Well, at least it was warm, and it was a place where Farryn would think to look for her when he returned. Jael ducked inside and stripped off her clothes as quickly as her numb fingers would allow. She might not need a second bath, but the bubbling hot water would thaw her admirably.
In fact, Jael spent a warm, if boring, afternoon in the bathhouse before Farryn finally came to fetch her. Some of the Kresh who came to the bathhouse addressed her, but none knew her language and she couldn’t seem to convey by gestures the need for someone to take her back to Farryn’s dwelling or her own.
When Farryn arrived, he only raised an eyebrow puzzledly.
“We’ve been looking for you,” he said. “A friend said she saw you here, but that was near midaiternoon. Do you miss the hot springs of your home so badly?”
“No, I miss being able to tell people I can’t find my way back home,” Jael retorted. “And I miss being able to find my way around. I don’t suppose those Enlightened Ones have been looking for me?”
Farryn shook his head apologetically.
“They would have found you easily,” he said. “But perhaps you will settle for some supper.”
Jael hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and at the thought of supper, her stomach rumbled so loudly that it could be heard clearly even over the bubbling of the water.
“I see supper will suffice admirably,” Farryn said, smiling. He gave Jael his own coat and guided her back to his home. There Jael found Tanis almost strutting around the firepit, where an unusually shaped piece of meat was roasting. This time both Lainan and Savela were there, eyes on the meat.
“I killed a drake,” Tanis said without any preliminary greeting. “They’re like dragons, but smaller, and they don’t fly or breathe fire, but they hunt in packs instead of solitary. We killed three, and I got this one.”
“I know what drakes are,” Jael said a little irritably. Unaccountably, Tanis’s bubbling satisfaction annoyed her. “Lots of folk in and around Allanmere have guard-drakes.”
“It was a fine kill,” Farryn said, “although few of us hunt with our swords. Drakes especially are risky to fight at such close range. But Tanis acquitted himself well. I will have the skull and the hide cleaned and prepared for him as a trophy.”
It took some time for the large haunch to cook, and Tanis could talk of nothing but the hunt and his kill. The drake was good, but Jael was restless and discouraged by her boring and profitless day, and as soon as she’d finished eating she excused herself. The thought of another evening of telling stories somehow held no appeal.
“There’s no need to come back until you’re ready,” Jael told Tanis, who had risen to join her. “I’m sure you have a few more stories to tell. I’m just tired.”
Tanis was so late returning to the shelter that Jael was long asleep. He woke her the next morning, asking if she wouldn’t like to join another hunt today, but Jael again declined, urging him to go without her. Tanis’s company might have been pleasant to help pass the time, but truth to tell, Jael was in such a foul mood that she’d as soon be left alone. Wisely, Tanis understood and left her to go back to sleep. Jael slept until she could sleep no more, then passed another boring day in her own shelter, not daring to go exploring again. Tanis came to bring her to supper, but again she excused herself after she ate.
To Jael’s surprise, Lainan offered to guide her back. Jael hesitated, but Farryn gave her an approving nod, and Jael accepted, thanking Lainan. Lainan walked in silence, however, until they reached their destination. When Jael started through the door flap, he stayed where he was, so Jael was all but forced to invite him in. Lainan followed her inside and sat down cross-legged by the firepit, watching her silently.
“I keep meaning to ask,” Jael said, “about these rocks. What makes them give off light and heat like a fire, but never go out?”
“Most Stone Brothers can do it,” Lainan shrugged. “They say there’s a memory of fire in each stone that they call forth. But why do you ask? I thought you were a Stone Brother.”
“I suppose I am.” Jael sighed. “But I never tried to do anything like that. And I can’t do much of anything at all with part of my soul missing.”
Lainan was silent, staring at Jael narrowly over the glowing stone.
“Lainan, you’ve been looking daggers and spears at me ever since I came here,” Jael said impatiently at last. “Whatever you came here tonight to say, I wish you’d say it.”
“When did you learn that our father was your father?” Lainan asked almost idly, but the intensity in his eyes belied his calm voice.
“More than a year ago,” Jael said. “But I promised my mother I wouldn’t leave until certain things were settled at home, and until my swordsmanship improved so I could protect myself. And of course it took some time getting here, too.”
“My father has sung songs of your mother, Donya, who slew a great lizard the size of a house, and her friend Shadow, who stole Adraon’s healing secrets,” Lainan said.
“Shadow stole—” Jael chuckled. “Aunt Shadow never told me that, but I can well believe it. The giant lizard part’s true, or so I’m told.”
“Then you’ve been raised by a mighty warrior.” Lainan’s eyes narrowed further. “What do you want of my father?”
“Nothing.” Jael gazed back directly into his eyes. “I never meant to—embarrass—Farryn. All I want is the rest of my soul so I can live my own life. I certainly wouldn’t have come all the way here if there’d been another way. When I found the soul keeper in the dragon’s nest, I thought my problem was solved, and we’d have gone straight home if it hadn’t been for the Singing Forest and the skinshifters. I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong by wearing the amulet.” She shivered.
“Tanis spoke last night of your great deeds,” Lainan said wryly. “He made you sound a great warrior yourself.”
“I’m not such a great warrior,” Jael said with a shrug. “Anybody fights hard to stay alive.”
“They will never grant what you ask,” Lainan said suddenly. “The Enlightened Ones. They have no reason to do it. You’re not one of us by blood, not entirely, nor by life among us. The tales of your deeds are only that, only words. You can wait in this house until the winter snows come again, and they’ll still not summon you to the temple. You may as well go home to your own kind.”
Lainan’s words were the last blow to her already fraying temper. Jael jumped to her feet.
“By the gods, it seems like since I was born I’ve never been quite good enough for anybody,” Jael exploded. “And I’m damned sick of it.” She pointed to Lainan’s sword. “Is there a guard on that thing?”
Lainan rose to his feet also, his eyes narrowing.
“There is, yes, for practice,” he said. “Do you challenge me?”
Jael strode to her packs and drew out her own sword, carefully fitting the guard over the sharp blade.
“I don’t want to kill you,” she said, “and I hope you don’t want to kill me, but by the gods, I can’t take another moment of being stupid, clumsy Jaellyn who isn’t worthy of being someone’s sister or even of a soul of her own! So let’s settle this right now. If you can defeat me, Tanis and I will start home at first light tomorrow. But if I win, tomorrow at first light you get me into that temple. If those Enlightened Ones aren’t going to help me, they can by the gods tell me so in person.”
“Gladly,” Lainan said, drawing his own sword. To Jael’s relief, he fitted it with a metal guard very similar to hers. The sword, too, was much like Jael’s, although it seemed newer.
Jael kicked aside the furs scattered over the floor to make room; they certainly couldn’t fight outside in the narrow alleys between the buildings. She half-expected Lainan to demand some overly elaborate challenge ritual, but to her relief he took a ready stance without further ado, only waiting for Jael to raise her own sword before he launched his attack.
Jael had had no sword practice for weeks, and she’d never practiced against the style Lainan was us
ing; his first swift stroke almost went through her guard, and she realized miserably that she’d slowed down in the weeks since she’d practiced against an armed opponent. She missed, too, the swift, sure balance she’d had when she found the soul keeper in the dragon’s nest; fortunately, having never had a chance to use her new surefootedness in sword practice, she hadn’t come to depend upon it.
Lainan’s stroke was almost blinding in its speed, and again Jael barely turned it aside. He’d rapidly forced her into a defensive stand, too busy parrying his strokes to press an attack of her own. Gods, her mother’s style was too slow for this kind of swordplay, the elven style too subtle, and she’d had little success developing her own instinctive style when no one else seemed to use it, unlike Lainan, who’d been training probably for years—
Stop thinking, Jael reminded herself sternly, and she drew a deep breath, relaxing her muscles and flowing with the rhythm of Lainan’s attack, waiting for an opening to press her own offensive. At last Lainan overextended ever so slightly and Jael was able to pull him off balance, breaking his pattern; by the time he had recovered, Jael had found her own rhythm. She had his measure now, and though he was well trained in a style similar to the one Jael tried to use—and much better at it than Jael, too—he’d never been exposed to the several different styles that Jael had worked with.
Now she exploited that knowledge, using moves and strategies he couldn’t possibly know to break his patterns. Now Jael had the advantage; unlike Lainan, she was well accustomed to fighting against a style entirely different from her own, accustomed to altering her own patterns to adapt.
As Lainan tried again and again to create a pattern to beat down Jael’s guard, to slip past her defenses, and was repeatedly confounded, he grew angrier and more frustrated. They were both becoming tired now, but Jael, worn down by long travel, unaccustomed to lengthy swordplay, and strained by the effort to incorporate moves never meant for her sword and style, could feel her strength failing quickly. She was utterly relieved when Lainan made the wrong parry, enabling her with an elven maneuver to twist his sword out of his hand and send it skittering across the stone floor.
Lainan looked so furious that for a moment Jael thought he’d attack her, armed or not, but at last he raised his empty hands, fingers splayed, then lowered them to his side, breathing hard.
“You have bested me,” he growled.
Jael was gasping for breath herself, but she picked up his sword and handed it back to him.
“Only just,” she panted. “You’re faster than me, and stronger, too. If I hadn’t known moves you couldn’t possibly have learned, you’d have had me in a moment or two. That trick wouldn’t work on you a second time, I’ll wager.”
Lainan’s scowl faded slowly. Abruptly he extended one hand; remembering the plains hunters, Jael clasped forearms with him and smiled.
“You fought well and honorably,” Lainan said grudgingly. “Will you teach me what you know?”
“If you’ll teach me, too,” Jael grinned. “I have a lot to learn from you, too. As long as I’m here, that is.”
This time Lainan almost smiled.
“A fair bargain,” he said. “And tomorrow I’ll take you to the temple, as I promised.”
“And me,” Tanis said. Jael turned to see him standing by the door flap, leaning comfortably against the stone. “I’m going, too.”
Jael wiped sweat out of her eyes and laid her sword down.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to realize I don’t want to practice with either of you,” Tanis said good-naturedly, “or no self-respecting dragon would want what’s left of me. You’ve been in such a bad mood the last couple of days, I thought you might want some company.”
“I think I’ve worked off my bad mood,” Jael panted, grinning at Lainan. “I hope you have, too.”
Lainan gave Jael the briefest of nods, sheathed his sword, and slipped through the doorway without a word. Tanis took off his fur jacket and laid it aside, pouring a cup of cold water for Jael.
“So you’re tired of waiting for the Enlightened Ones to make a move?” Tanis asked. “What’11 you do if they say no, they won’t help you?”
“I’ll just have to make sure they don’t say no,” Jael sighed. “There’s nothing else I can do, is there? Look, let’s not talk about it or I’ll never sleep tonight.”
“After that bout, you’ll sleep,” Tanis said, grinning. He pulled a few furs back over the floor. “Lie down and I’ll rub your muscles.”
Tanis’s touch was gentler than her mother’s, firm and slow and soothing, and Jael felt her taut muscles relax. She was near the firepit, and the glow of the heat against her bare skin was delightful. Despite the hard stone floor under the furs, she was starting to drowse when Tanis stopped.
“Just lie still a moment,” Tanis murmured, and Jael could hear his footsteps across the floor. When he returned, he sat down on the floor beside her, the bottle of Bluebright in his hand.
“One last drink?” he suggested. “Soon you won’t need it.”
Jael started to decline—it was late and she was tired—but then she thought, I’ll just lie there and think about tomorrow. It occurred to her, too, although she said nothing, that the last few times she’d lain with Tanis, the woman he’d been tumbling hadn’t really been her, not entirely. Somehow she couldn’t quite bring herself to tell him that, and for that reason perhaps she owed him, and herself, this one night.
Jael floated in the warm euphoria of the Bluebright, wonderfully aware and rejoicing in the sweet sensations of stone surrounding her, the tender insistence of Tanis’s touch, the softness of the furs against her skin, but most of all being Jaellyn who could enjoy these things. When she drowsed in Tanis’s arms, she held on to waking as long as she could, knowing that when she woke she’d no longer be all Jaellyn as she was this night, that the morrow might indeed mean the end of all hope that she’d ever be completely whole, permanently herself. That thought, the sensation of teetering on the dagger’s point of her destiny, made each moment, each touch so much the sweeter.
She never remembered falling asleep that night, but she woke abruptly in the dim light of the dwelling to find Lainan standing over them, apparently unembarrassed.
“If you’re still determined to go to the Enlightened Ones,” he said, “let us go before my father learns of it. It’s against all custom for those who have not proven themselves and gained a soul to enter the temple unless summoned there.”
Jael and Tanis quickly donned their warm clothes, and, a little defiantly, Jael belted on her sword and dagger. They followed Lainan in the dim predawn light through the maze of alleys as quietly as they could, emerging at the cliff.
“We’ll take a basket down,” Lainan told them. “The path would be quieter, but it takes almost an hour to descend that way.”
Jael eyed the strange basket contraption dubiously. One woven basket was large enough to hold the three of them comfortably, and the basket itself seemed sturdy enough, but the odd arrangement of levers, chains, and pulleys confused her.
“The basket is counterweighted,” Lainan said helpfully. “There are several boulders attached to the chains. By pulling the levers, I choose how many boulders to release in accordance with the amount of weight in the basket.”
Jael and Tanis exchanged puzzled looks, but as Lainan seemed to have faith in the device, they could do nothing but step into the basket with him and hope that he knew how to operate it. Lainan pulled three levers, and to Jael’s great relief, the basket descended slowly but smoothly. Tanis, Jael noticed, clutched the rim of the basket with white-knuckled hands all the way down, although Jael was fascinated by the view of the valley floor approaching. Was this how a beast-speaker saw the ground, flying in the mind of a hawk? She almost regretted it when the basket thumped gently onto the ground at the base of the cliff.
It was only a short walk from the base of the cliff to the temple opening. Unlike the opening
s to the houses, this large arch was richly ornamented with the same sort of intricate carvings Jael had seen on the inside of the houses. Also unlike the houses, there was no leather door flap; this archway contained a door of solid stone, with no means of opening it that Jael could ascertain.
Lainan hesitated in front of the stone slab.
“Are you certain?” he said, gazing soberly into Jael’s eyes. “The Enlightened Ones will not be pleased by this intrusion.”
“I’m certain,” Jael said firmly. “But if you’re afraid to go in, we’ll go by ourselves.” She glanced at the door. “If we can figure out how.”
“I will take you to them,” Lainan said, although there was a tinge of uncertainty in his voice. “I gave you my word.”
He turned back to the stone door, and for the first time Jael noticed in the center of it an indentation in the shape of a six-fingered hand. Lainan fitted his own hand into the space, and the door soundlessly pivoted inward. Jael gasped as the edge of the door came into view; it was thicker than the length of her arm. Beyond the door was a stone hallway leading apparently into the mountainside, lit by torches in wall sconces.
Lainan stepped inside, beckoning to them to follow. Jael took Tanis’s hand and stepped through the door, too, shivering. The door swung slowly closed behind them.
Almost immediately Jael felt the tingling of magic surrounding her, and she shivered again. This was probably a very, very bad idea—
One of the torches flickered and went out, then another. Lainan looked up at the torches in consternation.
“Maybe we should leave,” Tanis suggested, looking at the torches as well.
Dagger's Point (Shadow series) Page 31
