The Dothan Chronicles: The Complete Trilogy

by Charissa Dufour

  The men stared at her, their eyes narrowing in doubt.

  “We had heard the princess was dead.”

  “Not dead. I was captured and enslaved. My family still does not know that I am alive. We simply want to get to Dothan.”

  Their spokesman turned to one of his men and spoke in their own language. A second later the man took off in a dead run, breaking through the undergrowth.

  “I have sent my man to our home. I cannot take you there without orders from my superiors. Let us get you off the path. We can bind your wounds and take care of you until he returns.”

  Bethany nodded. “Thank you.”

  It was only a few hours before the messenger returned. During that time their hosts dressed their wounds, packing them with herbs Bethany had never seen before. She questioned them vigorously, much to their amusement. They told her a little about the herbs, but seemed reticent to share their true secrets. Bethany forced herself to refrain from pushing further. It was more important that she build a lasting relationship with the reclusive people than for her to gain a few healing tricks.

  The messenger returned with three men to replace him and his fellow scouts, along with the news that they would be permitted to enter the reclusive Lurran village. With the help of their new friends, Erin and Bethany mounted their horses. The effort nearly brought tears to Bethany’s eyes as it pulled on the cut across her side. The cut was deep, and Bethany wondered if they would have survived their wounds without the Lurran’s help, even if they had survived the attack itself. With Erin so badly hurt from his beating in the town, he would have been little help tending her wound.

  We would have managed somehow, she finally decided. We’re a good team.

  Their rescuers led them westward toward the tip of the Narrow Sea; it wasn’t a sea at all, but the widest river in the Peninsula. Despite its size, it was freshwater. The enormous river was lined by steep cliffs that only the bravest—or stupidest—dared climb. Bethany had heard of a few paths that switch-backed their way down the cliffs, but she had never met anyone who had actually journeyed on them.

  When the Lurran called them to a stop, Bethany was beginning to wonder how much farther she could ride. The ground was uneven, causing Galindo to widely rock and sway with each step. The movement pulled further on her cut. Despite the herbs plugging the hole and the cloth wound around her midsection, she knew it had begun to bleed again. From her position, she could see that the worst of the cuts on Erin’s back were seeping through his bandages too.

  “I am afraid from here we must ask to cover your eyes,” said the leader of the small band of lookouts.

  Erin opened his mouth to protest, but Bethany cut him off.

  “That will be fine. Please trust me,” she added, directing her speech to the knight glaring at her.

  Erin’s glower slowly melted into a frown before he nodded once. The Lurran men took swaths of crude cloth and bound their eyes. They led the horses farther into the woods. Based on the slight warmth on her face, she suspected they were still heading west.

  They didn’t ride blinded for long. Their horses came to a stop and a second later their blindfolds were removed. They were stopped outside a simple structure with a large door and a thatched roof. Another Lurran appeared from within the building.

  Bethany winced as she carefully lowered herself to the ground. One of the men steadied her with a carefully placed hand on the small of her back, barely missing her wound. Before she could thank him, Erin appeared by her side, glaring at the man touching her. The Lurran bowed and stepped away, giving the position over to the knight. Erin looked as bad as she felt.

  “We walk from here,” informed their spokesman. “Etu here will tend to your horses until you are ready to continue your journey.”

  Bethany heard Erin grumble under his breath. “Erin, please. I’ll explain later,” whispered Bethany.

  Erin sighed. “Be careful, he bites.”

  Etu nodded before tenderly taking the horses’ leads. The Lurran took their horses into the building and began tending to their needs. One of their guides took their crude saddlebags and draped them over his shoulder. The Lurran men guided them away from the little building along a narrow path. After a few feet, the undergrowth gave way to a view designed to make one gasp.

  Before them lay a deep ravine of yellow stone. Half carved into the walls of the ravine and half built out onto narrow ledges were buildings of varying sizes. From their vantage point, Bethany could see men, women, and children scurrying along the narrow paths on different levels of the strange city.

  “This way,” said one of the Lurran.

  Bethany and Erin followed their guides along the edge of the ravine and down a steep set of stairs cut into the cliff face. Without saying a word, Erin switched to walk along the outside edge of the staircase. Bethany would never tell him so, but she would always remember his act of chivalry; it was a reminder that he would do anything to keep her safe.

  It was a long, painful climb down to the main level of the city. When they finally reached it, Bethany’s side blazed with fire, and the muscles in her legs shook with exhaustion. She walked with her hand clamped over the bloody bandage. Her body felt flushed and cold at the same time. Bethany glanced up at Erin; he didn’t look any better.

  Finally, when she felt ready to collapse, their guides turned off the switch-back stairs onto a narrow pathway lined with buildings. They stopped at the largest. The Lurran men pulled a large animal skin aside to reveal a doorway and ushered them inside.

  Bethany and Erin stepped in, pausing a moment to let their eyes adjust from the evening sunlight to the firelight within. The building was mostly made up of one large room, with a fire in the center. Along one wall Bethany spotted a ladder leaning against an enormous loft. From that loft, another ladder led up to an even higher room. The roof of the building appeared to be more rock.

  Sitting beside the fire was a woman who looked ready to plan her own funeral. Her hair was mere wisps of gray floating above her teak-colored skin. Her ears sagged until they nearly reached her shoulders. She raised a hand so deformed with the knuckle disease that Bethany doubted she could grasp her own cup, and waved them forward.

  “Sit, sit,” she ordered in the common tongue.

  Erin helped Bethany lower herself onto the cushions surrounding the fire before sitting down next to her.

  “My men tell me you claim to be the Tokë princess, the one that died last year.”

  Bethany smiled and gave her a little bow. “My caravan was attacked in the mountains, halfway between Garrul and Dothan. My lady-in-waiting told me to go through the trap door and run into the woods to keep away from our attackers. While in the woods I was kidnapped by slavers and sold into slavery in Tolad. With Sir Caldry’s help,” here she waved at Erin, “I escaped and have been slowly making my way home. It has been a long and dangerous journey.”

  “And you are about to enter the most dangerous part,” added the old woman.

  “Indeed.”

  “I am Alawa, Grand Mother to the Lurran. You have been injured, I see. My men tell me you are not equipped to journey over the mountains.”

  “We are not,” agreed Bethany. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the confusion on Erin’s face; thankfully, he kept his mouth shut.

  “In the hopes of promoting continuing peace between our people, I will allow you safe haven here until you are rested and healed. I will also send you on with the supplies you will need.”

  Bethany bowed again, as far as the gash on her side would allow. “You are most generous. My people have long wanted to further a relationship with the Lurran. I know there is much we could learn from each, as well as the benefit of added protection against those who would destroy our way of life.”

  The Grand Mother smiled at her, her eyes disappearing in the folds of her wrinkled face.

  “You speak like a politician. And while your words are music to my ears, let me remind you that you are but the younger sister to
the king. Yes, we know about your father. Princess Bethany, you have no real power in this situation to negotiate a peace between our nations. Return when you have the authority to make such an offer, and I will listen.”

  Bethany forced a smile to her lips.

  The rest of the long day was spent receiving more medical attention and eating the unusual foods of the Lurran people. It was mostly made up of fresh roots, winter vegetables, and a small portion of meat. Bethany wasn’t sure what the meat was, but she suspected it had once been some sort of ground rodent. Whatever it was, she was glad to eat it.

  Finally, they were escorted to a small building at the far end of the town. The building was made of one room with a central fireplace and a hole in the roof for the smoke to escape. Beside the fire lay two beds made of spring ferns and covered with thick furs.

  “The Grand Mother says you wish to stay together,” said their guide, his eyes going to Bethany.

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  The guide’s eyes narrowed for a second before he bowed and walked away.

  “What was that about?” asked Erin, speaking for the first time since arriving in the hidden city.

  “The Lurran are much like the Tokë in that a woman would never stay with a man who is not her husband. Their morals do not allow it. They equate being in the same room with a man at night as… well, you know.”

  “And your morals?”

  Bethany stared at him for a moment. “What morals? I think I’m beyond such worries.”

  Erin didn’t respond, but helped her settle on the plush bedding.

  “What’s with this Grand Mother?” he asked a while later.

  “The Lurran are ruled by the women.”

  Erin chuckled. “How strange.”

  “You think a woman can’t rule?” she asked.

  “I am not foolish enough to say ‘no’ to the likes of you. You’d have me killed, or maybe even do it yourself. I think some women can rule and some can’t, just like men.”

  For some reason, Bethany smiled. She was lying on her side, staring at Erin across the fire. Erin smiled back before closing his eyes.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Bethany and Erin spent five days with the Lurran people. The mountain locals had urged them to stay longer, worried that Bethany’s gash would not remain closed mounting and dismounting her horse. She insisted that she would be fine. The truth was, Bethany couldn’t stand remaining in a place so close to her home. She needed to get moving again; she needed to see her mother.

  Erin supported her in her choice to keep moving.

  “I’ll take good care of the princess,” he had said to the Grand Mother on the morning of their leaving.

  Bethany blushed a little at his tone. During their time with the reclusive people, Erin had adapted a sort of bodyguard and personal servant persona. Bethany wasn’t sure if it was his effort to smooth the so called peace talks with the Grand Mother or to make Bethany appear more virtuous. Erin and Bethany continued to share the little hut at the end of the main street, but the Lurrans’ looks of disapproval slowly eased. Bethany suspected it was, in part, due to Erin’s efforts. The longer they stayed with the Lurran, the more the Grand Mother grew to view Bethany as the leader of the Tokë, though she continued to insist that the princess didn’t have the authority to negotiate any sort of treaty.

  In the end, nothing tangible had been achieved, though Bethany felt a confidence in the relationships she had formed. If she could attain her brother’s approval, she could return to form a more lasting partnership.

  Bethany smiled as she thought about that possibility. What would her mother think of her now? Before all this, Bethany had never given a moment’s consideration to the doings of foreign kings or the war raging beyond her home. Now she wanted to participate in an active peace treaty.

  But they won’t allow that, she suddenly realized. When they knew what she had done, and what had been done to her, they would view her as damaged goods. She would never be allowed to participate in the activities of her family, much less represent them in an official capacity. It seemed as though every time she came to an understanding within herself, she would find some new aspect of her former life to excite her. She didn’t want to be what she had been, but rather a better version of her past self. How could she do that, though, when she was so undeserving?

  “You’re getting contemplative again,” said Erin, cutting into her thoughts.

  He rode alongside her, his eyes flicking to her profile whenever he thought she wasn’t looking.

  Both horses had gained back a little weight during their recuperation in the small stable above the ravine. Erin had walked up to check on them the day after their arrival. He came back pleased with their care and did not return until their departure. Bethany assumed that decision had more to do with the pain in his back than a desire to stay away.

  “Just thinking,” she finally responded, her eyes rising to look at the snow falling from the sky.

  The Lurran had sent them off not only with food—for humans and horses—but also with fur-lined boots and cloaks, blankets, and new bows, along with two quivers full of their specially-crafted arrows. Despite the Lurran’s generosity, Bethany was beginning to worry. The snow had been falling for hours and the higher they climbed into the mountains, the deeper the old snow got. The horses were beginning to plow their way through the snow rather than walk over it.

  They rode on in silence for another hour before Bethany voiced her concern. “Erin, I think we need to find shelter.”

  “I’ve been watching for a cave since midday.”

  “What do we do if we can’t find one?”

  “Build a shelter. I never thought the White Caps were worse than the Tolad Mountains.”

  Bethany chuckled. “Surprise, surprise. We typically don’t travel through them during the winter. I was traveling with a caravan in the beginning of April and even that was considered risky. The two of us, at the beginning of March? Some might call that suicidal.”

  “We’ve done dumber things.”

  “True enough. What’s that?” she added, pointing to a dark splotch on a rise to their left.

  Erin pulled Éimhin to a stop and Bethany followed his example. The knight dismounted, moving a little slower than normal. Upon leaving the Lurran, he had decided to don his chainmail and leather tabard. Once again, he looked like the powerful knight she knew him to be. She also knew that the weight of the chainmail across his back must have been causing him intense pain. But he had insisted and she refused to fight him.

  Erin climbed up the little hill, using the tree trunks to keep him from slipping on the snow. He reached the splotch she had noticed and called back, “It’s a cave. I’m gonna check the size.”

  A moment later, he appeared and slid down the short slope.

  “It’s large enough for us. Now to get the horses up there.”

  “How are we going to do that?” she asked, eyeing the slope Erin had just struggled up.

  “Remove the snow.”

  “That’s a lot of snow to remove.” Bethany sighed and dismounted, the movement pulling on her healing wound and making her wince.

  The two of them worked together. Erin used his arms to scoop the deep snow away while Bethany found a more creative method. She climbed to the top of the hill with one of the fur bedrolls, sat down on the fur and slid down the slope, pushing the snow ahead of her. Erin stepped back just in time to keep from being knocked over by the small avalanche.

  “Very nice,” he said in a sarcastic voice.

  “Got the job done, didn’t it?”

  “Sorta. I think it packed the snow more than moved it.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “Packed snow can be slippery.”

  “You’re just jealous,” she teased. “Wanna try?”

  Erin rolled his eyes but willingly took the swath of fur. He climbed to the top and slid down it, further packing down the snow. To Bethany’s surprise, he came down wi
th a wide grin on his face. They repeated the activity for a few times before admitting that they were cold and hurting.

  “That might not have been our smartest move either,” laughed Erin as he tossed the sodden fur over Éimhin’s back and took the horse’s reins. “Stay out of the way until I get him up there. I don’t want him to slide back on you.”

  Bethany pulled Galindo out of the way and watched as Erin slowly led the horse up the small slope. The horse was able to dig his hooves into the packed snow and, with little difficulty, made it to the top. Once Erin disappeared into the cave, Bethany began her climb back up the slope, Galindo in tow. She made it to the top before Erin reappeared.

  “What are you doing?” he asked as he took the reins from her. “I was going to come back to help you up.”

  “I climbed up just fine the last four times.”

  “You didn’t have a horse to drag up.”

  “I’m fine.”

  Erin glared at her for a moment before leading the horse into the cave. Bethany followed him. The cave was not large, but it was downright palatial compared to their last cave. In the back was what appeared to be a separate room where they settled their supplies. They used the room closest to the entrance for the horses. They covered the horses with fur blankets given to them by the Lurran before settling themselves in the back cave.

  “I’m sorry, no fire tonight,” Erin said as he laid another fur on the floor of their little room. “You may not like this, but I suggest we sleep… um… close.”

  Bethany knew she was blushing, but she forced a smile to her face. “Uh… yeah.”

  She ignored her own discomfort and helped him arrange their myriad of blankets, cloaks, and furs. Even without a fire, they wouldn’t freeze to death now that they had found a cave. Within minutes, they were settled under the pile. Erin was too badly hurt to lie on his back or to have her pressed up against it, meaning she had to sleep with her back against his chest.