesn’t need refrigeration.” She saw Dana and Kyla exchange smug looks. “Dana? What else, pray tell, did you and Kyla take from the pharmacy?”
“Sperm,” they chorused, and grinned at each other happily.
“You stole sperm?”Brenna sputtered.
“Well, the Clinic only collects it from prisoners for their stupid genetic experiments, right?” Kyla nudged Brenna eagerly. “This is Shann’s policy of incremental change at its best, Bren! We’re going to convert the sperm of a hundred Citizens into little baby Amazons.”
“And it’s not really criminal sperm,” Dana added quickly. “You said the Civilian Unit only locks up renegade artists and rabble rousers. We figure these spermies are halfway Amazons already.”
Jess laughed, a small, pleasant quake against Brenna’s back. “Well done, adanin.”<
br />
“Okay. I can work with this.” Brenna lay down next to Jess again. “Come spring, Tristaine will have a baby boom. Excuse me, a bairn boom.”
“I can’t wait,” Eva said again.
“I’ll take first watch, Jess,” Dana volunteered. “There’s a good lookout...”
Brenna drifted off before Dana finished the sentence.
*
The glowing orb of Selene had passed her apex when Brenna woke abruptly.
She sat up and looked around in a minor panic. Their campsite was peaceful and still, her sisters curled beneath their furs, the fire crackling again in the center of their circle. Dana had apparently decided to call Kyla to take the next watch. She was crouching beside Brenna, tapping her foot, and the firelight revealed the concern in her expression.
Brenna felt it then, the irregularity of Jess’s breathing, the quivering in the long muscles of her arms and legs. She turned quickly and saw the tension in her sleeping lover’s bruised face and clenched jaw. Kyla touched Brenna’s knee, then rose silently to return to her watch.
“Jesstin.” Brenna breathed the name softly and then cupped the back of her neck to measure her temperature. Relief filled her when she felt no fever. “Honey? Open your eyes, Jess.”
Jess came to slowly, a deep breath shuddering through gritted teeth. It took her a moment to focus on Brenna, and that scared her a little.
“Hey.” She stroked Jess’s waist. “Talk to me, dearest. What’s happening to you?”
“Just a dream.” Jess swallowed hard.
“Damn,” Brenna whispered. She closed her eyes briefly, cursing herself for forgetting the horrible nightmares Jess suffered after escaping from the Clinic the first time. “It must have been terrible, Jess. What did you dream?”
“I’d rather not go back there, Bren. Not right now.” Jess let out a long sigh, her aching body relaxing again against the fur beneath them. “Be patient, lass. We both know I’ll be fine. I just need to work the poison out of my head for a while.”
Queens of Tristaine Page 17