by Claudia King
After a moment the shaman grinned and dropped his hand. “You're a strange folk. Between you and your den mother, I see why Ilen Ra was always so curious about you.”
“Take us to the temple now,” Fern demanded.
To Caspian's mild annoyance, Liliac shook his head and sat down again. “That wouldn't be wise.”
“Why not?” Fern asked. Her tone echoed Caspian's feelings.
“Not everyone who walks up to the temple gates gets an audience, especially not with the Dawn King himself. And if Thakayn's wise—which he is, and sneakier than a fox along with it—he'll have warriors watching for me, maybe even that poisonous rat of his hiding in the shadows.”
“We'd need someone to invite us in with a priest's authority,” Kale said. “That was how Netya entered the temple.”
Caspian was impressed that his mate had managed such a feat of cunning, and he reminded himself to ask Kale how she'd done it later on.
“The boy has the right of it,” Liliac said. “My sister's husband is a priest of the temple. I never cared for him much, but he did everything short of burning his own beard to have me bless their union. He's loyal to our family first and to men like Thakayn second. Tonight after dark I'll slip out into the village and have someone send word to him.”
“Who?”
“His daughter. She'll get an audience with him if she goes to the temple. I can trust her.”
“And meanwhile we must sit and wait?”
Liliac nodded. “That's all we can do. I'll go to her tonight, she'll visit the temple tomorrow, then we may have our audience a day or two after that. My sister's husband likes to dawdle with making up his mind.”
Caspian looked around at the others. He could tell that none of them were happy with the situation, but it seemed they had little choice. Why did it take these Sun People so long to agree on something as simple as a meeting? He supposed there would be plenty of time for him to ask Liliac that in the coming days, for if the group of them wanted to evade the eyes of the high priest and his cloaked killer, they would have to become intimately familiar with their dark little storehouse.
—31—
Adel's Gift
Kiren had been bathing with some of the concubines when the high priest Radeen-Na entered the domicile looking for company. He'd gone to the pregnant woman who wove the gowns first, murmuring something softly into her ear in his deep voice, but for whatever reason she had gone back to her work and left him eyeing the other girls in the room. That was when Kiren had noticed him watching her. At first she'd paid him little attention. She'd grown used to behaving innocuously, dull though it was. Adel had impressed upon her the importance of doing little and saying less, for her lack of mastery over the Sun People's tongue made her conspicuous enough by itself.
As she pulled herself out of the bathing pool she realised that the high priest was still looking at her. Instead of glancing away she met his gaze with a challenging look of her own. Why was she hiding and bowing her head to these people? She wasn't a fool. She'd not speak the Moon People's tongue where others could easily overhear her. Most of them wouldn't recognise it anyway, and even if they did she could always make an excuse. She wanted to do something other than hiding in her domicile and lounging with the concubines.
Radeen-Na approached her and made a greeting in the Sun People's tongue. Still holding his gaze, she stood and repeated it back to him. With a smile the high priest said something else, then cupped her bare breast with a palm. The touch did not shock Kiren. She'd been thinking about her conversation with Jarek over the past few days, and she liked the fearsome look of the ritual scars on Radeen-Na's body. Returning his smile, she inclined her head and gave him a coy nod.
The release was something she'd needed more than she realised. She'd not occupied her wolf's body in an age, hadn't run, hadn't even exerted herself. And just as Jarek had said, the year of solitude had been enough. She gripped Radeen-Na's shoulders as he rode her like a stampeding aurochs, her thighs clamped around his waist to draw each firm thrust deeper into her core. He was a fierce lover, nothing like the men of her pack, perhaps twice her age and filled out with lean muscle. Despite not understanding one another's words, they had little to say that could not be communicated through grunts and groans of pleasure. His hard pace stoked her body with warmth until she cried out in ecstasy and dug her fingernails into his shoulders, feeling the perspiration rolling down his back as he huffed in excitement and redoubled his efforts. Kiren wasn't the prettiest of the concubines, she knew, but Radeen-Na didn't seem to care about that. It was her challenging look that had drawn him over, and the eager squirming of her body seemed to please him more than staring at her face. The fact that he was one of the Sun People excited her too, for she had never expected to be with a man she had long regarded as her enemy. That added a bite of danger to the lovemaking, an aggression that made it simmer like the blood-boiling tension of a fight.
Before he was spent he rolled her over and had her kneel at the end of his cot, palms against the wall, as he gripped her waist and took her from behind. She pushed back against him aggressively, enjoying the burn in her flexing shoulders, listening to the furious slapping of flesh until he roared with pleasure and fell forward, palms hitting the wall either side of hers as he panted and strained through the final moments of his climax.
Kiren felt good after that, satisfied in the same way a long hunt satisfied her. She only caught her breath for a few moments once Radeen-Na withdrew from her, then swung her leg off the cot and stretched. The high priest rolled over behind her, reaching out to caress her rear and give it a light swat with his open palm. She turned, eyes narrowed at him, but it was a playful look. He bared his teeth in response, then beckoned her over. After pretending to hesitate for a moment, Kiren mounted the warrior and pushed his softening manhood back inside her.
Taking advantage of the high priest's stamina, she let him wear her out for as long as he wanted. To her satisfaction, he seemed almost as exhausted as her by the time they were finished. She'd not lost any of her strength in her time away from her wolf, at least. Radeen-Na was a man of few words during his lovemaking, but as she washed herself in his basin afterwards he did say something that sounded like a compliment. He used the Sun People's word for respect, and expressed how weary he now was. Kiren tried to return the sentiment in her fumbling approximation of the high priest's language. She did not think she'd put the words together correctly, but he nodded and gave her a firm smile that indicated he'd understood.
Slightly giddy and soft-bodied with exertion, Kiren put on her gown and exited Radeen-Na's domicile, tracing the gaps between the wall stones with her fingers as she made her way back toward the concubines' domicile. She felt like walking by herself for a while, but the temple was always so full of people during the day, and the quiet places were mostly forbidden to her. If only she could have gone outside and stretched the legs of her wolf for a while, then this day might have been the first truly satisfying one since she arrived here.
Only the most lavishly built rooms in the temple tended to have large windows, for they seemed to be difficult pieces of construction that often required extra beams to support them. There was one at the end of the high priests' hall that looked out on a stretch of grassy hillside between the tiers. Kiren tasted the fragrant breeze wafting in, and she stopped to lean out and inhale deeply. She might not be able to go out walking, but she could at least enjoy the air for a few moments.
Glancing back and forth, she made sure no one was there to see her, then swung her leg up over the edge of the window and climbed out. There wasn't anywhere to go on this part of the hillside, for the temple buildings blocked off everything aside from a steep drop on her left, but it did provide her with an open space and some shade from the sun. In front of her stood the cross-stacked tree trunks that held up the temple watch, and she slipped between them to lounge in the patch of shade beneath the broad platform. Laying back on the grass, she folded her arms behind
her head and closed her eyes, wondering whether she might entice Radeen-Na again some time. Spending time with him would certainly be more enjoyable than the boredom of her domicile. She did not know when Adel planned to leave—if the Dawn King would even permit that—and she was longing for home.
Kiren had almost fallen into a doze when she realised two people were talking nearby. She opened her eyes and glanced around, momentarily nervous. She was not permitted to leave the temple, and while the misdemeanour of slipping out a window might be a minor one, she did not want to harm Adel's chances of winning the Dawn King's trust. The sooner the den mother got what she wanted, the sooner they might all go home.
No one else was on the strip of hillside with her, however, nor were any faces peering out of the window. Eventually she realised that the voices were coming from above. At first she did not recognise the woman speaking, for her tone was soft and emotional. It was not the kind of voice that Den Mother Adel ever used, yet it was hers all the same. Listening harder, it became apparent that she was speaking to someone up on the temple watch, and she was doing so in the Moon People's tongue.
Intrigued by the nature of the conversation, Kiren crawled up one of the diagonal beams supporting the platform and swung her leg over the crook that bound it to its partner half way up. From there she could hear what was being said.
“I will do what he says. Netya wants it. If not for her, I would have fought to leave.”
“If I could take back what I did, I would.” The voice that replied was Jarek's.
“Can you take it back?” Adel snapped, sounding more like her old self again.
“I wish I could.”
“You can't! You did it and I— I cannot speak about this. I never will again. I don't want you, Jarek, I can't have you, and you will never have me.” She sounded terribly sad again. There was a long pause. “Don't speak to me again. If we must talk it will only be as High Priest to Den Mother. Don't come to my domicile. Don't take a seat close to me in the feasting hall.”
“If that is what you want.”
“It is.”
Kiren looked down, rubbing a thumb into the heel of her palm. This was not a conversation she should be listening in on, but now she worried that if she went back inside the two of them might see her. Adel could not truly mean what she said, could she? A few days ago Kiren might have believed it, but Jarek's sincerity the night they talked had persuaded her otherwise. Adel did have a heart. The sadness in her voice, uncharacteristic though it was, attested to it clearly. Why, then, had she always been so cruel before? Why was she telling Jarek to stay away from her now?
“It's only right that I do what I can to make it easier,” Jarek said with a sigh. “I didn't think I would be the one to...” he trailed off as if some silent exchange was taking place between them. “...I know. I'll not speak of it any longer.” He sounded heartbroken.
With a tense stiffness in her voice, Adel said, “There is one more thing I would have you do for me. Tell Atalyn that I will stay. I will bless Netya's journey and seek the spirits' guidance for her. But if I do this, he must find Kale in the village and send him and Kiren home together.”
Kiren gripped the heavy ropes binding the poles together. Home.
“I know she's of no interest to Atalyn,” Adel continued. “It's Netya and I he wants. He'd make Kale stay too, I'm sure, if he knew the boy was a sun wolf.”
“What if Kale wishes to remain here, with his family?”
“A wolf cannot—”
“I did.”
Another moment of silence, then Adel said, “If he wishes to stay I will not stop him, but Kiren must go home. That poor, reckless girl is only here because she tried to save me. I would never forgive myself if something were to happen to her. If you ever loved me, Jarek, convince Atalyn to let her go.”
Kiren could not quite believe the sincerity she was hearing in Adel's words. This was the compassionate mentor Netya had always spoken of. The selfless leader. Someone who would sacrifice her own happiness for the good of her flock. A frown strained Kiren's brow as frustration welled up within her. She was still so ignorant. Such a poor judge of others. She'd taken Ilen Ra for something he was not, then, in her paranoia, she'd single-mindedly branded Adel with the same mark. It wasn't what she was saying, but the way in which she said it. The woman above her did not sound hard and determined, she sounded wretched. A fierce soul brought low by an undercurrent of terrible weakness. Just like Vaya.
The conversation up on the temple watch had stopped. She heard the boards creaking as someone left, but she could not bring herself to climb back down the beams just yet. People had believed that Vaya was evil, but none of them had seen her when she was frantic with despair in Ilen Ra's pit. Kiren had thought Adel was evil too, but why would an evil woman resign herself to remaining here, with a man whose presence clearly caused her nothing but torment, for the sake of an apprentice she'd barely spared a single kind word for?
Kiren had grown to admire Adel's tenacity on their journey downriver, but now she understood why women like Netya respected, and even loved her. Rubbing her eyes, she huffed in annoyance and began to work her way back down the beam. Why were women like Adel and Vaya so stubborn? If only the den mother had shown some of that selfless compassion earlier, then maybe Kiren would have judged her differently. Now she almost felt guilty.
She was not going to shed any tears over it, she told herself. No. Because Adel would not want her to. She'd always treated her with a kind of provocative scorn, and that had been what drove Kiren to rise to her challenges. It was the same way Radeen-Na had enticed her into his domicile, with that fierce look that had forced her fiery spirit to answer.
She still did not like Adel. Even after what she had heard, it was difficult to feel heartbroken for the den mother after everything she had done. But Kiren realised now that Adel's mistakes had been no different from Vaya's, and she had forgiven Vaya as easily as she drew breath. Kiren did not particularly like her own mother either, but she did respect her. She trusted her. Now that she understood the things Netya and the others had always tried to tell her about, she felt that she might finally be able to respect Adel too. If nothing else, the den mother had her gratitude for what she had done.
Soon, she would be going home.
—32—
Thakayn's Judgement
The day of the audience could not have come sooner. Secluded and cool though it was, the storehouse had become stifling with four people inside. At night they managed to slip out to refill their waterskins while Liliac went to get food from his sister's daughter, but the rest of the time had been spent cramped together between the baskets and pots inside. Kale had told them everything that happened on his journey with Netya, a harrowing and gripping tale, then Caspian and Fern had recounted their own story. Liliac seemed very amused when he realised there had been two Moon People clinging to the floating tree he'd been following all along.
“I tried to stay behind that thing,” he said. “Sometimes it's good to follow a big piece of wood downriver. It lets you know if there's rough water ahead, or anything you'll get snagged on.”
Caspian would have preferred if the shaman kept his thoughts to himself, but he remained patient with him. Kale's story made him wish more than ever that he'd been there for Netya in her time of need, but he was relieved to hear that their journey through the Sun People's lands had been far less dire than his own. Had they fallen afoul of men like the ones at Beron's house they might not have been so lucky in fending them off.
They tried to pass the rest of the time by making plans about how they might flee the temple and return home. Liliac was able to describe the interior of the temple to them, but only vaguely. He said there would be chambers in which Netya and the others might be kept on the second or third tier of halls, but that might not be where they went to meet the Dawn King. If they wanted to flee they could always try to climb down the side of the hill, but that would be dangerous. The main path was the better
option. If they could walk with confidence then the guards might even allow them past without question. Guards were for keeping people out, Liliac said, not in. Caspian supposed that the idea might work for himself, Fern, and Kale, but surely Adel and the others would not be permitted to simply walk free.
Despite his uncertainty over what they might find there, Caspian was relieved to finally be out on the main path approaching the temple. The husband of Liliac's sister was a man named Forest Feather, and he had come for them mid way through the morning. Despite having taken his time, he had proven to be surprisingly resourceful about it. Rather than simply leading them into the temple he'd also brought grey woolen gowns for all four of them, along with hoods to conceal their faces. The garments were too large for Kale and Fern, but they were better than nothing. Caspian did not even mind the scratchiness of the wool against his neck.
His heartbeat quickened as they scaled the base of the hill. There were warriors here coming and going alongside the regular folk. He spotted the one who had turned them away the first day they arrived, and he tugged the edge of his hood down to obscure his face. For the next few paces he held his breath, wondering whether the man had seen him, but nothing happened. He let out an exhalation of relief. With Forest Feather leading them it seemed that a protective skin stretched around their group, turning away the eyes of the warriors and making everyone else step aside when they approached.
The blazing noon sun made the journey up the hillside feel like it took far longer than it did, and by the time they were at the temple Caspian was sweating. He looked to Fern and Kale and saw his own apprehension reflected in their faces. Giving them a nod that held more confidence than he felt, he stepped up next to Liliac and murmured, “Once we are inside, Kale and Fern will go searching for our people.” They had discussed this several times over the past few days, but Liliac shook his head, suddenly sounding nervous.