Ari called over his shoulder. “They might take us closer to Harbeiz. If we go with them, we might find someone who can help us. It’s better than going it alone.”
Reina watched the others getting farther away before she hurried after them, too. The whole crowd followed the same path northward, and every time one of them frowned and hesitated, the strangers smiled and beckoned them to keep up. So on they went, over hills and down valleys between the mountains. The trees closed over their heads, and the sunshine turned to shadow and shade.
The strangers halted to water their animals at a stream in the valley bottom. Taman cast an eye at the sky peeking through the canopy overhead. “I don’t like this. We won’t find any Ursidreans down here. The cities are all on the upper mountain sides. We should get away from these people and go back to the tops.”
Allen’s head whipped around. His eyes widened, but before he could say anything, the group moved off. Bells of wood and horn clanked on the animals’ collars, and the people rattled. Ari and Aeifa jumped the stream and joined the crowd moving up the other bank. Reina picked her way across a series of stepping stones and stopped on the other side to wait for the others.
Allen murmured under his breath to Tara. “He’s right. We should break away.”
Tara shifted from one foot to the other. “These are the first people we’ve seen since we left the village. We’re more likely to find someone who can help us if we go with them. We could be wandering out here alone for months, maybe even years.”
“I don’t like wandering alone, either,” he replied, “but I don’t like the look of these people. Who are they? What faction do they belong to?”
At that moment, Ari turned around to walk backward up the bank. He waved to them. “Come on, Tara. It’ll be dark soon.”
“He’s right,” Tara murmured. “We have to camp soon, and we might as well camp with them as alone. We’ll find out if they can help us, and we can break away in the morning if we need to.”
Allen sighed. “All right. Do you have some kind of weapon?”
Tara’s eyes widened. “Do you really think they’re dangerous? They look harmless enough to me.”
Allen shook his head. “Maybe I don’t like them because I don’t recognize them.”
“Would you recognize the other factions if you saw them?” she asked.
“Well, I’d recognize the Lycaon, the Ursidreans, and the Felsite,” he replied. “My mother has seen the Aqinas and the Avitras and she described them to me. The Avitras have big fans of feathers on the backs of their heads instead of hair, so these people aren’t them. And she said the Aqinas look like humans, but they wear their hair in long ropes down their backs.”
“These people look human,” Tara remarked.
“How could they be?” he countered. “Humans haven’t been on this planet long enough to breed this many people, and some of them are quite old.”
“Going with them is the only way to find out.” Tara leapt across the stream and started after her friends. “Come on.”
Taman and Allen exchanged glances. Then they shrugged and followed her. By the time they caught up, the first strangers mounted the bank to a large flat plateau covered in grass and flowering trees. The animals knew the place and scattered to graze. The people spread out, too. Some sat on the grass to rest. Others began constructing a camp by pitching tents and building fires. The sun dropped the rest of the way behind the trees, and the air chilled.
Reina sat down, too, and Tara squatted down. “I guess we’ll spend the night here.”
“Will we make our own camp?” Reina asked. “Or should we join the others?”
Before she could answer, one of the strange people detached from the group and walked toward them. Tara got to her feet. Her muscles tensed, and she wished, like Allen, she had some other weapon besides her hunting knife.
The figure stopped in front of her. She couldn’t tell if the person was male or female. Whoever it was stood a full head taller than she was, and ragged cloths wrapped around the head hid the person’s features from view. Tara forced herself to relax and smile. “Thank you for bringing us with you.”
The figure raised its arms and unwound the cloths. They fell away in powdery coils, and Tara found herself face to face with a young woman. The threadbare cloak dropped away, and her angular shoulders stood out bare and muscular. A crude bra of rough leather hid her breasts, and a shaggy fur loincloth covered her hips. Long, supple legs stretched down to the rag boots on her feet.
Instead of hair, tiny gleaming black scales covered her head in a skin-tight cap. They flowed around her forehead, down around her ears and cascaded over bare shoulders. Tara stared at her with her mouth open. “What.....who are you?”
The woman’s striking face twisted into a wry grin. “I’m Lilith. Who are you?”
Tara almost laughed out loud. “I’m Tara. I’m Lycaon, and this is my friend Reina. She’s Felsite.”
Lilith frowned. “I’ve seen Lycaon, and I’ve seen Felsite. You’re not Lycaon, and our friend isn’t Felsite.”
“My mother is human,” Tara explained, “and so is Reina’s. As a matter of fact, all of us have human mothers. Those two are half Ursidrean, and those two are my cousins.” She examined Lilith again. “What are you? What are all these people?”
Lilith swept the camp with her eyes. “They’re Outliers.”
Tara frowned. “What does that mean? What faction do they belong to?”
“That’s exactly what it means,” Lilith replied. “They don’t belong to any faction.”
“How can they not belong to any faction?” Tara asked. “All Angondrans belong to one faction or the other.”
“Not us,” Lilith replied. “The Outliers have always been separate.”
Tara looked down at Reina. Her cousins and the Ursidrean boys inched closer and listened to their conversation. “That’s impossible. The factions have fought each other for generations. No one lives outside them.”
Lilith shook her head. “The Outliers have been here since before the factions arose. They never joined the factions, and certain people who got separated from their factions joined the Outliers. We’re a genetic mix of all the factions, along with some genetic material from the first Angondrans before they split into factions.”
“What about you?” Tara asked. “You don’t look like the others.”
“I’m not a genetic mix of all the factions,” Lilith replied. “I’m half human, too. My mother is human, and my father is Avitras.”
Tara’s eyes popped open. “How is that possible? Humans haven’t been on this planet that long. How could a human woman mate with an Avitras and have a child as old as you?”
Lilith surveyed her down to her feet and back up to her face. “I’m not much older than you are. It’s just as likely that a human woman would mate with an Avitras as a Lycaon or a Felsite or an Ursidrean.”
“That’s true, but....” Tara began.
“My mother mated with an Avitras,” Lilith went on. “Is that so hard to believe?”
Tara hesitated. “I know the first women who first mated with Angondrans, and the only woman who could have mated with an Avitras early enough to have you as a child is Aimee Sandoval. She mated with Piwaka, but she hasn’t had a child.”
Lilith grinned again. That grin sent a chill down Tara’s spine. “You’re right. Aimee Sandoval is my mother.”
Tara’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding.”
“Is that so hard to believe?” Lilith asked.
“When did she have you?” Tara asked. “She’s been ambassador to the other factions ever since she went to live with the Avitras.”
Lilith shrugged. “I know the whole story. She mated with Piwaka when your people first came to negotiate peace with the Avitras. She got pregnant then, and she had me before she went running all over creation to bring the factions together.”
Tara blinked. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t d
oubt you.”
“You have no reason to doubt me,” Lilith replied. “It’s the truth.”
“I find it hard to believe Aimee would keep her pregnancy a secret from her friends,” Tara pointed out. “Those two boys are the sons of Emily Allen, who is Aimee’s cousin. Why would she keep you a secret?”
Lilith turned away so Tara couldn’t see her face. “I don’t know why she kept it secret, but if you don’t believe Aimee Sandoval is my mother, I can prove it to you.”
“How would you do that?” Tara asked.
“By taking you to her,” Lilith replied. “She’ll tell you herself.”
“Why aren’t you with the Avitras now?” Tara asked. “How did you wind up with these.....these Outliers?”
“That’s another story,” Lilith replied. “Why don’t you come over here by the fire? You must be tired.”
Tara didn’t feel tired, but Reina was. One look at her face showed that. Even after so many days traveling, running, and getting stronger, Reina and the Ursidreans still showed their fatigue at the end of the day. Tara nodded. “Thanks.”
Lilith lead them to one of the fires, and Reina and the boys sat down. Ari and Aeifa set down their packs and looked around. “Do you came here much?”
“We’re migratory,” Lilith replied. “We camp here once a year. Then we move on.”
Allen raised his head. “How do you stop the Ursidreans from finding out you’re here? I would be surprised if they let you wander through their territory like this.”
Lilith squatted down next to the fire. The movement struck Tara as so familiar that she squatted down next to her. Something she couldn’t define drew her to this young woman. In spite of Lilith’s scale-like feathers and slender limbs, Tara saw herself reflected in Lilith. Her eye scanned her surroundings with the quick assurance of a hunter. Taut muscle covered her bones. She understood hard travel, hunting, and living rough on unbroken land. Lilith had more in common with Tara and the other Lycaon than with Reina and the Ursidreans.
“The Ursidreans don’t know anything about us,” Lilith told them. “No one does. We travel though territory the other factions don’t use. We don’t go anywhere near their inhabited territory. That’s how we survived so long without them disturbing us.”
Allen sucked his breath through his teeth. “So we’re nowhere near the Ursidreans’ inhabited territory.”
Taman growled under his breath. “I knew it.”
Tara stiffened. “How far are we from the Ursidrean city?”
“Which one?” Lilith waved her hand. “It doesn’t matter, because the nearest one is days’ travel from here. You’re better off with us, anyway. Forget about the city. It’s a death trap.”
Tara took a deep breath. “We’re trying to reach Harbeiz. That’s the Ursidrean capital. It’s these boys’ home, and we’re hoping the Ursidreans can find their parents—our parents. Can you help us get there?”
“To the city?” Lilith shot back. “Not a chance. You won’t catch me or any Outlier anywhere near the Ursidrean city or any other faction.”
Ari spoke up. “What about your mother? Don’t you ever visit her?”
“I haven’t seen her since I was small,” Lilith replied. “That’s why I’m here, because I don’t want anything to do with the Avitras.”
“But they’re your own faction,” Reina pointed out. “Why don’t you want anything to do with them?”
“I don’t have a faction,” Lilith replied. “The Outliers are my people.”
Chapter 3
The fire’s circle of light forced back the darkness. It glowed golden orange on the faces sitting around the circle, and it gleamed on Lilith’s black scales. Her eyes, too, reflected the light in green, purple and blue flashes.
Ari leaned back against a log. Reina sat at his side, though she kept a thin bubble of space between them. Taig sat on her other side, and every few minutes, he inched closer to her. Allen sat next to Tara with Taman on her other side. Aeifa sat next to Taman on the end.
The fire gave them all a comfortable glow after the meal the Outliers fed them. The yellow aurora flickered in the sky, and Ari leaned his head back on his folded arms to look at the stars. “This is all right. We could stay with these people for a while.”
“If they’ll have us,” Tara corrected him.
Allen faced him. “You were the one who wanted to wait alone in the forest for our parents to come back.”
Ari shrugged. “Everything changes. We’re here now. We might as well enjoy it while it lasts.”
“You heard what Lilith said,” Aeifa told him. “We’re a long way from Ursidrean territory. These Outliers stay far away from the factions. We might as well enjoy their company while it lasts. We could be on our own for a long time before we get back to inhabited territory.”
“I agree with Ari and Aeifa,” Tara added. “The Outliers have welcomed us. If they’ll have us, we should stay with them—for now, anyway. We can head back to search for our parents soon enough.” She turned to Lilith. “Will they take us? We won’t stay if they don’t want us to.”
Lilith cocked her head to one side, but instead of answering, she turned to a wrinkled old man sitting on her other side. A collection of motley people, from young men to old women and even children completed the circle around the fire. “Are you ready?”
The old man grinned back at Lilith, and a row of rotten teeth showed between his wrinkled lips. “Which one?”
Lilith got to her feet and towered over the group. She cast an imperious glare around the group. She picked up a stick as thick as her thumb from next to the fire and walked around the circle in front of the Outliers. Tara smiled up at her. She admired this tall, proud young woman, who commanded the attention of everyone around her. The exchange with the old man convinced Tara that Lilith must be some kind of leader of the group.
Lilith strode around the fire and planted her feet wide. She swept the newcomers with another superior gaze and swung her stick at her side. Then she took two more steps so she stood right in front of Ari. He lifted his head and smiled at her, too. No one could take their eyes off her powerful form.
Then, with the slightest movement, her hand shot out. The stick flashed in her hand, and she struck Taig across the side of the head. He toppled to one side with a squeal. The others jumped up. “Hey!”
But they were too slow. Within seconds, the Outliers fell on them and wrestled them to the ground. Two burly young men laid hold of Taig and dragged him out of the circle. Tara tried to grab him, but the other Outliers blocked her. They hauled Taig to his feet, and they surrounded Tara and her friends in a menacing ring. Tara sank down into her place again. Once, her hand crept too close to her hunting knife, but one of the Outliers struck her wrist with a twisted cord. She rubbed the sting out of it and pushed her fist behind her back.
Two Outliers held Taig by his arms. He tugged one hand free to rub the side of his head. “What was that for?”
Lilith strutted to the other side of the fire. The flames flickered off her high cheek bones, and her eyes flashed. “You want to join us.”
“No one ever said that,” Ari shot back.
Lilith waved her stick again. “That’s what you said.”
“We said we would stick with you until we were ready to go back to Ursidrean territory,” Aeifa told her.
Lilith shrugged. “It’s the same thing. You’re here, so you’ll follow our customs.”
“What customs?” Allen asked. “What are you going to do to him?”
Tara couldn’t stop herself from getting to her feet again, but one guard stopped her with a curt shake of his head. “Let him go.”
Reina laid her hand on Tara’s arm. “We’ll get him back.”
Lilith let out a horrid laugh. “That’s what you think. You’re in no position to get him back, not until we’re finished with him, and then maybe you won’t want him back.”
Tara shuddered. “What does that
mean?”
Lilith waved her hand again, and the two Outliers dragged Taig away. Old women stuck sticks in the fire to light torches, and the crowd followed them to the edge of the forest. They bound Taig by his wrists between two trees. He struggled for a few minutes until he realized it was useless. Then he stood still.
“This is our initiation ritual,” Lilith told them. “This is what happens to anyone who wants to join us.”
“What are you going to do to him?” Tara hated to ask.
Lilith brought out a string of balls dangling from a braided cord. She hung a loop in the cord on a branch next to Taig’s head. She dandled her fingers through the balls and set them swaying. “Anyone who wants to join us has to make a sacrifice. That’s our law.”
“We don’t want to join you and we don’t want to make any sacrifice,” Ari told her. “Give us our friend and we’ll be gone before you know it.”
Lilith shook her head. “You’re here now. You have to make the sacrifice. That’s the law.”
“What sacrifice?” Allen asked.
Lilith took hold of one of the balls and held it up. “Whenever anyone comes to us, we choose one person from the party to sacrifice. The sacrifice pays for the others. Everyone here was bought and paid for by some other person who served as a sacrifice.”
Reina gasped. “Do you mean you sacrifice a person?”
Lilith held up the ball for her to see. “See? Here they are. Can you see the eyes?”
The friends stared at the ball. In the dim torchlight, they could just make out the papery eyelids covering mummified eye sockets. A small lump stuck out where the nose used to be, but parchment-dry skin covered the hole where the mouth used to be. “Oh, my God!”
Lilith let go of the ball, and the whole string swung back and forth. She stepped close to Taig and ran her fingers through the fur on his head. “He’s perfect. Strong features, strong body. He’ll be delicious.”
Tara clapped her hands over her ears. She couldn’t listen to this anymore. She couldn’t stand here and watch whatever they were going to do to her brother. She started to turn away, but one of their guards caught her and held her still. “You’re not going to do this. You can’t.”
Damen (Dragons of Kratak Book 2) Page 77
