Honor and Blood

by James Galloway

  "That's cruel, Sarraya."

  "Sometimes you have to be cruel, Tarrin," she sighed. "Given the penalty if we fail, when it comes down to it, in this case the end definitely justifies the means."

  Hard choices. He remembered feeling that way when he heard about the Ungardt attacking the enemy army in Tykarthia, how they would be slaughtered, but it would buy them precious time. He hated having to think in those terms, but she was right. In this game, there was absolutely no rules. They had to do whatever it took, anything, in order to win. The stakes were just too high. They may have to face a decision of sacrificing some to save the rest.

  "Maybe, but I don't like it."

  "I don't like it either," she assured him. Then she laughed. "Such a change from the old Tarrin I knew," she smiled. "That Tarrin wouldn't have batted an eye at the thought of civilians."

  "Yes, well maybe," he said with an uncomfortable shrug.

  "You're a rare case, my friend," she smiled. "I've never seen a Were-cat get so feral, and then come back so far from it."

  "I'm still feral, Sarraya," he sighed. "But not as much as I used to be. I'm just in familiar surroundings, where I generally control everything, and I'm surrounded by friends and family."

  "I know," she nodded. "As soon as we leave here again, we'll see the old Tarrin start to peek out again."

  "Just wait til I come within spitting distance of the Keeper," he chuckled. "She brings that out in me so fast even I don't realize it."

  "So, the Tower wasn't what you expected it to be?"

  "Not at all," he agreed. "I was expecting a hostile atmosphere. But the people I don't like stay away from me, and I have lots of friends and family around to keep me happy. So, so far, it's been pretty good."

  "I heard you made up with Jesmind, and you met your daughter."

  "You knew about her?" he asked dangerously.

  "Not until after Triana told me a few days ago," she said quickly. "It bowled me over."

  "It did me too," he chuckled. "I'll have to introduce you to Jasana," he told her. "She looks like Jesmind but acts like Kerri."

  "Triana told me that she was a dangerous little girl," Sarraya laughed. "Almost good enough to be a Faerie."

  "There's no way she could ever be that bad," Tarrin teased.

  "Yes, few can live up to our towering standards," Sarraya said with a mocking sigh, tossing her hair. "It's so hard to be the best, you know."

  Tarrin yawned. "I hate to cut it short, but I need to get back to sleep. I had a long night last night."

  "If you're mates with Jesmind, I'm not surprised," Sarraya teased. "Rahnee may have the reputation, but Jesmind is almost as bad as she is. Every male I've ever known that was mates with Jesmind says the same thing."

  "I'm not going to argue there," he agreed. "She is affectionate."

  "Well, we can catch up later," Sarraya said. "Now that I'm really looking at you, I can see that you really are that tired. And that wasn't Jesmind. You've been practicing magic again, haven't you?"

  He nodded. "With Jenna."

  "Ah, that explains it," she said with a nod. "Is she any good?"

  "As strong as I am," he said proudly. "She's a fast learner, too. She'll be ready when the time comes that they need her magic."

  "That's reassuring. I won't mind at all going into battle if there's a Weavespinner on my side," Sarraya agreed. "Let alone two of them." She stood up and flitted into the air, the buzzing sound of her wings reminding him of her, and making the time they spent apart melt away. He would always identify Sarraya in his mind with that sound as much as he did with her appearance and scent. "I'll see you later, alright?"

  "How did you get in, anyway?" he asked curiously.

  "You left the balcony door unlocked," she winked. "I'll go back out that way."

  "I have to go see someone in town when I get up again," he yawned. "You can come with me. You can meet Janette."

  "The little human girl you like so much? I'd like that," she said with a happy smile.

  "I'll come find you when I get up," he promised.

  "Don't bother. I want to go meet your daughter. I'll be with her."

  "Fine then," he yawned again. "See you in a while."

  "See you later," she said as he laid back down and promptly went back to sleep.

  Chapter 34

  It was well after noon when Tarrin finally got up, and it was right then that Jesmind decided to let him have it for staying out all night. Jesmind was a shockingly direct woman, and unlike a human female, she had no qualms about making her displeasure known upon his body. He was awakened to a pitcher of cold water being thrown in his face, and as he snapped up from a rather pleasant dream, sputtering and hissing in anger, Jesmind dropped the pitcher on his head and then stalked out of the room.

  But that was that. Her displeasure voiced, the argument was generally over. After he dried out the bed and put on some clothes, she was almost affectionately pleasant to him when he came out to see his daughter on Triana's lap, a book in her paws, learning more about reading from her grandmother. Sarraya was sitting on Triana's shoulder, listening in relative silence as Triana corrected her granddaughter on pronouncing the words in the book. "Good morning," Jesmind said archly, then she rose up on her toes and kissed him lingeringly. "Don't stay out all night again," she warned.

  "If I have to, I will. But next time, I'll let you know, so you won't worry," he promised. "I didn't realize I was there all night until the sun came up."

  "Next time, I'll throw something worse on you, beloved," she threatened.

  "Next time, you'll know I'll have to stay out," he assured her.

  "Alright then. Did it go well?"

  "Pretty well," he nodded as Triana nodded to him and handed him a tankard of water. He accepted it with a grateful smile and took a long drink. "I learned so much so fast, it's all kind of jumbled up in my head. And I can't remember half of what I was taught right off the top of my head. But I'll sort it out with a little practice."

  "That's the way of it when you learn too quickly," Triana snorted. "You should slow down."

  "I don't have time to slow down, mother," he said bluntly. "I have to be ready before that army gets here."

  "There's still no excuse for slapdash work," she pressed.

  "It won't be slapdash after me and Jenna go and practice what we learned. My teacher is actually a very good one. It's not her fault that we have so little time."

  "Well, I guess not," Triana admitted finally. "Given who she is, anyway."

  Tarrin gave his bond-mother a surprised look. "You know who she is?" he asked.

  She gave him an impatient glare. "Tarrin, do you think I don't feel every single thing that goes on around here? Do you even use a crumb of the Druidic gift inside you? I can feel it every time she shows up, and I've been observing you and your sister learning magic." She snorted. "Sarraya, what did you teach him, anyway?"

  "Don't blame me," the Faerie said quickly. "I taught him only what he needed to know, because I didn't want to take any risks."

  "I'll have to take care of that," Triana said crisply, looking at him. "I'll not have any son of mine running around with so much talent and so little training."

  Jesmind gave him a knowing look and then grinned. She warned him that Triana would be eager to train him in Druidic magic. It certainly didn't take his bond-mother very long to put it on the table.

  "I'm afraid that you'll have to get in line, mother," he told her smoothly. "I'm kind of taken at the moment. When I'm done there, I'd be happy to learn about Druidic magic from you."

  "There's plenty of time," she said with a negligent wave of her paw, though he could sense the near-truth behind the words. She wanted to start now, but she knew that he just didn't have the time. "We'll get to it when we have a chance."

  "Fair enough," Tarrin told her. "Are you busy today, love?" he asked Jesmind. "I'd like to take you out into the city and meet someone."

  "Who?"

  "Tomas, Janine, and J
anette," he replied. "The family that took me in after I ran away from the Tower."

  "I'd like to meet them," Jesmind said with a smile. "Especially the little girl."

  "I want to go!" Jasana said quickly, closing the book and scrambling out of her grandmother's lap. She grabbed Tarrin's tail and looked up into his eyes, her expression pleading and simpering. "Oh please, please, can I go?"

  "Of course you can go," he told her, reaching down and picking her up. "Sarraya wants to go too. Don't you, Sarraya?"

  "I think I can find the time for it," Sarraya grinned.

  "Did you meet Kerri yet?" he asked curiously.

  "The Wikuni? Oh, yes," Sarraya laughed. "She's exactly as you described her. Cunning, sneaky, underhanded, willful, and thoroughly dangerous. I liked her immediately."

  "I figured you would," Tarrin chuckled. "Well, I'm a bit hungry. Let's go get something to eat, then we can go visiting."

  "I've already met them, so I'll pass," Triana told him directly, standing up and picking up the book.

  "When was that?"

  "When I first started looking for you," she replied. "I came here first, to get an idea of you. You were there for a while, so I went to see them."

  "How did you find them?" he asked in surprise.

  "Tarrin, how often are you going to assume that I'm stupid?" she asked in a cross manner.

  "It's not that, mother. It's that I never even told you about them, and Jesmind didn't know about them. Nobody did but a few people, and none of them would have said anything. How did you find out about them?"

  She gave him a flat look. "Cub, I'm a Druid," she said, a bit scathingly. "I walked down every path, every street, every passageway that you did when you were here. Those tracks led me to them, and then I talked to them." She closed the book with a loud snap. "I think I'd better go before I get insulted by my cub's lack of faith," she told him.

  "She's been away from Thean too long," Jesmind whispered to him with a knowing smile.

  "Watch yourself, cub," Triana said in an ugly tone. "If I remember right, a certain daughter of mine was crossing her legs and complaining to me about every five minutes about how she accidentally got herself all hot and bothered before her mate left, and then found herself left out in the cold."

  Jesmind looked away from her mother, the slightest of flushes appearing on her cheeks.

  Tarrin was amazed. Jesmind was almost blushing! He never thought he'd live to see that! But then again, even among Were-cats, to hear one's own mother say something like that was a trifle embarassing.

  "Now then, as my cub so elegantly pointed out, I'm going to go have dinner with Thean," Triana announced, setting the book on the tea table. "I'll leave this here for you, kitten," she told Jasana in a gentle voice, very much unlike the rough way she always addressed her children. "We'll finish it tomorrow, alright?"

  "Alright, Gramma," Jasana said with a bright smile. She was handed off to Triana after she reached for her, then was kissed and snuggled in a way that showed the world just how loving and warm Triana really was. But that break in her stony outward demeanor lasted only as long as Jasana was in her paws. It returned when she handed the child back to Tarrin.

  "I'll see you later, mother," Jesmind called.

  "Behave, all of you," Triana called as she cut short any further farewells by marching out of the room.

  "Well, let's go see if my parents want to go," Tarrin offered. "They're good friends with Tomas and Janine. I think they'd really like to go see them."

  "That's a good idea. Your mother's been teaching me how to cook things that you like, so it'll give me a chance to ask her a few questions about that recipe for venison stew."

  After collecting up his daughter, he foisted her off on Jesmind and they split up. Jesmind went down to the kitchens to get something to eat, and Tarrin went to the apartment his parents had claimed, which was on the same floor as his own. But to his surprise, the only one there was Jenna. She was sitting on a couch in a room that looked almost exactly like the common room of his own apartment, though this one only had one couch and a rather large tea table separating the couch from the elegantly carved mantle and fireplace. She had that book in her lap, which she promptly closed as Tarrin entered the room. "Hullo, Jenna. Where are mother and father?"

  "I have no idea," she replied, a bit curtly. "I think they went into the city. Alot of mother's clan is here, she may be visiting with them."

  "Is Grandfather here?"

  "Of course he's here, silly!" she snorted. "Who do you think brought us to Suld?"

  "Why haven't I seen him?"

  "He's probably been drunk ever since you got here," she told him bluntly. "You know how grandfather is."

  Tarrin chuckled. That was true. It wasn't that their grandfather was a drunkard, it was just that he was like just about any red-blooded Ungardt ship captain. Work hard on the sea, play hard on the land. That was the Ungardt custom. That was why the Ungardt got roaring drunk every afternoon and caused so much trouble down at the dock quarter.

  "Mother may have went to go dry him out."

  "Probably. If you don't mind, could you leave? I'm at an important part, and I don't want to lose my train of thought."

  "Oh, alright. Sorry to bother you."

  Tarrin went downstairs and rejoined his mate and daughter, ate a quick meal, and then they were off. He wouldn't even bother trying to find Sarraya, there was no way he would ever find her. As usual, if she wanted to go, she would probably find him. It had been a while since he'd been in Suld, and most of those times were when he was sneaking around. He couldn't remember more than once or twice walking down the streets of Suld in broad daylight in his natural form. But the place certainly looked and felt different. For one, there weren't just Sulasians anymore. There had always been a few Wikuni in Suld, for it was a port city, but now Suld looked like a bizarre menagerie. Sulasian citizens were very nearly outnumbered by the Wikuni and Ungardt, the Arakites and the Vendari, even a few Selani walking the streets. All of the visitors were armed, some armored, and walked in groups of their own. The Arakite Legions especially; they seemed to not move around unless in a group of at least twenty. They all gave Tarrin and Jesmind a very wide berth, no doubt having been warned about the Were-cats. As much as the people on the streets looked different from what he remembered, it was the feel of them that concerned him. All the visiting soldiers were tense, wary, and the civilians looked downright terrified, scurrying about as quickly as they could in order to get off the streets and away from the multitudes of foreign soldiers that had taken up residence in the city. It gave the city the sense of it being occupied, the same way that the villagers in Aldreth felt when the Dals were there. Tarrin realized that they couldn't help it, for he had a good inkling that few of the foreign soldiers could speak much Sulasian. The language barriers presented by the various armies were formidable; the average Arakite only spoke Arakite, and most common Wikuni sailors knew some Sulasian, but he wasn't sure what their soldiers would know. Selani only spoke Selani, and Vendari spoke Wikuni as well as their own sibilant language, but again he doubted that they knew much Sulasian. Tarrin had never gotten around to learning Wikuni. Denai hadn't known that language, and besides, she'd spent all their free time teaching him Sharadi, the accepted common language of the southern continent of Arathorn. Why a Selani would be fluent in a language she would probably never used still mystified him a little bit, but the Selani were like that sometimes. That inability to communicate certainly made things a little tense. And he wondered how it was going to affect the ability of the command staff to pass down orders. From what he'd heard from Keritanima, Darvon, the overall commander, was being advised by an Arakite Field Marshal, a Wikuni admiral, a Wikuni general, the colonel in command of the Sulasian garrison in Suld, the general of the Sulasian army appointed by the sitting regent, and probably the most meddlesome, the Keeper and Keritanima. And they'd be joined by a Selani, probably the clan's chief, who stood as general in times of war. Tarrin d
idn't doubt that the Arakite and the Wikuni spoke Sulasian, but the Selani may not speak Sulasian, needing an obe to act as his translator. The different languages were going to make sending orders tricky when the fighting started.

  "Are you trying to leave me behind?" came an angry demand as the sound of Sarraya's buzzing wings came to his ears.

  "Of course not," he said mildly.

  "Then why didn't you come get me?" she huffed at him.

  "You didn't tell me where you were," he told her in an even tone. "I knew you'd know I was moving around, and you'd come to me."

  I--" she started, then she blew out her breath. "I really hate it when you're right," she growled at him, coming into view before, them, flying backwards.

  "It's the feery!" Jasana giggled.

  "That's fay-ree!" Sarraya snapped at the child.

  "I see you met my daughter," Tarrin said mildly.

  "The bug showed up a few hours ago," Jesmind told him. "Almost got her wings pulled off."

  "I did not!"

  "You would have if I hadn't have stopped Jasana," she said sharply. "What are you doing out here, bug?"

  "I'm going with you," she announced. "Tarrin invited me along."

  "You didn't!" Jesmind accused.

  "Of course I did," he said, letting Sarraya land on his shoulder. "Sarraya's a friend of mine, my mate. Sure, she's erratic, and a little strange, but she grows on you after a while."

  "Hey!" Sarraya snapped waspishly.

  "We went through alot together," he told Jesmind. "I guess that can't help but make two people friends. Even annoying little pests."

  "I am here, you know!" Sarraya ranted at him.

  "I guess you're right," Jesmind said with a straight face. "It would have to have been alot to go through to make you friends with someone like her."

  "Excuse me!" Sarraya shouted.

  "Did you hear something, beloved?" Jesmind asked with a slight smile.

  "I think so, but I don't know if it was worth noticing," Tarrin replied blandly.

  "Alright, that's it! I'm leaving!" Sarraya shouted, flitting into the air and then vanishing from view as she flew away, cursing vociferously and making all kinds of remarks about Were-cats.