by K S Nikakis
Archorn led Kira’s party back to Maraschin and as they passed through the gate, he came alongside. ‘Your people are billeted in King’s Hall,’ he said. ‘We go there now.’
Kira was desperate to see Tresen, but the pain in her ribs was unrelenting. ‘I need … to go to the Sanctum.’
‘Are you injured, Lady?’ asked Archorn, looking at her closely for the first time.
‘I’ve cracked some ribs. But … Physick Aranz … will fix me.’
They came to the Sanctum and Archorn lifted Kira carefully down.
‘Go with Guard … Archorn,’ she said to Jonred. ‘I’ll join … you later.’
‘We stay with you, Lady.’
Kira didn’t have the strength to argue, the fire in her ribs now raging. Jonred helped her into the Receiving Room, where Dumer stood in his usual spot, giving Kira the wild idea that he hadn’t moved since she’d last seen him. He talked to a troopsman dressed like a Protector, and Kira blinked and swayed.
‘Tresen,’ she mumbled, and fainted.
Out on the Baia Plain, Tierken, Marin and Caledon contemplated Jonred’s slain mount, the ground about so muddied it was impossible to say how many horses had been there. Marin walked on, his gaze on the ground.
‘Two horses went on southward,’ he said.
There was a warning yell as more horses approached and Tierken leapt back onto Kalos, shouting at his men to adopt defensive positions.
But Caledon remained on the ground. ‘King’s Guard from Maraschin,’ he said, his gaze fixed on them.
Tierken watched their approach. Twenty riders, clad in the blue he’d heard tell marked the King’s House, and coming to a halt a little way off. Caledon spoke with their Leader, then brought him back.
‘I present Guard Leader Ather to the Feailner of the Terak Kirillian,’ said Caledon formally.
The Tain bowed low and Tierken nodded.
‘Guard Leader Ather has word of those we seek,’ said Caledon.
‘Your men and the Lady Kira arrived in Maraschin a little after dawn, my Lord,’ said Ather.
Tierken briefly shut his eyes. ‘I thank you for your news, Guard Leader Ather.’
Tresen sat beside Kira’s pallet, watching her sleep. Her arrival, even with cracked ribs, was the only good thing that had happened since he’d left Allogrenia. They’d come out of the Azurcade forests to see the Tain Westlans burning, and arrived in Maraschin to discover Kira had been captured by the Shargh over a moon earlier. Since then they’d endured a desperate battle to save the constant flood of wounded men, women and children; their slaughter apparently indiscriminate and total.
If it hadn’t been for the fireweed supply Kira had discovered on the day she was taken, the number of dead would have been devastating. There had been so many injured that the help he and Arlen gave to the physicks meant he’d had very little sleep in the almost half-moon since he’d been here.
Tresen stroked Kira’s hair from her forehead. One of the lesser physicks had washed the mud off, then Tresen had dosed her with sickleseed – or silverseed as they called it here – and bound up her ribs. He’d also dressed the deep score on the arm of one of the men who’d brought her in – Jonred, he thought his name was.
The men were Terak’s seed, he told himself again, but it seemed no more credible now, in the ripe light of midday, than it had at dawn. They were tall and muscular, like King’s Guard, and sat grim-faced in the Receiving Room. Archorn had invited them to bathe and eat, but they remained there, muddy and exhausted, their orders to guard Kira, one of them said.
The men had told Tresen that it had been their patrol that had originally rescued Kira from the Shargh and taken her north, and Tresen was immensely grateful. And the fact that Kira had come back with Terak guards suggested that she’d treatied with the northern Feailner, despite what Caledon had warned.
More horses sounded outside and Tresen groaned inwardly, listening for a summons. The Physick-General would call him if the lesser physicks were unable to deal with the new arrivals.
There was no summons, but after a while footsteps came towards the alcove and the curtain was swept back by Dumer, who was accompanied by two men liberally coated in dried mud and blood. Tresen recognised the Lord Caledon, but gasped as he looked more closely at his companion. The man had black hair, but Kandor’s face and Kira’s eyes.
Dumer nodded and withdrew, but the black-haired man was oblivious to all but Kira, laying the back of his fingers on her cheek. The gesture was so tender, and familiar, that Tresen looked at Caledon in shock. Miken had told him Kira was likely to bond with Caledon, but it didn’t look likely now.
‘Healer Tresen, I’m glad to see you’ve made the journey safely,’ said Caledon calmly, causing Tresen to wonder if Miken had misunderstood Caledon’s intentions towards Kira.
‘I present Healer Tresen of Kashclan – Kira’s clanmate – to the Feailner of the Terak Kirillian,’ said Caledon, to his black-haired companion.
Tresen used a deep bow to mask his astonishment. The Leader of the Terak Kutan!
‘Kira’s spoken of you,’ the Feailner said, his gaze still on Kira.
‘King Adris awaits,’ prompted Caledon.
Finally the Feailner’s eyes came to Tresen’s, the gold extraordinary against his darker skin. ‘We’ll speak again, Tresen of Kashclan,’ he said.
Irdodun hunched next to the fire, trying to ease his throbbing foot. One of the Northerner’s horses had trodden on it in the muddy darkness, after Irdodun’s spear had brought another of the horses down. All Arkendrin had to do was kill the rider and take the creature, but the Northerners had killed Irdodun’s blood-tie Irstonin and fled.
Arkendrin had cursed them solidly ever since, and muttered about Orbdargan and Yrshin’s warriors, whose attacks had prompted the Northerners’ flight. But Irdodun was beginning to wonder just who was cursed. If the Sky Chiefs punished the Weshargh and Soushargh for their dishonour, why was it Arkendrin’s warriors who suffered? Orbdargan and Yrshin’s men traversed the lands close to the Sky Chiefs, and traded their feet for the tread of beasts, yet it was Urgundin, Urpalin, Orthaken, Ermashin and now Irstonin – as well as a host of lesser blood-ties – who dwelt with the Sky Chiefs.
Irdodun pulled his jacket close. The thought that it might be Arkendrin who bequeathed them ill fortune was dangerous, and he pushed it from his mind. The Sky Chiefs’ realm might be always sunny, but he was in no hurry to visit it.
64
Caledon remained with Adris long after Tierken had been escorted to his rooms, the meeting between Adris and the Terak Feailner having gone better than Caledon dared hope. Adris had been unusually restrained, the Feailner had been wary but courteous, and there had been a willingness by both to mend the long silence between their peoples without apportioning blame. They had agreed to meet again more formally on the morrow, to plan for what was to come.
Caledon spoke with Adris of the escalation of the Shargh attacks on The Westlans, his journey north, and his dealings with Tierken.
‘He’s a skilful fighter, for all his Kessomi upbringing,’ he said. ‘And his men have lost none of the battle prowess that made Terak famed in years past.’
‘We’re going to need every bit of it,’ said Adris.
‘He’s spent the three years of his feailnership bringing his men behind him, and has their loyalty, but I believe there’s still some difficulty with his uncle’s former advisers in Sarnia.’
‘He has my sympathy,’ said Adris.
‘The old dislike giving way to the young, and the young dislike taking the advice of the old,’ said Caledon wryly.
‘Still, things have turned better than I dared hope a moon ago,’ said Adris, rubbing weary eyes. ‘We have a steady supply of the herb Kira discovered to stop the rot of the Shargh wounds, the alliance has been renewed and we have Tremen – who Archorn assures me can fight – to aid our cause. And you have Kira back.’
Caledon shook his head. ‘The Terak Feailner has Kira – at
this moment.’
There was a brief silence, then Adris said cautiously, ‘I noticed their resemblance, of course.’
‘Yes, the seed of Terak meets the seed of Kasheron; a man and a woman united by a bitter history and by gold eyes. The stars’ patterns are rarely so perfect.’
Adris said nothing and Caledon continued. ‘You wonder whether I accept the stars’ design or would undo it? You wonder whether I’ll relinquish Kira to the Terak Feailner without so much as a murmur? There’s more to love than the sharing of flesh, Adris, there’s trust and acceptance. The Terak Feailner gives neither, and I don’t believe that will be enough for Kira. Whether that’s what the stars intend is yet to be seen.’
It was dark in the Sanctum when Kira woke, and she was so heavy-headed she had no idea whether it was the time before dawn or the time after dusk. A figure rose from beside the pallet and held a cup to her lips, and Kira savoured the cool slide of water down her throat.
It was too dark to see who tended her but she knew the sense of him. ‘Tresen. I thought I must’ve dreamed you. Have Tierken and Caledon and the rest of the men arrived safely?’
‘Who’s Tierken?’ asked Tresen.
‘The Terak Feailner.’
‘They’re both here. I don’t know about the rest of the men you travelled with though,’ said Tresen, opening the shutters, a silvery light revealing his smile. ‘It’s so good to see you, Kira, and to know you’re safe.’
‘As it is you, clanmate. Tell me how things are in Allogrenia.’
‘Things are well there,’ said Tresen. ‘There have been no attacks since you left.’
Kira sighed in relief. ‘Is it near morning or night?’
‘Near morning. You’ve slept an entire day,’ he said.
‘An entire day,’ said Kira in dismay. ‘You shouldn’t have given me sickleseed.’
‘You don’t need me to tell you there must be sleep to heal,’ said Tresen, taking her hand.
‘I don’t have time to sleep. Tierken’s only granted me three days, then we go north again.’
‘You let the Leader of the Terak dictate when you can come and go?’ exclaimed Tresen. ‘What right has he?’
‘I pledged him to spend no more than three days here,’ said Kira yawning. ‘He fears for my safety, and breaking my pledges to him isn’t going to help if we must fight together.’
‘So Caledon was wrong?’
‘Wrong?’ asked Kira, struggling with an urge to slip back into sleep.
‘He said the Terak wouldn’t accept the kin-link.’
‘No, he wasn’t wrong. The Terak insist Kasheron went over the seas.’
‘So, this Northerner calls us liars, does he?’ demanded Tresen, his grip on Kira’s hand tightening.
‘He calls our histories lies.’
‘He came here, you know, with Caledon, while you slept. Caledon led us to believe he was going to bond with you, but it looked more like the Terak Leader was.’
Kira said nothing and Tresen leaned across the pallet. ‘Well?’
‘Well what?’ asked Kira, having trouble focusing on his speech. Curse the slow-headedness of sickleseed.
‘Did Caledon lie to us? Did he pretend love for you to help convince us to send men? Or, in Caledon’s absence, did you turn to the Leader of the northern swordsmen, to this man who now denies us?’
‘It’s not as simple as that,’ said Kira, wincing as her ribs burned.
‘Whether you bow before the man who denies our very existence is simple, Kira!’
‘He refused to bond with me, if that’s any comfort,’ she mumbled.
‘Refused? You wanted to bond with him? You’re the Tremen Leader, Kira. To stay with him would mean to leave Allogrenia, and to leave us! Does Allogrenia mean so little to you that you would give it all away for the scion of the brute Kasheron fled?’
Tierken flicked the curtain back and Tresen froze, then strode past him out of the alcove.
‘So would you give Allogrenia away for the scion of the brute Kasheron fled?’ asked Tierken.
‘Tresen thinks like I once did. Our stories lie about you, just as yours lie about us,’ said Kira.
‘That’s not an answer to the question.’
‘I traded Allogrenia away for just three days here, remember, and I’ve already wasted one in sleep.’ But even speaking was an effort, and Kira didn’t want to spend her strength on it.
‘For three days here but not for me?’
‘It was you who refused the bonding, Tierken,’ she whispered, her eyes closing as she started to drift.
‘I didn’t understand what it meant,’ said Tierken. ‘I still don’t.’ He bent and kissed her, but she was asleep.
Caledon sat in the Crown Rooms with Adris and Beris’s advisers, watching the Terak Feailner carefully. He was more closed than in the first meeting, and Caledon wondered if the presence of Soltin, Borzan and Tharoul had undermined the tenuous trust of the last night, or whether something else was at play. The old King’s advisers had insisted on joining the meeting, and it was difficult for the new King to refuse.
‘We should summon the Commander of the Tremen fighters, if we’re to discuss our strategies,’ said Borzan.
‘I’ve spoken with their physick, who’s the only one of the Tremen with any Onespeak,’ said Tharoul. ‘He tells me the female physick who was here before commands the Tremen.’
‘A female physick commanding men?’ said Soltin. ‘If that’s so, we should postpone this meeting until she’s more recovered.’
‘The Terak alliance is with the Tain, not the Tremen,’ said Tierken.
‘That’s true, but if we’re to fight as three peoples, we must plan together,’ said Borzen. ‘We need either Pekrash or the female physick here.’
‘Certainly how the third people, the Tremen, are to fight with you must be resolved, but not at this meeting,’ said Caledon. ‘The Westlans burn and the Cashgar Shargh, Weshargh and Soushargh have joined, riding Ashmiri horses and crossing the Azurcades. But this evil seeds some good, as evil sometimes does, for the long tradition of friendship between the great peoples of the north and south has now been rekindled. Our task is to decide how this friendship can be made the tool of the Shargh’s destruction.
‘What are your troopsmen’s latest reports, King Adris?’ asked Caledon.
Adris outlined the most recent Shargh sightings and attacks, the responses of his men, and the strategies he had in place to protect woodcutters and herders. As he did so, Caledon felt the tension in the room lessen. After a little, Adris and Tierken discussed how and where their fighters would be deployed. There were times when Caledon intervened to ease moments of difficulty, but these occasions became less as the morning drew on, and by the time they’d paused to take their midday meal, Caledon felt confident enough in their accord to excuse himself.
He made his way through the wintry sunshine down to the Sanctum, wanting to see Kira and speak with Tresen and Pekrash. Kira still slept, with Tresen dozing on a chair beside her pallet, reminding Caledon of the closeness he’d heard tell of in Allogrenia.
But as he turned to go, Tresen roused, and requested speech. They went out into the garden to the stone seat next to the pool. Caledon sat but Tresen stood, everything about him reeking distrust. Caledon was weary from the journey and the fighting, and from bringing Adris and Tierken together, but now it seemed he must soothe the ruffled feelings of Kira’s clanmate.
‘You’re wondering, I suppose, whether I lied to your people about my feelings for your Leader, and about my intentions,’ he began without ceremony.
‘Yes,’ said Tresen.
‘There are times when I must lie, Tresen, and those are determined by the greater pattern of the stars. But I didn’t lie to the Tremen about my feelings for your Leader. I love Kira and would have her with me on whatever terms she desires. That was how it was when I left to come to your lands, and that is how it remains for me.’
‘Yet she speaks of staying with the Leade
r of the Terak, of all people,’ said Tresen, exasperated. ‘He hasn’t even got the grace to accept that we exist, but she’d give up Allogrenia for that man. I don’t understand her at all.’
‘Your father told me that Kira’s driven by healing,’ said Caledon. ‘There’s no healing in the north, Tresen, and I know she intends to go back and establish it, for it will be needed. The coming fighting will be bloody, but when it’s over with, there won’t be that need for Kira to stay in the north. It will be a truer test, then, of her intentions.’
‘You think she’ll come back to you?’
‘Eventually. The stars have taught me many things, Tresen, and patience is one of them. I’m prepared to wait.’
65
Kira went slowly up the winding path to King’s Hall, head held high, hand enclosed in Tresen’s. For once she wasn’t a lone stranger in an alien land. She was the Tremen Leader, walking with her clanmate to meet those of her people who’d taken the agonising decision to turn aside from Kasheron’s teachings, and fight for their land. What was she to say to all the young men who’d left Allogrenia, she wondered, her nervousness increasing. Forget everything good you ever believed about Kasheron, it was really his brother we should have followed? You’ll find more trust among the Tain, who are strangers, than among the Terak who are kin? Thank you for coming to die?
‘You’re tense,’ said Tresen.
‘Yes.’
‘There’s no need to be,’ he said, squeezing her hand. ‘The men look forward to seeing you very much. You’ll be greeted only with joy.’
‘I can’t bear the thought of us fighting out on the plain, of killing and being killed. And I can’t even stay here to heal, for they already have a Sanctum and physicks. I must return north, where there is nothing to aid the wounded.’
‘Caledon says you must go as the need there will be desperate,’ said Tresen. ‘But he believes when the fighting’s over, you’ll come back … to him.’