But no one did. Here, too, no one noticed the giant horse flying above them.
Herin pointed to their left and K'lrsa nudged Fallion in that direction. Sure enough, there was the curved rock formation with a hollowed-out center. It wasn't a large space. Definitely not large enough to hold the entire tribe. But it would hold the children, at least.
Fallion spiraled in and landed softly on the dusty soil. As his feet touched the ground she could once more hear the sounds of night—insects chirring and people laughing as if they weren't waiting to kill everyone she loved.
Herin slid off Fallion's back and moved to the side to wait for the others. Soon they were joined by Vedhe with Lodie and Badru with Garzel. Each slipped off silently with a small pack tucked under their arm. Food, water, a blanket, but no more than that.
K'lrsa tried not to think what her people would do if they had to be here for weeks with no tents or stools or any of the niceties of camp.
It was cold in the shadow of the rock, but hopefully they'd have enough warmth if they huddled close together.
She nodded to Badru and they flew back to camp, silent once more.
Three down, a hundred or more to go…
Chapter 35
They managed to spirit away twelve of M'lara's friends—two each in two trips—before anyone noticed what they were doing.
When Fallion landed softly back at camp after that third trip, K'lrsa knew they were in trouble.
D'lan stepped out of the shadow of the tent, dragging M'lara by the arm. "How did you do that? You weren't there a moment ago."
K'lrsa slid from Fallion's back and led him forward, out of the way so the others could land. D'lan tried to push past her, but she blocked him. "Wait."
"For what?"
"The others need space to land."
"To land? What are you talking about?"
There was a soft thump and then Badru and Midnight came out from behind the tents, too. D'lan pushed past her, but Badru moved Midnight to block him. "Let Vedhe land and then we'll explain."
D'lan turned back to her. "What's going on here, K'lrsa? Where are the others that were with you?" His voice rose with every word. "And why is my little sister sneaking around camp trying to convince children to follow her here?"
"Do you want me to explain or do you want to wake the whole camp and lose us what little advantage we have?"
D'lan glanced over his shoulder. Sure enough, a few people had stopped and were looking in their direction. D'lan waved them away, but K'lrsa's mother walked over to them.
"What's this all about?"
"Come with me." K'lrsa led the way back behind the tents. "Vedhe, keep anyone from getting too close."
Vedhe gave a sharp nod and stationed herself next to the tent.
Badru stood at K'lrsa's shoulder as her mother demanded, "So? What are you up to?"
K'lrsa stepped aside. "Badru? Do you want to explain? It was your idea after all."
He seemed surprised, but launched into a quick explanation of what the horses could do, what he'd done the night before, and what his plan was for getting them safe to the gathering grounds.
Her mother looked skeptical, but she didn't interrupt. When he was done, she said, "So you want me to believe your horses can fly?"
K'lrsa nodded.
Her mother rubbed her forehead, a slight smile on her face. "Of course. You father couldn't just get you a nice stallion, he had to get you a horse that could actually fly. "
K'lrsa smiled. For the first time in days her mother looked almost happy. Or at least not bitterly angry.
Her mother glanced towards camp. "We'll have to tell the Council."
"Please don't." K'lrsa almost reached out to physically stop her.
"Why not?"
"I, um…I don't know who we can trust."
"What's that supposed to mean, K'lrsa?" And just like that she was back to the new cold, angry version of herself.
K'lrsa took a deep breath and pulled her shoulders back. This was too important not to fight for. "It means I would never, ever have thought that L'ral was capable of betraying Dad, but he did. I grew up with him. He was going to marry my best friend. If he could betray us, then anyone could."
Her mother flinched. "L'ral?"
K'lrsa nodded.
"Why?"
K'lrsa shrugged. She wished she knew.
"Okay. So what do we need to do?"
"I thought we could take the children first. M'lara's rounding them up for us. We've already taken twelve over."
"You don't think their parents will miss them?" Her mother raised one eyebrow.
"I think M'lara's better at sneaking out of tents without being detected than I was at that age and you never caught me at it."
Her mother laughed slightly. "Good point. So children first. And then?"
"Then the adults who don't fight. K'na can go first. She'll know the others we can trust. With three of us going I think we can get most of them out tonight. That leaves the Riders."
"What do we do with them?
"We take them tomorrow night and hold our breath and hope the Black Horse Tribe doesn't discover what we've done until then. The horses can't fly during the day."
"Is that all we need? Two nights?"
K'lrsa glanced at Badru. He shrugged. "I certainly hope so. I don't think we can go more than two nights without them discovering the people we've already taken."
Her mother nodded, knowing as well as they did that whoever didn't make it out on the second night might never make it out.
But they had to try. It was the best chance they had.
"Okay. The others aren't going to like it, but I agree that it's best to keep this quiet until morning when at least the children and non-Riders are safe."
"We should go, then, if we want to get as many to safety as possible."
K'lrsa hesitated.
She felt a desperate urge to hug her mother. She knew she might not hug back, but she had to do it. Who knew what tomorrow would bring?
She stepped forward, threw her arms around her mother, and whispered, "I love you," her voice rough with tears.
Her mother stiffened for a moment, but then she relaxed and hugged K'lrsa back. "I love you, too."
Chapter 36
They managed to get almost all of the children to the gathering grounds before they had to inform any other adults. It helped that in the tribes children generally shared a tent of their own rather than sleep with their parents. Only the littlest ones, those under two summers old, or a first child under five summers slept in the same tent as their parents.
M'lara was the last of the older children to leave. She wanted to stay behind and help, but K'lrsa was adamant that she go.
M'lara thrust out her lower lip, her eyes filling with tears. "But I want to stay here with you and Mom and D'lan. I'm old enough to help."
K'lrsa knelt down and took M'lara's hands in hers. "And you are going to help. The children need you. They're over there, alone, scared, with people they don't know. You need to be there to keep them calm. You need to show them how brave you are and how brave they can be. And look? Don't you want to fly? If you stay here too long, you might not get a chance…"
M'lara stared at Fallion, her eyes full of longing as he stretched his golden wings.
"We need you there, M'lara. Come on. We don't have much time before dawn."
She hesitated a moment longer and then broke. "Okay."
K'lrsa tried to hide her smile as she helped M'lara into the saddle and mounted up herself. They flew to the gathering grounds, M'lara oohing and aahing and pointing out all the things K'lrsa hadn't had time to notice. The way the stars sparkled, the Black Horse sentry with red hair, the tent with a stringed instrument sitting outside instead of a bow.
As K'lrsa flew back towards camp alone she knew those few moments with her sister were moments she'd treasure forever.
Her joy was short-lived.
She landed to find D'lan waiting for her, tw
o unconscious Riders at his feet.
"What happened?" She leapt off Fallion's back, glancing around to see if anyone else was nearby, and led Fallion out of the way so Badru could land when he arrived.
"I caught them sneaking around the tents, trying to watch you. I had to stop them." He glanced towards the main camp, his jaw twitching in anger.
K'lrsa licked her lips—so dry after a night of flying. "So should we take them over? I can take this one, Badru can take the other."
Badru and Midnight landed and Badru came to join them. "What's this?"
"They got a little too curious. D'lan took care of them. I thought we could take them to the gathering grounds." K'lrsa glanced towards the sky. They didn't have time for this. Already the moon was partially blocked by the barricade. They only had time for a few more trips and she wanted at least a few more adults there before dawn.
Lodie had a special gift with animals and children, but even she'd be hard-pressed to keep so many children quiet for an entire day.
"No. We can't." Badru frowned towards camp.
"What? Why not?"
"It's too dangerous. If we take them to the gathering grounds, what's to stop them from telling the Black Horse Tribe what we're doing?"
D'lan nodded. "So what do we do with them?"
"Put them in the tent. We'll continue on with the others." He nodded towards where K'lrsa's mother was approaching, two men and a woman, all crafters, trailing along behind her.
Quickly, D'lan and Badru dragged the bodies towards the nearest tent. One of the men moaned slightly. D'lan waved Badru away. "Go. I'll keep watch on these two."
K'lrsa didn’t want to leave, but she had to. She smiled at the woman on the left, G'vina, a woman who'd trained F'lia in pottery when they were younger. "Come on. We don't have much time."
G'vina pulled back. "Where are you taking me?"
"To safety. Please. We don't have time to waste." K'lrsa urged her forward with a gentle but firm hand against her back.
Fallion followed them behind the tent and transformed before K'lrsa could even think to ask him. G'vina gasped as she reached out a tentative hand to touch his wings. "So beautiful…"
K'lrsa smiled. "He is, isn't he?"
Fallion shook his head and pranced slightly as if he knew exactly what they'd said.
"Here. Let me help you up."
G'vina moved as if in a dream, but she didn't resist when K'lrsa boosted her onto Fallion's back.
As they rose over camp, passing Vedhe who was circling above, K'lrsa saw Badru helping one of the men onto Midnight's back. She glanced at the horizon where the moon had dipped so low there was only a slim sliver of it left before it started to disappear.
She shivered. Come morning, everyone would know that they'd found a way to take the children to safety. Some might even guess that the horses had had something to do with it.
And when they did? How long until someone betrayed them?
Chapter 37
They managed two more trips before the moon disappeared. K'lrsa and Badru were able to return to camp, but Vedhe was trapped in the gathering grounds. As K'lrsa stared towards where her sister and Vedhe and the others hid, she chewed on her lip, realizing how fragile their plan was.
How had she thought a bunch of children and a handful of adults would be able to hide in the midst of their enemies for an entire day? Surely someone would start crying and they'd all be discovered. And then what?
"It'll be okay." Badru whispered as he pulled her close.
"Will it?" she whispered back.
"Yes."
She buried her face against his chest, letting his assurance comfort her. She didn't really believe it, but she was so tired and scared she needed something to keep her from collapsing.
"Come on." Badru pulled her towards the tent. "Let's rest while we can."
"But the horses…We can't just…"
"D'lan's posted guards. See? And, if things go well, we're going to have to do this all again tonight."
She ducked into the nearest tent, Badru behind her, trying not to think about another night spent flying back and forth, back and forth over and over and over again. Better that, though, than days spent fighting off attacks from the Black Horse Tribe. Because that's what they'd have to do if their plan was discovered.
As they snuggled down together, K'lrsa so exhausted she barely registered the fact that Badru's strong, lean body was pressed against hers, she asked, "Do you think we've done enough to save them, Badru?"
"I have to."
"But maybe we could've…"
"No. We can only do so much, K'lrsa."
He might be right, but she still wished she'd done more somehow. The difference between success and failure was so close…
One slip and they'd lose it all.
Chapter 38
D'lan awoke them around mid-morning with an offering of some dried baru meat and nuts. K'lrsa ate hers with glee. It wasn't fancy, but K'lrsa didn't care. At least it wasn't travel bars.
"So?" she asked as she tore off a chunk of meat with her teeth.
"The camp's swarming like a bee hive. Mother called a meeting first thing. Announced that we'd found a way to get some of the children and non-fighters through to the gathering grounds and that we'd done so last night. Said we'd be taking the rest of the camp through tonight."
"And?"
D'lan's jaw twitched. "And she's had people stopping her all day demanding to know how we got them through. The Council's livid. They threatened to take a vote to expel her."
"What?" K'lrsa coughed on the handful of nuts she'd just shoved in her mouth. "They can't do that, can they?"
He shrugged. "They could, but as she pointed out to them, it wouldn't get them any closer to knowing how we did it."
"Has anyone shown signs of betraying us?"
"Yeah." He clearly wasn't surprised. "H'kan tried to leave camp right after the announcement was made. Said she was feeling cramped with all the tents and people around and wanted a walk to clear her head. Almost had one of the guards convinced when I came along and found them."
"What did you do with her?"
"Tied her up and threw her in my tent along with the two from last night. And instructed the guards that no one is allowed to leave for any reason. Added a third guard just to be safe."
"You're sure they were going to betray us?" K'lrsa hated to think they'd come to the point where they were tying up members of their own tribe out of fear.
D'lan shrugged. "No. But we can't take the chance." He stood. "Get what rest you can now. It's going to be a long night for you two."
But she couldn't rest after he'd gone.
At any moment the Black Horse Tribe could discover M'lara and Herin and Lodie and all the others huddled together behind that inadequate rock. (A rock at least as tall as the palace in Toreem and curved to offer them protection from all but one narrow spot, but what she knew about it couldn't overcome her dread.)
She sat in front of the tent and scanned the camp, looking for anyone acting suspicious. She twitched each time a person drifted too close to the baru-hide barrier, stiffened each time someone approached the entrance to camp. All it would take was one person warning the Black Horse Tribe and it would all be over.
Badru at least had something to do with the day.
He gathered all the Riders that weren't on guard duty and ran them through the attacks he'd taught them.
She tried to watch, but her heart wasn't in it.
As she paced and waited and paced and waited she worried what they'd do with the other four tribes. There was no way they could fly them onto the gathering grounds, too. It would take too much time. And require trusting too many people.
She stroked Fallion's nose. Bad enough to risk him for her own tribe.
But if they couldn't fly them to safety, what could they do?
Because if they didn't get them through…None of this mattered.
Worse. Her people would be trapped in the gathe
ring grounds, surrounded by enemies, and no longer protected by the gods. It would be a slaughter.
She shook her head.
She couldn’t think about it. She couldn't. There was nothing she could do now and worry would just wear her down.
But she did think about it.
All day.
Chapter 39
K'lrsa was lying on her back in her tent, staring at the walls, trying not to go crazy with worry and impatience, when she heard shouting from the entrance to the camp.
She raced outside, dodging around tents and past people too slow to move out of the way, and reached the entrance just as D'lan arrived.
"Who was it?" He demanded.
O'lin—a young Rider who'd only passed the Rider's test the prior summer and still had the bumpy skin of youth—stared back at him, his eyes white with fear. "I tried to stop them. I did. But…" A tear fell down his cheek. "I wasn't strong enough."
"Who?" D'lan's voice was like a boom of thunder.
K'lrsa felt a moment's pity for O'lin, but then she remembered that he'd let someone escape to warn the Black Horse Tribe.
He straightened up. "H'kan. And F'ril. And J'ren and F'len. F'ril was standing guard with us. He pointed to a cloud of dust on the horizon, asked if we thought it was the Black Horse Tribe. He said he had to warn you. When he returned, the others were with him, on horseback. K'don and I tried to fight them, but…We failed. K'don was…"
He nodded towards where K'don lay sprawled, his throat cut.
"Who did that?" D'lan gripped the knife at his belt.
"F'ril."
D'lan shook with anger. K'lrsa grabbed his wrist. "Later. We have to worry about protecting the rest of the tribe now. Look. The horses are too far away to catch now."
Already they were just a speck on the horizon. They'd be at the Black Horse Tribe before anyone could stop them.
Rider's Rescue (The Rider's Revenge Trilogy Book 2) Page 12