He thrusted a finger into Jasana's nose. "You stay out of it this time," he warned her sharply.
"Yes, papa," she said demurely, putting her paws behind her back.
Reaching out, Tarrin made the connection with the Weave, then drew in its might. His paws limned over with Magelight as he drew in the power of High Sorcery, and he raised them as the first framework of the Ward began to form around the farm. He wove it with flows of Divine, Air, and Mind, the normal elements of a blocking Ward; Divine to grant the Ward its unique powers, Air to form the physical barrier that would prevent people from crossing it, Mind to establish the parameters of who was allowed to cross it and who was not, and only token flows of the other Spheres to allow the Ward to attain a size and power unreachable with standard Sorcery. Had Tarrin used a killing Ward, like the one surrounding Aldreth, it would have been built from nothing but Mind and Divine. Tarrin wove it together with an ease that belied the complexity and difficult process of forming such a large and strong Ward, and then he spun off the seven flows from a nearby strand, pulled them to form a new strand, and then attached it to the core of the Ward. That gave the Ward an endless supply of power, and would render it permanent.
The air around the farm shimmered when the Ward was released and became active, and then it quickly vanished.
"What did you just do, lad?" Thean asked curiously.
"I put a Ward around the farm," he replied. "It will only allow Were-cats to pass. It'll last until either me or Jenna removes it."
Jesmind nodded approvingly; he told her he was going to do that to protect their home while they were gone. "Clever, lad, clever," Thean chuckled. "Jenna is your sister, right?"
Tarrin nodded. "She has magical powers similar to mine. She's the only one other than me who matters that could remove the Ward."
"I've never quite understood Wards," Thean told him as they started towards the village. "They seem very much out of character for the nature of Sorcery."
"We have time," Tarrin told him. "I'll explain them to you."
There wasn't any sense of urgency as the eight Were-cats and the Aeradalla walked to Aldreth, for they had left in plenty of time to get there before dawn. It was almost seemed like something other than what it was, for everyone's spirits were generally high. It didn't seem like they were marching off to war. Jesmind did glance back towards the farm on any number of occasions, but she did seem to be at least a little happy about the idea of travelling. Were-cats liked to wander around sometimes, and the years of staying in one place had probably gotten her to at least partially like the idea of taking a trip. Tarrin watched her, and told himself that he should go out of his way to make his mate happy and entertained. He knew she was going against her will, so he should make that up to her.
The festive mood changed when they passed the treeline and looked out on Aldreth. There were so many Woodkin there! They had camped on the open fields to the north of the village, and there had to be a thousand of them! Most of them were Centaurs, a veritable army of them, all of them already awake and breaking down the frugal camps they had erected for the night, getting ready to move out. There were considerable numbers of humans interspersed with the Centaurs, but Tarrin knew that they were Were-kin in human form. Some of them had erected tents, which were being packed up in preparation to move. The village was just as busy as the camps outside of it, as the villagers scurried about, wives carrying things to their husbands as they checked their gear or saddled horses or helped someone who was leaving prepare for his journey. Standing in the middle of it all were Garyth, Jak, and Sathon, as Garyth shouted commands and suggestions to his villagers as Sathon seemed to advise the portly mayor on what was best to take and what was best to leave behind. To Tarrin's surprise, two more Were-cats stood near to Sathon, and Tarrin recognized one of them as Shayle. The other turned around, and he recognized that grayish-furred, slight Were-cat as Nikki. Triana's other two daughters, who were supposed to be in the area, had really been in the area after all. They had come to the village first, just like everyone else, but for some reason they had stayed there.
Tarrin and the others moved into the village--or at least they would have if Tarrin hadn't suddenly stopped when he crossed the Ward. "Stop!" he barked sharply in Ariana's direction. All of them obeyed him instantly. Tarrin growled in chagrin when he realized that he had forgotten about the Ward, had forgotten that Ariana wasn't human. Had she gone five more steps, she wouldn't have lived to take a sixth. "Ariana, listen to me very carefully," he said with a quiet intensity that got her complete attention. "I want you to back up, straight back, and don't try to turn around until you've taken at least five steps. Don't come any closer to the village than this, and don't try to fly over it."
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"The Ward," Jasana said in observation. "Papa made a Ward."
"It's a killing Ward, Ariana," he told her. "If you touch it, it's going to kill you. I completely forgot that it would affect you. I'm sorry."
"Well, no harm done," she grinned. "I guess I should feel happy you think of me like I'm one of your own." She pointed towards the camp. "I'll go over there and introduce myself. Just come get me when we're ready, alright?"
"Alright. Just be careful."
"I know where it is now, so I'll know where not to go," she told him with a smile and a nod. Then she obediently took five steps backwards, turned, then walked towards the camp.
"That was close," Tarrin blew out his breath.
"Close doesn't matter as much when it ends the right way, lad," Thean told him philosophically.
Tarrin blew out his breath, then he started forward again.
Garyth held out his hand to Tarrin when they reached him and Jak, and Sathon quickly ambled over from where he was talking with one of the village wives, Mari Twostone. Jesmind took Jasana in paw and immediately went over to her sisters, then they withdrew a few steps to greet one another and give Jesmind a chance to show off Jasana to them. "I was about to send a runner for you, Tarrin," Garyth told him as Tarrin took his hand, swallowing it up in his paw. "Are you and your friends ready to move?"
"We're ready, Garyth," he replied. "Are you ready?"
"They'll be ready in just a bit, Sathon told me," Garyth replied. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to stay here, lad, so you make sure to remember everything that happens so you'll have a story to tell me."
"I thought you were going."
"So was I, but Sathon convinced me that I'd serve Aldreth better if I stay behind," he replied. "The Centaurs have agreed to obey my orders, and I'm already talking with the leader of the Centaurs that are going to stay about defense."
"I guess it would be best," Tarrin agreed. "That way there's someone here that's clearly in charge."
"Exactly why I asked him to stay," Sathon told him as he reached the Were-cats. "Mikos is going to command the host to Watch Hill, then the commander of the Rangers that is supposed to meet us there is going to assume command."
"You got a Centaur to agree to take commands from a human?" Rahnee asked with a laugh. "How many times did you have to hit him with the stick?"
"Mikos doesn't know anything about human style fighting, Rahnee, and he knows that," Sathon said cooly. "He's smart enough to know when to follow the orders of another." Sathon ripped a hot gaze across them all. "And that goes for all of you too," he ordered. "You'll obey the human commander, or you can go home."
"I think I can work with the humans," Jeri told Sathon quickly. "Just tell me where to go and what to do, and I'll be fine."
"Why should I obey a human?" Rahnee snorted.
"Because if you don't, you could get a whole bunch of men killed," Sathon said scathingly. "This is war, woman, not two Were-cats fighting over a male. Your actions can kill a great many other people."
"I still don't see why."
"You'll do it because I say you'll do it," Tarrin told her with an icy stare and an emotionless, ominous expression, drawing himself up to his full height and starin
g down at the smaller Were-cats with a stance that all but emanated his strength and power. "Any Were-cat that wants to argue with me about it can speak up right now."
Rahnee's entire body posture shifted at Tarrin's flat statement. Her shoulders sagged slightly and she looked up at him with a slightly lowered head. That was a stance of submissiveness, a posture that told him that Rahnee would obey. "As you say, Tarrin," Rahnee said with quiet, controlled tones. Rahnee was proud, but she knew better than to challenge him. She was older than him, but his sheer strength was something she could not deny or overcome.
"Do I make myself clear?" he called to the others in a strong voice.
"Quite clear," Thean said with a nod, and the others nodded or lowered their heads in submission to him.
"I think you all will do fine," Sathon said with a nod. "Tarrin understands human warfare, so he'll make sure you all do what you need to do."
"You'll have to excuse me, lad," Garyth told him with a short smile. "I need to go talk to the Centaurs. Jak, you go find Karn and travel with him."
"Karn's going?" Tarrin asked.
"He intends to pay them back for burning down his forge," Garyth chuckled. "Besides, he's a Dal as well, and he knows the language. Having a Dal along may be useful for our side."
"It could," Tarrin agreed.
"I'll go find him, Garyth," Jak said. "See you later, Tarrin."
"See you later," Tarrin said in farewell as Jak trotted off towards the inn.
The Were-cats more or less dispersed at that point, for there was nothing for them to do but wait. Thean and Singer wandered towards the inn, Rahnee and Jeri moved to follow Jak, but Kimmie stayed where she was, deciding that staying with Tarrin and Jesmind and her sisters and daughter was better than anything else. Nikki and Shayle came over with Jesmind after the others broke up, Shayle holding Jasana in her arms. "My goodness, Tarrin, mother wasn't kidding when she said you'd grown," Shayle told him with a smile.
"A long story," he told her. "You two are looking good."
"Thanks," Nikki said with a smile. Nikki seemed a little different somehow, but he couldn't quite pin down what it was. She was a petite Were-cat, about Kimmie's size, with Thean's grayish striped fur and her mother's tawny hair and face. She was wearing what was more or less a standard among Were-cats, a pair of leather breeches and a stout shirt, hers made of brown wool, with loose, flared sleeves. Shayle was tall and willowy, with strangely narrow hips and a flat chest compared to her sisters--traits that set her apart from the rather buxom and voluptuous females of the Were-cat race--but she had a very cute face with a cherubic smile, and her mother's tawny hair and tabby-orange striped fur. Shayle was wearing the same style of clothing that she'd been wearing when he met her nearly a year ago, a pair of buckskin breeches and a simple sleeveless leather haltar-like half-shirt that left her midriff bare. Tarrin liked both of them. Shayle was very mellow, and Nikki had a youthful exuberance about her, just like Jeri, that was almost contagious in those around her. "Have things gone alright for you since you left Shoran's Fork, Tarrin?"
"Well enough," he said. "You're joining us?"
"If you'll have us," Nikki said cautiously.
"We have plenty of room for you, Nikki," Tarrin assured her. "I see you met your niece."
"Jasana? Oh, I've dropped by a couple of times since she was born to look in on her," Shayle said, bouncing Jasana slightly in her arms. "Isn't that right, cub?"
"Umm," Jasana agreed. "Auntie Shayle's come to see me three times."
"You certainly look different, Kimmie," Shayle noted to her.
"It's not easy to run in a dress, Shayle," Kimmie said mildly.
"It certainly looks better on you than those gods-awful dresses you insist on wearing," Shayle grinned.
"There's nothing wrong with wearing a dress," Kimmie said primly.
"Of course not, but good grief, woman, go look at what's the latest fashion!" Shayle told her with a cherubic grin. "If you're going to wear a dress, wear one with style!"
"I like function as a fashion statement, Shayle."
"And it keeps all the males' eyes off you. Advertise, girl! A little cleavage reels them in faster than if you took off your dress and paraded around naked."
"Really?" Kimmie said archly.
"Of course. Even Were-cat males get caught up in the allure of seeing what's being hidden from them. It's a universal male trait, you know."
"You're getting bad in your old age, Shayle," Jesmind laughed.
"You're older than me, sister dear," Shayle said blandly. "If I'm bad, you're worse."
"I never pretended to be anything but bad," Jesmind winked.
Nikki cut them off by approaching Tarrin and boldly grabbing his wrist. She turned his paw palm up, then tugged at the fetlocks growing from the outsides and lower quarters of his lower forearms. "What are these?"
"Fetlocks," Shayle answered. "That means that your size is a matter of age," she reasoned. "What happened to you?"
"Papa was made old by a mean old winged lady," Jasana told her.
"That's the short of it," Tarrin chuckled. "This is what happens when you're attacked by a Succubus," he told them, motioning to his height.
"A Succubus?" Shayle said in surprise. "How did you ever end up facing something like that?"
"Not by choice, believe me," he told her. "I'll tell you about it while we travel."
"I'd like to hear that story," Nikki said eagerly.
"You like to hear any story, little sister," Jesmind teased.
"I can't help it if I like to hear stories," Nikki shrugged.
"You should read, then."
"I do. But there's just something about a story told by a person that makes it better than written on a page. It's just better, somehow."
Jesmind was about to comment, but Sathon's magically augmented voice, booming across the village and the fields, interrupted them. "Alright, let's gather on the road and get ready to move out!" he called. "Those outside the village, remember to circle around to the south, and don't get within a half-longspan of any building!"
"Sounds like it's time to go," Jesmind sighed, taking Jasana from Shayle.
"Time to go," Tarrin mirrored, moving towards the road leading to Watch Hill. He'd only been in Aldreth for a few short days, but the time had completely changed his life. He knew he'd come back, someday. He'd made a promise, and he'd realized that the village and the farm were all the home he had ever known, and the only place where he could go that would feel right to be his home. He would come back to Aldreth, and when he did, he would come back to stay. He didn't know what would happen while he was away from the small village, located about as far from human civilization one could get and still be considered in human lands, but what he did know was that the next time he saw Aldreth, it would be through the eyes of a free male. Unfettered by his quest or the burdens placed upon him, unrestricted by the needs of others. He would come home free, and he would live the rest of his life free.
It was much to look forward to.
Moving at a brisk walk, Tarrin moved at the head of the long column of Centaurs and transformed Were-kin, with the men of Aldreth nestled safely in their center. Tarrin walked along with Jasana riding on his shoulders, Jesmind on one side and Sathon riding on the back of Mikos on the other. They had moved steadily southwest all day, as the other Were-cats ranged ahead to scout the road and kill any solitary or straggling Dal soldiers or messengers. They often brought back their horses, singly or in groups, and they proved their worth on that first day by eliminating nearly half of the garrison of Dal soldiers at Watch Hill without even getting there. Unlike the soldiers that had been at Aldreth, the Watch Hill garrison did patrol the road, did range about to seek out Rangers and farmers turned partisans. What they invariably found that day was a Were-cat looking to separate their heads from their bodies.
The Watch Hill garrison commander had to know that something was wrong by now, Tarrin was sure of it. They were about three longspans out from
the village situated at the top of the small hill that gave it its name, and that garrison commander had gone a whole day without a single man sent to patrol the north road coming back. That had to have raised all sorts of warning flags in Watch Hill, a sure sign that something was coming to worry about, but Tarrin really wasn't that concerned. Mikos had sent a pack of Were-wolves ahead, to have them circle around the village and ambush any Dal messenger or soldier riding towards Torrian, but not riding into Watch Hill, in order to keep news of the attack from getting there too soon. That was a wise move in Tarrin's opinion, and that also allowed them to assault Watch Hill at their leisure, without fear of someone escaping to warn Torrian.
That assault was going to be within the hour. It was about three hours after noon, having travelled the distance much faster than he had done so the first time, and that gave them plenty of time to attack the Dals in Watch Hill and make camp afterwards. They were supposed to meet the Rangers in Watch Hill, but so far there had been no sign of them. The Were-cats ranging ahead were only attacking men in Dal uniforms, so there was little chance that they were killing Rangers by accident. If the Rangers weren't there, that was alright. Mikos' Centaurs and the Were-kin were more than sufficient to assault a depleted garrison.
"Still no sign of these humans," Mikos snorted. "And we are within striking distance of the village. What should we do, Sathon?"
Tarrin was surprised that Mikos knew that, for he doubted that any Centaur had travelled so far into human lands. Nearly all of them went to Aldreth.
"Well, let's wait for that Aeradalla to return and tell us what we're facing, and we'll decide after we know," he replied.
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