Diana rose slowly, stunned by the beauty of the woman who came through the door. She was breathtaking. A few tenmoons older than Diana, she was tall for Aggar but willowy slender with eyes of deep velvet brown — eyes so brown that they were almost as black as the hair that was swept high into a coiled braid.
The woman’s dark gaze moved to Elana’s still figure with her back to the doors. The unruly length of hair gathered by the leather band falling below Elana’s waist seemed blacker than ever in this white stone setting.
“I would know those unmanageable tangles anywhere,” the woman said adoringly and came forward, her arms opening.
Elana turned to hug her mother fiercely. “Mother!”
The older woman laughed gently, pressing Elana’s head to her own. She kissed her daughter’s temple briefly, only to hug her tightly again. “Let me see you!” she said at last, smiling through her tears. They parted just enough to face one another. “Oh but you’ve grown — ”
“No taller than you.”
“Yet so much more beautifully.” She held her daughter’s face between her hands. Her dark eyes darted quickly to the hands that held her own wrists and she freed herself to grasp the black leather bands. “Ona! I am so happy for you! I know you’ve worked hard.” Her voice dropped low. “I am so very pleased for you.”
Dark eyes lifted to the silent figure behind her daughter and then back to Elana questioningly. Elana nodded and slipped an arm through her mother’s as she whispered, “Come meet Di’nay.
“Di’nay?” Elana smiled faintly, but Diana was not deceived by her calmness. “My mother, Rai Min Sym.”
Rai’s dark eyes were steady and her smile unfaltering. “As Mistress here I welcome you, Terran, to this place… and to Aggar.”
“I am honored in your greeting,” Diana took her hands and thought that this was exactly why formalities were created — to cover shock.
Elana desperately hoped Di’nay was not going to withdraw behind that cold wall again. “Mother, this is Diana n’Athena.”
Her name sang across the woman’s lips. Elana’s inflections captured Diana’s Sororian accent. Diana grinned, she hoped, charmingly. “Please, here I am Di’nay.”
Graciously Rai nodded. “I am most honored, Di’nay.”
“Forgive me if I seem awkward. Many have commented on my poor accent.”
“It is your skin color,” Rai explained softly. “The men of Aggar do not brown with the wind and sun as do your young men; a fact I am sure you have noticed. Or…” she directed her question to both daughter and guest, “am I still in error?”
Diana lifted a brow questioningly and looked to Elana. She remembered Elana saying her mother had also trained at the Keep.
In Common Elana murmured, “She does not wish to insult you by naming you man if you are woman.”
Diana broke into a friendly laugh. “You daughter comes by her cleverness well, I see.” Diana bowed. “I pose as such to move freely on Aggar.”
Rai nodded. “Your secrets are safe here.”
“Now, your father?” Rai turned, her excitement renewed. “We must tell him.”
“Alonz has gone to fetch him.”
“Yes, naturally, he showed you in. But come.” Her arm encircled Elana’s waist. “It will not be the first time I’ve stolen your father’s guests from him.” She paused, extending a hand to her new guest.
“We’ll have you fed first, and then let you settle down for a nice long bath. I do remember how dreadfully dusty and tiresome traveling can be.”
Diana was amazed at the spaciousness of the house. The kitchen area opened directly into the living room and was divided only by a heavy but beautifully crafted table. It was in some ways reminiscent of the sweeping lines and grand spaces of the Keep, she realized. But here the ceiling housed white glass skylights and the almost bare walls were lightened with whitewash. The corners held bushy ferns, and dark wood shelves and chests were sparsely set against the walls.
Rai motioned them to be seated at a table laid for two. The lack of servants did not go unnoticed by Diana as Rai went to fetch the extra settings — nor did the large, brick wall that housed the kitchen’s two ovens, grill and hearth. Diana felt her toes curl in appreciation; the room was warm and toasty.
The aroma of sweet bread pudding drifted to her and Diana felt her hunger stir. In the last few days they had skipped their mid-day meal in order to speed travel.
“Mother!”
Diana recognized Alonz’ voice. Rai put the stack of plates aside quickly as the she called in answer, “Coming!”
Rai said, hand on her daughter’s shoulder, “A fine boy, but young. He is to share eventide with his betrothed and her family. Perhaps it would be best if he did?”
Elana read the wariness and excitement her mother struggled with. “Yes, if you fear he may talk of my return. We’re on Council business.”
Rai squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. “Then it is best he not know who you are until you depart. I’ll be but a moment.”
Diana’s gaze returned to Elana as Rai left them. Why had she never noticed how beautiful the ivory tone of Elana’s skin could be? It was the dark chair frame — the lighting and the contrast. Elana suddenly turned to her and Diana said, “I did say she would like you, didn’t I?”
The soft laughter rang with joy as Elana said, “You are wise.” Then more seriously, she asked, “And you? Do you like her?”
“She is an intelligent, beautiful woman.”
“Yes.” Those were terms endearingly apt for her Amazon too. “Yes, she is.”
Elana changed the subject. “What do we do tonight? The commons?”
“I can manage well enough,” Diana said. “Why don’t you stay with your family. If I stumble across anything, we can follow it through in the morning.”
“I was right, then? The language is not too strange for you?” She was disappointed. It would have been nice to include Di’nay in her family reunion.
“It won’t be a problem,” Diana assured her. “I need to call Thomas too.” It made her head ache just to think about the man, although maybe the satellite com-link was still on the blink. She had tried twice since leaving Colmar. “Where would be the flattest ground around here, you think?”
“East on the road to Cellar’s Gate. There are few trees, but the brush is thick enough to conceal you fairly well. I could easily show you the place.”
“Sounds like I can find it myself. It’ll be late and one of us should sleep — or at least,” she grinned encouragingly, “be enjoying a pleasant evening.”
“You’ll wait for the second moon’s rising again?”
Diana nodded. “Satellite should be nearest then.”
“You are certain you do not wish me to come?” Elana remembered all too well their bearded ambusher.
“Yes,” Diana said firmly. “I’ll get the radio around midnight, take a cautious evening stroll, and be back before your Sight can warn you I’m near.”
Elana fought a smile. It was irreverent to refer so off-handedly to the Blue Sight, but she was finding some of Di’nay’s alien assumptions rather refreshing.
“We should ask my father if he has noticed anything unusual in the last ten-day. Between the odd assortment of patrons he attracts and his own crew, he often knows what goes on before it happens.”
Rai returned, her proud, loving gaze on Elana. “Alonz is off and your father — ”
“Comes!” A deep booming voice pounced into the room as its master bounded up the step to the kitchen. He was dressed much as Alonz had been in sleeveless jerkin and breeches, but he was broader of shoulder and shorter than most men of Aggar. His salt-and-pepper hair was still thick despite age, and his hazel-brown eyes latched onto his daughter hungrily.
For a long, silent moment the pair faced each other across the room, blue eyes stilled locked with her parent’s. Then Elana was blinking.
The man laughed heartily, stretching his arms wide. “Aye! My lass!” She laughed
with him as he picked her up in a bear hug, spinning about. “It is my Ona!” He set her down, hugging her near. “My Ona — ”
“Papa!” She squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to calm her emotions, then looked into his grizzled old face. “It is good to be with you again, Papa.”
His hand cupped her cheek tenderly. “Very good, child.”
“There is another to greet, Husband.” Rai spoke softly, proudly. “Our child has become a Shadow.”
He moved quickly toward her. Diana suspected he spent a great deal of energy dampening his natural exuberance and wondered that he had ever aspired to anything so restrained as being a Shadow. She grinned; she liked this man.
“Welcome here, Terran!” his clasping hands were firm and strong. “Di’nay, is it? Yes — I am Symmum, supposedly master of this dubious establishment and household.” He glanced playfully at Rai. “But most all name me Sy, and I’d be most honored if you would as well.”
“Sy it is then,” Diana agreed, returning the friendly squeeze of his hands.
“Please — sit?” He waved her back into her seat and, turning, helped Rai with the heavy meat platter.
Elana smiled as her parents wrestled over who could carry it to the table. She seated herself and leaned nearer Di’nay, whispering, “They argued so when I was young as well — ”
Diana choked down her laughter as Sy stepped between them, sliding the plate of partially sliced meat on the table.
“There is more than enough now,” interjected Rai hurriedly. Bowls of steaming greens and creamed finger spuds joined the meat.
“Ahh!” Sy rubbed his hands together in satisfaction as he eyed the table. “What can I offer you to drink? We have some excellent mead put up this last season? Or there’s a southwestern wine that’s arrived?”
“The mead will be fine.” Her metabolism wasn’t ready for Aggar’s wines.
“And for me,” Elana said.
“Mead it is!”
Rai began passing the food along. “Ona, how does the Old Mistress?”
“Well, I think. She grows stiffer with the winters, but she is healthy and still strong enough to throw a brash recruit.”
Rai smiled faintly, remembering the woman with a special warmth. “She has raised you well, Daughter.”
Elana paused in ladling out creamed spuds. “She said the same of you.”
“Try this?” Sy reappeared and snatched Di’nay’s goblet. “It’s a bit sweet…?”
Di’nay accepted and shook her head after a sip. “Not at all. It’s very good.”
Sy poured for the others. “Has the Empire such a brew, Di’nay? Or is this new to your palate?”
Diana laughed, setting the last of the serving dishes near his empty plate. “No indeed. My mother’s people have always preferred mead to wines.”
Elana thought of the old soldiers’ maxim, “Beware lips touched of honey and wetted by mead, she’ll take all your money and depart with good speed.” If it would only be my money, Elana despaired.
“Elana tells me you know much of the doings in this city?” Diana asked Sy as he sat down. “Have you noticed anything — anyone — peculiar in the last ten-day?”
Sy shrugged. “That is a broad sort of question, Di’nay. Is there nothing more specific I could think on?”
“News from Colmar, Papa? Or perhaps from the Maltar’s realm?”
A slow breath was drawn by each and the parents exchanged worried glances. They both could have wished for a less dangerous target to attract their child.
Sy cut into his meat. “Of Maltar I am certain of no word. None have traveled through from the north since last monarc.”
“We suspect,” Diana explained between bites, “that they use messenger hawks. It is their hawker that we seek.”
Rai’s knife stilled suddenly. She looked at her husband. “Was there not a strange hawk found dead a ten-day back?”
Cautiously Sy’s head bobbed in agreement. “Out in Putma’s field, but no one claimed it. And we never found out where it came from. It’s messenger ties were empty. Colmar now….” He pointed his knife at Di’nay, “Tartuk was just in this morning muttering something about some trouble down there. He was anxious, at least for him, he was. Yes, he was expecting some friends — a pair from Colmar.”
Elana glanced at Di’nay. “Our ambushing friend’s two companions?”
“Perhaps. But why would they leave Colmar?”
“If we had talked to their scout at length, their identity would be known. They might not think it safe for them to remain.”
Diana nodded slowly. “Or they may be traveling on to see the Maltar after all.”
“How did Tartuk know they were coming?” Elana asked her father.
“Sorry, Lass, I do not know. I suppose the King’s men brought word. The winter garrison just arrived a while back.”
“Anything else odd about this Tartuk?” Diana asked. Sy put down his fork and knife with a shout of laughter. Puzzled, Diana looked at Elana and Rai.
“Symmum! Do not be cruel,” Rai rebuked him softly but firmly.
“No, yes — you’re right.” He swallowed his jest and wiped his watering eyes clear. “It is not his fault. And I beg your patience, my honored Terran.” He snatched a full breath and, with a sip of mead, calmed himself. “Tartuk is entirely an odd sort of man, Di’nay — both inwardly and outwardly odd.”
“He cannot help his appearance,” Rai said and continued her meal.
“No, that he cannot.” Sy turned pointedly to Di’nay. “But his character he cannot so easily excuse.”
“So tell me of Tartuk.”
“He is a tall man and gauntly thin. He would be better made if carved of wood than flesh. He looks as if his bones and skin is all he’s made of. His face is not distorted so much as discolored with whitish-gray scars. I suspect he was burned as a child, but his beard grows and his eyebrows are bushy enough, so perhaps not. He’s black haired and black eyed and rarely talkative.”
“And his character?”
Sy shook his head in disgust and picked up his fork. “I would not trust him near lass or cash.”
“You say he’s not talkative. How did you come to know he expects visitors?”
“Not so much visitors as traveling companions. He came to collect forty of his metal-shafted arrows and to have his weapons sharpened. He was particularly anxious that we would be open tomorrow should his friends’ lot need sharpening.”
“You told him no, I trust?” Rai said.
“I most certainly did!” Sy set his goblet down with a bang. “It’s not every day of the tenmoon that I celebrate my son’s betrothal!”
Rai smiled. There had been times his memory had lapsed for greater things.
“Now as I was saying, Tartuk tried to barter me open for just the half-hour come morning. He was adamant that they would not be able to stay over past the night. He said he was worried to travel with men armed by blunted swords.”
“Did he mention why he thought they would be blunted?” Diana asked.
“Aye, the man said a horse thief had been troubling the region and that the fellows had met up with him once already before making Colmar. Seems everyone riding out of the place feared on meeting this thief again.”
Diana reached for her mead. “It’s comforting to know I’m so notorious.”
“You?” Rai’s dark brows arched in surprise.
“The men we are tracking,” Elana explained quietly, “would rather be tracking us. The single horse thief he has invented is Di’nay.”
“So they do not know she is shadowed?” her father asked.
“At least, not to date,” Diana agreed.
“It was by the Mother’s Hand you did not meet them on the trail coming here, if they are to leave again on the morrow,” Rai pointed out.
Elana shrugged. “They may very well believe Di’nay is still searching Colmar for them. There was no sign that they were ahead of us, and if they come after, the mark of two horses should ha
ve been reassuring, not distressing.”
Diana nodded. “They would be more concerned with someone following.”
Sy sighed. “I am sorry I can’t give you more. It would not surprise me to find Tartuk was from the north. He has the manners befitting Maltar’s court!”
“You really think so lowly of him, Papa?”
“Aye, he’s tried to cheat me on one too many occasions, Ona. He’s not just poor at bartering. He is a liar — and probably a thief too.”
“And you, Mother? What do you think of him?”
Rai lifted a shoulder uncertainly and opened the sealed pudding crock. “I’ve seen him only a few times and never have spoken to him directly. I’ll grant I have never been comfortable near him.”
Troubled, Elana accepted the bowl of pudding in silence. It said a great deal that Rai even admitted to ill feelings regarding this man. Her mother was usually overly tolerant of others.
“Do you handle a sword, Di’nay?”
Diana glanced at Sy, startled by his abruptness. “Yes, why?”
Elana looked at him sharply. The sudden tension in his amarin was striking. “You have something important to share, Papa?”
“Not in your way, Ona.” Rai reached across to squeeze her daughter’s hand. “It is just very exciting for him.”
“How would you know?” he challenged his wife stubbornly. “Have you taken to deciphering amarin of late?”
Rai laughed, replacing the pudding crock’s lid. “Surely after so many tenmoons, Husband, your every amarin is clear to me.”
He grunted and stabbed his spoon into his bread pudding.
“This is delicious.” Diana smiled at Rai with all the charm she could muster. “As was the whole of the meal.”
“Thank you.” Rai tipped her head graciously. “There is more if you like.”
Diana acknowledged that with a half-nod and turned to Sy. “You were inquiring about my sword?”
Elana was impressed with the smoothness of Di’nay’s distracting tactic. Of course, she too could have done it — with anyone but her own parents.
“I was wondering if you were pleased with it?” Sy said cautiously. “My understanding of your people is limited, but am I correct in assuming Terrans rarely use such — primitive — weapons?”
Shadows of Aggar (Amazons of Aggar) Page 22
