Celos rushed out of the bathhouse a moment later wearing his tunic, pants, and untied boots. He stopped when he saw Aleena standing there. He hadn't spent any time drying off so his clothing was plastered to his body and his hair was stuck fast to his head. Aleena looked at him and couldn't stop herself from laughing.
"Aleena, I'm sorry," Celos blurted out. "I forgot for a moment there that, uh—"
"That what?" Aleena asked him. "That I'm a woman?"
"Well, yes," he admitted.
"Good," Aleena snapped at him. She swallowed and forced the butterflies in her stomach to quiet as best she could. "I want you to. I want all of my brothers to forget what makes me different than the rest of you."
Celos stared at her, his eyes glancing back and forth before he said, "But you ran out. Didn't I offend you by—"
"You offended me by apologizing," Aleena snapped. It wasn't true and she knew it, but she was mad. She was different but she didn't want to be. She wanted to be respected. To be capable. To be treated like an equal. She wanted to show them all that she didn't need to be treated like she was special. "I'm not fragile, nor will I faint at the sight of a man's behind. Nor any other part of him. Of you."
Celos stiffened. He nodded. "Perhaps you may not, but your brothers have been raised and trained to show respect to women. To insist that we treat you different asks us to ignore one of our core tenets."
Aleena pursed her lips and sighed through her nose. "Fine. Do as you must and I will do as I must. There's no reason why I can't be an exception to the rule, though. Especially since I'm asking for it."
Celos stared at her without speaking. Moonshine snorted and stomped the ground, and then turned and started back towards the mountain. Aleena watched the unicorn and nodded. "Sir Celos, as soon as our brothers are ready, meet me at the western gate. You've ridden far and you all deserve a rest, but the well-being of two nations is more important."
Aleena turned and followed after Moonshine, her armor glinting in the morning sun. She forced herself to keep walking and not look back. The imagined scowl Celos was sending her way was burning a hole in the back of her head, but if she chanced a look and found he wasn't looking at her, she feared it would make her feel even worse.
Chapter 19
Jethallin raced through the city streets as fast as she could short of running and drawing attention to herself. She used some of the coins she'd taken from the dead guards in the prison to buy herself a change of clothes, including a pair of boots and a cloak that would protect her from the sun and wind. With her waterskin full and a small pouch full of dried meat, she stepped out and started on the road to Snake-Killer's homeland.
She was forced to walk along the edge of the road by wagons and riders that were anxious to reach the city or bold enough to risk leaving it so close to dusk. She ignored the looks she received. Heading out into the desert on foot at night was a fool's mission. Taking an infant that she kept covered under her cloak was even more so.
Jethallin's feet began to burn with all the walking. It wasn't the sun-baked road that burned her but the unfamiliar fit of her boots rubbing at her feet. She forced herself to walk through the pain of growing blisters. She'd made a deal with Snake-Killer and she'd already found that it was hard for her to do anything that didn't take her towards his objective.
She yawned as the sun dipped lower in the western sky. It wasn't the long days she kept that tired her; it was the hours of practice she'd endured in the strange world Snake-Killer lived in. Seconds, if anything, had passed in the real world while she struggled and fought against the savage man. He'd shown no quarter, striking her time and again until he sent her back in disgust.
Her aches were gone when she'd blinked her eyes and found herself in the dark of the tunnels. She'd also realized that learning to fight was not something she could do in an afternoon. In spite of her terror, she'd met with the three adventurers and survived. She'd even met the terrifying troll that had delighted in making fun of her.
Jethallin glanced down at Jennaca, who was playing with a wooden toy she'd splurged on when she'd bought her cloak. It was wet with the baby's spit as she gummed it. Jethallin smiled at her daughter and forgot about her aching feet for a moment.
The sun dipped lower and streaked the sky to her left with bands of red and orange. She frowned and looked around. The road rose and fell as it crossed the desert to the northwest. To the west, the sands of the desert looked barren and somehow beautiful, but she'd heard horror stories of the many deaths that awaited, from burrowing creatures to wandering nomads. Sandstorms sprung up from time to time and drove the people of Mira to shelter inside the city. She couldn't imagine surviving direct exposure to one.
To her right, the ground was harder packed and occasional burnt grass struggled to survive. The ocean lay in that direction, but it was miles distant and she knew Snake-Killer would not allow her to head that way. The road then, she realized, was her best and only path.
Jethallin sipped from her water as she walked. She had half an hour or less to find shelter, yet there was none to be found on the empty desert. She turned and looked behind her, only to discover that the city she'd never been outside of was nowhere to be seen. She'd been walking for nearly two hours and the land behind her was plunged in a deepening gloom as dusk set in.
Jethallin stopped and licked her parched lips. She was truly alone. In one of her holes she called a home in Mira, she at least knew other people were about. Some were nice to her, as long as she didn't ask for too much from them. Others took pity on Jethallin and would offer help because of the baby. She'd tried to change that by offering Alto and his friends her help, but she'd abandoned them as soon as she could. Now she had nobody but herself; even the merchants and travelers had abandoned the road at night.
Jethallin sighed. She hadn't really abandoned them. The rogue, no more than a scurrilous bard from what she'd heard around Mira, had told her to not to go with them. Since they were going up against the king, Lord Shazamir, she hadn't argued. Whether he was really a dragon or not, as the troll and wizard had claimed, didn't matter. She couldn't imagine it being true, but she hadn't believed trolls were real until a few hours ago.
She glanced one final time at the darkness behind her and wondered how the adventurers fared. They were dead, no doubt. A skilled thief might slip into the palace and make away with a golden comb or necklace, but they weren't thieves. One of the Stalkers, the guild of assassins in Mira, might kill a guard or a noble, but not the king himself.
Jethallin sighed and whispered to her daughter, "Let's find a hole to hide in, my little princess." Jennaca spat out bubbles in response.
Jethallin used the fading light of day to dig through the crusty sand beside the road. Using one of the daggers, she broke the turf loose and then scooped it away with her hand to form a berm. After several minutes, she crawled into the bowl in the ground and curled around Jennaca. She giggled and tugged at her mother's rags, and then tried to shove them into her mouth.
Jethallin kicked off her boots and sighed in relief. They still ached, but relieving them from their confinement was pleasure enough. She flexed her toes and stretched them while moving Jennaca up to her chest and letting the baby nurse. Lulled by the sucking noises of her daughter and with fantasies of having people who cared about her so much they'd throw their lives away to help her, she dozed off.
* * * *
Jethallin woke up with a startled gasp. She sat up, disturbing Jennaca and causing her to start crying. Jethallin felt her arm and her chest, and then reached around to the back of her neck. She'd had a dream that she'd been fighting Snake-Killer. A dream so real she'd felt his spear tearing the skin on her neck, breaking her arm, and plunging into her chest.
"I'm fine," she whispered. She cuddled Jennaca and gently bounced her until her cries smoothed out. She slipped her blouse open and urged Jennaca to eat, and then found herself smiling. "It was just a dream."
Jethallin's thoughts went to the daggers
hidden under her cloak. She'd fought with them, one in each hand the same way that she imagined Carson, the surly hunter, fought with his swords. He was a rugged and handsome man, but he'd been hard on her. She looked down at Jennaca and smiled, earning a twitch of her nine-month-old daughter's lips in return. He didn't think a baby should be put in harm's way. Neither did Jethallin, but she didn't have a choice. There was no one she'd trust with her daughter's life.
She reached beneath her cloak and pulled one of her daggers out. She held it in her hand and frowned. It didn't feel the same as it did in her dream. It looked right and she knew some of the things she could do with it, but her hand was different. Her skin felt too sensitive. Jethallin's nostrils flared as she remembered more of the dream and realized it wasn't a dream. Snake-Killer had pulled her into his special place while she slept and trained her again.
He'd gotten angry with her for screwing up again and again. Their last fight hadn't been training; it had been real. Sort of. As real as a fight in a not-real place could be. He hadn't checked his swings or slowed down at all. And he'd killed her because she'd complained that he was being too hard on her. She'd needed to rest. To take it slower. To have a chance.
"Except out here, an enemy wouldn't give me a chance," she whispered.
Jennaca let go and grinned a milky smile up at her mother.
Jethallin nodded. "No more whining," she said to her daughter. "I made a promise to you and to him. Now I'm making a promise to myself. We will get through this, sweetheart. We'll survive and we'll make something of ourselves. It's going to be hard, but we're going to make it and I'll keep you safe."
Jennaca giggled and tucked her arms close to her sides before a serious look came over her face. Jethallin's brow furrowed and a moment later she had her answer as an odor rose up to greet her. She sighed and rolled to set her daughter down on the ground so she could change her. When she looked up, she saw the first golden rays of the sun cresting the horizon.
"Let's get going before it gets too hot," she said. She slipped her boots back on and climbed to her feet. She picked Jennaca up to carry her in her arms. "Then you'll go back in the sling and out of the sun. Next time, you get to carry me, okay?"
Her daughter reached up to pull at Jethallin's hair that fell past her shoulders. She sucked on it and made the noises of a happy baby. Jethallin smiled a final time at her before she looked back to the road beside them. She walked towards it, wincing as her boots rubbed against the blisters on her feet. She looked down at them and stopped, her aches forgotten. There were strange markings in the ground. She frowned as she studied the scratches in the sand. Nearby she saw some paw prints, but she wasn't sure what sort of animal it was.
Or animals, she realized. Wild dogs? Lions or other desert cats? Something worse? She shuddered and shifted Jennaca to her other arm so she could lay her hand on the hilt of her dagger. She might not be able to fight off an armed man but she thought she stood a chance against an animal. Fortunately, there were none to be seen.
With a chill in her bones that had nothing to do with the cold desert night, she picked up her pace and pushed on. The pains in her feet were one of the many things she had to learn to endure if she was going to make good on her promise.
Chapter 20
Aleena pointed at the ridge to the west. "We'll reach it before dusk, but Graak won't cross over until tomorrow. On the other side is the forest of the elves."
Celos studied the landscape and nodded. "If they're as violent as you say, I agree with the ogre."
Aleena continued to stare ahead and forced her jaw to loosen so she could speak, albeit in a controlled tone. "Why would it not be as I said? Do you question my judgment?"
She heard a faint sigh of air blowing against the helm Celos wore. "No, your judgment has always been sound."
"Then why would you say it like that?" she demanded.
The paladin shook his head. "What have I done to wrong you? Almost since the moment I showed up, you've taken offense at everything I've said and done."
Aleena's teeth locked together again as she studied the ridgeline. They had to ride down through a sparsely wooded valley and back up a ravine to cross the ridge yet. It was a tricky ride but one the trained horses of the knights of Leander could handle. "We should get a move on," Aleena said. "It's a difficult ride to reach a good campsite."
"Aleena," Celos hissed. "What's going on with you?"
"Nothing," she snapped. "I'm fine."
"Then what have I done? Have I not treated you as an equal?"
She turned and let her eyes bore into his. "You've treated me just like one of the men," she said. "Just as I asked. Now stop wasting time. We have some distance to go and I don't want to listen to Graak bellyaching about us slowing him down."
Aleena turned back and saw Moonshine had twisted her head around to stare at her out of one eye. The unicorn whickered softly and tossed her head, flipping her mane. Aleena narrowed her eyes and nodded to the valley ahead of them. "Let's go, Moonshine."
The unicorn stomped a hoof but relented and rode ahead. Aleena could feel Celos's eyes on her and she felt a tiny spark of fire in her chest. Let him wonder, she figured. He was doing as she'd asked, but now she wasn't sure it was what she really wanted.
Celos caught up with her after she'd led the way down the steep trail to where the scraggly pines began and the ground became less treacherous. She closed her eyes when she heard him take in a large breath the same way he always did when he was going to lecture her.
"Aleena, I—"
"What is that?" Aleena held up her hand to stop him. She turned, her eyes narrowed, and listened to a buzzing sound. She gasped and reached up to slam her visor on her helm at the same time that Moonshine lurched to the side and broke into a run. Aleena cried out and fell from her unicorn.
She heard Celos call her name less than a heartbeat before she heard the sounds of the elven arrows striking steel and flesh. Horses, men, and ogres cried out from the assault. She rolled behind one of the small trees but found it did little to stop the plinking of arrows that struck her armor and bounced off.
She saw Moonshine halfway back up the trail and turning around to look down at her. She waved the unicorn away; already the magnificent animal had one elven arrow stuck in her flank and another in her shoulder. Aleena watched as Moonshine turned and grabbed the arrow she could reach between her teeth and yanked it out. Bright red blood ran down her silver white hair from the wound and then stopped.
Aleena turned and saw Celos pushing his stallion while he pulled his leg free. The paladin looked to be unharmed even as fresh arrows fell and bounced off his armor. His visor was lowered, Aleena saw. Celos's horse was pierced by many arrows but it still kicked and thrashed as Celos worked his way free.
"Aleena!" Celos shouted over the hum of the elven bows.
"I'm fine," she called back to him. She turned and saw ogres lumbering through the short trees and crashing one after another as they came to resemble pincushions more than savage warriors. She waved to where Graak was running and sliding down the trail towards them. "Graak, stay back!" she shouted to him.
An arrow pinged off her helm, knocking her head to the side but reassuring her that the elven weapons weren't an immediate danger to a fully armored knight. She spun onto her hands and knees and rose up, drawing the attention of several archers. Aleena grimaced and broke into a lumbering run through the pines towards the elves that had hidden among the bigger trees deeper in the valley.
"Rally on, Lady Aleena!" Celos called as he rose behind her. "Knights of Leander, charge on!"
Aleena had worked her shield free and now she held it up in front of her, sparing her face and chest the constant barrage of the wooden points of the elven arrows. She felt the impact of arrow after arrow on her shield and knew her arm would tire quickly. She drew her sword with her right hand and took up the war cry of Leander.
The arrows stopped a moment later, giving her a chance to lower her shield and see that
a horde of the shorter elves were running at her. One man led the pack by several feet and dove forward even as she swung at him. Her sword passed over his head, missing him. His curved blade clanged off her cuirass, driving the metal against her stomach. She pushed ahead of him and slammed into the rank of elven swordsman, trusting in the fine armor she wore to keep her safe while she swung her sword and moved her shield to block and bash her foes.
Surrounded by the ringing echoes of steel striking steel and gasping for breath as her shield and sword grew heavier with each moment, Aleena was relieved to see Celos and the other knights fighting among elves. She could see Graak and his ogres charging through the eye slit in her visor before she was turned away by a powerful strike against her shoulder.
Aleena twisted and lashed out, only to have her strike ducked under. The first elf was back, she saw, and he was still as quick and dangerous as he had been the first time. She blocked his thrust aside with her shield and bared her teeth in a feral grin that he couldn't see behind her helm.
Her opponent waved at the other elves, causing them to draw back from the two of them. Aleena took the chance to draw in a full breath and was prepared to offer him an honorable salute. Rather than showing any respect for a civilized challenge or duel, he snarled at her and attacked.
His first strike glanced off her right greave. He spun as she recovered and cleaved through the air he'd occupied. He was spinning away from her, no doubt to retreat since he couldn't beat her armor. He doubled back, surprising her, and used the momentum from his spin to drive his curved blade under her raised shield and into her left side.
The impact of her armor into her ribs made her grunt. She didn't need to look to know he'd managed to dent her armor. She could still feel it poking into what would soon be a nasty bruise on her side. Aleena clamped her arm down, trying to trap his blade against her. He yanked it free, sawing the curved steel and making the metal on metal contact shriek as he reclaimed it.
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