Frank, Janrae - Wolves Of Nakesht

by Wolves of Nakesht (lit)

  annoyance.

  "I'm no village gossip!"

  "I didn't suggest it," Meadusea said smoothly.

  "We should return to Shaurone," Katalla broke in. "Tamlys is dead. Leave this

  quest to Anaria!" She halted, facing off in front of Meadusea.

  "Go if you wish, Katalla. I will not."

  Chimquar knelt by the stream, bringing up a drink in her cupped hands. Her

  insides rolled. They were looking for her.

  "Tomyris is as dead as Tamlys!" Katalla sounded exasperated.

  Four rough-edged words forced themselves from Chimquar. "Tomyris Danae is

  alive."

  "I knew it!" Meadusea exclaimed. "I knew it!"

  "Where is she?" Katalla demanded dryly, coming to stand above Chimquar.

  "She doesn't want to be found." Chimquar stood, walking away.

  "At least we could carry some word to her sister," Meadusea suggested.

  "I am taking you to Anaria."

  "Plainsmon!" Katalla snarled. "I don't like you ? and I don't trust you.

  Meadusea's making a bloody fool of herself." Katalla's hand went suggestively to

  her sword.

  "You'll be the bloody fool," Chimquar warned softly.

  "No man is my equal!" Katalla flung back.

  Chimquar stared silently at Katalla, struggling to rein in the temper she had

  spent years learning to control â it was still like a green broken horse.

  "Believe what you will. Time is short. Those men already track us, and Anaria is

  three days north." I'm keeping my promise, Tamlys.

  "So close â" Meadusea breathed.

  Chimquar turned toward the horses. How much more hostile would Katalla be if she

  knew Chimquar was Sharani? Chimquar felt her choices slipping out of her hands.

  Katalla would count it betrayal. So would most of her people. It might be best

  to send some word to Anaria with Meadusea, and then put as many leagues as

  possible between herself and her homeland.

  "Chimquar." Hazier still walked beside her. "My mount pulled up lame."

  "Free it," Chimquar said, obeying Euzadi custom. She halted, looking back at

  Meadusea. "You have Tamlys' horse?"

  Meadusea nodded.

  "I want it."

  The three tall, deep-chested destriers lifted their heads at the warriors'

  approach. Round shields hung from their light cavalry saddles and twin javelins

  hung at the right sides. A wry, satisfied smile came on Chimquar's lips. Even a

  fool must see these hybrids are the finest steeds on this continent. She

  remembered the lush green of the northern valleys whereher people bred mares to

  unicorn stallions. Her memory conjured images of the small crofts and the temple

  where she and Anaria had spent many summers, learning the ways of the ha'taren

  there. Chimquar's smile deepened. It would be so good to see those valleys once

  more. Then abruptly she wrenched herself from those thoughts; she would never

  see those valleys again?not now.

  Chimquar headed for a sorrel stallion, flaxen-maned, tethered apart from the

  others. "That one?"

  "Yes," Meadusea answered. "Adoni."

  The stallion put his ears back as Chimquar approached. She whispered to him in

  Sharani. His ears pricked up and he quivered. Chimquar ran her hand over him,

  speaking low to conceal her fluent use of the Sharani tongue. She loosed him and

  Adoni let her mount. She exulted at the smooth, easy power of the stallion as

  she swung him around. Her hand dropped to Tamlys' shield and she lifted it from

  the saddle, slipping her arm through the straps. It still felt right.She sent

  the stallion into a canter, then a full gallop, reined in and turned back.

  Meadusea and Katalla came alongside. "You may have all of Tamlys' things,"

  Meadusea said, "save her sword."

  "Payment for his trouble?" Katalla said, sneering.

  Meadusea gave the younger woman a severe glance, started to speak and Chimquar

  interrupted. "I didn't ask for anything save the horse â which I have need of. I

  don't ask for her sword." Chimquar idly rubbed the hilt of her sword. The

  gesture drew the Sharanis' eyes.

  "A longsword." Meadusea was clearly surprised. "I've not seen a plainsmon with

  one."

  "I'm not Euzadi born." Chimquar left them.

  Hazier discarded his own saddle and shifted his saddlebags to Chimquar's mare.

  He looked up as his mentor joined him. "I'm ready." He said.

  "Me, too!" Makajia tossed her head haughtily and swung into the saddle of her

  black filly.

  Chimquar moved across the plains, hazier and Makajia behind her, the Sharanis

  last.

  A large herd of long-horned bison and antelope moved away from the riders

  passing them down wind. A sleek, black-flecked shape stalked the edges of the

  herd, singling out a young antelope that had wandered too far from its fellows.

  It sprang suddenly. The antelope fled, bounding and turning. The hunting cat

  moved with it, never missing a turn, anticipating its prey's each move.

  "There!" Hazier pointed. "Chekaya!"

  Katalla saw the swift cat bring down its prey. "I no longer mind the name." Her

  voice was soft and without its usual harshness. "There is a sudden, swift beauty

  to the beast."

  A long, low howl slid across the plains. It was answered from the east and west.

  Chekaya abandoned her fresh kill. The herds broke into a panicked run, which

  quickly became a stampede. The howling rose again, louder, higher pitched with

  an almost human wail rising with it. The very air seemed chilled. The horses

  danced nervously as Chimquar and her companions drew rein. Chimquar's eyes raked

  the land, knowing that true wolves could not panic Chekaya, knowing the strange

  sound she heard. Hazier's lips part in a word of dismay that went unspoken. Then

  the sorrel stallion, Adoni, struck the earth with his cloven forehooves,

  threatening to rear.

  "Nakesht," Chimquar hissed. Then two outriders topped a distant rise. "And

  Bakran!" She pressed her knees to the stallion and galloped north. The open,

  bereft of a Euzadi wagon-ring was no place to battle the man-wolves of the

  Nakesht. The unlikely alliance of Bakran and the Nakesht puzzled Chimquar.

  The Sharanis unsheathed their swords, galloping at Chimquar's heels. The

  difference between their steeds and the plainsbred horse sowed at once.

  Makajia's small size and lightweight compensated for the difference between her

  filly and the Sharani's, but her brother fell father and farther behind.

  Chimquar looked back at Makajia's shout, and saw a Nakesht wolf plunge out of

  the tall grasses. She gestured sharply for the Sharanis to go on, and swung back

  with one of the javelins to hand.

  Hazier slowed. "No!" Chimquar shouted, and Hazier clapped his heels to his

  mare's sides. His mentor charged the wolf. The javelin left her hand in a smooth

  throw. The wolf stumbled and fell. Chimquar circled back, watching for more

  wolves. She felt the stallion tense to rear. A wolf erupted out of the grass

  before her. Adoni lashed out with his forelegs. Then a hard weight slammed into

  Chimquar. She struck blindly at the bulk of the snarling wolf carrying her from

  the saddle. They hit the earth together. It snapped for her throat, its teeth

  closing on the heavy thickness of the lion's man around her neck. Chimquar

  wrenche
d its jaws apart, threw herself and the wolf sidewise, twisting its head

  as her weight came down on the beast. Bone snapped. She released it. A man lay

  dead with a wide, golden slave collar around his neck: with his death the power

  of the collar had been broken and his true shape restored.

  Wolves harried her stallion. Chimquar's dagger appeared in her hand as she got

  to her feet. A tearing pain ripped her left arm. The sudden weight of the wolf

  threw her off balance. She slashed at it. Her dagger glanced off the wide

  collar, sinking into its shoulder. She twisted the blade, jerking it free.

  Yowling, the wolf turned to rend the hand that held the blade. Chimquar's dagger

  plunged and ripped. The wolf no longer moved. She shifted the dagger to her left

  hand, fighting the pain in that limb. Chimquar drew her sword and stood, facing

  the wolves. They circled her warily while others bayed the stallion; she and

  Adoni had taken toll of them. One charged. She stepped aside; her Sharani

  longsword raked its ribs. A growl made her whirl; she swept her sword in a low

  arc. The second wolf dodged. Then the first one, ribs bleeding came about with

  its companion. Chimquar impaled one, kicked the other in the head, and free her

  sword before a third attacked. A javelin impaled the fourth.

  "Aroana!" Meadusea came. She and her bucking mount fought in fierce unison,

  centaur-like. Her bright blade slew and none of the wolves breached her guard.

  She drew them from the stallion and Adoni broke for his new master. Chimquar

  caught the saddle and swung up. Meadusea saw her and turned, racing after their

  fleeing companions. The wolves regrouped to pursue when a high, eerie wail rose

  behind them. They melted into the grass, returning to their master.

  Katalla rode rear guard to the youth and his sister ? a sign to Chimquar that

  her prejudices did not usurp her ha'taren honor.

  Chimquar fumbled with the saddlebags to free them, then dragged them across her

  lap, feeling inside for cloth to bind her arm. Her hand closed upon a horn, then

  the cloth.

  "You're hurt." Meadusea dropped back to ride beside her.

  "I've taken worse," Chimquar replied brusquely, working one-handed.

  "Rein in. I'll help."

  "No." Chimquar shrugged off her concern and finished. She reached into the

  saddlebag, bringing out Tamlys' horn. The Sharanis should have mounted guards on

  the outer perimeters of their encampment. She fingered the horn. Its call would

  carry a good distance on the open plains.

  "They will be back?" Katalla asked as Meadusea and Chimquar reached her.

  "Yes." Chimquar gazed at the northern horizon, her eyes hard and distant. "Their

  master with them ? and Bakran." A Euzadi curse rolled off her tongue. Hazier

  glanced back. Makajia's color deepened. Neither offered to interpret for the

  Sharanis.

  "Bakran?" A curious expression crossed Meadusea's broad strong-boned face.

  Chimquar started to answer when Katalla interrupted savagely. "You know them?"

  "I know them." Chimquar's words emerged taut. Her knees pressed the stallion's

  sides. She moved past Katalla and Hazier. "Let the horses breathe."

  "You know them?" Katalla came alongside Chimquar.

  "Bakran is my enemy," she answered harshly. "That is a tale I do not wish to

  tell." Bakran had burned too many villages ? slain too many peopleâ A

  fair-skinned face came to mind. Chimquar fought remembering, her face twisting.

  "That isn't enough."

  "Don't push me!" Dark, violent power blazed in Chimquar's eyes.

  Katalla dropped her eyes, unable to meet that power, but she had recognized its

  nature. "You're part Sharani! A half-breed?"

  "I said, I am not Euzadi born." Chimquar's voice softened strangely. "Now drop

  back beside Makajia."

  Katalla frowned, but obeyed.

  Chimquar felt tense and uneasy. If Katalla thought further she would realize

  there were no Sharani or half-Sharani males Chimquar's age. Only a flourishing

  slave trade had kept large numbers of males in Shaurone during the time when the

  Waejontori curse prevented the birth of sons to Sharani women. The numerous

  males in the household of Chimquar's ma'arams had not been Sharani. Chimquar

  hoped Katalla would not recall all aspects of the curse, which had ended several

  years before her birth.

  Chimquar counted on the hours it would take the Nakesht to recover his precious

  collars. Night would come, bringing the full moon, Tala Who Loves Earth: the

  full light of She Who Holds Back Darkness would deter the Nakesht from battle as

  the distant, disinterested sun did not.

  She kept her companions moving all night, alternating the pace to spare the

  horses. Chimquar held herself apart, avoiding Katalla's questions and

  provocations. They diminished the distance to Anaria's camp enough to halt at

  dawn.

  "Makajia," Chimquar called, dismounting. She led her stallion farther from her

  companions.

  The girl came, leading her black filly. She held her head high, but her dark

  eyes were dull with weariness.

  Chimquar caressed Makajia's head. "You've not ridden so long and hard before."

  Makajia smiled shyly. Chimquar still wondered how the girl could be so bold and

  wild one moment, and so shy and quiet the next. Chimquar bent to look her in the

  eye. She had tried not to make the girl an outsider among the Euzadi as she had

  Hazier. Chimquar knew she had caused Hazier's life to be more difficult than it

  should have been. He was her pride, but Makajia was her jewel. The warrior

  straightened, swinging Makajia up. She giggled, threw her arms around Chimquar's

  neck, and pressed a kiss on her cheek. Chimquar held her briefly, fiercely as

  though to press all of the love of many years into the embrace, then set her

  down and stood back. She took the horn from the saddlebag and slipped the strap

  over Makajia's head. "I have something for you to do, little one."

  "I can do anything!" Makajia asserted proudly.

  Chimquar pulled off the saddle and pack from the stallion. "It's half a day's

  ride to the ruins, Makajia. We can hold off the Nakesht and Bakran there."

  Chimquar took her crest ring from her pouch, pressing it into the girl's hands.

  "You know where I have said Anaria's camp is?" Makajia nodded. "Give that to

  her. Blow Sharani calls all the way, Makajia. They will come to you." Chimquar

  lifted the girl onto the stallion's bare back. Every ounce of extra weight gone,

  Adoni could probably outrun the wind spirits. She put the reins in Makajia's

  hands. "Adoni! Davan, Adoni! Volasyar!" Chimquar cried in Sharani. The stallion

  leaped away, running like dark flame before a gale. One person whom Chimquar

  loved would survive her â at least. Chimquar smiled slowly. She picked up the

  saddlebags and threw them across Makajia's filly.

  "What have you done?" Katalla demanded, rage coloring her voice. "Are you mad?"

  "She will reach Anaria." Chimquar was grim.

  "She bears no arms!"

  "She's no warrior!" Chimquar growled back, looking up from the saddle. "But

  nothing can catch her."

  "They'll tear her to pieces! You know the ways! Why didn't you teach her the

  ways!"

  "What goes here?" Meadusea joined them, watc
hing the fading figure of Makajia.

  It was already too late to overtake the girl.

  "The half-breed has sent the girl to Anaria â weaponless! Those creatures will

  tear her apart!" Katalla's face was adarkmask of rage.

  "Half-breed?" Meadusea pulled that out, staring curiously at Chimquar. "You mean

  Sharani, Katalla?"

  "Yes!" the woman snapped.

  Chimquar stood still under Meadusea's scrutiny. "Sharani sword, words, and some

  ways. There are no Sharani males your age."

  "None?" Katalla gasped, eyes wide, then loathing twisted her features. "God

  damned, skin-changing wolf-bitch!"

  A tremor of rage ran through Chimquar. The back of her fist bloodied Katalla's

  mouth the same instant her left foot snapped into the young Sharani's stomach.

  Katalla landed in the dirt, sobbing for breath. She rolled on her side,drawing

  her dagger. Meadusea placed her foot firmly on Katalla's arm. A glance passed

  between them and Katalla sheathed the blade. Chimquar left, leading the filly

  apart.

  "What is your name?" Meadusea asked gently, following her.

  Chimquar glanced up sharply. "That's none of your concern."

  "It is hard in these lands."

  "You think it is hard now?" Chimquar murmured, her voice rough. "I was first in

  these lands. First!"

  "The way you reared the girlâ"

  "Is none of your concern!" Chimquar snarled. "On that stallion she is safe. She

  can out ride the wind-lords."

  Meadusea shook her head. "I want to understand you. But the way you have reared

  the girl to be soâ"

  "Don't say it!" Chimquar's voice rose in warning. "Should I have made her an

  outcast in her own land? None knows better than I what it means to be outcast.

  You don't want to understand â you want to excuse!" Chimquar mounted and moved

  away. Hazier joined her, but kept his questions to himself.

  Mid-morning the wolves returned, pacing them, their cries keeping the horses and

  riders tense. The Sharanis held a javelin ready, shields rested on their arms.

  Chimquar searched the grasses with her eyes, her ears anticipating the cries of

  the Nakesht master and Bakran's men. Chimquar mused grimly, It is odd Bakran has

  not attacked. Some aspect of his deal with the Nakesht must be holding him back.

  He must want my head badly.

  The roofless hull of a stone house rose in the distance, the south wall gone