Malik bowed low, abasing himself to the slender girl he could break in half with his fingers. He bent his foreleg, bending his entire human portion toward the heather under his hooves. His fist over his chest, his hair hanging over his face, he waited.
Iyumi cast a desperate glance in my direction, her voice loud inside my mind. “What do I do?”
“What you do best.”
“I’m best when I’m a bitch.”
“You’re better than that. Rise higher, my queen.”
“Stand up, Commander,” Iyumi said, her voice hoarse. “Be at ease. We’re all under tremendous strain these days, are we not?”
As he rose up, he opened his mouth speak. Forestalling him with her raised hand, she grinned up into his somber expression. “Just don’t let it happen again.”
Malik saluted, a quick thump to his chest. “Now, Your Highness. Tell me all. Please.”
Iyumi’s hand returned under the cover of my cloak to squeeze my right arm, hard. “The child is alone, Commander, and in dire need. She’s yet young enough to require her mother in order to survive. We have but three days, at the most, to find her before she, too, dies from lack of nourishment and the elements.”
“Do you know where, Highness?”
Half-turning in her saddle, Iyumi pointed north by northwest. Toward a tall peak, its shoulders mantled in white despite the late summer’s heat. Surrounded by smaller mountains, it dwarfed them all as a hen towers over her chicks. “In a cave, just below the snowline. We can make it if we push hard.”
“Certainly, Your Highness,” he replied, following her finger. “If we all flew on wings. No way can hooves cross all those leagues in three days. Impossible.”
“It’s your job to make the impossible possible.” Iyumi arched a brow. “Isn’t it, Commander?”
“Not without water,” Malik grumbled sourly, studying the route. His dark eyes narrowed as he rapidly considered one strategy for another, weighing the risks against the gain.
“Lieutenant Gaear,” he bellowed.
Gaear buzzed over the top of my head, the back wash of his wings sweeping my hair into my mouth and set Iyumi’s eyes to squinting. He back-winged heavily to land atop a huge boulder to Malik’s right. His talons scraped against granite, forcing me to shut my teeth against the bitter sound. Iyumi grimaced as Sky Dancer scowled.
“My Lord Captain.”
“What have you to report?”
“A river, my Lord Captain,” Gaear replied, awkwardly saluting with his right wing. “It follows that valley there. To the north. I think it’s the Auryn.”
“And Padraig?”
“Lieutenant Padraig and Corporal Edara found a ford, my Lord Captain,” Gaear answered. “They but await your orders.”
“How deep is this river?”
Gaear clicked his beak. “Corporal Edara reported it’s about three rods deep, sir, yet quite wide. Might prove mildly difficult to cross. Sir.”
“What are the locations of the others?”
“My Lord Commander, Lieutenants Grey Mist and Wind Warrior circle to the north and south, but have reported no enemies and nothing at all suspicious. Corporal Kasi is yet high against the sun, and reports the same, sir.”
“Lieutenant Aderyn?”
“Has seen nothing out of the ordinary and remains a half-league to our rear. My Lord Captain.”
Malik studied the area, the mountains, and the deep valley that cut through the steep chain like a green blade. Lifting his face, he shut his eyes and listened to the sough of the high mountain wind, the voices of the good spirits and perhaps his own gut. He stalked away, the sun flashing off his black rump as his tail bumped against his hocks. By the set of his shoulders, I recognized a Centaur in turmoil.
“He worries,” I said, my tone soft.
Iyumi glanced from Malik’s stiff back to me and back again. “Surely we’re safe? You heard the reports. There’s no one around for miles.”
I half-shrugged and tried for lightness. “Malik was born to worry. If he’s got nothing to worry about, he’d invent something. Just to be sure – “
“You’re an idiot, Vanyar.”
Gaear’s high-pitched voice rose on the light wind as he circled, forgotten until now, low over our heads. With Malik leading the way, downhill, toward the wide valley and a necessary water source, Gaear found an unlooked-for opportunity to annoy me. “You know nothing about anything.”
He swooped lower, forcing Iyumi to glance upward, and swipe her hair from her cheeks.
“Ignore him, Your Highness,” Gaear said, his beak angling down as his bright yellow eyes burning with fervor. “He’s a murderer and a traitor –”
Sky Dancer’s heavy fist cracked across his eagle’s chest. Though she obviously checked the blow to send him across the sky without actually harming him, his broken feathers swirled about in his wake. Most drifted to the ground at Kiera’s feet while he wailed in anguish, his eagle’s body sent careening across the highland meadow.
Wings extended, he caught himself before he crashed to the hard earth. Flapping hard, pinfeathers still drifting about like a burst pillow, he climbed into the blue sky, winging hard away from Sky Dancer’s wrath. Malik, far to the front, glanced up at his swift passing.
“Your pardon, Highness,” Sky Dancer said calmly, walking beside Iyumi’s blue roan with wings furled and a calm equanimity that forced me to grin. “Gaear is a lout and his opinions are hardly worth the attentions of one such as yourself.”
“My thanks, Lieutenant,” Iyumi replied sweetly. “I’m grateful you’ve taken the time to repel any irritations I might encounter on this journey.”
“Might I add –” I began.
“No.”
Both Iyumi and Sky Dancer turned on me at the same time, within the same instant. Against two females, two powerhouses of feminine ire – I stood no chance. With a self-effacing grin, I backed Kiera away from them both, my face lowered. Never aggravate a female, I learned at my father’s knee. No matter what the species.
Iyumi laughed up into Sky Dancer’s down-ward angled parted beak. Sky Dancer, towering over the princess despite her seat on a tall horse, flared her great wings. I half-listened as she regaled Iyumi with the wild tale of finding me, drunk as a lord, facing down not one, not two, but three Raithin Mawrn mercenaries with but a stick in my hand. Of course, she rescued me from their evil clutches, scattered the mercs, and, naturally, saved the day.
I caught a shy, humorous glance from Iyumi over her shoulder as the roan trotted beside Dancer’s great height. I half-shrugged and rolled my eyes. Iyumi’s grin widened as I sighed, and said something to Dancer I couldn’t catch.
That’s not exactly how I remember the incident, I thought, bemused. Sky Dancer showed up, all right, but not after I, as sober as the High Vicar on Gods’ Day, dispatched the mercs. I wiped my sword clean, and politely tolerated Dancer berating me, at length, for risking my life and safety over a trio of pond scum rejects. Sky Dancer never much liked my lone wolf attitude, or my serious need to keep her at arms’ length. Perhaps Windy has a point, after all, I thought, morose. Girls are the pits.
Guiding Kiera to follow on Sky Dancer’s tail, I half-listened as the pair of them chatted amicably. They compared notes on us unpredictable and boorish males, the latest palace gossip, and the pros and cons of keeping a werewolf as a pet. Had I a voice, I’d inform them that as pets, werewolves tended to bite before asking questions and were useful only during the duration of the full moon. My great-great-great grandsire was a werewolf, and a stigma upon the family for generations. Despite my advances in self-discipline, the sight of the full moon always wrenched a dismal howl from me.
“The Auryn River, my Lord Captain.”
Gaear’s high-pitched eagle’s voice drifted down from above as the steep valley dropped out from under Malik’s black hooves and hour and a league later. Far below, the silvery sheen of the river glistened despite the questionable sunlight. The thin, misty rain hadn’t slackened a
s the afternoon drew toward evening, and the thick clouds lowered ominously. Thunder grumbled in the dim distance, promising more menace to come.
“Does he always state the obvious?” Iyumi asked Sky Dancer.
“Humpf,” Sky Dancer replied sourly, her eyes on Gaear as he coasted gently over Malik’s head. He’d flown well away from Sky Dancer over the last hour, yet I witnessed several evil glances sent her way from his sharp raptor’s eyes. She had little to fear from him, however. As a magician, Gaear’s skills brought him no end of pitied offers of helpful instruction by those more powerful than he. He, less than graciously, declined them all.
“What can one expect from an idiot, Your Highness?” Sky Dancer replied, not lowering her tone in the least. By the way Gaear suddenly flinched and Malik stiffen, I knew both heard her clearly.
“Captain Vanyar,” Malik snapped without turning around. “Might I see you for a moment?”
“You’re in trouble now, Van,” Sky Dancer said under her breath, with what sounded suspiciously like a snigger in her voice.
“No doubt,” I muttered, nudging Kiera forward.
Halting beside him, I gazed across the wide gorge, its high sides tumbled with broken granite and thin clusters of hardy, high-altitude trees. The river rushed over smooth boulders, white foam splashing high. Far below, the small figures of Padraig and Edara stood at its bank. Where they stood, the river flowed more smoothly, broken by unseen turbulence. The ford was a clear path on each side of the swift river whereby local wildlife obviously crossed. Padraig waved his bow unnecessarily.
High above, the mountains lost their menace, their snow-clad peaks buried under the heavy grey mist. The storm had drawn closer, looming from the north like a death shroud. Though no lightning flickered within their swirling depths, thunder rumbled, echoing across the valley and dancing amid the highland rocks. Heavy rain after nightfall, I thought. We should find shelter.
At Malik’s gesture, Edryd saluted and backed his horse away from Malik’s flank to give us privacy.
“Lieutenant,” Malik said, not looking at me. “Round up the others. Everyone meet at the river.”
“My Lord Captain.”
I frowned as Gaear winged away, southward. “Is that wise, Malik? We need our scouts to stay out there.”
My close friendship with him permitted me to question his orders – in private. Nor has he ever failed to offer an explanation – in private. He might reply with a mild insult, but always with equanimity and humor.
His hooded dark eyes hardened. Nor did he turn away from the sight of the rushing river. “I want Princess Iyumi escorted by you, Captain Vanyar, to the river’s edge. You will see to it she and her mount are well-watered. I need everyone to get their skins and bellies filled.”
“They can as they –”
“You have your orders, First Captain.”
He still wouldn’t look at me. I opened my mouth and his hand rose, stilling me instantly. I saluted and turned Kiera around to trot back to the princess and Sky Dancer. Perceptive females both, they instantly knew something was wrong. As I flanked Iyumi and heeled Kiera behind the roan, Sky Dancer flared her wings and opened her beak. I cut my finger across my throat in a sudden slash, silencing her immediately.
Chastened, Sky Dancer loped alongside our royal charge, her beak shut and her predatory eyes grim. As Iyumi spurred the blue stallion to follow Malik downhill, toward the roaring river, her small face turned over her shoulder toward me. Her silver braid flopped across her horse’s rump, her right hand leaning against the cantle as her body twisted partway around. I knew she wanted to speak. I saw the unanswerable question in her blue eyes – what the hell was going on? I had no answer for her, and slowly shook my head.
The steep valley wall proved less treacherous than it looked, consisting of hard, grass-covered soil and small rocks that gave a firm footing to hooves loping downhill. We easily dodged large boulders and the ever-present thickets of stunted trees, following behind Malik’s heavy black tail. His glossy hooves struck the pebbled strand of the shore just as Padraig cantered across to meet him.
He saluted smartly, sliding to a swift halt. “This is the best crossing for miles, my Lord Commander,” he said. “Lieutenant Edara has been back and forth twice now and found no pitfalls.”
“Are you truly stupid or do you practice often?”
Malik’s heavy, terse reply raised Padraig’s brows to his hairline. Like me, Padraig was close to Malik and unless under sharp discipline, never spoken to harshly. Malik’s cold tone sent a shiver of unease down my back. Malik never barked at his officers, much less offer insult. His rage at Edryd’s ineptitude fell well within Malik’s anger perimeters. This – I found his attitude so totally out of character as to be – alien.
Malik’s hair lifted under the light mountain breeze despite the damp, hazy rain as he gazed upward. Grey Mist winged in low overhead, followed closely by Windy and Kasi. Valcan, in the shape of a raven, spiraled downward in ever smaller circles, his black, beady eyes watching the hills to the south. Aderyn’s deer bounded toward the water on stick-like legs, her muzzle dropping immediately to the pool eddying at her tiny hooves.
Windy backwinged to land to all four feet at my side. No slouch, he immediately sensed my tension and recognized in Iyumi’s stiffened body that all wasn’t well. Rather than speak, he shook his dark feathers into place and folded his massive wings against his shoulders. His ears at full attention, he swung his head back and forth, his magic and his senses searching for the enemy. Stalking at my side, he failed to dip his beak to the water as Kiera drank her fill.
When Iyumi made to dismount, I flicked my hand, effectively halting her. Malik and Padraig both filled their skins and drank thirstily, up to their knees in the cold water. Yet, Edara remained on the far bank of the icy mountain Auryn, her hands fisted on her equine shoulders. I narrowed my eyes. Edara watched Malik and didn’t drink a drop.
I slid from Kiera’s back and took my water skin, as well as Iyumi’s, to the edge of the rushing river. Like Aderyn, I crunched my way to a still pool and squatted to fill them. Late, Moon Whisperer winged in to land beside Misty, and bent to drink from the pure water of the river. Gaear, in eagle form, landed on the shore and swiftly changed into his human shape. He knelt in the damp shingle and gulped water from his cupped hands time and again, slurping the river as though he hadn’t drunk for days.
My hand on the roan’s bridle brought him to the pool so he might also slake his thirst, as I offered Iyumi the full skin. “Drink, m’lady,” I murmured. “I’ll refill it.”
She obeyed me, tilting her head back with the skin’s mouth to her lips. Stifling my own urge to drink as much as I could hold, I idly watched as Edryd walked his horse into the swift running water several rods upstream from Malik and Padraig. His chestnut gulped water down, his throat convulsing. Edryd drank nearly as fast as his horse.
Why was every creature within our group as thirsty as a desert caravan? That wasn’t just odd – it was downright strange. I left the horses to gulp unattended and strolled casually back up the incline. My swift hand gesture brought both Sky Dancer and Windy at my back. If they also suffered severe thirst, they hadn’t partaken of the water. Instead, they fell into line behind me. My throat burned as I gazed at the rushing stream, longing to fall to my belly and guzzle.
Moon Whisperer swooped in to land upstream from Iyumi, his huge wings flared as he back-winged to land with his front talons in the water. He dipped his beak down and sucked water into his beak as though drinking the finest wine. Alain, the last to arrive, loped his horse straight into the river and swung from his saddle into the icy depths to his thighs and plunged his hands into the torrent. I don’t know who drank faster: the chestnut or Alain.
“It’s Flynn, isn’t it?” Windy said, his beak buried in his wing feathers to conceal his beak. Sky Dancer feigned a yawn as she stretched her wings wide and high. Yet, her amber eyes flicked everywhere at once, never still, searching for the
enemy. As though seeking companionship, she ambled to the water’s edge and encouraged Iyumi, still aboard her roan, to return with her, away from the river.
“Has to be,” I replied, eyeing Malik sidelong. “How else can we all be as thirsty as donkeys in a desert? He wants us here. But why?”
Malik finished drinking. Thoughtfully, slowly, he walked further into the river, up to his knees, then up to his huge black shoulders. His heavy tail floated on the stream like a banner of war. Edara took two steps into the river, clearly wanting to go to him. She caught my eye. I flattened my hand and pushed downward in a subtle motion. Stay where you are. Edara backed out of the water at the same time she took her bow from her back and nocked an arrow.
Malik stared at the water rushing around his massive shoulders as though mesmerized. The Auryn flowed swiftly around him, often tossing a foamy wave across his withers, as though he were just another boulder. His arms hung straight down, his fingers creating tiny streamlets where they touched the stream.
The chill invaded my spine again. This was wrong on so many levels.
“Malik!” I shouted. “Are your big feet stuck or what?”
He didn’t respond. He didn’t raise a faint grin, toss back a quirky reply, nor did he remind me of my place with a caustic comment. I drew my sword. “Prepare for battle,” I said, my tone low. “It’s a trap.”
Behind me, Windy cursed under his breath and Sky Dancer’s wings rustled as they spread. My quick whistle brought Padraig to my side at the trot. He may hate me, but I was still his superior officer. He bent his shaggy head toward me, scowling, and drew his blade.
“Stay with the princess,” I snapped, under my breath. “No matter what happens. You don’t leave her side. Not for anything.”
“But –”
“Dancer, you, too. Guard Her Highness with your life.”
I half-expected a protest from her as well, but the voice that whispered my name wasn’t Sky Dancer’s.
The Unforgiven Page 31
