Her eyes flew open. “You too? I thought you were so strong and in control.”
“I was,” he replied. “I’ve always been in control. I’ve been in control of the whole Avitras faction for decades, at least as long as Aquilla has been Alpha—probably longer.”
“How can you be in control when someone else is Alpha?” she asked. “If that was true, you would be Alpha instead of him.”
He nodded. “I’ve been Captain of the Guard, and the Captain always has more power than the Alpha. My father was Captain before me, and Aquilla’s father was Alpha before him. My father told me I would take over for him when he retired to the village, and he explained the whole thing. He said I would be the power behind the Alpha, that the Alpha would never make any decision or take any action without my approval, and he was right.”
“And you want to give that up—for me?” she whispered.
“I don’t have to give it up,” he replied. “At least, I won’t give up the power. I couldn’t give it up if I wanted to. The Avitras depend on me to control our faction. Aquilla couldn’t do it without me, or someone to take over for me, and I’ve been doing it so long I’m the best man for the job.”
“So what changed?” she asked. “What did I see that wasn’t there before?”
He rolled onto his back and looked up into the sky. “You saw me, for the first time. No one else has ever seen me before.”
“You?” she asked.
He shot her a smile. “It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? I’ve been Captain of the Guard. I’ve been Aquilla’s shadow Alpha since I first learned to fly, but no one has ever seen me for who I really am. I could patrol the borders for years and never feel hunger or pain or loneliness. I never dreamed of a life in the village with a mate and children and friends. I’ve never been a flesh and blood man, who felt heat and cold and sadness and joy—until today. You gave me that. I was living death, and you brought me to life.”
Aimee tucked her head into his chest and closed her eyes. “Me, too. I was never a living woman until you came.”
They lay in their nest for hours until the sun fell behind the treetops. Aimee raised her head first. “I guess I better go.”
She glanced at her clothes again, but she turned away without touching them.
He watched her. “Don’t forget to put your clothes on.”
She stole a look at his face. Then they both laughed. “That would give them a shock if I showed up like this.”
She sat up. Her skin chilled without the sun to warm it. She picked up her pants. “I don’t want to put these on again.”
“They look warm enough,” he remarked.
“They’re warm,” she replied, “but too rough. They remind me of the person I was before. They make me the person I was before.”
“What was that?” he asked.
“A warrior,” she replied.
He nodded and sat up, too. “We have some work to do before we can shed these shells of the past.”
She sighed and slipped the jacket around her shoulders. “When did you say Aquilla wants to meet the other Alphas?”
“Sunrise tomorrow,” he replied. “At the big rock.”
She set her teeth and pulled the pants up her legs. The skins scratched her, and she shuddered. “We’ll be there.”
He stood up next to her. Without a word, he took her in his arms and kissed her. Her feet left the firm surface of the tree bark, and they floated into the air. A moment later, their lips separated, and Aimee’s feet touched the ground.
She stepped down hard on the solid soil under her feet. Not even this felt right anymore. She didn’t belong to the ground anymore. She belonged to the treetops, to the pure air. What would become of her? Who was she? Was she Avitras now, now that she’d mated with an Avitras man in mid-air? No wonder the other women didn’t understand.
How different the ground felt to her now compared to the way her heart used to soar when she ran through the forest with the Lycaon. Maybe her heart only longed for flight, and running was the closest she ever came to it. Now she had another way to fly.
He gave her one last kiss, and his eyes peered into her soul. He didn’t ask what was bothering her. Maybe he already understood. Maybe he felt as strange and out of place on the ground as she did.
“See you tomorrow morning,” she murmured.
He nodded, and she turned away. She walked down the hill without looking back, but her ears stayed tuned to any sound behind her. No rush of air rustled the trees, and no footsteps trod the leafy tangle of underbrush. He hadn’t moved. He stood there and watched her out of sight.
She found Chris and Marissa sitting in the same place in front of the transmogrifier, except this time, they looked satisfied and comfortable. “Did Emily show you how to use that thing?”
Chris nodded. “It’s great. Are you hungry? Where have you been all day.”
She sighed and sat down next to her friends. “I went for a walk up on the mountain, and I ran into Piwaka. He asked me to carry a message to the other Alphas. Aquilla wants to meet with them on the big rock tomorrow morning at sunrise.”
Marissa’s eyes flew open. “What for? So he can ambush us?”
“That’s what I thought at first,” Aimee replied, “but I think the invitation is genuine. There’s some discrepancy with the border up there. We all saw that for ourselves, so it only stands to reason the other borders might not be so well defined, either. That could be what’s causing all the wars.”
Chris snorted. “If we make peace, we won’t have to worry about that.”
“It’s just like Aquilla to come up with some nonsense like that to draw us into a trap,” Marissa muttered.
Chris turned to her. “Honestly, I don’t know how Penelope Ann can stand to live with him.”
Aimee took a deep breath. “Actually, I’m beginning to understand it a little better myself. And even if we can’t trust Aquilla completely, I’m certain we can trust Piwaka.”
Chris frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Think about it,” Aimee replied. “If there are problems with the borders now, a peace agreement won’t solve them. We better get all those the problems straightened out now, when all the Alphas are in the same place, or any peace agreement we come up with won’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.”
Chris and Marissa exchanged glances. “What do you suggest we do?”
“I’m quite certain the other Alphas will jump at the chance to negotiate with Aquilla,” Aimee replied. “That’s the reason we came here, and now he’s inviting us to come and meet with him. The question is whether the meeting will lead to any constructive conclusion or if we’ll all leave here to prepare for another war.”
Marissa shuddered. “Don’t talk like that, Aimee.”
“If we’re going to have any chance at success,” Aimee replied, “we better be prepared for the worst case scenario, and if the Alphas meet Aquilla at the big rock tomorrow morning, the worst case scenario is exactly what we’ll get.”
“There must be a way to prevent that,” Chris told her.
“The only way,” Aimee replied, “is for all of us—all of us women—to use our influence with them beforehand, whatever influence that may be, to sway them in favor of peace.”
“But all our mates already favor peace,” Marissa pointed out.
“They favor peace,” Aimee replied, “but they still mistrust the Avitras. It’s our job to break down that mistrust so the negotiation has a chance to succeed.”
Chapter 10
The sun touched the treetops and set them on fire. A line of people stood on one side of the wide rock on top of the Eastern Divide. Donen stood with Aria, Renier stood with Carmen, Caleb with Marissa, Turk with Chris, Faruk with Emily, and Anna stood with Menlo.
Only Aimee stood alone at the far end of the line, but for the first time in her life, she no longer felt out of place among all these powerful couples. She no longer belonged on the
desolate frontier between people and the trackless wilderness. She had a place in the universe, and that place was Angondra.
She scanned the trees on the other side of the rock. The Avitras was in there somewhere, watching them, and Piwaka was with them. Her heart skipped a beat. She would see him again in a minute, but she wouldn’t be able to rush into his arms and kiss him the way she wanted to. She had to hold her place and keep the facade of separation going—at least for a little while longer.
The branches swayed. A ripple of tension traveled down the line, and even Menlo shifted from one foot to the other. His hand moved to the weapon at his waist. “Here goes.”
Donen spoke low, but he didn’t move. “Keep your hands away from your weapons.”
Menlo lowered his hand, but the tension didn’t fade. The branches parted, and the Avitras emerged from their hiding places. Penelope Ann stood at Aquilla’s side, and Piwaka stood at the other. Aimee swallowed hard, but Piwaka showed no sign of recognition. His face remained impassive. He surveyed his adversaries with a practiced eye.
The events of last night flashed through Aimee’s mind. After the evening meal, Donen met with Renier and Caleb according to their habit, only this time, Aimee walked over to them in the middle of their meeting. Donen’s eyes widened. “What is it?”
Caleb waved his hand. “I’ll handle this.” He rounded on Aimee. “You know this is a private meeting just between the Alphas. Go back to the Ursidrean camp with the other women.”
Aimee pursed her lips and swallowed her irritation. “I wouldn’t presume to interrupt your meeting, but I have a message for you from the Avitras.”
Once they heard the message, of course there was no more talk about her going back to the camp with the other women, but Aimee didn’t stick around to listen to the rest of their conversation. She’d delivered her message, and Piwaka filled her mind too full to think about anything else. She went back on her own.
The Alphas talked strategy late into the night, but around the thermal transmogrifier, Aimee and her friends discussed a different strategy. One after another, the men wandered back to camp, and her friends drifted away to talk to them in private. They disappeared into their tents one after the other and didn’t come back. In the end, Emily and Aimee remained in front of the box.
The transmogrifier radiated golden light and heat in a six-foot radius circle, and they sat in its glow for comfort. Emily rubbed her eyes. “I’m exhausted, but I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to walk out into the cold to find my tent.”
“Where’s Faruk?” Aimee asked. “He hasn’t come back from meeting Donen.”
Just then, footsteps crunched through the gravel and Faruk sank down on the bench next to Emily. His shoulders sagged. “I’m beat, and we have an early morning tomorrow, too. Let’s turn in.”
Emily nodded and touched his arm, but her eyes found Aimee’s. The two women nodded to each other. “Aquilla has taken a big step, inviting us to this meeting.”
Faruk shrugged. “He’s only done the reasonable thing. He’s intractable. We shouldn’t bother with him. Donen should seal a peace deal with Renier and Caleb and call it quits. Let the Avitras wallow in their own squalor. We’re better off without them.”
Emily kept her eyes locked on Aimee’s face. No doubt the others were having conversations exactly like this one at this very moment. “This peace process hasn’t got a prayer if everyone feels the way you do. We have to give Aquilla some concessions if we expect him to soften.”
“We don’t have to give him anything,” Faruk shot back. “He’s the one who should be giving us concessions.”
Emily shook her head. “He has every right to want to keep his sovereignty. He’s been in two disastrous wars with the Ursidreans in recent memory. He has no more reason to trust us than we have to trust him. Someone has to take the first step to break the stalemate. We’re the ones who came here to make peace with him, so we should take the first step.”
Faruk shrugged. “You might be right.”
Emily pressed her advantage, and Aimee heard her own words coming out of Emily’s mouth. They just might have a chance with the Avitras tomorrow. “You might not trust Aquilla, but what about Piwaka? Do you trust him?”
Exhaustion pulled Faruk’s shoulders down. He could barely rouse himself to move. “I guess he’s all right. At least he’s not as hostile as Aquilla.”
“He’s Captain of the Guard,” Emily pointed out. “He’s got Aquilla’s ear, so he’ll use his influence to swing Aquilla around to our way of thinking. Not all the Avitras are intractable.”
Faruk didn’t look up. “I never said they were. They’re Angondrans just like we are. They’re our own people.”
Emily burst into a glorious smile. “Then we can talk to them as such tomorrow.”
Faruk’s head shot up. “I never said that. We’re going up there to get our border established with them, once and for all. There won’t be any room for wavering.”
“But you have to admit,” Emily argued, “the Avitras thought their border was significantly over this side of the Divide. Who’s to say they were wrong and we were right? They could have been right all along, and the Ursidreans were the ones who provoke the wars by invading their borders without meaning to.”
“You just said it yourself we didn’t mean to,” Faruk countered. “We honestly thought our border was at the top of the peak. Now we find out the Avitras think it’s farther down here. Misunderstandings were bound to happen.”
“Then it only makes sense to agree on the border now,” Emily told him. “We have to go into tomorrow’s meeting with the thought that the Avitras aren’t any more wrong than we are. They’re people, just like we are, and they have as much right to defend the border as we do.”
“Of course they do,” he replied, “but....”
“We should be thanking Aquilla for giving us the opportunity to negotiate with him,” Emily concluded, “instead of throwing the negotiation out the window before it’s even started.”
Faruk didn’t answer. Aimee could have thrown her arms around her cousin then and there, but those arguments had to appear to come from Emily herself. All the women agreed on that.
Faruk sighed. Emily took his hand. “Come on. Let’s go to bed. You’re too tired to talk about this anymore tonight.”
She led Faruk away toward their tent, and Aimee sat alone in front of the transmogrifier. One more reinforcing conversation between each of her friends and their Alpha mates in the morning before the meeting, and her job was done.
She didn’t know how long she sat in the heat, but the transmogrifier wasn’t as comforting as a blazing fire on a cold night in the open. She finally went to her own tent and climbed into her own bed, but she didn’t sleep. She stared into the dark and floated in the depths of Piwaka’s eyes again. She could float there forever and need no other rest.
Now it was morning, and here they were, face to face with the Avitras. Aimee would be reaching for her own weapon at a time like this if Piwaka wasn’t standing across the rock from her right now. He anchored the whole meeting. Even the Avitras seemed calmer and less anxious with him here.
Aquilla stepped forward, and Penelope Ann and Piwaka joined him. Donen took a step, and the whole line matched him until they faced Aquilla in the middle of the rock. “Here we all are.”
Donen nodded. “Thank you for inviting us.”
Aquilla cocked his head. “Don’t thank me until you’ve heard what I have to say. You might not like it very much.”
“I’ll thank you no matter what you have to say,” Donen replied. “I didn’t think you would negotiate with us, and I’m grateful to you for the opportunity. I’m happy to hear whatever you have to say. It’s better for us to talk about our differences openly than to fight each other.”
Aquilla frowned. He wasn’t expecting this. “You want to hear what I have to say? All right. Here it is. This rock is in my territory. The border between our t
erritories is over there, where the hill falls down steep, not back there on the mountain peak where you thought it was. You coming onto this rock was an act of war, and I intent to respond accordingly.”
Donen didn’t flinch. “I had no idea you considered the border farther down the hill until we arrived here. I have no trouble establishing the border down the hill if that will set your mind at ease and give our factions a chance at peace.”
Aquilla glared at him. “So you concede the point—just like that? What’s in it for you?”
“I’m happy to concede a few feet of territory,” Donen replied. “I consider such a concession a small price to pay for equanimity between our factions. I would have done it a long time ago if I had only known you considered this land yours. If we discuss these things in a rational way instead of jumping to war, we can solve our problems without so much destruction and loss of life.”
Aquilla blinked once. Then he turned away toward the Renier. “And the Felsite will have to destroy their city on our northern border. It’s overhanging our territory by a quarter of a mile.”
Renier frowned. “Which city do you mean? None of our cities is anywhere close to your border.”
Aquilla waved his hand. “The city sits on a slope between two mountains at the bend in the Borlass River where it exits these mountains on its way to the southern ocean. If you refuse to remove it, I have no choice but to consider this an act of open aggression.”
Carmen whispered something into Renier’s ear and he nodded. “Oh, of course. I know the city you mean, and we can remove it if it bothers you. We considered that stretch of land unused by anyone, so we built a city there. We never would have done so if we had known the Avitras claimed it as their own.”
Aquilla’s eyes flashed. He said something to Piwaka, and Piwaka murmured back to him. Then Penelope Ann said something.
Aimee caught her breath. It was really working. Kindness and concessions defused Aquilla’s hostility. He came armed with impossible demands, and the other Alphas bowed to his will and gave him what he wanted. He wasn’t prepared for that, but Piwaka was. He spoke up for the first time. “If there are no further difficulties with the borders, perhaps we can move on to the question of how you plan to maintain this peace once you establish it.”
Rohn (Dragons of Kratak Book 1) Page 66
