Green Wild (Thrones of the Firstborn Book 2)

by Chrysoula Tzavelas

“Northeast of here. Will you come peacefully?”

  Tiana thought fast. The seat of Sunasin was to the southeast; allowing this knight to escort her to his marshal would be out of the way. On the other hand, surrounding Fai and Cinai with an army would only make it easier to protect them. Maybe once this marshal had recognized her, she could have him move his whole army south.

  **He won’t. Armies are where they are for a reason. But he might be able to offer you respite from any more of these ridiculous interruptions.**

  “I’ll consider your offer,” Tiana told the plumed knight. “In the meantime, you and your men are welcome to have luncheon with us.”

  “That’s a kind offer, ma’am, but not necessary.”

  Tiana nodded and turned Moon to return to her companions. As she did, the knight said, “I hope you understand, ma’am, that if you don’t accept our escort, we can’t allow you to travel further through the Counties.” He was apologetic.

  **Terrified he hasn’t made himself understood. Poor chick.**

  “Yes, I understood. I hope you understand how foolish you’re being.”

  Hooves clattered behind them, and Tiana turned to see Jozua pulling his mount up a few yards ahead of the rest of the group. The foul-tempered twist of his mouth was a startling change from his usual indifference. He called, “Princess, can I talk to you? Privately?”

  “Excuse me,” she said to the knight, and tried to keep her irritation off her face until she turned away.

  “What?” she snapped as she approached Jozua.

  He was just as blunt. “I overheard a bit of your little chat. I’m not going anywhere with that knight, and neither is Cinai.”

  “What? I thought we’d settled this!”

  “No,” he said flatly. “We settled that I’d stay with you as we escorted Cinai home again. I’m not letting her anywhere near any County representative who isn’t either her father or her future father-in-law. The rest of them would be all too happy to complicate my pay purse.” He lifted his gaze to look coldly over Tiana’s shoulder. “Besides, I don’t much like knights.”

  Tiana regarded him, her irritation fading in the face of her curiosity. What exactly was going on here? She vaguely knew about the Counties from her lessons: they were the remains of the shattered duchy of Biaxin. They bickered a lot. As for Jozua’s dislike of knights... She’d have to set Lisette to find out; she didn’t think he’d tell her anything she didn’t drag out of him.

  “I am not going to argue with you about this right now. We may be riding with them in the future, so don’t do anything I’ll regret.” She stared at him, and then said, “I’ll hire you. You’re for sale, right? Keep Lisette and Fai and Cinai safe for tonight, while I visit the knight’s Marshal with Cathay. I’ll return tomorrow. You can set your price.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “You have no idea how expensive I can be.”

  Impatience stole her tongue. “I don’t care! I’ll escort you myself into the treasury!” Why did the Firstborn favor the hard-headed?

  He regarded her another long moment and then said, “Oh, fine. I’ll go inform my men. You’d best be back tomorrow.” He turned his horse and rode away before she could respond.

  Tiana stared at his retreating back. “Was that a good idea, Jinriki?” she asked softly. “I had to come up with something. I don’t want to fight my own people again.”

  **I wish you’d insisted he swear on me. I want to look inside him and he’s far more resistant than most soldiers. We should know why.**

  “I don’t think I can make that man do anything. I could leave you behind, though, to keep an eye on things. Lisette could hold onto you, or Kiar.”

  **You will not.** Jinriki’s voice was flat. **Not even for a night, not while you ride away. No.**

  “Everybody’s so stubborn,” she complained, but her heart wasn’t in it; she hadn’t been sure that was a good idea either.

  She held her mount still, waiting until Lisette and Kiar came up beside her. Lisette was pale, her arm swathed in her cloak. Her brow knitted in a frustration reflecting Tiana’s general mood these days, but otherwise, she appeared healthier.

  “What did you say to Jozua?” she inquired mildly. “He looks like he swallowed a live rat.”

  “I asked him to guard you tonight while I go to visit the local Marshal, so the Marshal’s men won’t dog our heels for the rest of our journey.”

  Lisette looked puzzled and Kiar displeased, so Tiana quickly went into more detail on the situation. She ended with, “Cathay and I will go, since we’re the obvious Blood and it’s the Blood he’s so worried about. I’ll take Slater and Berrin. Jozua will be in charge of the camp, but I’d like to leave you in charge overall, Kiar.”

  Kiar’s eyes widened. “You mean Lisette, right?”

  Lisette sighed. Tiana thought she saw a rare flash of temper in her Regent’s eyes, but if so, she held her tongue. It didn’t matter, though.

  “We’ve been through this before, Kiar! I’m not asking you to make speeches to the assembled. I just want you to watch the situation and make decisions. You’re going to be as good at that as I am, maybe better! You’re smarter than me, anyhow.”

  Kiar flushed and looked away until she found her voice. “You’re right. I wasn’t thinking. But now I am. I think you shouldn’t leave the rest of us behind! And if you put me in charge, I’ll move us as fast as possible until we catch up with you. That’s what my so smart thinks.”

  Tiana stared at her, incredulous. “You can’t. Fai... Jozua... I just explained why I’m going alone, Kiar. It’s going to be bad, bad like in that alley if they try to stop us, and Jozua—”

  “Then don’t go.” Her flush had faded, and Kiar was calm now. “Ohedreton will take advantage of the split and attack. You must assume he’s always watching us, Tiana.”

  “We might be able to remove your need to be concerned for Fai, anyhow,” said Lisette, but Tiana hardly heard her, barely noticed Kiar’s expression of veiled fury. She’d been trying so hard to manage things, but everybody, everybody argued back. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. She didn’t have the skill to convince them any better than this. She wanted to lash out, to make them obey, but everything went wrong once you did that. Her breath came rapidly. She didn’t want to lose her temper, but where could she go to hide? Somewhere, anywhere. Away.

  She pulled Moon violently around, the gelding half-rearing in protest, and kicked him into a gallop, away from the column and off the road. In the ruins of a field, she half slid, half fell out of the saddle, and stumbled away from Moon.

  Frustration leaked from her skin, made manifest as emanations, lifting the twisted and dried remains of the harvest to spiral around her. In a previous time she would have given herself to the phantasmagory, fallen into the darkness and let its imposed detachment mute her rage. She would have talked with Lisette through the detachment to make better choices. It would have worked.

  But now, she didn’t know what to do without it, except flee before she snapped, picked up every single one of the people frustrating her and bashed their heads together. How did her uncle and father command armies? How did they command their own kin?

  Did they bash heads in? She’d seen a play once, where a commanding officer won respect by demonstrating his strength of arms. That couldn’t be right, not against common people without the benefits of the Blood, though. It was only a step away from being a Blood Blighter.

  Digging her fingers into the loam, she tried to recall if she’d heard any stories of something productive coming of battles between the Blood, if it ever led anything but tragedy. Thinking back over stories, even tragic stories, leeched away the edge of her raw emotions. It didn’t lead to any answers, but after a moment she was calm enough to try again to think of ways to work with Kiar that didn’t lead to temper tantrums.

  She failed. All she could do was tell them what to do. If they refused to listen, what then? The dust whipped around her as her frustration rose again. Jozua a
nd Kiar, Kiar and Jozua—and Lisette had too much, finally, on her shoulders to delegate the problem to. And that wretched knight and his forty men and his ridiculous fears. Benjen!

  Someone shouted from the road. Kiar, and Tiana looked over in time to see her falling off her startled horse, a shield curving up from beneath her to enclose her.

  **Hah,** said Jinriki. **She was fast, but I am faster.**

  “What did you do?” asked Tiana, her frustration turning into alarm for her cousin. She yanked her emanations under control again.

  **I wondered why she was so afraid all the time. Why she was so certain Ohedreton would strike. So I investigated and found out. She’s been talking to him.**

  “What? When?” Tiana flew back to the road.

  **In the forest.**

  Kiar crouched in the center of a silvery translucent sphere. Berrin held the reins of the horses, while Lisette kneeled at the side of the sphere, her glowing hand carefully wrapped in her cloak. Tiana skidded to a halt and Kiar glanced up, her eyes bloodshot and savage.

  “I hate that sword, Tiana! I wish you’d let the Citadel destroy it. It went into my head and it ripped and tore.”

  **I was in a hurry. She can push me out...** Jinriki’s voice paused, and then his voice took on the timbre that meant he spoke to others along with her. **I have discovered the truth. She has been speaking privately with the enemy.**

  Kiar’s look brimmed with hatred. Tiana knelt outside the bubble beside Lisette, Jinriki’s scabbard a dragging burden in her hand. Every time she dismounted now, she unhooked him from the saddle, a habit he certainly had reinforced. He didn’t have any sense at all that minds were more than... libraries. “What happened, Kiar?”

  Kiar wrapped her arms around herself. “Ohedreton found me in the forest when I walking alone. He talked to me. He tried to get me to tell you he was in the woods so you’d go looking for him. I didn’t.”

  Privately, Jinriki said, **Her shield can’t keep me out, not physically. Would you like me to destroy it?**

  Tiana closed her eyes and then fumbled Jinriki out of his scabbard and sent him scything away behind her, off the road. Blades of grass fluttered to the ground.

  **What? Are you listening to her? Are you mad?** Jinriki’s sudden rage roared in her head. **She cannot be trusted! You should force her to submit to me, so I may pull out the complete truth and evaluate the risk—**

  “SHUT UP!” Tiana shrieked, her palms on her temples. “Just shut up! I’ll deal with you later!” She drew in a ragged breath, waiting for argument, but she sensed only sullen silence. For a moment, the blood throbbing in her head dominated her thoughts, but then Lisette’s unmarred hand gently touched her own. When she looked up, Lisette withdrew her hand and gave her a little, unsmiling nod. Tiana took a deep breath and tried to turn her attention back to Kiar.

  Kiar’s shield was still up. She sat at the far side, watching Tiana warily. Tiana touched the shield, feeling its warmth, and wanted to weep at the fear behind it. “Kiar, I’m not angry at you. I’m not upset.” She groped for words. “I’m bewildered, and worried. Did he hurt you? Ohedreton, I mean. Did you fight? What did he want with you, besides trying to ambush us? Is that why you don’t want to be separated now?”

  Kiar stared at her, and then said, “No. No. He... wanted to talk. I said. He just wanted to talk. He...” She studied the ground, her pale hair hiding her eyes. “He said he liked me.”

  Tiana blinked, and then bent her legs so her crouch turned into a sitting position. She drew her hands over her face. She had the most peculiar urge to giggle, and knew if she gave in, she wouldn’t stop until she was crying. “Oh, Kiar. I’m so sorry.”

  Kiar pushed herself forward, closer to Tiana, and said, “It was awful! That maw, that monster, that murderer, and he said he liked me!”

  That was it. It was too much for Tiana. The giggles spilled out, and Kiar pulled back again, offended. Her shield shimmered out of existence, but Tiana couldn’t stop burbling with hysterical laughter. “What?” Kiar kept asking, while Lisette fumbled around for a canteen.

  Tiana fell over on her back and then curled on her side. Part of her watched from a distance as the laughter racked her body, and hoped she could stop before the laughter became sobs. Lisette put the canteen in her hand and then pushed it to her lips. Tiana gulped at water and then choked on it. She managed to say, “Is this the first time a boy’s told you he liked you, Kiar?” and then she went off again. It was so stupid, but she couldn’t stop thinking about how aloof Kiar always was, how it took a Blighter to get her attention, and of course her reaction to an expression of admiration was ‘how awful!’.

  She poured more water down her throat, until the choking hurt so much that the hysterics had to reluctantly recede. “I’m so, so, so very sorry,” she croaked. “I didn’t mean to laugh. I don’t know what came over me. I do believe it was awful. Having a Blighter, a monster, express even token affection for you!”

  Kiar watched her from the corner of her eye, and said sulkily, “I’ve been trying to figure out what he could possibly like about me.”

  Knowledgeably, Lisette said, “Some men like a girl who can beat them up.”

  Kiar blushed. “I’m sure he didn’t mean it in that way, anyhow.”

  Tiana sighed. She hated to break the moment; it reminded her of their easy camaraderie at the cookie receptions, back in another time. “So, is this why you don’t want us to be separated?”

  Kiar nibbled on her lip. “Basically. Especially with the injured, we can’t flee if something happens.”

  Sourly, Tiana said, “Wouldn’t the green light keep Fai alive even if we slung him over a horse’s back?”

  Kiar shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you?”

  Lisette said, “It might, but if that happened, his sister would be as likely to flee away with him as stay with us.”

  Tiana lay back on the track again. It was damp and cold through her cloak, but the change in perspective was pleasant. Grey clouds churned the sky, but here and there blue peeked through. It’d be freezing once the clouds blew away, seasonal weather at last. Finally. Winter was long overdue.

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said to the sky. “It’s a good concern. Do you think Ohedreton is going to seek you out again?”

  Kiar said, “I’m trying my best to avoid being alone for any length of time, so if he does, hopefully everybody would know about it. What are you going to do about that?” Tiana turned her head and saw Kiar looking towards Jinriki.

  Tiana sighed again. She’d never felt so worn out before. She could just close her eyes and go to sleep, right here. The ground would leech away her warmth and maybe she’d wake up as cool and calm as Jerya.

  The pressure on her mind from Jinriki’s silent rage increased. “I don’t know,” she said. “Should I apologize? Is it my responsibility? I don’t even know if I can promise he won’t do it again. I’ll talk to him.”

  Kiar’s mouth puckered. “Well, if he does it again, I can promise he will regret it.” She stood and took Spooky’s reins from Berrin.

  Tiana flopped on her other side, looking at the handle of the sword, visible through the golden winter grass. Minex crouched nearby, holding her hands close to her chest. “Too angry for me,” she said, and shook her head. “I wish the party had worked.”

  As heavy as Tiana felt, she pushed herself to her feet and went to pick Jinriki up again.

  **Are you done with her? Am I to be graced with your attention now?** Jinriki’s voice growled in her mind. Irritation burned away some of the exhaustion left by the hysterics.

  “Why did you go digging around in Kiar’s mind? It was so hard it was for her to trust you even a little, and you knew it.”

  **And now we know why she was so reluctant!**

  “Yes, we do!” She glared down at the blade. The metal swallowed her reflection, and only red highlights rippled along the edge. “Why did you do it, Jinriki? What made you think that kind of invasion was necessary? Or wer
e you just bored?”

  Jinriki said, **She presents herself as more incompetent than she is. I needed to know why. I’m looking after you, since you’ve demonstrated time and again that you can’t take care of yourself. As you’re demonstrating now.**

  Tiana scowled. “Hurting my friends and family is a very poor way to ‘look after me’, as you put it. I trust Kiar. I thought I could trust you, too.” Her anger grew the more she considered his words. Take care of her? Control her, more likely. The thought hurt.

  **Innis trusted Ohedreton, too, honored him above all others. You trust too easily,** Jinriki snapped. **Trust will kill you. If I had been there—Such betrayal didn’t come out of nowhere—**

  “Kiar isn’t going to betray me! She had a good reason for not mentioning those things!”

  **You can’t know that. I can, if I could just get inside her head again, truly see what she thinks...**

  “Even if you could get into her head again—and don’t you try it, ever again—that doesn’t mean anything. I don’t care what she thinks. There’s more to a person than the thoughts they think. You think I don’t know what she thinks of me? That I’m trouble, I’m... not heroic? Not smart? Silly? But her actions matter more than her thoughts and she’s still here.” She blew out her breath and felt the tickle in her throat that meant she might laugh again—or sob—if she didn’t watch herself. “I can’t believe I’m having this conversation with you. You’re a sword. You should just... worry about sword and fighting things and leave the people to me.”

  **I am. Not. Just. A sword.**

  Tiana rolled her eyes. That hot squeeze of her chest that meant she should hold her tongue but how could she? “Oh, right. My apologies. You’re a very magical hunk of metal. You’re still not a person. You know nothing about how people work. Innis probably didn’t either, from what I’ve heard. Maybe that’s why Ohedreton betrayed him.” Somehow the words, intended to hurt him, hurt her as much.

  The ground shook beneath her feet and an awful, inhuman howl split the sky. Jinriki growled, **I’ll show you what I am.** The sword in her hand vanished.