by Auryn Hadley
"Fuck," Tyr said, walking up to him.
"Oh yeah," Zep assured him. "All night."
"No, you ass. You looked in a mirror yet?" Tyr pointed at Zep's bare chest.
He looked down and saw the raw lines across his body, stippled circles fading into his dark skin. "She took it easy on me."
"You serious? You look like you had a brawl with a pack of dogs."
"Nah, I'm not into grauori."
Tyr laughed. "If that's easy, I don't wanna know. Thought you'd like to know that LT stopped by last night. I guess Cyno told him she was berserk, and he rushed over to make sure she was under control." Zep just nodded, so Tyr continued. "Rayna's got a date with some guy named Ilija. Sal's got the morning off. The grey one, Hwa? Am I saying that right? He told the Kaeen. I guess Rragri already knew."
"Rragri and Sal are linked. And yeah, you said it right."
"K. Well, point is, Sal's off for a few hours at least. Pig wanted to see if she'd take him over to see the Anglian military. You know, so we can see what they've got."
Zep looked at him, the anger growing on his face. "Seriously? You want Sal to help you get intel on them?"
"Yes, but only because LT suggested it. I think I brought him to tears last night, man."
Zep pulled himself from the wall, his muscles flexing. Tyr waved him down.
"Dogs just agreed that steel isn't worth fighting for, but other things are, and Pig needs to hear an offer. We can't lose the iliri. Even if she fucked you up pretty good. Damn man. You need to see the medics for that shit, or it's going to go septic."
Zep just shook his head, realizing what Tyr actually meant. "Nah. My little girl's coming." He gestured to the stairs. "Sal called her."
"K. I'm guessing that matters somehow. Look, man. Can you get Sal to drag Pig over? LT said he needed to see something. Pig isn't so sure that a good word from the iliri will do it."
It took Zep a moment to realize what the guy was talking about. "Anglia isn't the Conglomerate," he explained. "You know Sal trained them all, right?"
"Yeah?"
"They fucking love her," Zep said proudly.
"Ok?"
"You'll have to see it. I didn't believe that shit, either, until some guy, drunk after a damned good victory - that Sal planned mind you - touched her."
"Ohh, yeah, she didn't take well to that, I bet."
Zep shook his head. "She didn't have a chance, man. His own unit drew on him. She had to call them off. His own fucking unit."
"Serious?"
Zep nodded. "I was right there. They would've gutted him for disgracing the Kaisae." Zep smiled at the memory. That was the day he'd decided he didn't want to just be her big brother. That was the moment he'd lost his own fear of her. "Seriously, man. All of you need to see that shit."
The click of claws echoed down the hall, and Zep smiled when the white pup scampered up the stairs, running toward him. "Dava!" she yipped. Raast slid into his legs, and Zep reached down to grab her.
"You're getting heavy, kiddo. What's your dam been feeding you?"
She panted at him. "Deer and pigs. I'm gonna be a big gerus one day."
"Yes, you are, little bear."
"Amma Sal said you need me to make you better." She sniffed at him, then licked at a bite mark on his chest, and Zep giggled.
"That tickles, Raast, quit."
She whuffed at him, then looked at Tyr. Her head cocked first one way, then the other. "He doesn't look like a dog, Dava."
"No more than you look like a Blade. Amma tell you about the Dogs?"
Raast nodded. "She said they're good men, and told Rhyx not to bite them."
"Good. Where is your sister?"
"With Amma. Amma Roo, too, and a girl dog."
"Rayna," Tyr guessed.
Zep nodded. "She's setting up your meeting. Ilija's linked through Roo."
"No shit?" Tyr asked, glancing at the pup. "Sorry Raast, I forgot to watch my mouth."
Raast tilted her head, confused. "How do you watch it? It's in front of your nose."
"It's ok, Tyr," Zep assured him. "Raast, you gonna patch me up?"
"Ya! Amma said you have to sit, so sit, dava."
Zep chuckled and put the pup on the floor, then lowered himself beside her. "Ok."
Raast looked across Zep's chest, then the wound at his side, thinking. "Dava?"
"Yeah, baby?"
"Amma Sal did that?"
"Yeah."
"You lannar or rornnar?"
"Lannar, and maast. Amma killed a few guys last night."
Raast nodded and grabbed his hand. Zep felt a warmth flow across his body.
"What is lannar, and the other one, man? I think I know maast," Tyr asked.
Zep shook his head, his mind feeling stuffy and his thoughts clouded. His side itched. When he looked down, the cut from Sal's blade began to close. He shoved one hand against his forehead and breathed deeply until Raast released him.
"I do ok, dava? Dava Risk said I'm good at it."
Zep nodded, breathing to clear his head. "How'd you do that, kid? I'm neither swimming nor screaming in pain."
Raast wagged her tail. "I make it so your head is good, too. The grauori, they don't pull hard enough, and dava Risk doesn't make your head better. They do it wrong."
"They do it like they know how, just like your sister doesn't heal people. Now go make amma Sal better." He rubbed her ears, realizing how much they looked like Sal's. "Be quick. You know she won't ask for it."
Raast turned, and bolted from the hall, sliding as she turned for the stairs.
"You're not going to answer me, are ya?" Tyr asked. “Or tell me how that works, I bet.”
Zep chuckled. "Nah, that shit just smothers ya a bit, man. Worth it, though. Little trick us humans missed out on and they prefer to keep to themselves, but damn that pup's amazing. I've never had a heal that easy," Zep said, climbing back to his feet. "Raast asked if I just fucked Sal or made love to her, or if it was just because she went berserk."
Tyr's eyes narrowed as he waited. "And what did you say?"
Zep patted Tyr's shoulder. "Learn iliri."
"You'll tell your kid - hell, that your kid even knows the difference is one thing, but that you'll tell the kid if you fucked their mom, or made love to her, but you won't say shit to me? Crazy, man. That's crazy shit."
Zep shrugged. "The pups deserve to know. They can smell her on me anyway, not like it's a secret."
"Serious?" Ryekir asked, walking over. "I heard that. The pups know you were with Sal last night? How'd that go anyways?"
Zep blushed and looked down. "I'm a fucking idiot, that's how it went."
"Ah man, couldn't have been that bad," Ryek assured him.
Zep chuckled. "Nah. Wrong way round. Don't know why I kept saying no all these years."
Tyr laughed. "No way I'm ever gonna be with an iliri, man. Give me something here. I'm living vicariously."
"All I'm gonna say," Zep told them, "is you know how those courtesans in Prin, they know every move there is, and when to use it?"
The men grinned and nodded. "Yeah, blew a week's pay on one once," Ryek admitted. "It's fucking worth it."
Zep shook his head. "Nah. Take that, make it love you, and then imagine you knew everything she felt while it happened, then make it better again. Courtesans got nothing on iliri." Zep grinned. "My fucking life is complete."
Tyr punched his shoulder gently. "I know what lannar means, bro. Ya just fucking gave it away." He laughed, but Zep let his head fall back against the wall.
"Know what the worst part is?"
"There's a worst part?" Ryek asked. "LT was up here, and he's good with it, and there's a worst part?"
"Yeah. There is." Zep sighed. "Worst part is I'm gonna fucking fall in love with the bitch, and there's nothing I can do to stop it."
"I think you're a little late for that, man," Tyr said.
"Yeah," Ryek added, "and you're a dumb-ass if you're still telling yourself you aren't. Sorry
, man. Hate to break it to ya. You're a goner."
Zep couldn't control his face. "Then why can't I stop fucking grinning?"
"Cuz you're in love man," Ryek said. "Shit's funny like that."
"You're right. It's fucking worth it." Zep gestured at his room with a pleased sigh. "My place is trashed, everything in there is covered with blood, and I don't even have a clean uniform, but it was worth it."
Tyr jerked his thumb at his room. "You can't be that far from my size. Grab a bath, we'll get you a uniform and send your stuff down to be cleaned."
"Thanks, man," Zep said.
"Oh!" Tyr remembered. "Ryek, you have Sal's blades?"
"Yeah. She dropped them last night. I cleaned them but didn't have the sheaths. Got them wrapped in my room."
"Give them to Zep," Tyr said.
"No." Zep stopped him. "Sal will be up in a bit. Give them to her."
The two Devil Dogs traded a glance. "You sure that's a good idea?" Tyr asked.
Zep nodded. "It'll mean a lot to her." He watched them look at each other again. "Lemme guess, you're terrified of her now?"
Ryek shrugged, but Tyr answered, "Honest man, she seemed so human. I thought you were exaggerating until I saw that shit. She fucking dropped what, three guys?"
"Four, if you count that Raj was a goner till she smelled him."
Tyr continued, "I was holding the last one when you yelled at me, and I saw her. There was nothing human. Nothing fucking human, man."
"She's not human," Zep pointed out. "What you saw was her in full predator mode. She's amazing. I mean, she's a little slip of a thing, but she's so..." He smiled. "Much. There's no word for it. You missed something, though."
"No, I watched her rip that man's throat out. Fuck, Zep. She was storming at me like she'd take me out if I didn't give him to her. I looked up, and she was staring at him as if I didn't even exist."
"Yeah, then you did catch it. She could have cleared this hall. She could have killed every last one of us, but she didn't."
"She was going to fight you for the man's body!" Tyr said.
"Yeah, and if you knew what we taste like to her, you'd understand. Every instinct in her was telling her to slaughter all of us. Everything about her says that we're her prey. And you know what she did?"
Tyr stared at him, his head shaking almost imperceptibly.
"Nothing." Zep looked at the man pointedly. "She begged me to stop her, but she didn't touch a single one of you."
"But she fought you," Ryekir said.
Zep tapped his head. "Nah. She showed her dominance. That's all. If she'd fought me, I'd be as dead as they are. We were linked. She's learning how to use it. If she'd wanted to kill me, I would have begged her to." He shook his head. "I'm not exaggerating. She didn't touch any of you, and she was in full maast. She held me out of it as long as she could so I could stop her." He looked deep in Tyr's eyes. "She made sure she protected you from herself, and she used me to do it."
Chapter 29
Sal reached inside her saddle pack and pulled the small pin from the bottom. Made of dark stone, a pair of crossed swords were encased in a circle. It had been given to her when she was accepted into the Black Blades. She smiled as she shoved it through the material at her collar, then she swung onto Arden's back.
"Been too long, pretty girl," Sal whispered to the mare, hugging her neck. Arden shifted lazily beneath her.
"Ready?" Zep asked pulling Cessa behind him. "Pig's got the whole unit. I didn't think that would be a problem."
"Nah. Probably better this way. Think we should give them the grand tour or just let them mingle?"
"A bit of both, I think. I got your left, Kaisae."
Sal smiled at him, their eyes meeting for a moment before he glanced down with a grin. She shifted her hips and Arden moved forward, Zep walking behind her until they were out of the barn. He tossed his reins over Cessa's neck and stepped up easily, the mare moving as if she read his thought. His knee brushed Sal's as they moved toward the group of soldiers in grey.
"Our escort has arrived," Pig called out, and the men behind him chuckled.
"Come on," Sal laughed and turned Arden, leading them out of the main gates.
The Devil Dogs rode two by two. The jingling of tack sounded comfortable after so many months on the road. It was a good sound and felt like home in her ears. Sal watched a pale shape blend into a bush, and she smiled, opening her mind to the grauori to announce her presence. They trotted a kilometer across the open grass before the Anglian camp seemed to suddenly rise from the sea of green. Picket lines of horses stood hipshot behind the tents and the voices of men carried in the light breeze.
Two large flags stood outside the camp announcing the allegiance of the soldiers inside. On each one, the three pale rings stood out on the dark green background. Sal pulled Arden to a halt and felt minds brush against hers. Smiling, she slid from the saddle.
"Any of your horses have a problem with grauori?" she asked, glancing down the line.
They all shook their heads.
Pig nudged his gelding closer and dismounted at Sal's side. "I'm not impressed so far. No guards? No advanced sentries?"
Zep laughed, and Sal gestured toward the grass. "They're fine," she said loudly, then turned to Pig. "We passed at least twenty sentries." A rustle in the tall field made Pig look over, and Sal continued, "They wanted to make sure your horses wouldn't spook before they were tended to." With a mischievous shrug, she grinned at him.
Grauori slid through the grass. Approaching the horses slowly, the beasts looked up at the soldiers holding the reins. Each one stood and held out a hand.
"The grauori will take your reins. Horses either love them or hate them, so if they aren't bolting yet, you're good," Sal said. "Anything that tolerates iliri usually doesn't have a problem. Oh, and welcome to Anglia."
She handed her reins to a grauori and nodded at her before walking through the twin flags. Zep said nothing, merely fell in at her left. Pig walked along behind her, a smile creeping onto his lips. When they reached the first tent, a pair of human guards turned to face her. Sal saw both of them glance at her uniform, then at Zep beside her. They saluted crisply, fist over their heart, and Sal returned it in the Conglomerate style. Her finger rested against her eyebrow for a second before she dropped it.
"Welcome to Anglia," the man on the left said. "Laetus, Kaisae."
Sal dipped her head and gestured for the Devil Dogs to follow her. "You wouldn't even make it through the flags without the entire camp being notified," she explained to Pig, motioning for him to walk beside her. "The sentries at the tents are both specialists in hand to hand. There's five more inside each one. The shift is easy work. Only stipulation is that they save the drinking for later. The grauori notify them when they need to make an appearance."
"Damn," Pig said. "Not bad. It looked pretty defenseless."
"That's the point. Myrosica and the Conglomerate should not feel threatened." She shrugged. "Politics, you know. These are regular army," Sal said as they moved between a line of green tents. "As you know - "
A group of men around their campfire caught sight of her and knelt, bowing their heads. "Laetus, Kaisae," they whispered.
Sal nodded and smiled at them as she continued speaking, " - there is only one elite unit at this time. They're the King's guards."
They passed another group relaxing at their camp, and Sal gestured for them to stay seated. One man rubbed the belly of a grauori with his foot. The maargra rolled to his stomach, lowering his head and eyes, and the men whispered the words of respect but kept their seats. As the group passed, the Anglians smiled and turned to watch her.
At the next cluster of tents, Sal paused. "You enlisted?" she asked a young girl in a pristine green uniform.
She hopped to her feet quickly and saluted. "Laetus, Kaisae," she said proudly, grinning up at Sal. "Yes, sir. As soon as it was announced. I was the third woman accepted."
Sal walked over, offering the girl
her hand. "Congratulations. I don't know what you said to that old man, but he had every map I asked for and then some. You've been moving up quick it seems."
She nodded. "Yes, sir. Kitchens to stables to infantry. I hope to be a Shield within five years."
Sal laughed. "I believe it. You're on the same track as the Colonel. Which unit?"
"I'm with the 119th Infantry right now, sir," the girl said.
"I'll make sure Ilija knows. You have a specialty?"
"Yes, sir." The girl's cheeks flushed slightly. "Knives. Used them in the kitchens, and they seemed to work pretty well for you, sir, so I thought I'd make use of what I know."
From behind her, Zep called out, "Best way to do it, soldier. I approve."
Sal clasped the girl's shoulder. "I'm glad to see you here. I mean it. You look good in the uniform. I'm sorry, but I have to introduce my friends to the Colonel."
The girl nodded and dropped to a knee. "Laetus, Kaisae. I mean it. You changed my life."
Sal made her way back to the men and tried to continue on, but Rayna pushed to her side. "What's that about, Sal?"
"When I got to Anglia, women were like iliri here. They had no rights. I showed the men we could fight, and the King opened the military up. A couple of noble ladies pushed the point elsewhere. Dominik supported it, and within six months, he had legislation passed making women equal to men." Sal chuckled. "That girl? She was in the wrong place at the right time. I ordered her to get in the face of a very cranky man, and she did. She got me the maps I needed to stop the Terran advance before I could even make it to my office. She's a hellion. She'll be a Shield," Sal said, glancing at Pig. "Or a Dog."
Rayna laughed. "Damn. And you remembered her face after all this time? It's been months."
"Mostly her smell," Sal explained. "I couldn't tell you her name, I'm ashamed to say, but I do remember her. She made an impression on me."
As they worked their way toward the back of the camp, they passed groups of humans lounging with grauori. Sal prevented them from climbing to their feet, but each of them bowed their heads at her. Many touched their fists to their chest. All of them whispered the words of respect. The Devil Dogs looked around openly, and Sal described the defensive and offensive capabilities of the camp's layout.
