Rider's Rescue (The Rider's Revenge Trilogy Book 2)

by Alessandra Clarke

  ALSO BY ALEXANDRA CLARKE

  The Rider’s Revenge Trilogy

  Rider’s Revenge

  Rider’s Rescue

  Rider’s Resolve

  Rider's Rescue

  Alessandra Clarke

  To all my friends who've been there for me through this crazy writing journey and to the strangers who were willing to take a risk on an unknown author in the hopes of discovering a new fantasy world.Thank you.

  A Note On Pronunciation

  Members of the tribes have names that use an apostrophe after the initial consonant. For example, K'lrsa and G'van.

  To pronounce these names, substitute an i or e for the apostrophe.

  For example:

  D'lan = Dilan

  F'lia = Filia

  K'lrsa = Killrisa

  L'ral = Liral

  M'lara = Milara

  T'kar = Tikar

  Chapter 1

  K'lrsa leaned low over Fallion's neck as his powerful wings beat the air.

  They were flying. Actually flying!

  She'd never believed all the legends about Amalanee horses. How could she when she had Fallion, the only Amalanee in the tribes, and knew for a fact that he didn't fly?

  But here they were, soaring over the plains of Toreem, leaving the Daliphate behind with every beat of his beautiful golden wings. The full moon shone upon them and her heart soared with joy.

  Home. They were, finally, going home.

  She took a deep breath of the crisp clean air.

  And she was free. Of Toreem and its slaves and men who viewed her like a stuck pig and bound her in ridiculous layers of clothing and threatened to kill her if she so much as looked at them wrong.

  She rolled her shoulders to release the foul memories. It was over and now she and Badru could start a new life together back home with her tribe.

  She glanced over to where he and Garzel rode Midnight. Even though it was muted now that he was flying, Midnight's coat seemed to encompass the entire night sky, stars shining within its silky blackness.

  Badru smiled and her heart skipped a beat.

  Foolish, she knew.

  But the times they'd spent together in the Moon Dream had felt so real—their bodies moving together in perfect harmony under the light of a full moon. With his long black hair and startling blue eyes, he'd captured her heart before they ever even met.

  And now…Now she felt a pull towards him so strong it was almost physical.

  Herin clutched at K'lrsa with her maimed fingers, her breath rattling in K'lrsa's ear as she leaned forward. Her breath smelled of death and decay with a cloying but ineffective amount of cinnamon mixed in.

  K'lrsa fought the urge to flinch away. Too bad she wasn't riding with Badru instead, but he had as much a right to ride his Midnight as she did her Fallion. And it wasn't like she could've just left Herin behind in that field with the Daliph's soldiers closing in. (Although she had thought about it for the briefest of moments.)

  After all, it was Herin and Garzel who'd known how to awaken the horses to their true nature. She shuddered at the memory of soldiers pouring out of the gates of Toreem, ready to kill them all, while Garzel calmly placed his sun stone on the tear drop mark on each horse's forehead.

  At first, nothing happened. They'd stood there, knowing it was too late to run, knowing that Aran would kill them as slowly and painfully as he could. That he might even kill them and bring them back to life just so he could kill them again.

  K'lrsa had thought it was over.

  And then, with one shake of his head, Fallion had transformed from the magnificent golden horse she'd always known into a creature beyond her wildest imaginings. Large, magnificent wings spread from his back and his coat shone with the light of a thousand suns.

  Next to him stood Midnight, just as amazing and beautiful, his coat encompassing the entire night sky.

  She'd stared in awe as the soldiers raced towards them, frozen by the sheer impossibility of what had happened.

  They’d had to flee, but before they did she'd touched one of those golden wings. It felt as solid and warm as his body but shimmered before her eyes like heat haze off desert sands in the middle of summer.

  She turned to watch his wings beat the air.

  They had to be real.

  She could feel the wind they stirred. And see the lands of the Toreem Daliphate spread out far below her. The cities of Toreem and Boradol were as small as boulders, the soldiers they'd left behind no bigger than ants.

  At the same time she knew this wasn't real, somehow. This wasn't her world with the rules she knew so well.

  When she rode Fallion across the plains, the wind whipped at her long black hair and snatched her words away. And yet, here they were, flying faster than that, and—if she'd wanted to, which she didn't—she could've easily had a conversation with Herin who was seated behind her.

  Fallion banked to the left and the mutilated stubs of Herin's fingers clutched at K'lrsa's waist. She shuddered. She'd never particularly liked the woman.

  And who could blame her? Only a few days ago Herin had schemed to kill her.

  She still wasn't sure Herin didn't want her gone. In Herin's eyes, it was K'lrsa's fault Badru had lost his throne.

  Not like K'lrsa had forced him to free her from slavery. Or to give her back her property once he did, thereby upending hundreds of years of rules and laws.

  That was all Badru.

  But Herin didn't see it that way. She saw a love-sick fool destroying his life.

  And maybe she was right. Because Badru had lost the Daliphate.

  One foolish decision too many—this one about whether to help the Toreem Daliphate's main trading partner which would've meant turning on K'lrsa's tribe—and his grandfather Aran had revealed himself and taken back the throne.

  Turns out he hadn't been as dead as everyone thought he was. She should've known, or suspected, that someone had used death walker magic to resurrect him the way Herin had Lodie.

  Herin shifted behind her and K'lrsa tensed as she realized how high they were. One shove and that would be it for her.

  But Herin wasn't a fool. Fallion was K'lrsa's horse. As much as Herin might want to see her gone, Herin wouldn't act now. Plus, just because Herin had wanted her dead a few days ago, didn't mean she still did.

  K'lrsa was no longer the obstacle she had been. Badru had already lost his throne—and his life. Now they were united in a common purpose—save the tribes from Aran's soldiers.

  K'lrsa shook her head. Herin was definitely not the sort of ally she would've chosen.

  Although she did have her uses. She'd brought Badru back to life. And known how to awaken the horses.

  What else did she know?

  How many more secrets were locked behind those grel-like eyes?

  K'lrsa glanced at Badru again.

  The man of her dreams. Literally.

  And the only man she'd ever actually felt was an equal.

  Not perfect as it turned out. Not in real life.

  But a better match than any she'd ever hoped for.

  And still young, like her. She'd just reached her sixteenth summer, and Badru was only a summer or two older, if that.

  They had a lifetime to grow together and form the same sort of unbreakable bond her parents had had.

  He'd do well in the tribes. He was strong and skilled with a horse, and he had been the leader of the entire Toreem Daliphate. That was something. No one in the tribes would care and he couldn't tell them anyway, but the experience of being a leader and making decisions would serve him well.

  And at least now he wouldn't ask
her to stay in the Daliphate. He couldn't. His whole court had seen him murdered. They'd never take him back knowing he'd been revived with forbidden magic.

  Which meant a fresh start, for both of them.

  She just wished the price hadn't been so high.

  She was grateful to Herin that she'd brought him back. But death walker magic demanded a life for a life. And trapped, cornered, the entire palace searching for them, they'd had no choice but to sacrifice one of their own.

  Sayel. Her chief poradom. A man who'd become like a second father to her.

  He'd given his life willingly, but still…

  She would've stopped him if she could. He was her friend. A bit misguided at times and foolish enough to think that she'd make a good dorana when they both knew it was completely hopeless, but a friend nonetheless.

  She shuddered at the memory of her days in Toreem.

  Others could call it an honor to be bound with the meza and wear the golden tiral, to have poradoma there to serve your every whim, but she'd seen it for what it was.

  A golden cage.

  She was a Rider. A warrior and protector of her people. A proud member of the White Horse Tribe. The equal of any man.

  Not some cowed songbird dressed up for display.

  She'd almost lost herself in Toreem. Almost let them defeat her. But she'd persevered in the end.

  And succeeded in killing the man who'd killed her father.

  Not the man she'd thought it would be. Not the Daliph, but a member of the tribes.

  One of her own. K'var of the Black Horse Tribe.

  He'd put the lure of wealth above her father's life.

  And not just his life, but all the members of the tribes. He'd come to Toreem for troops to annihilate his enemies, demanding men and weapons enough to strike down all who would stand against him.

  He would've killed everyone she loved. Her mother, her brother, her younger sister. Her best friend, F'lia. Everyone she'd ever known.

  Badru refused him. For her. Even though it wasn't in the best interests of the Daliphate, he'd said no.

  But Badru was no longer Daliph.

  Aran was. And Aran had given the order to send troops. Even now, couriers rode for the border, bearing a message of death for her people.

  She had to reach them first.

  She had to save them.

  No matter the cost.

  Chapter 2

  As the moon dipped towards the distant horizon, full and ripe with silvery light, they flew over Boradol—the harsh, straight lines of its streets carved into the flesh of the world, its buildings reaching towards them like a clawed hand, desperate to pull them from the sky.

  So far from the desert, K'lrsa could barely feel the Lady Moon's presence in that silvery glow. She was surprised to feel that much. The Daliphana were not the lands of her gods.

  But soon she'd return to the plains and deserts of home, where Father Sun beat upon the earth with merciless disregard, the Lady Moon shone her benevolent gaze on all, and the Trickster wandered during the between-times, luring the unwary to their deaths.

  It was a harsh land. A land of privation and struggle; unlike Toreem with its lush bounty.

  But it was hers and she longed to return.

  K'lrsa tensed as she studied Boradol. She'd never even seen a road before she came to the Toreem Daliphate. The tribes moved with the flow of the seasons, traveling the curves of the land. Not like those in the Daliphana who carved straight lines to their destinations through hills and over rivers with no care for what or who they destroyed.

  She took a deep breath and released it slowly.

  It didn't matter what those in the Daliphana did.

  Because she was leaving and she was never coming back. Let them destroy their land and one another.

  She was done with them.

  Herin tapped her shoulder. "Land. There." She pointed towards a building in the distance, its roof sagging under the weight of the years, its sides bulging as if the whole place was about to collapse.

  K'lrsa shuddered at the sight of Herin's fingers, each one missing the first joint. Even knowing it was the price Herin had paid for each failed attempt on Aran's life wasn't enough to overcome K'lrsa's aversion to such an obvious sign of weakness.

  A woman like Herin would have never lasted in the tribes. She'd have given herself to the sands rather than be a burden on her family. She couldn't hunt, couldn't sew, couldn't make pottery. Couldn't even feed herself, relying instead on Garzel for that barest of necessities.

  K'lrsa ignored her.

  She wanted to get out of the Toreem Daliphate as soon as possible.

  Herin pinched her arm, the bones at the end of her fingers pressing into K'lrsa's skin.

  "Ow. What did you do that for?"

  "I told you to land."

  K'lrsa shrugged one shoulder. "I don't want to."

  "Pzah, you foolish child. The Amalanee can't fly during the day. Do you want to be stranded in the middle of a field when daylight comes?"

  K'lrsa pursed her lips together, loathing the old crone behind her, but she nudged Fallion towards the barn nonetheless.

  As they approached the ground at a speed as fast as Fallion's fastest gallop, K'lrsa fought the urge to brace for impact.

  He didn't need her to fight him. Instead, she leaned forward and pressed herself against his neck, making herself a part of him so that they moved together just like when they were racing across the plains hunting baru.

  She didn't even feel the impact as Fallion's feet touched the ground, he landed so smoothly.

  And just like that, he was once more an ordinary—if an Amalanee could ever be considered ordinary—horse, his hooves chiming softly as he raced along a narrow dirt track, his beautiful, golden wings gone.

  "Well done, micora," she whispered as he stopped outside the barn.

  Midnight came to a stop at their side, the only other Amalanee horse K'lrsa had ever seen.

  They were the most majestic of all horses, so rare that a person was lucky to see one in a lifetime. Faster than any other, long-legged, capable of running an entire day without rest. And extremely intelligent. When K'lrsa and Fallion hunted it was like they were one being, moving together so perfectly that no one could match them.

  Badru smiled at her and K'lrsa blushed.

  Even in servant's robes he was gorgeous, his long black hair pulled back into a simple club, his golden brown skin shining with health.

  Too much health.

  The health of one recently brought back from the dead, every wound healed as if it had never existed. He burned with the glow of Sayel's sacrifice.

  She turned away, trying not to remember Badru’s motionless body slung over Sayel's shoulder like so much meat, his blue eyes dulled and staring at nothing.

  "K'lrsa? Are you okay?"

  She nodded, but didn't look back as she dismounted.

  She wobbled, holding onto Fallion's shoulder for support. It had been too long since she'd ridden a horse; her legs were no longer used to it.

  Herin cleared her throat and K'lrsa reluctantly offered her a hand down. Herin harrumphed. "I don't need your help, I just need you to move so I can get down."

  K'lrsa stepped back and Herin lowered herself off Fallion's back, not the least bit affected by their night's journey.

  The woman might be old and withered, but she was stronger than anyone K'lrsa knew.

  Badru came over to her. "K'lrsa? Are you okay?" he asked once more.

  She nodded, still not quite looking at him. "Mmhm. I'm just…A lot's happened the last few days."

  "I know. I'm just so glad you're safe." He pulled her close and she buried her face against his chest for a long moment, shaking with the after-effects of all she'd been through.

  Tarum's attack and her trial and the fight with Balor. And then Badru's murder. And fleeing through the palace with Sayel. And Badru's resurrection and killing K'var and the horses flying and knowing that Aran had sent soldiers to slaughte
r her people.

  She closed her eyes and took deep, calming breaths, forcing herself to focus on the moment, to center herself and put aside all emotion until she finally found the hunter's version of the Core—that heightened state of awareness that allowed her to exist in the moment separate from her feelings.

  Herin shoved at them. "Come on. Sun'll be up soon. Can't have you two spotted. Especially not with her dressed like that."

  K'lrsa lost the Core, returning with a snap to the real world.

  She wanted to argue that what she was wearing—tight baru-hide pants and a matching vest— was perfectly normal, but she remembered her journey through the Daliphate to Toreem, and how men had stared simply because she rode a horse and how they'd reacted with horror or worse to the slightest sight of skin.

  Instead, she followed Badru into the barn, her nose twitching at the dank and earthy stench of it. She was a desert child, not used to such abundance.

  She settled Fallion down, stripping the small golden saddle from his back and using patches of dried grass to wipe him down. Garzel silently laid a pile of torn fresh grass at their feet and she nodded thanks, wondering what it must be like to never be able to speak.

  When she was done, she stood in the broken doorway and waited until the sun colored the distant horizon with fire and cast its light on the lush, rolling green hills that surrounded them.

  Somewhere birds sang, their trills of happiness filling the air, unaware that the world had shifted around them.

  Even in winter, this land was more alive than her own land ever was.

  Fallion nudged her with his nose and she leaned into his comforting warmth, scratching a spot behind his right ear. "We're going home, micora" she whispered, smiling for what felt like the first time in days.

  He whinnied softly in agreement.

  "Oh, how I missed you." She buried her nose against his neck and inhaled the familiar scent of him.

  They'd been too long apart.

  She was scared and exhausted and didn't know how on earth to defeat the men of the Toreem Daliphate, but at least she had Fallion. Steady and true.