Song of the Lioness #4 - Lioness Rampant

by Tamora Pierce

  "What do ye have in mind?" Coram asked his knight-mistress.

  Thinking, Alanna said, "I don't know. A net, maybe, to tie them down while you take what we need." Coram frowned, troubled. He knew she'd never done anything so big and real. He said nothing, for which she was grateful.

  "Do your magic, then." Liam's voice was hoarse. "If you feel like it when you're done, maybe you can lend a hand with the real work." He returned to the canyon's edge.

  "That isn't fair," Buri protested softly, but the Dragon was out of earshot. "What he said isn't fair," she told Coram and Alanna.

  "That's all right—I understand," Alanna told her. "You two had better get close to the camp. Don't worry about what I'm doing. It won't affect you." She watched them slip over the canyon's edge.

  You used to feel like Liam, Faithful commented as he and Alanna went to the edge of the canyon. Magic and fighting don't mix, and a fighter who uses magic is cheating.

  "I'm older now," whispered Alanna.

  She heard Liam's feral battle cry, and the sounds of fighting. A sentry had seen the Dragon. Alanna had no more time to think. Reaching for the first image in her mind, Alanna saw the Dominion Jewel. Even a vision of it was a catalyst: Alanna's Gift rushed into and through it, swirling out over the bandit camp as a shimmering violet net. She maneuvered it into place, making sure each tent and bedroll was covered. It was hard to concentrate as elation filled her. Did Thom feel this powerful when he performed one of his great magics? No wonder he'd given up a normal life to become a sorcerer!

  The net solidified. Coram, Buri, and Liam were unable to see it; they could only sense it. Alanna extended her magic until she could see what was happening below. Buri and Liam looted the bandits' supply tent to fill packs with food and goods. Coram met them, leading four horses. The others he'd turned loose, making it impossible for the bandits to follow them.

  Now Alanna strained, trying to free herself from the spell while leaving it in place. She couldn't even banish the Jewel's image. It burned in her mind like a beacon, keeping her inner eyes riveted to it. Already she felt the peculiar sinking that meant she had gone too far.

  Cut it loose! Faithful yowled in her ear. Cut it loose, or you'll pour your life into it! She couldn't hear him through the focus the Jewel-image demanded.

  Pain broke Alanna's concentration as Faithful wrapped himself around her arm, his claws and teeth ripping into her skin. Now she could free herself of the Jewel's hold. Peeling the cat off, she lurched to her feet. The net itself would hold another half hour or so, time for them to get away. "Thanks," she told Faithful in a gasp.

  When the others came for her with one of the spare horses, they saw she was unable to ride. Coram looked at Liam, but the Dragon's expression made it clear he would rather not be near Alanna just then. Coram pulled her up behind him onto the saddle.

  ALANNA took two days to recover, sleeping to restore her strength. By the time she was on her feet, Liam had gotten over his anger with her enough to give a dawn lesson. That same day the small company took to the road once again, the teenagers each riding a horse, with a smaller child behind. Coram had the third ten-year-old, and Thayet rode with the baby in his sling on her chest. Buri rode the shaggy pony Coram had taken from the bandits.

  Using the less-traveled paths, they moved quickly through the desolate highlands. They passed burned-out farms and cabins—all abandoned, their owners dead or run away. Almost every building had its own ugly reminder of the war in the shape of unburied bodies or skeletons. They saw and heard no evidence of human life, although the warriors all sensed watching eyes. Whoever spied on them stayed within the shelter of the trees, too frightened or too wary to approach.

  These sights gave Alanna nightmares, dreams in which the bodies were Tortallan and the burned-out homes belonged to her friends. Liam soon found a way to deal with dreams: he gave an extra lesson in hand-to-hand combat after they stopped for the night. Between the new lessons, the regular ones at daybreak, and her turn on watch, Alanna soon was far too tired to dream.

  RACHIA was a bustling trade city, her streets packed with things to see. Even the many soldiers present couldn't put a damper on people's spirits. The children wriggled in their saddles, trying to look at everything. Buri stuck to Thayet, scowling at anyone who came too near. Alanna found it difficult to breathe and was dismayed to think she was more used to desert and woodlands than to crowded cities. How would she feel when she returned to Corus?

  They had crossed the marketplace when some instinct warned her—she looked up to see an archer on a nearby rooftop. Alanna yelled, "Thayet!"

  Liam was afoot, leading his Drifter. Hearing Alanna, he dragged Thayet and the baby from their saddle as an arrow sliced past their heads. A second arrow followed; Liam grabbed it from the air.

  Buri dismounted, dark with rage, and ran into the building where the archer stood. Dismounting, Alanna saw that the building supported a sturdy flower trellis reaching from ground to roof. She tested it and started to climb, trying not to think about rotten wood or loose anchorings. "Coram! Get them to the convent!" she yelled as twigs showered onto her face. She didn't look, but she heard Liam and Coram bellow orders.

  She vaulted over the roof's edge, keeping low. The assassin—swathed in head-cloth and scarf—shot at her, then leaped to the next building. Alanna dodged, unsheathed her sword, and pursued. Behind her she heard a rooftop door crash open, and another pair of running feet. Wary, she glanced back to find Buri catching up. The K'mir was a faster runner than Alanna. She drew even within seconds, with her dagger in her hand. "Don't kill him!" Alanna panted. "We need to know who pays him!" Buri nodded.

  They raced from roof to roof, Buri and Alanna closing the gap. The assassin's breath came harder; his steps faltered. The next roof was a story lower than the ones they ran on—the assassin jumped and landed awkwardly. Rising, he stumbled on.

  Buri jumped and fell, her left leg twisting under her, but she ran on, sweat pouring down her face. Alanna jumped and rolled, as Liam and her wrestling teachers had instructed her; she got to her feet without any hurt. Buri shook her head when Alanna hesitated. "Don't wait for me," she hissed. "Get him!"

  Alanna raced on. Finally their quarry was forced to halt—he'd run out of roofs.

  Alanna stopped, afraid to scare him. "Talk to me!" she called. "I just want to know why—"

  He jumped. When Alanna came to the roofs edge, he lay in an alley below, sprawled and broken. Cursing, she returned for Buri. Ignoring the stares of the building's inhabitants, she and the hobbling K'mir went down to the street and into the alley. No one else had noticed the assassin's fall, Alanna was relieved to note. She didn't want a street urchin or his older counterpart stealing the dead man's belongings before she and Buri got the chance to examine them.

  Buri knelt beside the body, turning out his empty pockets. "He could be anybody." She kept her voice low as she lifted the assassin's headcloth. The face, sickeningly misshapen after the fall, was male and coarse, the cheeks filled with a drunkard's broken veins. "Tavern scum," she said flatly. "You can buy a killer like this for a gold piece. He probably drank his money already." She covered the dead man once more. "Someone wants Thayet dead."

  Alanna nodded. "She has enemies."

  "Her father has enemies," Buri snapped, standing shakily.

  "Does it matter whose enemies they are? They want Thayet."

  You can discuss this at the convent, Faithful told them from the alley's mouth. You're needed there, too. Now.

  WHEN she and Buri entered the convent visitor's court, Alanna smelled trouble. Their company should have been placed in a temple guest house immediately. That was the Daughters' policy everywhere in the Eastern Lands. Yet their party was here, outside the convent proper, watched by a Daughter Doorwarden. No other priestesses—a temple this size housed at least two hundred—were to be seen. Thayet was puzzled; the children were nervous.

  "What's going on?" Alanna asked Liam quietly.

  "I do
n't know." His eyes were blue-grey, revealing nothing. "Some Daughters came out, gabbled like geese, and vanished. The Doorwarden says we wait. I want Thayet out of sight."

  Buri scowled. "Is this the honor given a Princess? I should teach these lowland hens some manners."

  "Save your anger for Thayet's enemies," Liam advised. "You'll serve her best if you're careful."

  "Hens," Buri muttered rebelliously.

  Like Buri and the Dragon, Alanna wanted Thayet in a safe place, not this open courtyard. She went to the Doorwarden. "Please bear a message to the First Daughter of this House."

  The Daughter nodded. Coldly the knight said, "I am Sir Alanna of Trebond and Olau, Knight of the Realm of Tortall, a shaman and rider of the Bloody Hawk Tribe of the Bazhir. Why are we kept outside the curtain wall? Why have we no explanation for this lack of courtesy? The children are tired and hungry, we are tired and dirty, and Princess Thayet is being shot at. The Daughters of the Mother of Waters owe a duty to travelers as servants of She Who Rules Us All. Why have you not performed that duty? I will be forced to report such a lapse to the Goddess-on-Earth in the City of the Gods." Her violet eyes dangerous, Alanna nodded. "Please deliver my message."

  The Daughter bowed and hurried away.

  In minutes they were shown to a guest house well inside the thick convent wall. Servants came to look after the young members of their group as the Doorwarden took the adults and Buri to a meeting with the leader of the Mother of Waters. Passing through a long courtyard, they entered a room where two Daughters sat at a long table. One was dressed in the black habit of the Hag, the Goddess as Queen-of-the-Underworld; the other wore the cloth-of-gold habit that marked her as First Daughter of a wealthy convent.

  "I am First Daughter jian Cadao," she said when everyone was made comfortable. She avoided looking at Thayet. "Princess—Lady Thayet, we were… unprepared for your arrival. We want to extend every courtesy… " She stopped, looking flustered.

  "There are problems." The woman in black was young, but she spoke with authority. "More than we could have foreseen." Buri stirred, thinking the Daughter was being rude to Thayet. The Hag-Daughter nodded to her. "Forgive my bluntness—I never learned to soften my words. Princess, your father—the Warlord—is dead. May the Black God ease his passing."

  Thayet's ivory skin went dead white. "How? And… when?" she rasped.

  "Illness," the Hag-Daughter replied. "Sudden and painful. We suspect poison, of course. But no one is anxious to prove it." After hesitating, she added quietly, "Forgive me if I am too abrupt. I was told you and your royal father were not on speaking terms."

  "We weren't, not after my—mother," Thayet whispered. She tried to smile. "Still, he was all I had. Go on, please."

  "Try to understand our position. His end places a different meaning on your presence in our Houses." Her eyes, unlike those of the First Daughter's, had been fixed on Thayet. Now she examined Liam; the Dragon shifted in his seat. "The rebel leader, zhir Anduo, is frank about his need to talk to you."

  "Kill her, ye mean," Coram rumbled.

  The Daughter's eyes went to him. "Not under our roof," she said coldly. "No priestess of ours will betray the Princess. Our House is a holy sanctuary; we will not be profaned." She glanced at the First Daughter, who looked away. "You say assassins already have made an attempt. We are not proof against them or against traitors. Zhir Anduo is not the only one to find the Warlord's child interesting." She met Thayet's eyes again.

  "I understand," Thayet replied softly.

  "The children are welcome," added the First Daughter. "Except… except for your personal guard…"

  "Buriram," Thayet whispered.

  Jian Cadao avoided Buri's glare and continued, "She is K'mir and closely linked to you. We cannot promise her safety. The children who were students at the Mother of Mountains we shall return to their families. We understand the infant is an orphan. He will be reared by us. But we dare not shelter you. I can give clothing, horses, whatever you need. You must go soon, before zhir Anduo knows you are here." Now she looked at the princess. "I am truly sorry, Thayet. I have no choice. Already I have disobeyed orders to report your arrival. It won't be long before a spy sends word to the rebels."

  DISMISSED by the priestesses, they went back to the room Thayet was assigned. None of them were surprised to find packed saddlebags at the door. "They don't waste time, do they?" Buri sneered when she saw them.

  Alanna combed mud and stickers out of Faithful's coat, a process the cat loved (and made difficult by wriggling in joy). "I liked the Hag-Daughter," she confessed, working on a clump. "She was honest."

  "The First Daughter left a bad taste in my mouth," Coram remarked.

  "Don't be hard on jian Cadao," Thayet said quietly. "She's a cousin on my father's side. It wasn't easy for her."

  "Your own family throws you to the wolves?" Liam's eyes turned an intense green—he was furious.

  "We prefer ambition to loyalty," Thayet replied. She fingered the arch of her nose. "And she's in trouble herself. It'll be easier for all my family if I'm gone. With my father dead…" She looked away from them, swallowing. "Any power I had was through him. Now I'm a pawn. Zhir Anduo can strengthen his claim to the throne by marrying me. The ones who don't want him will use me to oppose him, because I'm jian Wilima—although a jian Wilima female." She started to pace, her hazel eyes stormy. "Where can Buri and I go? Please—I need advice."

  "They can come along," Coram whispered to Alanna. "They're no hindrance—we saw that comin' here. The Roof can't be worse than what they face now."

  Alanna looked Thayet over, fingering the emberstone. Thayet was dependable. She was a good archer, a necessity when they hunted to feed themselves. If she was nervous, Alanna had yet to see it. She never complained, never cried, never fainted. She never shirked her watch. Thayet and Buri would be an asset to an expedition like theirs.

  Alanna looked at Buri and surprised a pleading expression in the girl's eyes. She replaced it with her usual scowl, but this time Alanna wasn't fooled. Buri must be worried sick, she thought. And she knows Thayet will be safe with us. Besides, I'd miss them.

  "Thayet," she said aloud, "you know where we're going. We're on—a quest, I suppose. When I find what I'm after, I'll return home. If Liam and Buri don't object, why don't you ride with us?"

  "Mind? Gods, no! Thayet's a better cook than you are," said Liam.

  "The Roof of the World," Thayet whispered. Her face brightened.

  "Leave Sarain?" Buri grinned. "Just show me the way!"

  A DAUGHTER shook her awake. Glancing at the window, Alanna saw it was just before dawn—time for Liam's teaching. She directed a questioning look at the Dragon, but he only shrugged and tossed Alanna her clothes. They dressed and followed the priestess out into the corridor.

  The black-robed Daughter awaited them with Buri, Thayet, and Coram. "No time to waste," she told them quietly. "Zhir Rayong, who is sworn to zhir Anduo, knows Thayet's here, and he's on his way. My people can delay him for three hours, but you must go if you want to escape."

  Alanna looked at her friends, thinking fast. "We can't go as we are. When it gets out that we're gone, everyone will look for a group of nobles, or the Dragon and his friends. I can ride as a boy." She grinned, looking at the shirt and breeches she already wore. "Goddess knows I've had practice."

  "We'll pass as mercenaries," Liarn added. Coram nodded. They all gazed at Thayet, whose looks could not have been more distinctive if she had tried.

  "I can disguise her Highness," the Hag-Daughter said. "My women will make your packs seem less well cared for. What of the horses?"

  They conferred by glance, and Alanna shook her head. "We don't have time to dye their coats. If it's necessary, I'll put an illusion on them and my cat till danger's past." She looked apologetically toward Liam, who shrugged.

  "Let's start," the Dragon said. "The sooner we're gone, the safer everyone will be."

  Thayet and the Daughter disappeared while the others
changed into their most disreputable clothes. Novices saddled the horses, rubbing dirt into their coats, manes, and tack, then covering the saddlebags in patched canvas. Alanna's lance and shield were put on Liam's Drifter, since commoner youths did not carry them.

  When Alanna herself entered the courtyard, she barely recognized her own Moonlight in the dun-colored mare that awaited her. Using rawhide strips, the knight wrapped Lightning's gem-studded hilt until only the battered crystal on the pommel showed. Buri, dressed as Alanna was in a boy's shirt, breeches, and jacket, arrived next. She glared at Bother, who laid back his ears at the sight of her, and went to make friends with the pony she'd named Sure-Foot.

  Thayet was transformed into a sallow-skinned female. Her hair was dull, touched with grey, and a purple birthmark spread over her nose and down her left cheek. She was swathed in a shapeless brown dress. The whole effect was so painfully ugly that no one would look at her for long.

  "We provisioned you," one of the novices said, looking at Thayet with tears in her eyes. "The packhorse, and your bags. Princess, the Goddess smile on you, wherever you go!"

  Alanna gripped the Hag-Daughter's arm. "If you come west—"

  She smiled. "Farewell, Lioness."

  They galloped out of the convent gates, riding hard. Distance, rather than conserving themselves and the horses, was the important thing for this part of their journey. For once Faithful kept silent about the joggling, hooking his claws into his cup and holding on. Their route from the convent led past the city wall rather than into the city. The road was deserted by Rachia's early morning visitors, so no one would witness their flight. Either the gods smiled or the Hag-Daughter had weather-workers at her command: fog enveloped them, muffling the noise they made and sheltering them from sight.

  The ride to the border took three days, with Liam setting a pace all of them could handle. Alanna relinquished command of their expedition to him: not only was he familiar with eastern Sarain and the Roof of the World, but he wanted to lead.