“He’ll crucify them,” Kel’Ratan rumbled from behind me.
“He has to catch them first,” Raine answered, settling himself on Tashira’s broad back. “They’re departing the area fast and in huge droves. I’m guessing they’ll cross the border into Arcadia. Since Kel’Halla isn’t very forgiving.”
“She is if they agree to fight for her,” I murmured. “How about we seek Kel’Halla’s borders, too? I have a sudden hankering to view my homeland for myself. Who’s with me?”
Raine and Tashira led the way down the hill at a rolling gallop, the entire group falling in behind him. No one bothered to put a rope on the black gelding. As we started out, he flanked Shardon, keeping pace as though belonging there.
My curiosity could not be reined back any longer. I urged Mikk up beside Tashira.
“I’ve got to know,” I began.
“Are human females as nosy as Tarbane females?” Tashira asked.
“Of course.”
“You all have some explaining to do,” I said, trying to make my voice firm.
“Bossy, too,” Shardon said from my other side. I sighed. The grey mare wasn’t the only one put upon.
Between his snickers, Rygel told their tale of finding the Tarbane brothers chained at the back end of Wil Dar. As his story unfolded, I suspected he left something out, for I watched Raine’s expression closely as Rygel’s voice rose with excitement. When Rygel told of Raine finding them when not even Rygel could see them in the darkness, Raine’s expression turned bleak. Interesting, I thought.
I followed the story as the pair freed them from their chains and escorted them through the town gates. After Tashira and Shardon vanished into the darkness, Rygel spoke of the next morning.
“You should have seen them,” Rygel said, excited. “Fifteen Tarbane surrounding us, looking like they wanted to eat us for breakfast.”
“That was Vajna,” Tashira said.
“Vajna?”
“Father’s second in command,” Shardon said. “With his cronies.”
“He sure looked like he’d rather kill us than take us to The Sh’azhar,” Rygel said.
“The Sh’azhar?” I asked.
“The Tarbane king,” Kel’Ratan said from behind me.
I twisted around in my saddle. “Just how do you know that?”
He scowled. “Had you listened to your lessons—”
“Does that make you princes?” I asked, waving him off.
Tashira shook his mane. “Not really. When the Sh’azhar is dying, he names a new Sh’azhar. It can be one of his sons, or whoever he feels will be the best leader. Our leadership isn’t hereditary as with you humans.”
“Vajna doesn’t much like humans,” Shardon said. “If he could have, he’d have killed you.”
“Vajna tends to kill first and ask questions later,” Tashira added.
“I’m glad he didn’t,” I murmured.
Raine refused to look at me. Something was still very wrong with him, then. It must be the wolves, of course. It always goes back to the wolves.
Rygel’s tale wound on, fascinating all the humans present, save Raine. Raine spoke little, his eyes on the horizon. He sat Tashira’s gallop with careless ease, not even bothering to hold onto his thick mane. I learned of the blood debt the Tarbane now owed Raine and Rygel, their sire’s sentence, Tashira’s panic. As Rygel spoke of Raine offering his life for Tashira’s, I scowled. Behind me, Kel’Ratan cursed under his breath. Still, Raine stared straight ahead, however strongly I willed him to look at me. If he caught my message, he flat refused to obey.
“That sounds like something Raine would do,” Arianne said.
Her entering the conversation startled me out of my anger. I glanced back, noting her cool expression.
“He’s absolutely impossible,” she snapped. “He’d rather die than fulfill his destiny.”
“Oooh, I like this,” Tashira said. “A wolf with a destiny. I’m getting tingles down my spine.”
“That’s just—” Shardon began, but Rygel’s howl of laughter cut him off.
Belatedly, I saw what Tashira intended. His ability to see deep into one’s heart, as well as his new affinity for Raine, told him of Raine’s conflict. His fears of accepting himself, of accepting the wolf he truly was. Perhaps Tashira could do what we could not: humor Raine out of his misery.
It might have worked, dammit. Raine actually smiled, a real smile and not the fakery he’d been using for so long. It certainly worked on me. I laughed nearly as loud as Rygel and I heard the voices of Kel’Ratan and the others joining in.
Bar swept in from above, screeching.
“Hello,” Tashira said, slowing his pace, looking up. “You didn’t tell us you had a griffin.”
“Shame on you,” Shardon added. “Bad humans.”
Bar circled low, his fierce predatory eyes peering down from between his extended front legs. His wings beat slowly, keeping him only a few rods above us. Like the rest of us, he hadn’t been born the last time the Tarbane walked among Kel’Hallans. But he certainly recognized them.
“Did I tell you the time Father saw a griffin?” Shardon said eagerly to his brother.
“No,” Tashira gasped. “Do tell.”
I giggled, but interrupted the brothers. “Bar has news. What say you, O my winged pussycat?”
Bar hissed, his beak clicking in impatience and anxiety, his tail lashing even as he circled. My heart jolted.
“Brutal’s soldiers,” I said through numb lips. “Only a few miles behind us.”
“I suspect this Brutal fellow isn’t very nice,” Tashira commented.
“I think that’s why they call him that,” Shardon said.
“No. Really?”
“Will you two get serious?” Raine murmured, his smile still genuine. He caressed Tashira’s thick neck.
“Find Alun,” I ordered Bar. “Get him here. Now.”
Bar screeched. Winging heavily, he circled to gain altitude, then beat swiftly toward the northeast.
“You know, Raine,” Tashira said. “The next three years with you will be rather dull if you don’t grow a sense of humor.”
Despite the close proximity of Brutal’s army, I laughed. Raine chuckled.
“Perhaps you can teach me,” he said.
“You humans are too slow for words,” he said.
“Yes, perhaps I am,” Raine agreed. “But I have opposable thumbs.”
“He’s got you there, brother,” Shardon commented.
“I suppose,” Tashira sighed. “What I wouldn’t do with opposable thumbs.”
“I’d like to know,” Rygel demanded. “How in the bloody hell does he keep finding us?”
“You humans are rather fragrant,” Shardon said with a loud snort. “Maybe he’s following you by scent.”
“His nose isn’t any better than ours,” Rygel said glumly.
“Well, that’s out.”
“Can his devil-boy be working some magic to find us?” Kel’Ratan asked.
“No,” Rygel replied. “My net is still in place. I’ll bet Shardon here it’s the Tongu and their mongrels sniffing us out. It’s only logical.”
“You’d wager me?” Shardon demanded, affronted.
“Your sentence is for three years?” I asked.
“Yes,” Tashira sighed. “Bitch, isn’t it?”
“With these two,” Kel’Ratan said, “those three years will seem like an eternity.”
“Gee, thanks,” Tashira said, his head dropping. “Just what I needed to hear.”
“Just trying to help,” Kel’Ratan said, blithe.
“Next time you feel like helping?” Shardon said. “Truly? Don’t.”
Kel’Ratan shrugged. “’Tis your funeral, er, life.”
“What’s with this guy?” Tashira complained.
My tears matted and dripped into Mikk’s mane. “Oh, Lady—” I gasped. “Please. Ignore him.”
“Kel’Ratan?” Raine asked.
“Yes, Your Lor
dship?”
Raine flipped him a sign. That sign. I dissolved once more as the helpless laughter caressed its painful duty on my ribcage. I think I’ll just die—
“She laughs a lot, doesn’t she?”
“You’ve no idea,” Raine replied, his tone morose.
The sound of a galloping horse intruded through my laughter and over the sound of our own hooves. I raised my head. Alun cantered toward us, Bar flying above him.
“Here we go again,” Shardon said as Alun reined in his sweaty mount, his eyes wide.
“Yes, we’re Tarbane,” said Tashira. “Can we move on?”
Not quite knowing exactly whom to salute, Alun offered a general salute to all and reined his horse in next to Witraz.
“Have any more stragglers out there, Ly’Tana?” Shardon asked.
“No, he’s the last.”
“Then what say we lay some tracks.”
The two Tarbane set the pace, a fast one that bordered on a killer for the non-Tarbane we rode. If we could but maintain it for an hour or so, perhaps we’d leave Brutal’s troops behind to eat our dust. We rode hard for perhaps four hours, uphill and downhill, across green meadows and startling deer into panicked flights. The sun slowly descended toward the distant mountains as we careened across her sunlit plains.
“Tashira,” Raine asked. “What’s in our path?”
“You’re asking me? We left my territory about two leagues back.”
“We’ll be entering the lands of the Mesaan,” Rygel said, he and Shardon galloping on my left. “Nomadic, driving their herds from one grazing ground to another. They’re not very military, their loyalties to the High King questionable. I doubt they’ll be much of a problem, provided we don’t actually cross their turf. They don’t tolerate outsiders. There are still a few geographic obstacles in our path.”
“Like what?” Raine asked.
“Mountains, cliffs, rivers and the like.”
“Prime ambush territory, you mean,” Kel’Ratan asked grimly.
“Exactly.”
“Well, you said you wanted an adventure,” said Shardon.
“I never did,” Tashira retorted.
“Did too.”
“When?”
“Oh, about two years ago.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“Of course you don’t, stupid. You had eaten too much of that weed that Nazka always found. You were too high to—”
Tashira snorted. “Well, I think that’s way too much information here.”
I glanced back, over my shoulder. Kel’Ratan rode directly behind me, Arianne on her new stallion just behind him. She had hung the wolf cub’s bag over her pommel, his dark fuzzy head poking from the neck. His eyes, a deep sapphire blue, contrasted sharply with his dark grey fuzz. Hmmm, slightly uptilted blue eyes, on a future black wolf? That certainly was different, I thought. At least he was wolfish enough to not cry or whine.
I studied Arianne. Both her hands competently lay on her reins, her seat balanced and moving in unison with his stride. How long has she been riding? Not long enough to know that, I’d wager my gold torque. Not a trace of fear showed on her pale grim face, her midnight hair flowing behind her, a banner of royalty.
Pride surged hot within me. Damn, but wasn’t she a sight! Corwyn rode to her right and just behind, his eyes meeting mine for a brief moment. While his face remained smooth and expressionless, his blue eyes lit with the same pride that he probably saw in mine. I wanted Raine to turn and see her, too. Of course, he was too busy worrying about potential traps to look and see the steel in his tiny sister. Damn and blast him anyway.
The rest of my band strung out behind, Tor riding hard in single file between Yuri and Yuras, Witraz and Rannon to either side of them. Left and Right, their twin expressions glum, annoyed they rode two horses away from my back. No doubt, they plotted a way to work themselves forward. Alun trailed the group, his eyes constantly glancing over his shoulder to spot pursuit.
“Maybe we should send out a couple—” Kel’Ratan began.
“No,” I replied fiercely. “We stay together. Brutal wouldn’t get his filthy hands on them again.
“Can your wolf friends keep up?” Tashira asked.
“They always have.”
“You didn’t have us before, now did you?” Shardon said.
“We can outrun any wolf,” Tashira boasted.
“But we won’t,” Raine said.
“Why not?”
“That kind of pace will kill these horses.”
“Oh, please. Wolves are wimps, anyway.”
“They are not!” Arianne screeched from behind.
“Touchy, isn’t she?” Tashira said.
“The small ones always are,” Shardon replied.
Bar winged past overhead. Ignoring the ribald brothers for a moment, I admired his graceful bank, his wings spread to their fullest as he clung to warm thermals and once more swept overhead. With his front legs tucked beneath him, his lion hind legs and black-tipped tail trailing behind, he blew past, eagle head and huge parted beak downturned to watch us. From behind, he flew low, his vast wings creating a tiny hurricane that blew hair, manes, and tall grass behind it as he passed a mere rod over our heads.
“I’ve always liked griffins,” Shardon mentioned wistfully.
“At least they have some brains,” Tashira added. “Unlike some I won’t mention.”
“Like humans?” Raine asked.
“I didn’t say that,” Tashira answered hastily.
“You didn’t have to.”
Raine’s hand stroked the huge black neck affectionately. “You’re quite right, my lad. Most humans don’t have the brains the gods gave a goat.”
“Goats. Ewwww.”
With a wave of my arm, I sent Bar scouting westward. “Rygel?”
“Princess?”
“Why didn’t you heal these two?”
“They wouldn’t let me.”
Rygel’s eyes travelled over Tashira’s wounds, covered in black, dried blood. “I healed their sire—”
“The Sh’azhar?” I asked, suddenly alert.
“Yes. He tried rescuing these two miscreants here—”
“I’m not a miscreant.”
“Yes, you are. A big black one.”
“—and he took an arrow to the shoulder. He at least showed the wisdom in allowing me to heal him. But they wouldn’t.”
“It’s not that we don’t trust you, Rygel,” Shardon said.
“Yes, it is,” Tashira commented.
Mid-gallop, Shardon aimed a high-powered kick at his brother. However, Mikk and I galloped between them. Mikk saw the blow coming and both dodged and slowed at the same time. The kick passed harmlessly past, but I was thrown onto his neck.
“Sorry,” Shardon said, honestly contrite.
“That was really stupid, Shardon,” Tashira complained, his ears buried in his mane.
“I know. I said I was sorry, didn’t I?”
“It’s all good,” I said, settling back into my saddle after an amused eye exchange with Raine. The presence of the Tarbane certainly helped his morose mood, I thought, but it still wasn’t quite enough. The shadow still lay behind his eyes.
“What I meant to say, Rygel,” Shardon said with ears pinned at his black brother. “We’re just, you know, not all that comfortable with magic.”
“Not to worry,” Rygel said lightly. “You’ll get used to the notion.”
“I was afraid he’d say that,” Shardon complained, wilting.
“Um,” I started diffidently, not sure where my curiosity ended and their personal boundaries began. “How did you get caught by townspeople anyway?”
“You mean besides by being stupid?” Tashira asked.
“And reckless.”
“And arrogant.”
“Don’t forget disobedient.”
“I didn’t. Disobedient, too.”
My ribs ached again.
“We planned to frighten the humans cr
eating yet another building on our land,” Tashira explained. “Father said no.”
“We did it anyway,” Shardon said sadly.
“These humans were smarter than we gave them credit for. That building was in truth a trap to snare wild horses.”
“What wild horses?” I asked, confused. There were no wild horses anywhere that I knew of. Caught between the sympathetic glances of both Raine and Rygel, I wilted, feeling foolish.
“Oh,” I said, my voice small.
“They don’t know us for what we are,” Shardon explained. “They liked our looks, thought we’d make great saddle horses.”
“As we kept breaking their ropes, they finally got smart and used chains.”
“Father, on his own, came to rescue us,” Tashira went on sadly. “They shot him.”
“So we were caught,” Shardon said. “Until Raine and Rygel found us.”
Raine suddenly looked away.
“Very coincidental,” I murmured.
“Coincidence is a goddess I don’t put much faith in,” Tashira said.
“Meaning?”
“Well, you know,” Shardon said, his voice low and halting. “No such things as accidents and all.”
“Thus you were meant to get caught and these two were meant to free you?” I didn’t try to hide my skepticism.
Strangely, neither Tarbane had anything at all to say. I glanced at Raine. He shrugged. I glanced at Rygel. He grimaced and shrugged. I remembered how much I learned to hate shrugs in the last week or so. Pity they both rode outside slapping range.
“Look at him,” Shardon said. “He’ll break his wings flying so fast.”
Bar streaked toward us, his wings beating frantically, his screech of alarm loud in the sudden stillness. My mouth went dry.
“What?” Kel’Ratan demanded. “What did he say?”
“More troops,” I said through numb lips. “They’re to our west and over the next hill.”
“How did they get around us like that?”
“They sure aren’t riding Tarbane,” Shardon said.
“Rygel,” Raine said. “What’s in front of us?”
With the lively conversation the Tarbane had me engaged in, I had scarcely noticed the terrain we rode through. I cursed myself. We left the hilly, soft grasslands behind and now rode through slowly thickening forest. There was still tall grass and rolling hills, but the ground had begun to rise, not fall. Heavy granite formations thrust here and there up through the hillocks and greenery. Thicker pockets of tall pine, fir and evergreen replaced the oak, elms, scrub oak, beech and poplars of the vast grasslands, the broad plains of the Tarbane. Jagged mountains with rugged rock faces glared down from their tall heights to the west and to the north of us.
Catch a Wolf Page 43