by Joe Jackson
Kari blinked, then shook her head. “But he expects you to stay here on Citaria for a while, yes? If you can, I’d advise you to stay here as long as possible and lay low. You’ll have to stay out of sight of the citizens or they might think you’re an escaped prisoner, but you should take advantage of Danilynn’s offer and heal up while you have the luxury.”
“This one does not deserve your kindness,” Emma said, turning away.
“Kindness doesn’t require deserving,” Kari said, touching the mallasti’s knee. “I know there are things you have to say and do and report back to the Overking, but you understand I’m going to fight him no matter what, right?”
“This one does not wish to see any of you brought to harm, but like the moth, you go to the flame again and again. This one supposes there is no alternative, though. Your world may not be the Overking’s primary target, but it will be, in time. Tell this one, Lady Vanador: Do you yet understand what it means to be Salvation’s Dawn?”
“I do.”
“Truly?”
“Yes, truly. I still don’t have the whole of it, but I’m not wandering quite so blindly as the first time we met, Emma. Your master seeks to use me to his own ends, and that’s going to be his undoing.”
Those intense orange eyes came back to meet Kari’s evenly, and there was no trace of mockery or disbelief in them. “This one is curious to see how much success you find.”
Kari sat back with a smirk and took a sip of tea. “I think five princes is a decent start.”
“It is a start.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“Lady Vanador…”
“I know, I know,” Kari said, rising to her feet. “Hell, Prince Amnastru was enough trouble. But I’d be lying if I said I don’t look forward to trying my luck against his father.”
Emma stood. “Remember, Lady Vanador: You are an asset to the Overking, but he can and will do only so much to protect you if you assault his vassals. Tread delicately. When do you plan to go to Mehr’Durillia?”
“As soon as I let the others know I’m leaving,” the demonhunter answered, and she turned to face Emma fully. “I remember what you said in my home. You’re a guest here, Emma, and I hold you to your promise to protect this house and everyone in it while you are.”
“An expectation this one will not disappoint you on,” the mallasti girl said with a bow of her head. “Be very careful, Lady Vanador. It is a tense time in this one’s homeland.”
Kari responded with a nod, and then made her way to give her goodbyes.
*****
Her claim that she knew Si’Dorra “fairly well” proved to be modest understatement. Tarra knew the lands of Si’Dorra intimately, leading Erik through rocky highlands with such expertise that they kept up a fantastic pace. Despite his injuries and the length of time he had spent recuperating, Erik hardly felt the rigors of the road, as if his body was desperate to keep moving after his ordeal. If Tarra wanted to, she could have left him far behind, but though she set a brisk pace even in the highlands, Erik was able to keep up with her.
The lessons in infernal progressed nearly as fast. Though Erik was still far from able to hold a broken conversation, he was learning important words and phrases. If he were to listen to a casual conversation now, he might be able to pick up on the general subject and understand a fair portion of it. More importantly, if he was separated from Tarra for some reason, he’d at least be able to request basic amenities and shelter, for whatever good that might do him.
She was still quiet about her past. Erik knew she was married at some point, that her husband had been executed by Arku, and he remembered well her sister. Whatever else the woman’s life entailed, she didn’t elaborate much, keeping their conversations focused on the infernal tongue and the trials ahead of them. It left him a bit confused, as her kisses and touches seemed to suggest she was interested in him, but she remained distant on personal matters.
Erik tried not to worry about it. If they escaped, they would have plenty of time to get to know each other under less trying circumstances. They were only a couple of days from the border of Ekkristis based on what she’d told him, and they were better served to concentrate on their pending escape than on personal matters. They had already lost a lot of time waiting for Erik to recover from his wounds, and every ounce of energy was best spent on flight.
“Look there,” Tarra said, crouching near to a natural crenellation. She pointed down into the valley below.
Erik took cover and looked with her. There was a sizeable military unit moving west. It wasn’t a battalion or anything close, but it moved light and fast, suggesting this might be some of the outermost vanguard going back toward Dauchin-Rache or Agivak. If this was a further result of the work of his friends, they had opened up Arku’s lines to the east considerably. Crossing the border would still be a feat, but the more soldiers went back to Agivak, the better their chances. And if there was one thing Erik had learned about his elestram companion, it was that she could calculate odds quickly and confidently.
“Our chances continue to improve,” she said, as though reading his thoughts.
“Should we stay hidden until they’re well past us?”
Tarra’s gaze swept back and forth through the valley. “I see no valirasi with them, nor any obvious scouts. Let us continue along, only do your best to keep the valley out of your line of sight, that we be out of theirs.”
Erik nodded and followed her in a bit of a crouch. At the very least, the fact that she was as tall as he – before taking the ears into account – meant that she understood how difficult it could be for him to stay out of sight. They made it only a short distance before an idea occurred to Erik, and he tugged on the elestram’s tail to get her attention.
Tarra turned a mischievous grin his way. “What is it?”
“Do you want to go down and speak to the next group we see, maybe ask them for news? They don’t know who freed me or who to look for, so I don’t think your presence or questions would strike them as odd. We may at least be able to find out if this was the work of my friends, or if something else is going on that might require a change in plans.”
She looked away over the rocky terrain, and Erik could imagine the calculations she was doing in her mind. “An intriguing suggestion. If it turns out that something else has transpired, it would be best for us to find out beforehand.”
They put a good amount of distance behind them before another unit of soldiers came through the valley in the other direction. This was barely a dozen strong, and Tarra began to pick her way down the hillside to meet them and ask for news. Unarmed and unarmored, Erik figured it was unlikely she’d be pressed into service, but it was always a possibility. If that was to happen, he knew the peak to look for that would lead him to Ekkristis, and he wasn’t that far from the realm of King Lestanaek the Blademaster.
Erik found a sheltered area to wait where he’d be out of sight unless someone came over the highlands from the north. He had some of the remaining meat, though there was hardly any left. His thoughts wandered, and he considered the reaction he might get when he arrived back home on campus with an elestram. She wouldn’t just be a guest, but someone Erik had promised asylum to, even though he had no authority to do so. Hopefully, Kari’s experiences and orders would work in his favor, and he could appeal directly to her if the Order’s council didn’t see fit to trust Erik’s instincts.
It was always possible they’d believe she was a spy, that she had saved Erik’s life to gain his trust so she could slip among his people. It wasn’t a theory without merit; the syrinthians had planted a dozen spies among the Order, and only the intervention – ironically enough – of an elestram had led to their discovery. Erik didn’t think he was being foolish or impulsive; she had taken care of him for days, sewn clothes for him, and kissed him a number of times. True, they hadn’t mated or been overtly intimate at all, but he had a feeling about her.
And that confused him more tha
n anything…
What was it Kari had said to him back on Tsalbrin? He wracked his brain to recall her exact words. You don’t know who you’re going to fall in love with until it happens, and when it does, what your siblings think should be the last thing on your mind. Wise words, but Erik still wasn’t sure what he felt toward this woman, if it was anything at all. He’d never been in love before. He looked at women from time to time, particularly every time one of his brothers came home with one on their arm, but it was more a feeling that he should rather than desire.
He felt indebted to Tarra, and he was appreciative of everything she did and continued to do for him, but as to whether he was in love with her, he just didn’t know. More importantly, he couldn’t help but wonder if he should be in love with someone who wasn’t rir and wasn’t even from the same planet. He knew so little about her, her people, or the world she came from.
But I want to know, he thought. Does that mean something?
“You seem introspective,” her voice came from the side, and Erik turned toward her.
Tarra was standing there, smiling, and Erik stood up and faced her squarely. He might have been having a hard time putting his thoughts and feelings in order, but one thing he knew for certain was that he liked being around a woman his size. She may not have been anywhere near as muscular as he was, but she was tall and lean, and there was a measure of attractiveness in her form, as alien as it was to him.
Erik shook away the thoughts. “I can’t calculate probabilities in my head the way you can,” he said with a chuckle. “So I worry instead. A lot.”
“Well, perhaps this will set your mind at ease,” she said, gesturing to get underway. They walked side by side, and if she had any idea Erik had fibbed, she gave no indication. “There was an attack on the king’s keep in Agivak. The king had already left for Anthraxis to attend the council session, but a number of guards were killed, and rumors say that the king’s consort was slain. It seems Duke Curlamanx has called back nearly every sizeable unit out looking for you, as he expects a large-scale attack after this intrusion.”
“They killed Arku’s consort?” Erik muttered.
“There are also rumors that they are amassing for a strike at Dauchin-Rache, so the duke is doing his best to tighten his grip on both cities. I cannot imagine he has long to live after allowing the king’s consort to be slain. If he had a bit of sense about him, he would defect to the service of one of his neighbors before the king returns from the council meeting.”
“Wow, I wonder how many people Kari brought with her,” Erik mused. “Although it sounds more like Aeligos is working his magic spreading rumors. But that would require being able to fit in among your people… this is definitely weird. Is it possible this is a civil uprising and not related to my friends at all?”
“Hard to say. The soldiers have little information but that their presence is required in Agivak and Dauchin-Rache immediately. However, I can say with certainty that this has more than doubled our chances of escaping safely.”
“And we’ll reach the border tomorrow?”
“If we push ourselves today and tomorrow, yes. If you look east, you can see the peak I told you about that will lead us to Ekkristis,” she replied, pointing toward the titanic mountain.
“It had to be my friends,” Erik said as they walked.
“The attack on Agivak?”
He nodded. “Opening up the lines for us. They either didn’t think they could catch up to us, or they didn’t think they could find us at all. I know my brother; he would’ve moved to some diversionary tactics the moment he found out I’d already escaped and he realized we’d be hiding from them as well.”
“Your family and friends sound like an exceptional group. I very much look forward to meeting them when we are safely away, and thanking them for their aid.”
“I look forward to introducing you to them. Though I have to be honest, I’m not sure what their reactions will be like, aside from polite, of course.”
Tarra stopped and touched the side of Erik’s face. She leaned in for a kiss, and he was all too happy to oblige.
Am I supposed to feel something particular? Or is looking forward to these what it’s all about? he wondered.
He wanted to ask about her family, but remembered she’d told him that Arku had killed off nearly all of her relatives. There had to be something he could talk to her about besides the infernal tongue or her family. He didn’t want to talk about himself and seem conceited, or brag about his family or, worse, scare her with stories of how crazy they could drive him at times. He considered his options as they got back to walking, and something finally occurred to him.
“Your name… Kuritarra… what does it mean?”
Tarra didn’t answer for a minute. “Perhaps I will tell you when we stop for the evening.”
Erik simply hoped that didn’t mean he’d asked the wrong question. If his conversations with Kari, Sharyn, and several other women upon first meeting were any indication, Erik was terrible at making small talk. Whatever the case, he tried to push it aside, and concentrated on that sun-drenched peak to the east.
They traveled until the sun went down and for a short while afterwards. Once Tarra was both tired and no longer comfortable with her ability to walk the highlands with confidence, they found a place to bed down for the night. It was a sheltered nook that would allow them to build a little fire without attracting too much attention. Erik set a pot of water boiling, intent on at least softening up some of the vegetables the harmauths had given them. Apparently, the ram-folk had large, blunt teeth and didn’t mind hard vegetables. But to Erik, it was like trying to eat rocks or tree branches. Boiling water would soften them, even if it wouldn’t be a proper pot of soup.
He looked up as Tarra appeared across the fire from him, and he stopped stirring the pot. He stopped blinking, and was pretty sure he stopped breathing, too. Tarra had slept nude beside him several times while he was recovering, but he hadn’t actually ever seen her naked. Now, however, she stood undressed on the other side of the fire, eyes timidly searching for some sign of approval from him. Erik wanted to move, wanted to say something, but was transfixed, rooted to his spot with what he imagined was probably a stupid expression on his face.
She was beautiful. She wasn’t rir, as he’d mused earlier, but that suddenly didn’t matter one bit. The continuation of her fur patterns across the parts of her he’d never seen before just made her shine so much more in his eyes. Even the little details like the extra nipples – the lower two of which had piercings with a chain between them, to go with her pierced navel – did little to detract from his attraction to her. She shifted nervously and clasped her hands before the dark fur of her groin, and she twitched as though thinking of going back to her discarded clothes.
Erik got to his feet and walked through the fire, all the better to reach her before she got the impression he wasn’t interested. It clearly shocked her, but fire didn’t faze the half-guardian. Erik cupped her face and kissed the end of her nose. Oddly, she was the one to hesitate this time, but only for a moment before she returned his kiss passionately. Now, for the first time, Erik let his hands wander down her body, reasoning that it was what she wanted.
Beneath the fur was muscle. She wasn’t bulky like he was, obviously, but whatever their lanky appearance indicated, there was a lean athlete below the furry coat. She ran her own hands down his arms and then his chest, feeling the massive muscles that stood in contrast to hers.
“For everything I have said about our chances, I am nervous,” she admitted.
“I understand,” Erik said. “Like I told you, I haven’t stopped worrying since we left the harmauth lands.”
She smiled a bit shyly. “Would you lie with me this night, in case it is the last chance we have, with each other or anyone else?”
“Only if you tell me what your name means,” Erik risked.
Tarra laughed now, relaxing a little bit. “Kuritarra… it is a crown of flowers,
as might be used to adorn a bride. Kivekt is – how do you say – one who draws professionally… an artist?” She smiled when Erik ran a finger down the side of her snout. “And your name?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” he returned with a chuckle. “Erijinkor was the name of one of the twenty-one guardian demons, but I’m not sure if it means anything. If it does, I guess that knowledge died with Seril, and the man who originally bore the name.”
Before she could say another word, Erik scooped her up and carried her to a grassy spot along the edge of their camp. They wasted little time – just enough for Erik to notice the mark of the Ashen Fangs on her inner thigh – and were soon joined in passion. It wasn’t lust or a fleeting thing; Erik remembered well his time with the czarikk females who had “thanked” him in what he always considered a rather inappropriate fashion. They had used him, much as he enjoyed it, and though it wasn’t a bad memory by any stretch, it wasn’t something he wanted to repeat.
This was completely different. This woman was with him because she truly wanted to be, and the more Erik thought about it, the more he realized he was with her by choice as well. She gripped his arms and her kisses were needful, and in that moment, Erik came to understand the difference between having sex and making love.
What was more, it wasn’t just fear of death or the risk that they were separated, either. It all suddenly made sense to Erik. It was certainly odd that he should finally feel this way with an elestram woman, but he had almost no doubts anymore.
He’d never been in love before that he could tell, but he was now.
Chapter XIV – Refuge
It had taken far too long for her liking to find the scent, but now that Sharyn had it, it was impossible for her to lose. Rir were virtually unheard of on Mehr’Durillia from what she knew, and serilian-rir even more so. Pile on the fact that Erik had a level of masculinity that rivaled the average alpha werewolf, and it made tracking him a simple matter for her nose. If it hadn’t taken her days to even locate a trace, she might have already found him.
