Semper Indomitus: Book Five of the Fovean Chronicles

by Robert Brady

  Shela had started the magic but Lee had pitched in, at around two years old.

  “And so you thought a Druid could teach you more than I,” Shela said.

  “The magic is different,” Vedeen offered, but Shela held up her hand.

  Shela’s craft derived from the god Power, from the desires of men. I could see where power over Earth would have nothing to do with that. In many cases, Shela was a magical dynamo whom no one could counter, but I’d seen her weak as a kitten, unable to do anything, when she was out of her element. It was her instincts that made her seem so strong – she had a real skill at picking her battles.

  “Yes, mother,” she said.

  She turned to Chesswaya. “And you?” she asked. “I know your magic – we were trained by the same man. You think you have more to learn from this Druid than from your own people?”

  Chesswaya looked up from the floor, the staff across her lap. “This staff mixes two elements of Earth,” she said, “but is sacred to Eveave. I am a student of the goddess Weather, but I am drawn to it. So many elements – I came to learn from the Druid, yes.”

  “And what do the rest of you do?” I asked.

  There was a lot of exchanging of glances.

  “I see.”

  So the conversation went. The two girls were studying their craft with Vedeen, who in fact was well qualified to teach them. The rest of them wouldn’t say why they were here, which was the last thing I wanted to hear.

  It’s hard to fight what you can’t see.

  Chapter Eight

  Finding our Way Home

  We woke up on the morning of the seventh, stiff from sleeping on the stone floor. Shela, Karel and I had each packed a bedroll, but they were thin and there was a world of difference between sleeping on the ground and sleeping on the stone floor.

  I rose and Shela was already awake, making breakfast with the girls. Vedeen was watching them, sitting next to Jack on the stool that Lee had raised. I pulled on my leather pants and homespun, white shirt under the fur cloak Shela and I had slept under, and then pushed it aside to put my boots on. My armor was piled neatly against a cave wall, near where Dagi had dropped her sword and shield.

  “Sleep well?” Jack asked me.

  “No,” I answered him, without looking up.

  “Going out?” he asked.

  “Check the horses,” I said. When my second boot slipped on, I looked at him. “Blizzard may or may not have remembered Little Storm, but two stallions bear checking on.”

  “And there’s a mare,” I heard behind me. I turned and saw Lupennen, seated on the ground with his back against the cave wall. “I brought Thunder Cloud.”

  I’d heard that. “I’m told she’s at least as fast as Blizzard, maybe faster,” I said.

  He nodded. “Are you going to ride?” he asked.

  I smiled. “I could ride,” I told him. “I should check on my troops.”

  He stood. If I was going to ride, he was going with me. Good.

  “Anyone else?” I asked.

  “I’ll go,” Jack said. “Little Storm could use the work out.”

  Imagine my complete lack of surprise.

  “I’ll stay where it’s warm,” Karel said. Shela just looked at me and I knew she wasn’t going.

  We dressed up warm and mounted up. It was a little chilly without the padding in my armor, but not bad. It would be easier on Blizzard, and he’d want to run if the other two ran. Let him have a fighting chance.

  We found them in the same cave. Two of the men in brown robes had just cleaned what served as stalls for them, using hand-made picks. They had a cart made of goatskin stretched over a wooden frame, with wooden wheels, that they dragged away from the circle where the caves met.

  There was thought to this layout, if nothing else.

  It was good to see that Blizzard hadn’t gotten into it with Little Storm, but then Little Storm had never had an issue with his sire. If you left that stallion in one place and came back in three hours, you could expect him to still be standing there. It was as if he was always considering the world.

  Thunder Cloud was in one of the other cave mouths, which was why I hadn’t seen her. Dragging a club foot, Lupennen still managed to have his horse saddled before ours. He rode something closer to a dressage saddle with a light blanket, while Little Storm and Blizzard rode full-on Knight’s saddles, ready for battle.

  He mounted on his own, I did the same. I almost leaped over Blizzard, I was so used to getting on him with my armor.

  Lupennen led us out to the main road. I noticed immediately that there were prints on the road we’d used to get here, both horse, foot and wheels. A caravan had moved through here, apparently bound toward the Volkha side.

  I could tell that Jack wasn’t looking for sign, as quickly as I could see that Lupennen had already picked up on it. It was no surprise to me that he learned that from his mother, because I had.

  Once we were to the open road, Lupennen looked over his shoulder at me, then at Jack and, to my surprise, he made the Andaron sign for wanting to run, holding up his index and pinky finger and twisting his wrist.

  I shook my closed fist twice. Yes, go fast.

  He turned and touched a heel to Thunder Cloud. She dug in with her left rear hoof and she was off at a canter.

  Blizzard was after her immediately, and I could hear Little Storm behind me. The canter went on for more than a daheer.

  The wind stung my face. I leaned forward in a three-point stance and laid my cheek to Blizzard’s long, white mane. I hadn’t trimmed him in years – he just seemed more natural with a long mane.

  I clucked to him. Go faster – as fast as you want.

  He exploded, pulling up alongside Thunder Cloud, then starting to pass her. Thunder Cloud matched him, then started to pull ahead.

  Blizzard matched her. The hills passed us in a blur.

  I could hear Little Storm behind us. Another daheer passed, and another. If we kept this up we’d pass the break to the road where my troops were.

  I waved my hand at Lupennen. When I had his attention, I made a fist and opened my palm.

  Slow down to a trot. I looked over my shoulder and made the same sign.

  We all slowed to a trot, the horses blowing. I had to think there would be ice chips in my eyebrows. There were touches of crystals in Jack’s moustache.

  I could see the break in the road that I was looking for, maybe half a daheer in front of me. The horses needed to cool down, and it wasn’t going to be good for them in this cold if they started to sweat too badly. Any other animals, I’d be really worried, but these were horses from and descended from the Herd that Cannot be Tamed.

  “That horse is fast,” I said to Lupennen.

  “She loves to run,” Lupennen told me, “but Blizzard loves it more.”

  I cocked an eyebrow. “Really?”

  Lupennen nodded. “He’s so happy now,” the young man said. “He wants to go another ten daheeri and see what’s over the far hills, but he knows you need him to take you where you want to go.”

  That really touched me for some reason. How many times had I said, “It’s just me and Blizzard in this world?” Even when it wasn’t necessarily true.

  “Can you tell him,” I said, and I swallowed, and collected myself.

  “Can you tell him, ‘Thank you,’ for me?” I asked. “And that he’s so important to me, to my life.”

  Suddenly Blizzard picked up his hooves a little higher and shook his head. We were almost to the break in the road.

  “He knows,” Lupennen said. “He knows he has a herd mate in you.”

  So it was true – this son could communicate with the horses. Maybe other animals. I couldn’t imagine what a power that must be like, but I knew one thing for sure:

  That didn’t come from his mother, and it didn’t come from me. Ancenon and The Green One had a theory that his physical problems were a result of the Cheyak poison that had infected his mother when he was first conceived, meani
ng that she was already pregnant when Shela had healed her.

  So there was some possibility that he had inherited something from Shela’s magic, however Shela had used her magic consistently during both pregnancies, and none of the kids had this ability.

  So where did this come from, if the gods themselves weren’t very deeply involved in the lives of my kids?

  ***

  We were back to the troops before noon. They’d set up another jess doonar off of the road, and their horses were grazing winter grass on a nearby hill with attendees. Radmon Rukh rode out and met me before I could make it to the troops.

  “I’d hoped you’d brought the Lady Shela with you,” he said, still on horseback.

  I looked at him and cocked an eyebrow. It took him a second.

  He saluted me. I saluted back. He must be pretty distressed, because I knew these traditions meant as much to Tartan as they did to me.

  “More sick?” I asked.

  “The horses as well,” he answered. “We might lose one if it’s a cold night.”

  That wasn’t good. Doubling up armored men on a horse would likely kill another one, and the alternative was walking, which would really slow us down.

  “I can be back in a few hours,” I said.

  “Four healers are better than one,” Jack informed me.

  I looked at him.

  “Lee is an Andaron shaman,” he said. “So is Chesswaya, and Shela trained Nina.”

  I nodded. “We should leave one,” I said. “Or we’ll need to bring another horse.”

  Lupennen turned his horse around. “Leave Nina,” he said. “She likes to stay with Eric anyway.”

  He touched a heel to Thunder Cloud and she was off again, Blizzard and Little Storm after her. We pounded out the daheeri again, cantering until we came to the more difficult trails among their hills. We arrived just after noon, collected our sorceresses and were back to the trail again soon after.

  With shortened days in the cold north, once we arrived we were going to have to stay there. Radmon set us up a pavilion while the women started healing.

  Good news is that they saved the horse. Bad news was that they needed another three days of rest to be ready to travel again. I sent ten healthy warriors to Myr to get more supplies.

  That would take more than three days, but it gave me an excuse to stay pat. Bringing the Angadorian Knights had been a mistake, but now we knew it.

  At the end of the day we collected in the pavilion and ate a travel broth common to armies. It was a little plain but warm.

  “You both have learned well,” Shela informed the girls.

  Lee beamed, sitting on the pavilion floor with her fox still in her lap. Chesswaya seemed to just take the praise in stride. I’d watched her working, and most of the time she seemed to be only barely there. She acted like she was either distracted or considering something else while she occupied her mind in this world.

  “Did you develop these skills with Vedeen, or in your studies?” she asked.

  “Vedeen really doesn’t heal,” Lee said. “I learned what you taught me, but I got practice while in Conflu.”

  “I learned from the Long Manes,” Chesswaya said.

  “I was impressed by your map,” I told Lee. “I didn’t know your studies were so in depth.”

  “I wish I could see it,” Lupennen said. “I love maps.”

  “Your mother taught you?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  “She taught me, too,” I said.

  “She said,” Lupennen said. “She told me all about you – how she loved you, how you found another.”

  “Eric tells the same story,” Lee said.

  Wow – wasn’t ready for that.

  “Eric is more upset about it than I am,” Lupennen said. “Even when she spoke of you, I could tell from the stories that the love was more hers than yours.”

  Right to my face. Shela was hearing this and not liking it, as well.

  “I didn’t know that either woman was pregnant,” I said. “When I – where I come from – women have more control over such things. I wasn’t in the habit really of thinking of it, until I met Shela.”

  “I’ve heard those songs,” Lupennen said.

  Troubadours did like to sing about my life.

  “Vulpe doesn’t sing them anymore,” Lee said.

  Another thing to deal with.

  We spoke for a while longer as the night fell. In the cold there wasn’t that much else to do. Shela went out and checked the sick at one point, then returned and we all went to sleep.

  We awoke in the morning and Chesswaya wasn’t there.

  Shela shook me awake and told me. We dressed without waking the rest and went out into the cold, the sun burning the sky pink and red to the east of the hills, to look for her. Once outside of the pavilion Shela seemed to know exactly where she was, and we followed some sort of magical scent trail until we found her on a hill.

  She was on her knees, her head bowed, her staff in her hands, and her hands on her thighs. I thought to touch her, to let her know that we were there, but Shela stopped me.

  “I know that pose,” she informed me.

  “You do?”

  Shela nodded. “The Uman-Chi meditate and collect their power that way,” she said. “They’ll do it several times a day, starting in the morning. She’s refreshing herself, but not in the way of my people.”

  “Is this something Druids do?”

  Shela shook her head. “It is unique to the people of the Silent Isle,” she said.

  I was reasonably sure that Chesswaya was nowhere near the Battle of the Vice. Where could she have learned that?

  Shela decided that it was better if we left her be. We returned and Lupennen and Jack were awake, but now Lee was missing.

  “She’s out checking the sick,” Lupennen told us.

  Shela nodded and left.

  “She takes that very seriously,” Jack informed me.

  “Really?”

  He nodded. He had put his Volkhydran furs back on and was pulling on his boots. “She tries to be her mother, I think,” he said, “and her mother’s a healer.”

  I had the feeling that this was as alone as I was going to get with Jack unless I made a point of it, and then it was going to be with him on his guard. Lupennen struck me as a young man who took the world on its face, and that could mean that he would take my calling Jack out in stride.

  Guess it was time to find out.

  “So,” I said, “what exactly are you trying to accomplish, Jack?”

  He looked up from the floor of the tent and regarded me.

  “Vedeen I get,” I said. “You didn’t want her to die, so you saved her. But now you two seem to be intent on pursuing some goal with my kids.

  “Have to say, not really seeing a good reason for you to be doing that, Jack.”

  He stood and squared off on me. This is what I wanted. He was likely to say something honest if I could piss him off enough. I already knew he didn’t like being threatened.

  “Well, first of all,” he said, “seemed to me that they needed some kind of father figure in their lives, and that didn’t look like it was going to be you.”

  I guess he felt the same as me. That got under my skin.

  “I didn’t know about Eric, or the girls, or Lupennen here,” I said.

  “You knew about Lee and Vulpe,” he said. “One of them you had turned into a general at twelve – twelve. The other you left to run an empire at fifteen, and she almost died.”

  “You might not have noticed, but we’re at war, Jack,” I said.

  “You might not have noticed, but that’s because you started one, your Imperial Majesty,” he countered. “You didn’t do that because you had to or because you needed to – you did it because you wanted to, and the idea that it might cost you a couple kids didn’t bother you, so I took them out of harm’s way.”

  “If you think Volkhydro is out of harm’s way, you’re mistaken,” I informed him. “Ever
y major problem in Fovea for the last thousand years had its start right here.”

  “Well, that major problem is started, and it seemed to me like you moved on. We wanted them out of the way while you – “

  He caught himself. I was close.

  I looked him right in the eyes. “It’s not much of a man who wants to turn a man’s own children into weapons against him,” I said.

  His eyes narrowed. “Well then,” he said, “take it up with the god or gods that made that happen. My role here is the guardian protector – I’m doing what I’m supposed to do.”

  “Yeah, hell of a job with that,” I said. “You’re nowhere near Raven.”

  “The guardian protector doesn’t protect the champion,” he said. “That’s a misreading of the prophecy.”

  “Oh, good,” I said. “Help me out with that – where does it say that the guardian protector knocks the champion up?”

  His eyes widened. That got him.

  He took a step back.

  “You’re lying,” he said.

  “We have plenty of sorceresses for a truth saying,” I said. “Pick your favorite – or just ask Shela – she was there.”

  “Where?”

  “Your chippee’s new digs,” I said.

  His eyes narrowed again.

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “No, don’t believe you.”

  “I believe him,” Lupennen said.

  Both of us turned to where the young man sat on the ground, fully dressed in his black outfit and watching us.

  “You people from your other world,” he said, “don’t seem to understand the mechanics of where babies come from or how. If one can make a mistake, it wouldn’t be a surprise if both did.”

  I felt my eyebrows knit. That didn’t sound like Lupennen at all.

  In fact, the person whom that sounded exactly like was dead.

  I turned back to Jack.

  “You’re going to back off of my kids,” I informed him.

  He smirked at me. “You think so, huh?”

  “I’m certain of it.”

  He squared his shoulders. I was wondering if he was bold enough to take a swing, or if he was going to try his magic again.