He didn’t dare shake his head, or he’d be on his face at that instant, but he said, “No. I can manage.”
She released his elbow and Llesho set off. The outhouse seemed to get farther away as he staggered toward it, but finally he made it, and without falling in the process. It took almost more courage than he possessed to let go of the door when he was done and totter back to the cottage. In spite of his misgivings, he made the return trip successfully, with less vertigo, but no breath left to spare. When he finally dropped onto his bed again, he felt as if he had run all the way from Farshore, but he felt vaguely proud of himself as well. Mara hadn’t expected him to manage this much on his own, but he’d proved himself stronger and more determined than she thought. He wasn’t certain why that was important to him, except that she seemed to expect greatness of him and he was pretty sure he’d disappointed her so far.
Mara hadn’t been idle during his trek to the edge of the clearing. She had prepared a tray of buns with raisins enticingly bursting from the dough and had pulled open the door to a bake oven over the fireplace. She slid the tray into the brick cavern and closed the door again before acknowledging his prowess: “You’ll be keeping up with Master Lleck in no time.”
“Do we have even that much time?” Llesho asked.
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “Not as much as I had hoped. But maybe, enough.” Mara grinned at him, all teeth, with a warrior’s glint in her eye. “The Harn underestimated you once, and so did Lord Yueh. I hope I am not counted in their number when the day is done.”
“I could say the same,” Llesho pointed out. The healer knew far too much about him and his business, and he wondered who she really was and what side she was on. He also wondered where his companions had got to, but a commotion at the door answered the second question.
“The same about what?” Lling asked. She entered the little house with an arrow held as far from her body as she could reach. Hmishi and Kaydu followed, keeping their own careful distance from the arrow while Lling finished her report.
“We found this in the bushes at the edge of the clearing. It looks like whoever shot it came upon Lleck while he was sleeping.”
Mara took the arrow with equal care and sniffed at the tip. “Did it break his skin?” she asked.
“He says not,” Hmishi answered. “He had blood on his muzzle, but I got the impression it wasn’t his blood. I expect whoever shot the arrow is limping today.”
“Can Lord Yueh’s men find us here?” Kaydu asked with a darted glance at the door. “I thought they gave up and went away.”
Mara set the arrow on a shelf with great care. She looked worried. “I would say Lord Yueh’s lackeys could not find this place,” she said slowly. “But if they have Master Markko with them, and if it is the magician’s intent to find Llesho, then I can’t be sure. Markko’s power is strong, and not always predictable.”
“Then we ride,” Llesho decided.
Kaydu frowned at him. “You’re not strong enough.”
“I’m not strong enough to stand against him, and I won’t be his slave again. Ever.” Llesho turned Kaydu’s objection around on itself. He couldn’t fight yet, but maybe he could ride. If the choice was that or capture, he would take his chances with a horse, even if it meant he would die.
After a long minute spent studying his face, Mara nodded her reluctant agreement. “But tomorrow is soon enough.” She went to the window and whistled a strange, quavering note. Then she waited. Soon a bright-eyed swift fluttered into the room and came to rest on her outstretched finger. She whistled again, and the swift pecked at her knuckle. Then it took to wing with a warbling cascade of notes to which Mara listened sharply before she turned away with a sigh. “Let’s see what the wind turns up first. In the meantime, there are warm buns to eat.”
Llesho took a deep breath, and a smile bloomed on his face without conscious thought. The rich scent of raisins and cinnamon filled the air, and his mouth watered. His stomach wanted filling, and as Mara reached into the oven with a heavy cloth to remove the buns, Llesho’s fingers itched for the drippy feel of hot butter and soft bread. Hmishi did more than yearn, however, and his darting theft earned him a cuff on the ear.
“Sit and eat like a civilized being, Hmishi, or I’ll send you out to forage with Master Lleck.”
Hmishi dropped the bun onto the plate as if it had burned his fingers, which it probably had. Then the healer turned to Llesho with a question, “Would you care to join us?”
Hot buns in front of him was an even better incentive than Yueh’s magician behind him. He pushed himself off of the bed and tottered to the table to the applause of his companions.
“How long have you been able to do that?” Lling asked him, and Llesho blushed. “Just since this morning,” he said. But he’d resisted temptation long enough and abandoned discussion for the more serious work of putting as many buns inside his stomach as he could comfortably hold, and then finding space for a last greedy mouthful.
“That much effort deserves a nap,” Mara observed. Her tone was broadly disapproving, though her smile told him that she didn’t disapprove at all.
Llesho did need a nap, though. He made it back to his bed with no help, but was glad to lie down at the end of the short walk. When he woke up again, night had fallen. The fire in the fireplace had dropped to ashes and embers, and his companions had found their own temporary beds. All but Mara, who stood at the window in secret conversation with an owl. Llesho couldn’t make out what she said, but he could hear the terrible sorrow in her voice. He sat up, uncomfortable at the thought that she might think he was spying on her, and wished he could help with whatever had upset her so.
“Mara?” he asked when the owl had flown away.
“Shh,” she turned from the window. “Sleep now. You will need all your strength in the morning.”
The healer passed a hand over his eyes, and Llesho felt a heavy weight pulling his eyelids down, down, until the darkness was complete.
Chapter Twenty-two
LLESHO had awakened to the sound of birdsong while the sky still closed its darkest night around the cottage. Mara stood at the window, a jar forgotten in her hand while she listened intently to the shrill cries of a swift that had lit on the sill. After a moment the healer trilled a reply and the bird flew away.
“Kaydu! Wake your company, and hurry!”
She resumed her search of shelves and cupboards with renewed urgency, reaching with more speed than care for a jar of salve, a twist of paper filled with a yellow powder, a small bottle of oil with cloves and peppers floating in it, half a dozen pouches of drying herbs that crinkled when she thrust them into her pack.
“What?” Kaydu rolled from her mat into a defensive crouch with a knife in her hand. “What is it?”
“What’s all the noise?” Hmishi struggled upright, with Lling right beside him. Llesho said nothing about the single blanket that had covered them.
“Your Master Markko is on the outskirts of the village. Privy, and pack. Hmishi, get the horses.” She thrust another packet into the pouch at her waist. “Llesho, can you ride? There are branches and tarps for a drag travois if you don’t think you can manage.”
They both knew there was more to the answer than pride. If he slowed them down, he gave Master Markko an advantage. And Master Markko would kill them. So he said, “I’ll ride.”
Hmishi ran for the horses, with Kaydu to help him, while Lling threw their few possessions into a pack. The healer stood in the doorway of the house, her pack over her shoulder and her eyes pinched as if she were trying to see through the trees to the threat beyond. Lleck poked his nose past her skirt in a thwarted effort to reach Llesho, but subsided with a moan when she did not let him pass.
“You can’t mean to travel with us, healer!” Lling glanced up from her packing with a worried frown. “We are riding into danger, and you don’t even have a horse.”
“One finds danger staying or going.” Mara straightened under her
pack and pinned the Thebin with a ferocious glare. “I choose to find it in Shan, where my daughter now lives.
“As for a horse, we will be traveling difficult terrain today; I will keep up well enough on foot. And tomorrow, Master Lleck’s paw will be healed enough that he can carry me.”
The bear cub moaned his objection to this plan, but Mara ignored him. It was more difficult to ignore his prince.
“How bad is it?” Llesho asked—no, commanded—pinning her with his sharpest, most imperious gaze. He thought she might put him off, or lie, but she didn’t.
“Lord Yueh’s men attacked the village last night,” she said. “There may be survivors scattered in the woods, but the carrion birds are feasting today.”
“Then it isn’t any safer to stay behind.” Master Markko had powers of his own. He would penetrate the mysteries of the glen for his new lord, perhaps already had.
“It seems your small war party continues to grow.”
“I didn’t know that’s what we were.”
“Oh, yes.” A long staff rested against the doorjamb, and she wrapped a hand around its middle, leaning into it to take some of the weight of her pack off her feet. She seemed more substantial with the wooden shaft in her hand, and the house seemed less so. Llesho shook his head with a silent warning not to let his imagination run off with him, but he couldn’t quite shake the queazy sensation that the ground had tilted. He still felt light-headed, but decided, wisely or not, to keep that to himself.
Hmishi drew up next to the cottage with the horses saddled and ready. Mara gave him a satisfied nod before setting off down the path that led away from the cottage. “We can eat when we are well away.”
When they came to a turning in the path, Llesho looked back. The clearing was there, more tangled and thorn-shrouded than it had seemed when they had ridden through it. He could not see the little house at all, and wondered if it had ever really been there.
The road wound steeply through the mountains with dark forest pressing in on either side. By Farshore standards it was little more than a glorified trail and only wide enough for two to ride abreast. Two wagons could not pass each other, but one must withdraw to a lay-by carved out of the dark woods until the other had gone past. The authorities in each district took their responsibility to maintain the route seriously, however. The road was smooth and clear of encroaching underbrush, and the company made good progress. Llesho wondered what would happen now, with the governor dead and his ladyship put to flight, but order still held out here where news traveled slowly.
By late morning the party had settled into a steady pace. Lling and Hmishi led the way on foot, walking the horses that needed resting in rotation. Llesho followed on horseback, accompanied by Mara, who walked at his side to watch him for signs of exhaustion or weakness. Kaydu rode behind, bow strung and arrows at the ready. They all knew a single bow would not protect them if Lord Yueh’s army came upon them, but it might give the party the moment they needed to scatter into the forest. With Little Brother riding on his back, Lleck tracked them from the shelter of the trees that overhung the road. He barked the signal for friendly travelers once or twice but had no cause to howl a warning of enemy soldiers on the road.
With more bravado than sense, Llesho had assured his friends that he was strong enough to travel. Mara had seen through his claim. She’d bound his upper arm to his side and tied his forearm in a sling against his middle to support his wounded side. It was enough to dull his awareness to a throbbing discomfort. Llesho reminded himself that he didn’t trust her, really. He wouldn’t be surprised when it turned out that she had saved his life for her own purposes, much as Master Markko had kept him alive only to poison him again and again. Until she showed her true intentions, however, it wouldn’t hurt to take advantage of whatever comfort she afforded him. So he surrendered himself to his exhaustion, drifting in and out of a light doze while his horse plodded on, his reins in the hands of the healer.
The sun had nearly set when Llesho slid out of his saddle with the thought that he’d had it good when he didn’t remember the afternoons. Mara had insisted they halt for the night after Llesho had nearly fallen from his saddle as she strode beside him. She’d led them to a stopping place with fresh water and enough cover to protect them from any but a determined search. As he dropped numbly to the mossy ground, Llesho had to admit that the problem wasn’t his companions or the mysterious healer, or even the forces of Lord Yueh. Llesho was the problem: a relatively useless former and completely unnecessary prince of a vanquished country. All he had to do was surrender and his companions would be free.
Hmishi cast him a concerned frown as he unsaddled Llesho’s horse.
“I’m sorry I got you into this,” Llesho told him.
“My father sold me to the Harn for the price of a loaf of bread when you were six years old,” Hmishi answered. “I don’t see how even you can take credit for that.”
“But—”
“Did you kill the pearl beds or cause Lord Chin-shi to take his own life? Did you attack the governor’s compound in the dead of night? You were not the cause of my problems when I was six years old, and you are not the cause of them now. Or do princes tax evil the way they tax grain?”
With a skeptical smirk on his round dark face, Hmishi dared him to agree, but he was too tired to explain. He didn’t think Hmishi would listen anyway. It didn’t seem worth the effort it was taking to keep his eyes open, so Llesho let his eyelids slide shut.
“Do you need Mara?”
“I’m fine.”
After a long pause, Hmishi led the horse to the little stream that flowed nearby. Llesho was almost asleep when a boot nudged him gently in the side.
“What now?” he asked with more snap in his voice than seemed appropriate, given his remorse a few short minutes ago. He opened his eyes with an apology ready, but Hmishi just winked, a rueful grin plastered on his face. Sort of like the mud plastered all over his boots and leggings.
“Boggy springs,” Hmishi explained with chagrin as he rubbed at his leggings with a fistful of spongy moss. “Lling and Kaydu are going to mark them out so we can move about safely. Just don’t go wandering in the dark.”
That explained why Mara had seemed so sure when she announced that she had found them a perfect campsite for the night. Anyone trying to sneak up on them was likely to sink knee-deep into quicksand. The warning seemed irrelevant, though.
“Do I look like I plan on taking a moonlit stroll?” he muttered. He rolled over onto his strong arm and closed his eyes, putting an end to the discussion.
Cradled in soft moss rooted in a rich mulch smelling of green woody things, his exhausted body began to relax, only to discover a new set of discomforts. He realized that he had a full bladder and an empty stomach, and he’d have to do something about both before he could sleep. Neither seemed urgent enough to force movement back into his leaden muscles, however.
“He’s not moving!”
Hmishi’s call drew the attention of the healer as it was meant to. Llesho heard the swish of her skirts, then felt a cool dry hand on his forehead.
“Can you move, Llesho?” she asked him softly, brushing the hair from his eyes with a gentle fingertip.
He would have told her “No,” but he couldn’t open his mouth, or move his tongue to form the word.
Her hand left his head, and he heard more rustling about as she searched her bag of medicines. “You can rest soon,” she promised him. He would have told her that he was resting already, but she crushed a pinch of leaf between her fingers and waved it beneath his nose. Tears sprang to his eyes, and his nose twitched at the pungent odor that assailed him, but he found he could move his head again, and after a moment could uncurl his whole body and drag himself back to his feet. He swayed between them until Mara gave him a nudge in Hmishi’s direction.
“Find him a tree,” she ordered Hmishi. “We’ll be ready to eat when you come back.”
Llesho had to admit he felt much better w
hen he returned to the camp, but the gnawing at the pit of his stomach had turned into a determined demand for food. He sat with his back against his saddle, and Lling handed him a bun and a thick slice of cheese while Kaydu portioned out some fat berries she had picked in the forest.
“Cold collation tonight,” Mara explained as each drank his or her fill from a pot of fresh springwater she handed around.
Kaydu nodded her agreement. “We light no fire and set guards, two and two, until morning.”
“I would offer to serve first watch, but Llesho is not the only one whose heart outpaces his body.” Mara smiled, giving Kaydu the point. “I must have sleep now, I am afraid, if I am to be any use later.”
Llesho wondered if the healer referred only to her turn at watch, or to other uses of her powers that might sap her hoarded energy. When he would have asked, however, Mara had disappeared into a blanket the color of the forest floor, shades of green and black that changed as she moved in her sleep. Only the low snore that punctuated her rest gave her presence away.
Sleep seemed a really good idea, and Llesho slid down where he sat, embarrassed when Lling drew a blanket over him. Not too embarrassed to smile his thanks before he closed his eyes, though. He pulled the blanket up tight around his ears, curled on his good side in the moss again, and felt the tension flow out of his muscles. Tomorrow would be better. He could feel it in the clean exhaustion, so different from the fevered crash of his failing body a week ago. And if he lay really still, he could imagine that the moss that held him was a soft puddle of velvet, the hem of his mother’s gown. He used to curl close to rub the soft fabric against his face and listen quietly to the murmur of her voice and the silver call of her laughter. The memory put a smile on his lips as he slipped into sleep.
Hard midnight held the forest in its dark hand when the whisper threaded its way into Llesho’s sleep. It nagged him out of dreams of winter in the palace, when the caravans had gone and a blanket of snow wrapped Thebin in a hushed, expectant peace. Llesho woke breathless from racing down the long hall in search of his brothers, but he could still hear Master Markko’s voice.
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