"She shouldn't go alone," Asher pointed out. "Not this close to Basiyr."
"I'll go with her," Neyl said. "We'll wait for ye at the temple turnoff."
Asher nodded as Neyl spurred his horse into a gallop to catch up with Brijade.
"Is there somethin' goin' on with ye and Lady Takis?" Asher asked Nahtan. "The two of ye seem to have been at each other's throats for a bit now."
Nahtan shook his head. Asher was right, the tension between him and Brijade had been different. "She seems particularly short tempered lately," he noted. "And I admit my patience is wearing thin as well. The fact that both of us tend to settle arguments with weapons probably doesn't help."
Asher looked at Nahtan, his expression thoughtful for a moment. "The only time I've seen a woman get mad that fast over somethin' small was when Erith was expectin' a baby." He paused. "I have to admit, there were a couple of times Neyl and I'd head out to look for someplace Basiyr was stirrin' up trouble just to get out of Olorun for a few weeks. I swear I could tell Erith was pregnant before she could. One mornin' she snapped at me for the way I'd combed my hair, and I knew I was in for nine months of hell that ended up bein' Darie."
Nahtan stared at Asher for a long moment, then looked forward where Brijade and Neyl were growing further away. Rena hadn't had many mood swings, but she'd been a far calmer personality than Brijade. If Brijade were pregnant and with Bear leaving, that would explain a lot of her anger toward him. He shook his head slowly. There was a time she would have trusted him enough to tell him.
"I guess Brijade and I are going to have a longer talk than I'd planned tonight," he said.
Brijade turned when Neyl caught up to her. "I suppose Nahtan sent you?" she asked, her horse slowing to a trot. She was a little surprised to see him, but partly glad it hadn't been Nahtan. She wasn't entirely sure she wouldn't take a swing at him right now.
"I volunteered," he shrugged. "It's not a good idea to go off on ye're own this close to Basiyr, and ye don't know the roads."
"We don't scout that far ahead," Brijade told him.
"Still, ye shouldn't go off alone," he insisted.
"Do you spend much time out here?" she asked him.
"Sometimes more than others," he said. "I've been spendin' more time at Nivan Hold the last few years, but this last year Basiyr's been causin' more trouble, so Asher pulled me out of my hermitage."
"I'm not sure I remember the last time I spent three straight years at Takis," Brijade admitted. "At least not since I was a child."
"My wife died a few years back," Neyl said. "Left me with two children. I'd been spendin' my time there lookin' after them."
"I'm sorry," Brijade said, turning to look at him. He hadn't given any indication he'd suffered that much of a loss. "How did she die?"
"She caught a bad cough that went to her lungs," Neyl said. "The healers tried to help her, and it looked like she might pull through, but then she took a turn down and she was gone within a few days."
Brijade nodded. "How old are your children?"
"Holson's eleven summers, and Anthea's nine," he said. "Truth is, I probably wouldn't have done so well after losin' my wife if it weren't for them. It's hard to let ye'reself get too depressed when ye got a boy and girl those ages to try to keep track of."
"Valry is all Nahtan has left of his wife," Brijade said. "She died in childbirth while he was off fighting the Archbishop. He didn't even meet Valry until she was about two summers old. She's become his world since then and to have Thorvald take her has pretty much destroyed him."
"Aside from bein' awfully determined, he seems to be holdin' it together pretty well," Neyl noted. "But I think any father would tear the world apart to find their child if they had the means."
Brijade shook her head. "You might be sorry you said that when we get to Basiyr," she said.
Neyl pointed to a low rise just off to the side of the road.
"We can see the city from the top there," he said. "Dependin' on how much smoke is surroundin' it, that is."
Brijade nodded and turned her horse toward the rise, spurring it to a faster trot. They rode in silence for several minutes, the ground passing quickly beneath them.
"So why do you have the Olorun accent when most people don't except those born there?" she asked.
Neyl chuckled. "I practically grew up there," he explained. "My da sent me there to learn how to fight. I'd spend a month there, then come home to Nivan for a week, then another month in Olorun. That went on from the time I was about three until damn near my twentieth year."
Brijade turned to stare at him. "You started learning how to fight when you were three?!"
Neyl nodded. "There was a weapons master there, he'd take on students as soon as they could walk if the parents could convince ‘im to. He'd start ye out with simple things, then it got harder as ye got older."
"The Mo'ani won't even consider someone for a student position until they're at least twelve," she noted. "And they don't become apprentices until a few years after that. Even as an apprentice, it can take a good four or five years of training to earn a cloak, sometimes more. Kile earned his at nineteen, Nahtan had his by eighteen. I got mine just before my twentieth summer. Even a year or two longer isn't unusual."
She pulled her horse in when they reached the crest of the hill. Off in the distance, the smoky haze of Basiyr could be seen hanging low in the sky. It looked like about a day's march to her, so the estimates had been right.
"Is it always that smoky?" she asked.
"Aye," Neyl answered. "I've seen it a lot worse. They keep the sacrificial fires burnin' all hours."
"Well that's just going to set Nahtan off all over again," she frowned.
"I suppose we've just gotten used to 'em," Neyl said after a minute. "When ye live every day in the shadow of Basiyr and that temple, ye forget just how evil it is."
"Riders," Brijade said, pointing to a small group on horseback approaching from the city.
"Is that ye're group that went ahead?" Neyl asked.
"It could be," she said after watching for a minute. "I can't really tell from here."
"They aren't movin' too fast," Neyl noted.
"If someone's injured, they wouldn't be," she said. She turned her horse. "I guess we better go tell Nahtan."
Neyl turned and spurred his horse into gallop alongside hers.
Brijade kept up the gallop until they reached the army again.
"Riders ahead," she told Nahtan, reining in and turning her horse to rejoin the front of the army. "There's a rise ahead where you can see up to Basiyr. There's a small group approaching, but not very fast. It looks like it might be Calan and the rest."
"All four of ‘em?" Asher asked.
"It looked like it," Brijade nodded to him. "They're a couple of hours out, so it was hard to tell."
Nahtan turned to Asher. "Why don't we go see if Korrie managed to come through for me."
"Someone might be injured," Brijade continued. "They weren't going as fast as I'd expect them to."
Asher nodded and turned to Ehren behind him. "We'll be back," he told him. "Goin' to see if that thorn in my side's survived another runnin' off."
Ehren chuckled. "Ye can't get rid of her that easily," he assured his father.
"I'll go get Yenene," Nahtan told Brijade. "We'll catch up."
She nodded and turned her horse again. As she, Asher and Neyl spurred their horses into a gallop, he turned Renato and rode back along the column until he reached Lady Caya's wagon. Yenene was riding beside the wagon, Gaurel and the falcon riding beside her.
"We think Calan and the rest of them are ahead," he told Yenene. "In case any of them are injured, why don't you ride ahead with us."
"Why not use the falcon to check Your Majesty?" Gaurel suggested. He lifted the giant falcon from its perch on his saddle.
Nahtan nodded, motioning upwards with his head. Gaurel hoisted the bird into the air, ducking to the side to avoid the first powerful flaps of its win
gs. Nahtan reached out to the falcon, touching his mind as the bird gained altitude with each second. He directed the bird where he wanted to look and felt some resistance. A firmer push into its mind and the bird turned to follow the road.
Nahtan watched as the ground flew by far below, then the riders came into view. Another nudge from Nahtan and the falcon circled overhead.
"There are five riders," Nahtan said. "So it can't be--no, there's Garren." His relief that his brother was safe was obvious in his voice. He paused, nudging the falcon to drop closer so he could see who else was with them. The bird resisted again, but he pushed the thought harder into its mind. He could tell the falcon just wanted to fly like usual and let Nahtan see what he could through him, not be forced to only look at a specific place.
With another drop in altitude, he could make out Korrie and Kenah, then Calan leaning heavily forward in his saddle, one arm around his midsection. "Calan's injured," he said. "Badly by how he's sitting." He was aware of Yenene turning back to check the packs on her horse. He stopped when the falcon's next circle brought him close enough to see who the last rider was. "They've got Thorvald."
Yenene stopped and looked back at him, her eyes wide. "Calan must have taken him," she said. "There's no way any of the others would have stood a chance."
"He's injured, too," Nahtan said. He pulled his mind back from the falcon's. "We're going now," he told Yenene.
Yenene nodded and moved out of the column.
"You check for Valry again," Nahtan ordered Gaurel over his shoulder, spurring Renato into a gallop, Yenene by his side.
They caught up with Brijade, Asher and Neyl within several minutes. Renato could have covered the ground faster on his own, but Nahtan had to keep pace with the others. The five horses quickly fell into a pace together, covering the distance easily. After galloping for several more minutes, they slowed to let the horses rest as they walked.
"We saw the falcon fly over," Brijade told Nahtan.
He nodded at her. "I figured we should find out for sure who it was. Calan's injured, and pretty badly." He looked at Asher. "They've got Thorvald."
Asher and Neyl exchanged looks, then Asher looked back at Nahtan. "I've been tryin' to get that bastard for more years than I can count, and ye tell me ye're merchant walks into Basiyr and walks back out with 'im?"
"Apparently," Nahtan nodded at him.
Brijade shook her head, not surprised to hear Calan had taken on Thorvald. "We told you he was good," she reminded Asher.
Nahtan nodded his head at her. He touched Renato's mind, checking to see if he was ready to run again. The Dweller's horse acknowledged his touch, but Nahtan waited, knowing the other horses wouldn't recover as quickly. He reached out for the falcon's mind again, checking the distance between them now. They had stopped and Kenah had moved her horse by Calan's right side. She was checking something on his side while Garren stood on his left, supporting his weight while she worked.
"Yenene," Nahtan said, pulling his mind back and turning to her. "Can you make a small pack with herbs to help pain or slow bleeding and to maybe help him stay awake?" He wasn't sure how badly Calan was hurt, but it didn't look good and he wasn't sure they'd reach him in time if he didn't have something to help.
"Yes, of course," she said. "I'll need to stop."
Nahtan reached out for the falcon's mind again, nudging him to return. When he felt him shift direction and turn back toward them, he reined Renato in, the others slowing and stopping with them.
Yenene immediately dismounted and began searching through her packs on her horse. She stopped suddenly, her hands frozen.
"What is it?" Nahtan asked.
She felt around in the pack again, then looked up at him. "The scroll--from Edgewind--it's gone."
Nahtan frowned. She'd been keeping Mo'ani's fate hidden in her packs because he figured nobody was going to bother with her belongings. The Mo'ani held her in too high of regard as their main healer, and anyone else either wouldn't steal from her out of fear of angering him, or because they knew she was a chosen priestess and out of fear of angering Jensina. He only knew one person who might have taken it.
"I have a good idea who took it," he told her. "Get the pack ready." He looked up as the falcon dove down, then circled and came to rest on his shoulder.
"Korrie?" Brijade asked Nahtan.
He nodded at her. "But I have no idea why."
Yenene pulled a couple of pieces of cloth from one of her bags. She set one on her saddle and began tearing the other into smaller pieces.
"I can hold it for you, m'lady," Neyl offered, nudging his horse over by her. He leaned over and took the cloth from her saddle, spreading it out and holding it for her to place the items in. Yenene pulled a round bag from her pack and removed several herbs from it. She put those into one of the small pieces of cloth and twisted the top then put that in the cloth Neyl held. Then she took a few more herbs from another bag and twisted those into another piece of cloth and added them to the bundle. She then rummaged through her packs some more until she found a finely tanned leather bag. She carefully measured out a coarse powder, placing that in another small piece of cloth that she twisted and tied. She pulled one last bag from her packs and took out a couple of large dried berries, dropping those into the larger cloth. Taking that from Neyl, she nodded a thank you to him, then carefully rolled it together and tied the ends securely.
"That should help them until we get there," she said to Nahtan, handing it to him then pulling herself back into her saddle as he took it.
He turned to the falcon, reaching out for its mind again. He'd pushed what he wanted it to do into its thoughts, and the bird responded with confusion at first. He continued to press his will into its mind, and finally the bird hopped up, taking the wrapped bundle from his hand and flapping its wings to gain height. He kept his mind with the falcon's, not letting it fly too high. When the falcon was over the small group, he dropped the small bundle. Nahtan saw Korrie notice it fall and immediately move to see what it was as Garren pointed out the falcon.
"They've got it," Nahtan said. "Let's go." He spurred Renato into a gallop once more.
It was well over an hour later when they finally met up with them. The group hadn't moved from where they'd stopped and they were all off their horses and to the side of the road. Thorvald was tightly bound both hand and foot and sitting on the ground away from the horses. He was dirty and dressed in a torn, stained tunic and woven breeches. He was a long ways from the man in the shining armor and white cloak they'd seen outside Edgewind.
Calan was sitting propped up between a large rock and a twisted rough-barked tree. Nahtan could see now how pale he was and realized he had lost a lot of blood. He could see two wounds: a deep cut in one upper arm and a frighteningly deep gash in his right side. Garren was standing nearby while Korrie moved back when they approached.
Yenene immediately dropped from her saddle, coming over to Calan. Nahtan heard Kenah asking if she was who had sent the bundle, then thanking her before explaining that he'd lost a lot of blood and she hadn’t been able to clean the cut. Yenene gave Kenah a list of pouches she needed from her packs as she started looking at Calan's wounds.
Nahtan dismounted along with the others, walking over to Garren and Korrie while Asher immediately went to embrace Kenah, and Neyl went to see Thorvald. "I trust you have something for me?" he said to Korrie.
"In my saddlebags," Korrie said, taking a step back. Nahtan noted she was making sure she was outside of his reach. "We have maps and other information. We found everything we could."
"And the scroll?" Nahtan asked her, his gaze pinned on her.
"Scroll?" she asked. He caught a note of fear in her voice and she visually shrank away from him.
"You know what scroll," he told her.
"Nahtan, stop," Garren said, stepping between them. "She got you your plans, now leave her be."
"Nahtan, I need your skinning knife," Yenene said. There was a note of urgency to
her voice. He gave Korrie a long look, then turned and pulled the knife from his boot, handing it to Brijade to give to Yenene.
"You are not cutting into me with that," Calan said, his voice wracked with pain.
Nahtan turned to see how he was while Kenah continued rummaging through Yenene's saddlebags.
"Did you do that?" Nahtan asked Calan, pointing at Thorvald. Asher had pulled him to his feet and Neyl was holding him upright.
Calan nodded. "I couldn't have done it without Korrie," he told Nahtan. "If she hadn't taken out the priest in the room, I'd have bled out before I got him." He winced when Yenene turned him to look at his side more closely. Brijade crouched beside him, grasping his arm so he could grab hers. His knuckles immediately turned white as he gripped her forearm. "The priest was doing something, hissing I think," Calan continued. "I felt like my blood was going to boil and I started losing a lot more blood than I should have been."
"We're just used to ye bringin' back the dead," Neyl said to Thorvald. "Now ye and Basiyr 'ave got priests that can do that to a man's blood?"
Thorvald sneered, then spit at him. Kenah stopped what she was doing and practically flew at him, punching him squarely in the jaw.
"I'm gettin' damned tired of tellin' ye to stop doin' that!" she told him. "Now the next time, I'm goin' to grab that bone that's stickin' out of ye're shoulder and give it a good hard yank. I've seen goats with more manners than ye!"
Asher pulled her back. "Go help Yenene, ye bramble," he ordered her as Neyl chuckled and Asher sighed.
Kenah scowled at Thorvald and went back to searching through Yenene's packs for the things she needed. She pulled the last of the pouches from the packs and handed them to Yenene. Yenene opened them and set them aside, not taking anything from them yet.
Yenene turned Nahtan's skinning knife, pausing to look up at Nahtan. "Keep him talking," she said. "The distraction might help." She looked at Brijade next. "Don't let go of his arm."
"Please just stitch it closed," Calan told Yenene.
"I need to fix what's inside first," she told him. "Or it'll just keep bleeding internally. Did you eat both berries?" she asked Calan.
Basiyr: Chronicles of Nahtan: Book 6 (The Herridon Chronicles) Page 12