So that had been part of my father’s anxiety after he came back to Jaria.
‘It’s a shame he never told you or Ella,’ Tiaro commented. Only Ciera, Rekala and I could hear her, but Jaalta sensed my anger through the waves. I had a feeling she was hiding her own emotions. She laid a hand on my shoulder.
After a while I said, ‘Father hardly even spoke of it to Ella and I.’
Allowing my thoughts to flow, I shared a bit of my childhood with my Great Aunt. She winced at the pain my father’s grief had caused my sister and I. When I told her about the letter and finding Tiaro, though, she smiled.
‘It is wonderful to see you again, after all these years.’ The tenderness in her thoughts was unmistakable. A virtue of wave communication was the raw honesty and understanding that could pass between us. Although I didn’t remember her from my childhood, I felt like I knew her well. Finding family in this place, after being so long alone, was strangely calming.
Ciera turned from the Table of War to face us.
‘I’m glad to see you found Jaalta, Talon,’ Ciera said to both of us through the waves. ‘She can teach you far more than I about Anzaii ways.’
‘Truth be told there isn’t much to teach,’ Jaalta countered. ‘It’s one of those things you must learn from doing. The most important thing to remember is to call upon Krii.’
I nodded, knowing what Krii wanted me to do. The wolf spirit had led me down this path, leaving Jaria, confronting the bigger picture of what was happening to Kriites in the world. For now at least, my place was with Tanza. Although it frightened me, I knew the strike force was the best place for Ciera and I to be during the coming battles. It would give us an opportunity to grow together.
‘What about me?’ Rekala asked, with a loud yowl. She dropped low to the ground and her ears were back.
‘I’m sorry, Rekala,’ I crooned aloud. ‘I know it means we’ll be apart.’
Sarlice’s lips formed a tight line, but she made no comment.
‘I should be at your side too,’ Rekala complained. ‘That is my place, especially during a battle.’
‘I know, dear one,’ I said, ‘but how can that be when I must fly with the skyearls?’
‘Maybe I can learn bird form…’ she said, but her wave voice trailed off as she faced the fact that she couldn’t, and didn’t want to, do that.
‘You can understand why I need to do this?’ I asked.
‘I suppose so,’ she conceded. ‘But you are my Talon, MY Talon!’
She took my arm in her mouth as she said this, clenching her jaw muscles, but not closing her teeth. One paw reached around my calf, pulling me toward her and I staggered a little. I crouched down and grabbed her ruff with both hands, reaching my nails through the thick hair to scratch her. I hugged her and she pushed her nose against my chest, nearly toppling me.
I could sense Jaalta’s empathy and Ciera’s guilt. After a few minutes had passed, Rekala let me go and I got back to my feet.
‘I will go with you and the strike force,’ I said aloud.
Sarlice and Kestric looked almost as forlorn as Rekala.
‘There there, little one,’ Ciera said to my Rada-kin. ‘You will be needed as well. Along with Sarlice and Kestric, your place in this fight is also an important one. Just because we’re apart physically doesn’t mean we can’t support each other through the waves.’
Rekala hissed at Ciera, but there was no animosity behind it. She allowed the immense skyearl’s calming presence to flow into her being.
‘I am well-pleased with your decision Sleffion,’ my skyearl declared. ‘My armour is stored in the room at the end of that hall.’ He gestured behind the dais down a blue-lit corridor. ‘It will need to be taken outside and made ready for me.’
Many different people had been given the honour of preparing Ciera’s armour over the centuries. It was a momentous occasion for his own Sleffion to be doing it.
‘Yes, Emperor,’ I replied with a bow.
Jaalta squeezed my hand, saying, ‘I too must see to my Sleffion-kin. Not much time to get ready for our departure.’
‘See you soon,’ I said to her.
When I turned back to Sarlice, she was looking dispiritedly at the ground.
‘Will you walk with me?’ I asked her softly. The Rada-kin sensed our desire to be alone together and stayed where they were.
Without looking up, Sarlice bobbed her head. Sensing her disappointment, I put one hand on her upper back as we walked down the hall. She glanced at me over her shoulder, but still said nothing.
We passed several rooms where people were gathering and packing supplies. At the very end was a red door painted with the silhouette of a skyearl in armour. It was dark inside. Sarlice borrowed a torch from one of the sconces in the hallway and lit three in the skyearl armour room.
I looked around in wonder at the beaten metal of all shapes and sizes from head and chest pieces to shoulder plates, claw sharpeners and tail spikes.
‘Must you join the Anzaii strike force?’ Sarlice asked me, ignoring the armour.
I nodded. Sarlice bowed her head. With such a small Sleffionkin, she could not go with me.
‘You don’t have to go,’ she said. ‘You can use your abilities here.’
I turned to face her, suddenly aware of how alone we were back here—it was a relief to get away from the crowds. Sarlice had not spoken the words, but I had a strong feeling she was thinking, ‘What if I never see you again?’. Did our friendship mean that much to her?
‘Our place is by your side,’ she said, referring to herself and all three of her kin.
‘It won’t be for long,’ I told her. ‘We’ll be fighting side by side again before you know it.’
The depth of my emotion made my voice tremble and I fought to keep it hidden. Sarlice smiled fondly but glanced away.
‘I want to be with you, wherever Krii may send us,’ I said sincerely. ‘I will find you as soon as this mission is done.’
She raised her eyebrows and sighed.
‘I’ll come back here,’ I added, trying to be cheerful.
She looked away. ‘I don’t know that any of us will come back.’
‘Come along now; that’s not the Sarlice I know,’ I punched her playfully in the arm.
Outraged, she advanced on me. I backed away, a big, silly grin on my face.
In a playful, teasing voice I jibed, ‘The Sarlice I know never backs down from a fight.’
She jumped on me, grabbed my head in an armlock and messed up my already-messy hair. I didn’t mind the contact.
‘You taught me the most important things I know about combat…’ I struggled to kick her legs out from behind.
She easily twisted out of my reach and threw a punch that I barely managed to duck under. I knocked over a stand of skyearl helms, which clattered across the floor. Embarrassed, but laughing, I ran at her. She easily sidestepped and elbowed down hard on my right shoulder, sending me sprawling to the dusty ground. She pinned me there with one arm twisted up behind my back. I could feel her muscular thigh through the dress she was wearing.
‘And what of Kestric and Rekala?’ Sarlice said, pulling my arm up even higher.
‘Ouch,’ I protested, but she didn’t let go.
‘They’ll have to stay with Thita and me,’ she added.
‘You should go back to Lantaid,’ I replied. ‘Close to the chasm…’ If things went badly for Tanza, I wanted my loved ones close to an escape route.
Having relaxed under her grip, I suddenly wrenched my arm free and rolled. Laughing at our antics, she resisted me. But I pushed her down with one arm across her collar-bone, sliding the other under her head to stop it from hitting the ground. My own elbow landed badly, shooting pain up my arm. I winced, but still managed to clench my knees against Sarlice’s sides, pinning her to the ground.
‘Perhaps all of you can go back through the shield into the chasm,’ I added breathlessly. ‘To escape.’
As I lay there, cradling h
er head, I almost forgot what I was saying about Rekala and Kestric. She lay still beneath me, breathing heavily. The scar on the top of her shoulder stood out white on the flushed skin there… just like my dream. I remember…
Sarlice made no reply. Her chest rose and fell beneath my arm. I was careful not to squash her, which she seemed to have noticed. Her skin was covered with a light sheen, which glowed in the torchlight. Her lips, still bearing paint, were close to mine. And her eyes—those dark blue eyes like a forest pool at night—stared at me, pleasantly surprised… wanting?
I hesitated. My lips knew what they wanted to do, but my mind recalled another time and another place where I had lain like this with a woman. But I said ‘no’, didn’t I?
Sarlice turned her face away and resumed her struggles. I let her push me away and we rolled up to our feet, dusting ourselves off.
Sarlice nodded to herself and then admitted, ‘You know I just wish I could go with you.’
‘I know,’ I replied. ‘But no matter how good a shrouder Thita is, you could never keep up with a flight team.’
She scowled at me, knowing I spoke truth.
‘Couldn’t Ciera bear me?’
‘He could,’ I admitted, ‘but I don’t think it’s allowed. Every member of the Anzaii strike force must have a skyearl of mount size.’
‘You don’t really need a guide anymore anyway,’ Sarlice said. ‘No human alive could compare to Ciera.’
Behind us in the Dome, the emperor skyearl stood up on his haunches and announced that he would lead the skyearls in the Anzaii strike force as was the tradition. Prince Tyba and Captain S.T. Dathan would lead the humans alongside him. Through my link with Ciera, I sensed a group of Tanzans follow him outside where he waited to be fitted with a battle-seat for me, several throwing spears more than twice my height and sacks of provisions.
Sarlice took me by the arm and led me toward the largest of the armour in the room.
‘Come,’ she said. ‘You are the emperor’s Sleffion. You must fit his armour and sharpen his horns.’
Including Ciera and I, the strike force consisted of two hundred humans and two hundred and sixty-seven skyearls. Three dozen of the humans were Anzaii-Sleffion-Tolite or Anzaii-Sleffion. The rest were Sleffion-Tolites or Sleffion-Rada. The non Anzaii members were solely there to protect and provision the Anzaii. I was the only Astor and was treated with special respect, even though I was technically only a rookie in the army.
As emperor, Ciera was already considered a Defender, but I had to swear an oath for myself and on behalf of Rekala, Tiaro and Fyschs. The High Commander himself took my vows in the Dome of Gathering. Sarlice, Kestric and Thita were also sworn in as Defenders, joining a regiment of one thousand humans: some with, some without kin. There were 17 regiments in Centan alone and a total of 57,000 Defenders across the nation. Thousands had died at Lokshole and Lander’s Bay already, but as far as Reltic-Tanzan wars went, this one was only beginning. Due to the small number of Anzaii, there was only one Anzaii strike force but, as Queen Emyla had told me, there were some Anzaii scattered throughout the Defender regiments.
Later in the evening the strike force gathered in a roped off area outside the Dome of Gathering. Ciera and I were at the centre of the group, watching as the warriors checked their equipment and sharpened their weapons. Other Tanzans attached water botas and sacks of food to each skyearl’s saddle. Only food for the humans was required. The skyearls were feeding now on freshly cut saplings, wet rushes and piles of leaves. After this feed, they would not require food again for several days. Then it was simply a matter of finding some nutritious vegetation.
I had been introduced to most of the warriors and their skyearls. Their names were a jumble in my mind. I hoped I would learn to speak to other skyearls through the waves soon, if only to be able to remind myself what all their names were.
A breeze made the garden torches gutter and billow, stressing the banners that lined the causeway until I thought they would tear and fly away. The blue lanterns in the trees swung dangerously. A number of them had gone out, leaving sections of the garden in shadow. I shivered. It was well after midnight and my body had that aching fatigue that usually meant I needed a long sleep.
Rekala’s side was pressed against my legs and she circled me, panting and chuffing nervously. Her tail flicked against my chest and back each time she circled.
‘I don’t want you to go. I don’t want you to go,’ she said over and over.
I patted her forehead each time she came around and tried to send calm through the waves, knowing of no other way to reassure her. I didn’t like us being parted from each other any more than she did. Eventually she lay down on her stomach and wrapped one paw around my boot.
Sarlice entered the courtyard from the direction of the canals. She strode toward me, carrying my worn travel pack. She handed it to me and then threw a black leather and fleece coat over my shoulders. As I slid my arms into it, I realised it was probably more expensive than any garment I had ever owned.
‘Where did you get this from?’ I asked in amazement.
‘I bought it for you,’ she said simply.
‘You didn’t have to do that.’
She looked me in the eyes. ‘It’s the least I can do. This coat will keep you warm when you’re up in the sky.’
She fastened it down my chest with a dozen silver catches embossed with little skyearls. I watched the light glinting off her hair and wondered at the beating of my heart. Her hands against my chest were like wildfire.
Hesitantly, I reached out and touched her face with the backs of my fingers. She paused, closing her eyes. We were about the same height now. The noise and movement continued around us, but for all I cared, we might have been standing alone. The waves hushed around me; it was as if I’d drawn an invisible curtain down around the two of us.
‘I thought we had no coin,’ I said.
She opened her eyes and gave me a small smile. ‘I traded most of those useless trinkets Minac gave us.’ She chuckled awkwardly.
‘Thank you,’ I said quietly, amazed that she hadn’t pulled away. ‘You joined the Defenders. Do you think they will let you take the horses back with the Rada-kin to Lantaid?’ If only she could be safe, I thought.
Sarlice looked up. ‘I will be safe enough.’
My breath caught as I realised I had projected my thoughts into her mind. Were my Anzaii abilities growing that quickly? Or had we become so close that it was easy for me to connect with her in the waves? I looked deeply into her eyes realising she had opened her mind to me. Once I had initiated contact, she was able to sense me like she sensed her kin. Thoughts shuffled through my mind—some familiar, some foreign.
Sarlice continued to look into my eyes, mouth parted as if she was about to say something. Feelings of uncertainty and self-doubt clouded my mind. These patterns of thought were strange to me. Dozens of questions and issues came and went in the space of a few seconds. There was even a flash of Sarlice in a dress dancing… dancing… dancing with me.
I dared to pull her to me, pressing my cheek against hers and hugging her tightly. She did not resist. My eyes closed as I felt a rush of pure joy. This was right, more right than it had ever been with Lira. Sarlice’s arms encircled me, pulling our bodies closer. I wanted to stay there forever, I wanted to tell her how I felt, I wanted so many things. But Ciera’s roar rang out and the members of the strike force were mounting up.
Sarlice and Rekala clung to me, willing me to stay. I squeezed Sarlice tight, stroked her face and broke away. Rekala batted my leg with her paw so I crouched down and threw my arms around her.
‘Keep Sarlice safe,’ I implored her. ‘And I’ll see you again soon.’
‘Don’t go, don’t go!’ was all she could say. But I had to.
Skyearls took flight all around us.
Ciera’s roar boomed more loudly.
Agonisingly, Sarlice whispered farewell. She rested one hand on Rekala’s shoulder and Kestric was ther
e attempting to console the two of them. My heart felt like it was tearing in two.
Ciera’s impatience barrelled into me through the waves. ‘I should be in the lead, Talon.’
I hoisted my travel pack, waved and ran for my Sleffion-kin. Using the handholds that were built into his armour and battle-seat, I climbed up onto his back. Fumbling with the buckles, I strapped the pack behind me and fastened myself into the battle-seat. Ciera spread his magnificent wings and crouched low. I waved to Sarlice and Rekala one last time and caught my breath as Ciera burst upwards. Cold air rushed around me, chilling me despite the warmth of Sarlice’s gift.
Darkness closed in around us and the air brushed over us, threatening to smear us across the sky. Far below were the foamy white cascades of the River Jarvi and the last few settlements of Hree. Ciera and the other skyearls sped through the moonlit sky, hurried by the call of their fellows who were dying far away.
Chapter Ten—Condii
We flew for ten hours, landing every two or three for a break. Even the padding in Ciera’s enormous battle-seat was not enough to keep me comfortable for that length of time. I stretched and wriggled, trying to keep my feet and my behind awake. Sarlice’s face and the feel of her body against me was my mind’s constant companion. I wanted her, more than I had ever wanted anything. I blocked out both Ciera and Tiaro as I contemplated whether our relationship had changed. Had she simply been hugging me in friendship? In the end I gave up trying to figure it out and accepted the diversion of sleep, sagging in my harness.
When we finally reached the outskirts of Condii, I was dozing lightly with an unpleasant twinge in my back. The breeze warmed as we descended, waking me—I rubbed my eyes and opened them to the shining vista of early afternoon. Below us were the patterns of agriculture, dark green fitting into light green like pieces in a puzzle. The great, flat expanse of farmland was dotted with jutting karst towers, windswept limestone topped with sparse foliage. From up in the sky the karst towers seemed like game pieces on a gigantic board-game.
To the north, houses cluttered the foothills of a larger slope. They were almost all made of white and red bricks with black-tile roofs. Tyba and Amadeus wheeled west, using the promontories and low-lying clouds as cover. The rest of the team flew after them, sinking lower and following a tiny stream. Ciera had been here before, but even the memory of tasty saplings did not lighten his mood. He emitted a growl of anticipation as the strike force touched down.
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