“Shardon?”
“Ly’Tana?”
“I know you just saved my life and all,” I said, brushing my saturated hair into some semblance of order and controlling my shakes. The sun’s warmth felt like a warm blanket across my shoulders and back. “Of course, I do thank you for it.”
“You’re most welcome,” he replied, amused.
I adjusted my sword, which had accompanied me on that wild ride after all, I felt grateful to notice. “I do have one tiny question, however.”
“I thought you were leading up to something.”
“How did you do that?”
I caught a quick glimpse of liquid brown beneath the tangle of silver forelock. “Do what?”
“Um,” I made myself more comfortable on his bare back, finding a nice curve behind his withers. My legs hugged a niche behind his bulging shoulder muscles.
“Pray drop that word from your vocabulary,” he advised, breaking into a trot. “It makes you sound at best an idiot and at worst senile.”
I twisted my lips to refrain from repeating it as I fought for the right words. I rolled my eyes sideways and up, searching my scattered brain. “You just flew across a canyon.”
“I think there’s a question in there somewhere.”
“You leaped a span of a half-mile. At least.”
“You’re remarkably observant, for a human.”
“A bleeding canyon.”
“You were there, weren’t you?”
At last, I broke into a laugh. “How in the bloody hell did you just leap a frigging, bleeding canyon?” I screamed, throwing back my head, laughing wildly.
“It was more of a ravine, really.”
“Oh, I know,” I said, waving my arms. “I know now. Your mama was an eagle.”
“Leave my mother out of this.”
“Then you have invisible wings.” I giggled, leaning forward, my hands on his withers. “I love wings. Oh, please, Shardon, show me your wings.”
“Are you daft?”
“Yes,” I cried, throwing my arms into the air, still seized by the insane laughter. “I am at that. I’m crazy. I’m alive. Oh, by all that’s holy, I’m alive.”
Shardon broke into a gallop, leaping scrub thickets and rocks with an effortless grace. His stride was so smooth, so incredibly fluid, I stilled my wild laughter. I shut my eyes to better feel the force, the power, the incredible smoothness. I didn’t ride a living creature. A creature made up of bones and muscle and lungs and heart and brains and blood and a clever attitude: I rode a cloud. I rode silver lightning.
I had no trouble keeping my seat, even without tightening my legs or grasping his mane. I raised my hands over my head, feeling the wind in my hair, my body loose and relaxed and moving with him as though we were not two creatures. No, not two separate creatures, I felt. One creature. A centaur. A single creature molded together from two.
Cold reality sobered me. I scrubbed my face with my hands, running them through my hair, opening my eyes. Shardon and Rygel belonged together. We’d return to the others, safe and whole. Rygel would saddle Shardon up and I’d mount Mikk. While I loved Mikk with all my heart, he could never be a Tarbane.
“Ly’Tana?” Shardon asked, puzzled.
He mustn’t know. I must hide from his acute perception that I envied his partnership with Rygel. None would know my shame: how I craved a Tarbane of my own. I could never, will never, be satisfied with anything less.
“Just tell me,” I said, aiming for a bright tone. “How did you leap a bloody canyon?”
He didn’t know. His Tarbane perception hadn’t delved into the secret I’ll hold closer than any other. His tone sounded amused as he once more turned to eye me over his shoulder through his forelock. “Easy once you know how.”
I snorted, gazing around to get my bearings. In those few crazy minutes, we must have galloped at least ten leagues. Outside of his rock-climbing and ravine-leaping, Shardon had carried me roughly northwest and across a low-lying stretch of stony mountains. We’d have to cross this very area on our search for Raine.
“He loves you,” Shardon said suddenly.
“Who? Raine?”
“Him too,” he answered, “but I was speaking of Kel’Ratan. He’s frightened silly he’ll lose you. That you’ll get yourself killed.”
I sighed. “I know. I can’t handle his smothering.”
“He feels he’s got nothing else in this life to live for.”
“He lives for me? Surely not.”
Shardon’s silence answered me.
I still strove to deny him. “You have to be mistaken. He has Kel’Halla to live for. If I die, he’s King.”
“Just cut him some slack?” Shardon asked. “Can you do that much? All he’s doing is trying to protect you.”
I controlled the urge to pout with an effort. “Very well.”
“We’ll discuss Raine another time.”
Once more my guilt rose to nudge me in the ribs. “That won’t be necessary.”
I caught a humorous glint in the eye he swiveled toward me. “We’ll see.”
His stride lengthened, quickened. The downhill slopes gave him more weight as he upped his speed from horse levels to those of a Tarbane.
“We best hurry back,” he said. “They’ll all be worried. They’ll think I failed in my task.”
“Task?”
“The one Rygel set me to,” he said. “To keep you safe.”
My heart sank. He saved my life, yes, but he saved it because Rygel asked him to. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Neither Shardon nor Tashira owed me any kind of loyalty, or even love. Rygel and Raine saved their lives, their honor. Of course he’d adore Rygel, though I’d not classify Rygel as ‘adorable’. They owed me nothing at all. I fought against the rising disappointment, the hurt. Ah, well –
“You misunderstand, dear one,” he said, amusement coloring his tone. “I didn’t agree just because Rygel told me to. I acted under my own volition. You’re my friend, I’d not see you harmed.”
Damn and blast. He had no need to glance into my heart to see my every thought, my every fear, my every desire. Doubtless, he felt it through his very skin I sat upon. In the same instant, I knew I failed in my own task I set for myself.
I failed to keep my secret my own.
Shardon already knew.
“Bar,” I called, waving my arms. “Over here.”
Gathering his attention was unnecessary, since he’d already sighted us. I held tight to his silver mane just as he galloped at a full Tarbane run back toward camp and our people. Between the sunshine and the wind of Shardon’s passing, my clothes and had dried to mere damp, though I knew I looked a sight. I glimpsed Bar flying toward us, just over the treetops. His welcoming shriek held no little relief as he blew past us, his eagle head turned downward. With Shardon running at full, Bar needed to bank and wheel, his massive wings carrying him up and over, his long lion hindquarters trailing behind.
His anxiety gave him speed, for he overtook us, calling his worry and subsequent joy at finding me alive and, relatively speaking, unharmed. I myself felt only weariness. My body and mind ached, as though I had carried Shardon, not the other way around.
“Go tell the others we’re on our way,” I said to him, looking up into his down-angled face, his eagle’s eyes.
“No need,” said Shardon. “There they are.”
I looked down and forward, past his whipping mane and perked ears.
On his bay stallion, Kel’Ratan out-galloped my warriors, wolves and a blonde wizard aboard a jet black Tarbane. He rode at the forefront, bending low over his horse’s blowing mane to cut the wind; his mount jumping, or dodging, rocks and clumps of scrub oak. Shardon slowed, his quarters bunching under him as he slid to a sharp stop to await my cousin’s charge.
Kel’Ratan’s bay slewed to a halt beside us, his front hooves still striding forward as his hind hooves slid several feet, leaving long skid marks in the stony soil. Even before the bay slid to a stop
, Kel’Ratan flung himself from the saddle.
“Lady, lady, thank you, goddess above,” he gasped, sweeping me off Shardon’s back with one hugely-muscled arm. My hair swept over my head, curtaining both of us as he hugged me tight to his chest, all but sobbing with relief. Tears burned behind my closed eyelids, my face pressed close to his leather vest.
“Goddess be praised, I thought I lost you,” he blurted, his mustache tickling my neck.
My breath caught, not just on my own closing throat but because his heavily muscled arms squeezed that much tighter.
“I’d never forgive myself,” he choked, his breath hot against my skin, “if you died, and my anger the last you heard from me in this life – “
My own guilt rose, not to nudge me in the ribs, but to swamp me. ‘You would send me to my death this way?’ Raine had asked, his last words to me echoing in my soul.
Tears didn’t burn any longer: they rolled unheeded down my face, stained his leather. I choked on my silent sobs. Raine left with my hate, my anger in his ears. He may very well die without ever hearing kind words, a voice spoken in love ever again. Lady, lady, will he ever forgive me? Will you? How could I have ever been so stupid?
“How could I have been so stupid?”
Kel’Ratan’s words, reverberating the grief in my own heart, only served to bring on more tears.
“Raine,” I sobbed on a sharp exhale of tears. “Please forgive me, I’m so sorry.”
“We’ll find him,” Kel’Ratan murmured hoarsely, his breath hot in my ears, on my cheek. “Together, we’ll go find him. Hush now, we’ll find him. I promise.”
My sobs drained off to a few coughs and sniffles, though I dared not raise my face from his vest, from the strong masculine odor of him, from his strength, from his love. Kel’Ratan, my brother, my kin, my best friend. He was the older version of the youngster who, at my cradle, bathed his sword in his own blood to swear a sacred oath. He spoke a pledge to protect me, always.
I always wanted to love a man like him. No previous suitor had ever come close to meeting the high standards I’d set: a man of Kel’Ratan’s caliber and nothing less. Yet, Raine went far and further than I had ever dared hope. My love for him crossed all boundaries, and I cared not that my father would never approve. Past loves, by comparison, had been left gasping in the dirt. Neither Kael nor Breen were in Raine’s class.
The others ringed us around, still mounted on their horses. I heard murmured comments of relief from my boys, mournful sniffles from Arianne, the low barks and growls of the wolves as they spoke their incomprehensible language amongst themselves. Bar swept in to land just beyond, his feathers ruffling as he furled his wings across his shoulders.
“Forgive me?” Kel’Ratan murmured against the side of my head. “I don’t know what came over me. I was stupid.”
“You were just being you,” I husked against his leather vest.
His chest vibrated with his chuckle. “Yes. I reckon so. Am I forgiven?”
“Don’t be silly. There’s nothing to forgive.”
Kel’Ratan dropped his arms from around me, allowing me to finally brush my hair from my face and look around. His arm still lay possessively across my shoulder. I swiped my face with my hands and tried for a bright smile.
“Well,” I said, “that was an adventure and a half. I’ll tell you about it as we ride.” I glanced at the sun, now halfway to its zenith. “We’re getting enough of a late start as it is.”
Rygel slid down from Tashira’s massive back, and unbuckled his girth. “Princess, there’s a slight change in plan.”
I rubbed Shardon’s muzzle before kissing him on his soft nose. His bright brown eye gleamed with amusement behind the thick fall of his silver forelock, but he didn’t speak. “Thank you,” I murmured, for his ears alone.
His upper lip twitched, as though wanting to offer an acerbic comment. To my great relief, he kept it behind his teeth.
“I’m not sure I want to hear this,” I said, ducking under equine necks as I sought for and found Mikk, his reins in Alun’s fist. Great wolves sat or stood throughout the group, comfortable among the strong legs and hard hooves of our mounts. Arianne was still in charge of young Tuatha, who hung in his sack from her saddlebow. I took a moment to rub his ears and kiss his little muzzle as I passed by, smiling up at Arianne on her big Rufus. Tuatha whined something, but Arianne, caught up in her own misery, failed as a translator. How does one learn to speak wolf?
Silverruff and a smaller grey and brown wolf, Kip I think his name was, sat next to Mikk. Both tails thumped the ground as I approached. I didn’t know if they liked human affection or not, but I’d seen the familiar way Raine had handled Silverruff. I caressed the big wolf’s ears, cupping his muzzle with my hands to look down into his warm brown eyes.
“Hey, fellows,” I murmured, fondling Kip’s ears as well.
Silverruff had only to bend his huge head upward slightly to offer my neck a sloppy lick. I kissed his cheek and Kip’s furry brow before seizing a handful of Mikk’s thick black mane and vaulting into my saddle. Alun tossed me my reins. I glanced finally at Rygel.
“What’s your new plan?” I asked. “Though I’m not sure I’m going to like it.”
“You don’t have much choice,” Rygel said, tightening his saddle on Shardon’s broad back.
I scowled. “Didn’t we already have this discussion?”
He glanced at me over his shoulder. “We’re going find out what is trying to kill you.”
My scowl fell apart. “We must follow Raine.”
Rygel turned around fully, his bridle dangling from his hand. His amber eyes gazed at me with real worry, his wheaten hair looked horribly snarled, as though he had continually raked his fingers through it. “Listen, Princess,” he said, his voice soft yet hardened with steel. “We know where Raine is headed. We know when he has to be there. We’ll find him. But we must get some answers, like, yesterday. Before it, whatever it is, finally succeeds in killing you.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but Shardon spoke first. “It’s a god. It has to be.”
“Probably,” Corwyn agreed. “But which one?”
“It can’t be Nephrotiti,” Kel’Ratan said quickly, firmly, swinging into his saddle.
“Maybe she offended Osimi?” Rannon offered. “You know, all those priestess outfits.”
Rygel eyed me with speculation before shaking his head. “We must get ahead of this thing. If we don’t, sooner or later, it’ll succeed in its mission.”
“So what’s your idea?” I asked in a small voice.
Rygel paused in his task of bridling Shardon to wave his slender hand north by northwest. “We ride into more populated areas, towns and the like. Surely there we can find the Huhtamaki temple we seek.”
“Aren’t the northern Mesaan tribes that way as well, m’lord?” Witraz asked. “They don’t much care for trespassers.”
“Would you rather Her Highness be killed by a mountain falling on her?”
Witraz grimaced. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Funny,” Kel’Ratan said, his blue eyes thoughtful as he eyed me. “That storm blew up the minute Prince Raine departed.”
Rygel completed his task of bridling Shardon, and rubbed his face affectionately for a moment. He turned around, his expression on his aristocratic features bleak. “That occurred to me,” he said slowly. “And it’s not funny at all.”
Kel’Ratan slung his sword belt across his back, his bay stallion sidling with impatience to be off. The wolf named Shadow leaped out of the way of his huge hooves. “As though whoever it is learned that Raine could thwart it.”
I eyed Shardon sidelong. “Now it’s learned not to underestimate the Tarbane,” I murmured.
Rygel mounted Shardon in one fluid move. “This is why we must not fail to stop it somehow. Whoever your enemy may be.”
“As much as I hate to admit it, you’re right,” I sighed. “Lead on, Sir Wizard.”
Free of saddle and bridle,
Tashira touched noses with Shardon for a long moment. What’s this? I watched them communicate in the silent Tarbane way with a feeling of trepidation. Something was amiss. No one spoke, and few watched the brothers as I did. I strongly suspected I was the only one outside the loop. Hell and damnation, even the wolves knew. They waited in silence, watching the brothers with ears perked and eyes bright. My gut clenched.
At last, Shardon blew down his nose and turned his head away, blinking. Tashira shook his mane and looked around at the waiting, expectant eyes.
“Well, folks,” he said at last, “it’s been real. I hate long goodbyes, so let’s not get all mushy, all right?”
“Tashira – “ I began.
His great soft eyes fell on me. “It was inevitable, Ly’Tana,” he said. “And you know it.”
My gut turned to ice. “No, it isn’t.”
He pawed the ground with one great hoof. “I’m going after him,” he said, his tone quiet but firm.
“Please stay with us.”
“Not a chance.”
I opened my mouth but he shook his head. “You don’t need me in your search for answers, Ly’Tana.”
Tears threatened my eyes once more, but I refused to let them fall. “I think I understand.”
I didn’t, but it’s what they all expected me to say. Tashira looked at me as though he read my mind. I suddenly hated the famous Tarbane perception. A person’s secrets should remain their own and not available for the viewing of others. Even if the Tarbane kept those secrets to the grave.
“Not to worry,” Tashira said brightly, as though hearing my thoughts. “With Shardon and his mouth around, you won’t even miss me.”
Prince Wolf Page 3
