Coram approached, leading their horses. Guarding him was a woman of Alanna's age, dressed in a split skirt, boots, a cotton shirt, and a fleece-lined vest. She bore her crossbow like one who knew its use. She was also the most beautiful female Alanna had ever seen. Her face—particularly her nose—was strong boned; her hazel eyes were deep set under even brows; her chin was determined. Her mouth was naturally red, accented by ivory skin. She wore her jet-black hair pulled into a knot.
Alanna sighed. "Cute" was the best description she could hope for.
Liam bowed to the young woman. "Your Royal Highness."
"Have we met, sir?" Hers was the voice that had answered Buri.
"No, Highness." Despite his peasant's accent, the Dragon was as gallant as a noble. "But I'd have to be blind not to recognize a daughter of the Wilima house."
Thayet jian Wilima smiled. "Sadly, I do take after my father," the Princess admitted. She fingered the curve of her nose.
Alanna stared at Thayet. The Princess had once been considered as a wife for Jon, but the Queen had said no—there was bad blood in the Wilima line. But seeing her Alanna thought it was too bad Jon couldn't marry this one. She didn't look as if she'd let him stand on his dignity for long. The idea made her grin.
Buri poked her with her bow. "Her Highness isn't someone to laugh at."
"Don't, Buri," Thayet said. "These people aren't enemies."
"We don't know they're friends."
Liam glanced at Alanna's guard. "Believe me, K'mir, if I wanted to turn the tables on you, I would." He feinted to the side and lunged forward. Before Alanna could see what he'd done, Buri sat in the dirt, her crossbow in Liam's hands. He offered it back to her as she rose. Buri took it, her eyes filled with respect. She put the arrow in her quiver and bolstered the bow with a nod.
Her reaction made Alanna like her. From what she knew of the K'mir tribes to Sarain's north, Buri probably was reared a warrior. She took being disarmed well.
Liam performed introductions. When he gave Alanna's titles, Buri whispered, "A full knight is a woman—a noblewoman?"
Coram bristled. "She has the bluest blood in Tortall," he growled. "There never was a zhir or jin anythin' fit t'polish a Trebond boot."
"Coram," Alanna sighed.
"The family's in The Book of Gold," added Coram. "No zhir or even zhirit were writ down till The Book of Silver—•"
"I think it's wonderful," Thayet interrupted. "It's time we nobles showed we aren't delicate flowers, instead of leaving the glory to our Shang and K'miri sisters." Changing the subject diplomatically, she asked, "Where are you three bound?"
Coram told them about their journey (but not its object) as Alanna appraised Thayet's group. They were tired; the children's faces were grey with exhaustion. How long had they been traveling, and how much longer could they go?
Coram arrived at the same conclusion. "If ye'll forgive my sayin' it, yer Highness, ye need help. Where're ye and the young ones bound?"
"The Mother of Waters in Rachia," Buri replied. "All of us but Thayet and the baby and me were students in the convent Mother of Mountains. The baby, Thayet—found."
"Soldiers killed his family," volunteered the girl who carried the infant. "Everyone but him, poor little man."
Alanna did some calculations. "Rachia's four days' ride south," she said. "Except you're afoot—those of you who can walk."
"We had no choice," Thayet said. "Zhir Anduo's army was coming."
"Doesn't the Warlord have men to protect you?" Liam asked.
"They ran." Buri was plainly contemptuous.
Thayet protested, "Buri, that's not fair. They were afraid," she told Liam. "They had no way of knowing if their families were safe."
Buri shrugged. "In plain talk, it still means they ran." Thayet glared at her companion.
Smoothing his mustache, Liam said, "Coram's right, you need us. We'll get you to the Mother of Waters."
Buri wasn't willing to accept this. "We don't need them!" she told Thayet hotly. "We don't even know if they're on our side…"
"Don't be silly, Buri," Thayet replied. "I haven't heard Alanna's name, but I know about Liam Ironarm. People like this don't prey on people like us."
"There's a first time for everything," the K'mir muttered.
Thayet's response was in K'mir. Buri looked away, and Thayet turned to Alanna with a smile. "Please understand. Buri's family has served my mother's family for generations. That means I can't tell her to do anything. She'll always say what's on her mind—no matter how much it embarrasses me—and she behaves as she pleases."
Alanna looked at Coram, who hid a grin. "I understand, Princess Thayet," the knight said drily. "I too suffer from old family servants."
"If this is settled, I want to set up camp," Liam interrupted. "The little ones are asleep on their feet."
Alanna and Buri exchanged looks for a moment—Alanna's measuring, Buri's sullen. Finally Buri nodded. "If that's the way it has to be."
"It is," Thayet snapped.
THEY CAMPED where they were, the men settling the children after they'd been fed. Alanna took the first watch, enjoying the quiet. She had a feeling she wouldn't have too much quiet to enjoy for a week or so.
"Me and Thayet were fine before you came." Buri spoke unexpectedly, and Alanna jumped. Hadn't she learned once tonight, on the ridge, that this K'mir made no noise when she moved? "Thayet's K'miri-taught, and I'm K'miri-bred. We take care of ourselves."
Alanna felt a surge of empathy. She understood this girl-warrior's hurt pride. "For you and Thayet that might be enough, though I'm not sure. An entire army's looking for her. But what if something happens to you? The little ones will starve."
Buri sat on the ground beside her. "I'm supposed to look after Thayet," she explained. "I help with the children, but I'm not good at it the way she is. And I can't leave them to die. What've they done?"
"So the Princess is your chief responsibility. If anything happens to her while you're worrying about the children, you will blame yourself."
Buri nodded. "You probably think that's foolish."
"Not at all." Alanna felt as if she spoke to herself when she was Prince Jonathan's squire. "Coram and Liam and I will help you make sure Thayet's unharmed, all right?"
They sat together for a while, saying nothing. At last the K'mir stood and offered Alanna her hand. "I'm glad you joined us," she said as the knight returned her grip. "I didn't like the idea of taking on any armies by myself."
Alanna hid a grin. "Thayet would've helped," she pointed out.
"Unh-unh," was the emphatic reply. "You think I'd let Kalasin's daughter endanger herself? I'd put her somewhere safe, where she couldn't get in trouble."
Yes, Faithful said when Buri returned to her bed. She is very much like you at that age.
"Surely I didn't think I could beat an army single-handed!"
You still do.
"The trouble with arguing with a cat is that cats don't hesitate to say anything about you, no matter how crazy it is," she complained. "You can't win an argument that way!"
Nor should you try. With that, Faithful trotted off for a walk in the forest.
THE NEXT morning Liam and Alanna did their dawn exercises. "I don't care how strange yesterday was," he told Alanna when she grumbled. "You don't get good unless you practice." The worst of it was that he was right. Were he and Faithful in a plot to make her feel young and ignorant?
Liam cooked breakfast as Alanna roused their companions. Once they were fed, the company was ready to set out. Buri and Coram erased signs of their camp: bandits who would ignore three people would attack a large party. Liam let the boys and the ten-year-old girl ride his placid Drifter. He led the horse, keeping a sharp eye on their surroundings. Thayet walked, the baby in a sling on her chest; Buri stayed with her Princess. Coram's Anvil bore the teenaged girls. Then came the packhorse Bother and the donkey (who kept well away from the bad-tempered Bother). Riding at the rear of the column, keeping an eye on the
ir surroundings as Liam did, were Alanna, Faithful, and Moonlight.
At their noon stop, Alanna found the stream and splashed her face with cold water. Buri came to her, bearing an armful of baby. "Here." She gave him to Alanna, who froze—what if she dropped him? Sighing, Buri fixed the knight's hands in a better holding position before she turned away.
"Where are you going?" Alanna demanded.
"You act like you've never held a baby before!"
"I haven't."
Buri stared at Alanna as if she couldn't believe her ears. "Never? There are babies everywhere—"
"Perhaps so, but their parents didn't ask me to hold them!" The infant wriggled, and Alanna tried to give him back to Buri.
"You have to learn sometime." The K'mir turned away. "Stay there and don't clutch him, I'm going for a blanket. You'll be fine."
"I don't think child care is a necessary part of my education," Alanna said to herself. "It's not like I plan to stay anywhere long enough to marry and have children."
The baby sneezed and wrinkled his face, which made her grin. Gently she bounced him as she had seen Coram do. To her dismay, the infant started to bawl. She cooed and rocked him to no avail—he worked himself into a tantrum. Buri returned with her blanket.
"What's wrong?" Alanna cried. "I only joggled him a little—"
Buri opened the blanket on the ground and put clean diapers on it. "Probably wet," she said. "Change him." She left again.
Alanna looked at the child in horror. "I never—" She was saying that too much lately—surely a proven knight was equal to anything! Trying to remember how Thayet had done it earlier, she put the child down and unwrapped him. A stench rose from his diaper: the baby was more than wet. When Alanna fumbled the knot open, she saw a damp brown mass was responsible. This can't be worse than mucking out stables, she told herself, fighting her unhappy stomach. I've done that hundreds of times.
Coram knelt beside her. "Take the diaper he fouled and wipe him with the edges," he explained, his eyes twinkling. When she looked at him pleadingly, Coram shook his head. "It's not hard. Lift him by his ankles—he's used to it. That's the idea—get rid of as much as ye can. Put the dirty one aside." He dampened a clean diaper in the stream and gave it to her. "Swab the poor mite down. Think how ye'd feel in that state. Easy, little lad," he crooned, giving the baby a finger to hold. The infant grinned, showing a bit of ivory. "Teeth, is it? Let me see." He ran his finger around the baby's gums. "And two more comin' in—no wonder ye're scratchy."
Alanna stared at Coram as he gave her a fresh, dry diaper. "Where in the Mother's Name did you learn all this?"
"Fold it like a triangle. I was the oldest, and four more after me. When I governed Trebond, I watched the little ones when their mothers were workin' in the fields. I like them fine." He shook the finger the baby clutched; the infant crowed and babbled happily. "A grip like iron: this one'll be a blacksmith, mark my words. No, no—if ye put it on him so loose, it'll fall off. And that's a fair knot." Coram held the baby in the air and shook him gently, to be answered with a gleeful cackle.
Alanna felt odd. Coram could've had a family years ago, if he hadn't been working for Trebond.
Coram looked at her. "Don't start sayin' maybe ye should bring me home to Rispah. We've somethin' to do before we head back." He touched her shoulder. "I've been raisin' ye. I've no complaints of my life."
Buri showed Alanna how to feed the infant from a waterskin filled with goat's milk. When that was done, Alanna picked up the child as she'd seen Liam do, patting him on the back. Now she had the knack of handling a baby! She was shocked by the infant's burp, unpleasantly surprised when dampness spread over her back. Seeing her face, Buri laughed until she cried. Liam gave Alanna a wet cloth, fighting to keep his face straight. "Put down a clean rag first," he explained. "They spit up when they're burped—and they fuss when they aren't." Alanna went to change, red with embarrassment.
When she returned, all the children slept on blankets in the shade. Even Buri dozed, one arm over the baby. Liam, Thayet, and Coram waited by the stream, out of earshot.
"They need rest," Liam told her when she joined them. "They won't make it to sundown, otherwise. We're used to the road—they aren't."
"Thayet tells me they've no supplies," said Coram. "Even the food we brought won't last."
"We tried to forage." The Princess cooled her feet in the stream. "The farms in these valleys were rich, and there was game—but not any more. The land's picked clean. We ran out of food last night, and Buri and the older girls have been stinting themselves for days. They can't keep that up."
I bet they aren't the only ones who've gone short of food, Alanna thought, watching Thayet's too-thin face. We have to do something, soon. But how, if we can't live off the country?
"We have t'find humans, then." Coram was matter-of-fact. "If the land's picked over, let's find the pickers and clean them out."
ALANNA gave Moonlight's reins to Thayet for the afternoon. Sliding a quiver over her shoulder, she took her longbow and ranged up and down the road, watching for game. She bagged two squirrels, which told her more than Thayet's words how badly off Sarain was. At this time of year game should have tumbled into her lap.
Buri came to join her, with no better luck. After an hour's hunting, Alanna asked something that had been on her mind. "Why is Thayet roaming the mountains? Why isn't she with her father?"
"It's because of Kalasin," Buri said after a moment's consideration. "Her mother?"
Buri nodded. "The most beautiful woman in the world. She was… amazing." Her black eyes were sad. "Kalasin asked the Warlord to deal fairly with the K'mir, because we're her people. Low-landers take us for slaves; they steal our horses—" The dark girl stopped until her anger was under control. "Jin Wilima hates us—he's a lowlander completely. So he signed laws forbidding us to meet in groups of more than five people at a time. There's more than thirty in the Hau Ma clan, and they're our smallest! How can we honor the dead or a marriage or a birth if the clan is forbidden to meet?"
"Go on," urged the knight when Buri stopped.
"I'm sorry. What Kalasin did was a great thing, but it hurts to remember. She and Thayet tried to make the Warlord stop. They even pleaded—a K'mir never begs! But he signed the law.
"Kalasin knew what she had to do then. She sent Thayet to the convent, far away. My mother and my brother, who served Kalasin, kept the guards from breaking into her tower room. Kalasin stood at her window and sang her death chant, about her shame at jin Wilima's laws. A crowd was there to witness: nobles, common-born, and slaves. My mother and brother were killed, but they held the door until it was too late for the Warlord's men to stop her from jumping. Mother and Pathom are buried at Kalasin's right and left hands. The Warlord will lie in his tomb alone."
"I'm sorry," Alanna said quietly.
Buri shook her head. "They had the best deaths any K'mir could have. My people did what was right, and so did Kalasin."
''But they're gone," Alanna pointed out, disturbed. "Being dead doesn't help anybody."
"That depends on the kind of death." Liam had drawn even with them. "If your death's wasted, that's one thing. By her example, Kalasin woke up a lot of folk who thought it was all right to abuse the K'mir. Buri's mother and her brother made it possible for Kalasin to tell why she killed herself."
"Dead is dead," Alanna snapped. "You can't do anything from a grave, Liam!"
Dragon and K'mir exchanged looks that clearly said Alanna didn't know what she was talking about. Disturbed by their agreement, knowing she would rather change things while she was alive, Alanna moved ahead.
WHEN Coram found signs that bandits had been in the area recently, Liam decreed it was time to stop for the night. Faithful found abandoned caves above a stream, where Thayet briskly set up camp. The children gathered firewood as Buri and Coram went fishing; Liam cooked. Once again Alanna got baby duty—diapering, feeding, and burping—this time with no mishaps.
Taking her bow
l of thin stew outside, Alanna took a seat on a large rock. Homesickness had caught up with her that afternoon. She wanted to see familiar faces and scenes: she missed George, in spite of sharing a bedroll with Liam—or perhaps because of that. Since the night before, Liam had been careful and deadly serious, concentrating on keeping their company safe until they arrived in Rachia. She respected him but felt shut out all the same.
She missed George and his sense of humor. If he were here, she thought, he'd be in the middle of things, burping babies, hauling the boys off to wash, stealing Sarain blind for our supper. She blinked away unexpected tears. On the road she had no George to make her laugh, no Jon to say "Of course you can do it," no Myles to explain the history of Sarain. She hoped the Dominion Jewel would be worth the trip.
Faithful, who'd vanished when they found the caves, patted her foot. His coat was thick with dust and burrs. Bandits, he panted, a large camp of them, east of here.
THAYET, who protested, stayed with the children. The two men, Alanna, and Buri formed the attack party, moving quietly through the woods led by Faithful. They marched for half an hour before they came to a canyon. Down there, Faithful told Alanna. Fifty of them and their women. The four crept to the canyon's lip, where they could see the camp below. Alanna beckoned the others to draw back while they talked.
"Faithful says there's about fifty people down there," she whispered. "We can't take on those odds."
"I'm not a good enough thief to get in there and take what we need," Liam told her. Buri and Coram nodded their agreement.
"I'll have to use magic." Alanna met Liam's eyes. She couldn't tell their color in the dark, but when she put her hand on his arm she found he was rigid with tension. "I'm sorry. I know you don't like it. Can you think of something better?"
"Magic's dishonorable," Buri muttered. "It's—cheating."
Alanna and Coram exchanged looks. "Do ye prefer ten to one odds?" Coram asked. "I don't. We've got some brave younglings and yer Princess who depend on us t'come back."
"I don't like this," protested the K'mir. "It's too confusing. I suppose you have a point. I can't exactly challenge all of them to single combat."
Song of the Lioness #4 - Lioness Rampant Page 6
