Queens of Tristaine

by Cate Culpepper

  “Full of phlegm,” Sammy sighed. She clasped Jess’s hand and kissed it. “You be careful on this trip now, Jesstin.” She nodded at Brenna. “And bring her back unscratched, please.”

  “Aye, adanin. I’ll do my very best.” Jess looked at Brenna with concern. Brenna nodded slightly, acknowledging the fever that worried them both. “Be well, my Sammy.” Jess ducked back out the window, and the bead curtain clicked closed.

  Brenna knew she had to say goodbye now, neatly and quickly, or she’d be reduced to a slobbering mess. She bent over Sammy and rested her cheek against her warm forehead. “Be good. Do what Shann says. I’ll see you in a few days.”

  “Okay,” Samantha murmured. Brenna sat up. Sammy’s eyes were drifting closed, but she smiled again. “Shann said...you have to give me the keys to Hippo...and let me ride her when you come back.”

  “That’s a promise,” Brenna whispered. She kissed Samantha’s cheek and then got up.

  *

  Jess finished tying her last pack to the sling across Bracken’s back. She stroked her horse’s neck, and he lifted one hoof and clocked it impatiently against a stone. Bracken’s sentiment was clear—enough mush, time to hit the trail.

  “Work on your patience, old friend.” Jess grinned and gave her mustang’s neck a last pat. “And keep your little sister over there under close watch on this journey. She carries precious cargo.”

  She turned and watched Hakan help Brenna climb aboard her bay mare. Hakan’s arms were layered with muscle, but her big hands on Brenna’s waist were gentleness itself. She served expertly and well as the clan’s master of horse, but Jess valued Hakan equally as a warrior and a friend. The ebony sheen of her skin was marked with several scars earned fighting in Tristaine’s defense. Jess couldn’t ask for a more able sister to ride with her on this mission.

  Dana and Kyla were just mounting their horses. The last of their party, Vicar, Jess’s blood-cousin, frowned as she straightened the blanket that would cushion Kyla’s legs from her gelding’s coarse hide. As fair as Jess was dark and just as tall, Vicar’s frown could strike terror into more than one stout Amazon heart. She shared Jess’s reputation as a fierce fighter, as well as her protective adoration of Kyla. Kyla grinned down at Vicar and gave her nose a playful tweak.

  It was a good cadre, Jess thought, a balanced collection of skills and brave spirits.

  More women were trickling into the square now to wish them safe travel. Jess closed her eyes and inhaled, long and deep. She smelled horses, the faint smoke from cooking fires, bacon sizzling in a nearby lodge. And as always, the light, green scent of pine and spruce.

  “What we smell lingers in our minds more clearly than what we see.”

  Eyes still closed, Jess smiled. Shann’s quiet voice at her side was deeply familiar and welcome.

  “Aye.” Jess blew out a long breath. “It’s what I yearned for most in my time in the City. The Clinic reeked of chemicals and fear.” She suppressed a shiver. “I conjured the aromas of home to pass the nights.”

  “And now you lead the sisters you love most back to the source of your nightmares.” Shann touched Jess’s corded forearm. “Jesstin, does Brenna understand how much you fear returning to the City?”

  Jess blinked. “We’re all scared, lady. And we know what we need to do, in spite of our fear.”

  “It’s different for you.” Shann looked at Jess searchingly. “Captivity was an unimaginable horror for you, dear one. Not just the physical hardships you suffered—dreadful as those were. You were locked away from the stars and the sky, night after night, for seven months. I feared such a thing would kill you. It was a full season before that haunted look began to leave your eyes.”

  “Shann—”

  Shann nodded encouragement, but Jess found nothing to say. She wiped a small bead of sweat from her upper lip.

  “It doesn’t matter, lady,” Jess said finally. “We both know I have to do this.”

  “Yes.” Shann lowered her head and sighed. “All right, but hear this, Jesstin. Let your sisters take care of you, when you have need. Don’t be so strong that you shut out their comfort. You are not alone this time.”

  “Aye, Shann. I hear you.”

  Shann cradled Jess’s cheek for a moment, then stepped back so she could swing aboard her horse.

  Bracken turned with gentle pressure from Jess’s knee. Jess looked at the column of five mounted Amazons who waited with gathered reins for her signal. She looked at Brenna and tried to convey all her love and pride in her brief smile. Jess turned and nodded at Shann. “Your blessing, lady?”

  Shann stepped back until all six riders could see her, and then lifted one hand in benediction. “Amazons, may our Mothers guide your path,” she called, her words ringing clarion clear in the crisp morning air. “Your sisters will hold you safe in their prayers until we see you again. You carry with you all our hope. Ride for Tristaine!”

  Jess let out a short, sharp whistle and was answered with immediate discipline by five others. The women standing in the square unleashed a lusty war cry of farewell, and Jess nudged Bracken into an easy canter. She heard the other horses fall in behind her in ordered cadence, and she led them toward the tree-lined path that would take them down off the mesa.

  Jess knew she was not the only one whose vision blurred with tears at this parting. Shann was right. This time she wasn’t alone.

  Chapter Four

  Jess set a brutal pace, and they held it for days.

  Brenna trusted Jess to prioritize safety. They couldn’t risk a horse stumbling from exhaustion, or a rider so weary she couldn’t sit erect. Care had to be taken when they traveled steeper trails. But keeping those practicalities in mind, they rode steady, hard, relentless hours, and breaks were kept to an absolute minimum.

  I’m sore in places I would have sworn under oath I didn’t have, Brenna thought. She stared down between her horse’s silky ears, envying Hippo’s ability to shake off the clouds of small black gnats they kept riding through.

  Hippo was proving an able mount. The little mustang was what Jess called a natural ride, suited by personality, temperament and build to carrying a human passenger. Jess’s Bracken had literally leaned into Hippo every time she decided to outpace Brenna’s command, and horse and rider soon reached a friendly accord, but the long miles of rugged terrain were telling on them both.

  The path Kyla found that morning was wide enough to allow riding two abreast. A sheer rock wall rose on the left side of their trail. Brenna knew Jess could tell her if the wall was composed of limestone or granite or basalt, but all she truly cared about was it was solid rock. She found that reassuring, as the right side of their path was bordered by an equally sheer drop into empty space.

  Jess always rode the outside of any precipitous trail, and Brenna’s ever-present discomfort with heights was somewhat eased by her protective presence. If Brenna wanted to peer over the edge, first she’d have to see past the rock-jawed Amazon warrior who rode beside her, and she much preferred to dwell on Jess’s profile.

  It was late afternoon, and the jagged cliffs were casting dark, slanted shadows across the rocky plains far below them. Brenna was almost too weary to appreciate the majestic beauty of their surroundings anymore, but the glory of the summer day still managed to register now and then. Having spent the first twenty-two years of her life in the City’s urban sprawl, Brenna had never lost her sense of wonder and pleasure in the rugged loveliness of the high hills.

  The forests had grown thicker as the Amazons descended from their stronghold, though the section of rocky ground they rode now was almost bare of vegetation. They had galloped through fields of dazzling wildflowers under blue skies rich with birdsong. They had forded cold, glittering streams, fast and deep with summer snowmelt, their passage carefully chosen at the rivers’ shallowest points. Their party was covering ground more quickly than they could have hoped, but Brenna knew their pace would slow soon. They were nearing the pass of her dream.

 
“So how do we know one of us still won’t come down with this devil-flu?” Dana called back. She clung grimly to the neck of her horse, having achieved an efficient, if not graceful, style of riding. “We still could, right?”

  “We still might,” Brenna confirmed. She and Jess rode directly behind Dana and Kyla, and Vicar and Hakan brought up their rear. “One of us, or all of us, could still get sick. Everyone in the clan was exposed, but some will fall ill later than others.”

  “That’s why Jesstin brought backup, adanin, to improve our odds.” Hakan sat her large stallion with ease, the silver glyph on her cheek glittering in the light of the afternoon sun. “Vicar and I will stay with our brother Jodoch. If the four of you aren’t back by our deadline, we’ll make our own sojourn to the Clinic.”

  “We’ll be needed to break Jesstin’s skinny butt out of the lock house,” Vicar predicted. She winked at Brenna. “And bribe the rest of you out of whatever bordello she’s sold you into.”

  “You could never begin to afford me, warrior.” Kyla turned on her horse to see virtually everyone staring at her, and grinned. “I know, I sounded just like Aria, didn’t I?”

  “Just.” Dana snickered.

  Brenna was relieved to hear this gentle teasing. Despite their fierce reputation, laughter played a surprisingly large role in Amazon life. Thus far their journey had been a tense and silent one, and it was good to see her adanin smile again.

  They were reaching a wide break in the rock wall that ran along the side of their trail. Brenna felt a cool breeze lift her hair as the wall gave way to a rolling vista of hills stretching toward the east. The pure mountain air provided miles of visibility, and Brenna was struck by the checkerboard of forested fields reaching to the far horizon.

  Ahead of them, Kyla pulled her horse to a stop. “Jesstin? Is that—” She pointed out over the wide expanse of valley, and Brenna shaded her eyes and tried to follow her gaze.

  “Aye, lass. I see it.”

  Brenna glanced at Jess, surprised by her flat, somber tone. She looked out over the valley again.

  For several moments Brenna searched in vain for whatever had caught her sisters’ notice. Then she found it. The mountain lake was an impossibly distant glint of color, made miniscule by the many long leagues that lay between it and their present course. It was probably the largest body of water in these hills, but when Brenna finally sighted it, it seemed a tiny, far away spark of diamond-blue light.

  A sigh moved through all of them, a brief, mournful breeze.

  “Sigmen sulla nostra sede,” Hakan murmured.

  Kyla leaned closer to Dana. “Blessings on our home,” she translated softly.

  They were seeing, for the first time, the final resting place of two dozen of their Amazon sisters. Those distant, pure waters covered the graves of women lost to Tristaine in the final battle with Caster, including Kyla’s beloved Camryn. The village that had housed their clan for generations was destroyed by the flood the Amazons unleashed to wash Caster’s rotting soul from the world at last.

  Brenna saw Jess and Vicar make identical hand signs, a subtle and silent weaving of fingers to end their prayers. Jess patted Bracken’s neck and regarded them quietly.

  “Let’s ride on, adanin. The pass waits.”

  *

  “Sheesh, Brenna.” Dana threw her an incredulous look. “Do your dreams have to be so dang literal?”

  The pass through the last high portion of the hills was not marked by any dramatic dip in the trail they had followed since dawn. The cliff wall bordered them solidly again on the left. From what Brenna could see, the path narrowed significantly just ahead, and that was worrisome, but the series of bloody waterfalls was worse.

  All right, that’s an exaggeration, Brenna scolded herself. There were no great gushing gory spigots of blood cascading over the rocky trail ahead. But there was a good quarter mile of smaller falls dotting the cliff’s sides, wide streams of reddish, mud-colored water that splashed down on the path and over its side, like fitful squalls of rain.

  “That trail aims to be wicked slick,” Vicar drawled behind Brenna.

  “Aye, it’ll be tricky footing.” Jess leaned out to see around a bend in the pass far ahead, and Brenna automatically hooked a finger in her belt, as if to anchor her on Bracken’s back.

  “The track looks wide and solid enough for single passage, Jesstin.” The calm assurance in Hakan’s tone soothed Brenna. Somewhat. “The waters might have eroded the stone, but from here I see no crumbling edges.”

  “Bren.” Jess spoke softly as she brushed Brenna’s thigh. “This is probably the stretch where Samantha’s friends fell.”

  “Yeah. Yes, I think it is,” Brenna said faintly.

  Some sad and certain insight told her the two women who had helped Sammy leave the City both died here. Her sister’s recounting of those final brutal moments was still vivid in Brenna’s mind. A fist-sized rock had bounced off the cliff and struck Lee Ann in the head. Her wife Karen lunged to catch her. They both slid off the trail, clutching each other and screaming, and were gone in a heartbeat. Samantha had been left alone in the wilderness, grieving yet more loss, and forced to find Tristaine on her own. Karen and Lee Ann were remembered around the clan’s storyfires, whenever the names of loved Amazons lost to this world were evoked.

  “Are you steady, lass?” Jess’s gaze was patient and measuring.

  “I am, Jess.” Brenna drew herself up on Hippo’s back, mentally inserting steel in her spine. Jess had enough on her mind without worrying about her. “Let’s trot.”

  Jess smiled and cupped the back of Brenna’s neck. “All right, sisters, move with care. We’ll cross in roped pairs. Dana and I will lead.”

  Kyla sighed. “Are you going to butch me out again, Jesstin? I’ve ridden lead all day.”

  “And you’re well capable of heading our line now, Ky.” Jess shook out the hemp rope looped on her sidebelt. “But I’d rather have my Bracken’s wee frame test any weakness in the rock. You’ll walk behind Dana. Hakan? Keep a close watch on Brenna’s beast. Adanin, string out and dismount.”

  They shifted cautiously, positioning their horses. Brenna bit her lip on a groan as she swung her leg stiffly over Hippo’s back and dropped to the ground. She brushed her wrist across her forehead and realized she was sweating. The shrill cry of a hawk reached her, and she caught a glimpse of it, descending to the rock floor far below in lazy spirals.

  “Hey, Bren.” Kyla was beside her, twirling one end of the rope already secured to her waist. “Want to try out some of those neat trick knots Sarah showed us last season?”

  “Let’s just stick with the basics, shall we?” Brenna smiled weakly and tied the loop of hemp around her waist with surgical precision. She started when Hippo suddenly shook her massive head, the coarse hair of her mane slapping across her face.

  “Easy, little sister.”

  Brenna clawed her matted bangs out of her eyes and saw Hakan’s encouraging smile. “You’re with your adanin, and Artemis smiles on Tristaine. All will be well.”

  “Thanks,” Brenna said softly, and meant it. Like Jess, Hakan was a warrior strong enough to allow connections of tender honesty, and her reassurance meant something.

  Vicar’s melodic whistle cut the air, signaling the readiness of their line. Brenna took in a deep breath and then coughed out the rock dust stirred by their movements. Kyla stood just ahead of her, roped to Brenna and holding the reins of her sturdy dun gelding. If she stood on her toes, she could see flashes of Jess’s head beyond Kyla and Dana. Brenna tried to quell the fluttering in her stomach.

  “Leave maneuvering space between our teams,” Jess called. “If there’s a misstep, find a brace fast and go flat. Mind the woman in front of you.”

  “Aye, Jesstin,” Vicar acknowledged from the rear of the line.

  “Aye, Jesstin,” Dana echoed, in a much higher voice, and Kyla giggled nervously.

  Brenna watched Jess and Dana start out, the slow clocking of their horses�
� hooves on the craggy stone the only sound in the clear afternoon light. The trail narrowed almost immediately, and Jess led Bracken at a slow and careful pace. Dana clicked at her sorrel, following Jess closely, but leaving slack in the line connecting them.

  When they were several yards ahead, Kyla glanced back at her, and Brenna nodded. She stepped closer to Hippo and stroked her soft nose. “You stay cool, shaggy sister,” she murmured, then turned to follow Kyla out to the first slope of the pass. Hippo responded readily to her tug on the reins.

  Jess and her horse had reached the first of the mini-waterfalls, and Brenna watched her tensely. Jess moved with athletic ease, keeping her back close to the wall, her slow side-step sure on the slick rock. She and Bracken were both drenched in that brief deluge, but they shook off the cold, muddy water without missing a stride.

  Relieved, Brenna fastened her gaze on the rump of Kyla’s horse in front of her. They had reached the narrowing of the trail, and there was a more distinct descent than she’d anticipated. Behind her, she heard Hakan whistle softly to her towering stallion as she and Vicar set out.

  The going was precarious, but not overtly harrowing. Brenna had advised Shann wisely when she warned her to avoid this pass—trying to move hundreds of women and wagons across its narrow length would have proved sure calamity. But Hakan’s assessment held true—the solid shelf beneath Brenna’s feet offered ample space for the breadth of a horse, and her heart began to slow to a more bearable rhythm.

  “Yee...shikes!” Dana’s shrill cry rocketed Brenna’s pulse back to full speed, and her head snapped up. Dana was passing beneath the first wide splatter of muddy water, and she shook herself vigorously. “Damn—frigging—freezing—”

  “Girl, if you yell like that again, I’ll kick you off this mountain myself!” Kyla snapped, her voice echoing off the cliffs around them. “You scared the holy pink bile out of me.”

  “Dana, there’s a widish ridge to step across,” Jess called. “All of you, mind your step here.”