Chronicles Of Aronshae (3 Book Omnibus)

by J. K. Barber

  Jared heard the growl start in his own chest and felt his lips pull back from his teeth. He felt helpless as Kassim and Adraim drew their swords and began circling one another. Contrary to what the hunter expected, the entire sulta went completely silent; a testament to the solemnity of the event and their respect for the Hep.

  It was Kassim who broke the silence, yelling as he charged forward, sword raised. Adraim was taken aback by the sudden attack, barely bringing his own weapon up in time to block the blow. The force of the assault caused the Illyander’s host to take a step backwards, his sword driven down by his opponent’s strength. Adraim recovered quickly, however, parrying and blocking a dozen more of Kassim’s swings as the younger man continued his attack. Though the older man deflected each blow, he was being driven back more and more with each strike; each deflection costing Adraim ground and energy.

  From what Jared had garnered from his conversations with Olivia, who had traveled with Adraim some years ago, and what the hunter had himself observed about the man, he guessed that it had been some time since their host had taken up a blade. Adraim had settled into a career as a tanner, trading his life as a scout in the Simza sulta to accommodate the more stationary position of husband and father. As a result, he appeared to have lost a step or two during the years of his inactivity.

  Jared became concerned as Kassim began taking long powerful swings with his sword. Adraim was not a young man, around the same age as Talas, and the brawny young Easterner seemed intent on exploiting the age difference between the two men, trying to beat his older opponent through vigor alone.

  Adraim grunted in pain as the tip of Kassim’s blade made it past his guard, slicing across the older man’s arm. A rent was slashed in Adraim’s sleeve and the flesh beneath. The older Easterner cringed with the pain, pulling his arm in tight to his chest, leaving only one hand holding his curved blade. Sensing impeding victory, Kassim raised his sword above his head, determined to hammer his way through Adraim’s weakened defenses.

  It would prove to be the aggressive Easterner’s last mistake.

  Adraim reversed the grip on his sword, ducked underneath Kassim’s upraised arms and drove forward, dragging the edge of his blade across his younger opponent’s exposed midsection. Kassim’s face immediately went pale as the weapon cut through cloth and flesh alike, cleaving a long deep gash across his belly. The larger man dropped his sword, his arms quickly going to his stomach. An expression of fear and then slow resignation crept across Kassim’s visage. He turned his head slightly to look at Adraim standing beside him. The Illyander’s host, his sword now held in both hands, waited with his long curved blade raised to his right shoulder, the tip of the weapon pointing rigidly skyward. Kassim’s face wore an expression of resignation as he stretched out his neck.

  The older Easterner did not prolong the moment. He stepped forward, raising the sword high and then bringing it swiftly down across Kassim’s exposed throat. The cut was quick and clean. The younger man’s jugular was severed neatly and he collapsed; the dry desert sand greedily drinking his lifeblood as it poured forth.

  The Illyanders drew breath to cheer their host’s victory, but their exaltation was strangled before it could leave their mouths by the dire silence of the Easterners. The twins looked to Olivia who only shook her head sadly. Jared simply stared at Adraim who wore an expression of determination laced with sorrow.

  The older Easterner walked over to the Illyanders, and Jared raised his hand to clasp arms with the man in a show of respect.

  Adraim knocked the hunter’s hand aside and spit in his face. He spoke harshly for several moments in the Eastern tongue to Jared and then walked back to the center of the circle. He reached down and snatched the utcha from Kassim’s head wrap, taking the string of painted wooden beads to Omar. The Tepey placed his hand on Adraim’s shoulder and the two walked away, disappearing into the slowly dispersing crowd of Easterners.

  Jared reached up, wiped the spittle from his face and asked Olivia, “What did he say?”

  “He said ‘I did not do this thing for you, you stupid jai-jin. If it was up to me I would have let him kill you and be done with it. But, he disrespected my house and my family by bursting in and threatening my guests. The laws of hospitality demanded that I do what I did and I take no pleasure in it. You cannot leave my home and this sulta soon enough as far as I am concerned. Until that time comes, do not speak to me or my family ever again.’”

  Chapter 12

  “I promise on the spirits of my ancestors before me that I will do all that is within my power to live up to the responsibility you are placing upon my shoulders,’ said Iluak, after Jared and Sasha asked him to care for Gabriel while they battled the Ice Queen. There was steel in the therianthrope’s words and an adamant resolve in his eyes that was unmistakable. “I understand that it is a great task you set before me.”

  “With all due respect, Iluak,” the hunter said. “I am not sure you can. This is our son we are entrusting to you.” Jared felt the anger rising within him at the unbidden thought of harm coming to Gabriel, but he tried his best to keep it out of his voice. He was fairly certain he had failed, given the expression on Iluak’s face. The younger man looked slightly frightened when Jared spoke his next words. “I swear, by all that I hold holy, that if any harm comes to my son…”

  Sasha’s hand on Jared’s arm stopped the hunter from continuing the thought. It also went a long way in calming the woodsman. There was a determination in the redhead’s eyes that Jared found both surprising and at the same time reassuring. Sasha was showing the strength of a mother doing what was best for her son even though the decision to do so was like ripping out her own heart. Jared felt humbled before such strength. He knew, almost instinctively, that as deep as the bond was between father and son, the connection between mother and child was more powerful still. Gabriel had, at one time, been a part of her own body, so in a very real way, Sasha was giving up a piece of herself to protect their son. Before Jared could speak again, Sasha interjected her own words. “We know that you understand what it is we are entrusting to you,” the swordswoman said, her voice portraying a steel of its own, a strength that Jared didn’t feel he could have matched had their roles been reversed. “I also know that were circumstances different, we would be giving Gabriel into the care of his uncle and not just a trusted companion.”

  Jared was slightly shocked at Sasha’s statement, but kept his tongue still.

  “As you say,” was Iluak’s reply. “I would gladly join myself to Katya and be your brother.” The undercurrent of the therianthrope’s sorrow rose more closely to the surface. Jared was reminded of the quiet private ceremony he and Sasha had shared in the ruined temple before her last battle with the Ice Queen. The hunter’s heart went out to Iluak. It was only Katya’s stubborn pride that kept the sorceress and the shape shifter apart. “Your sister, however,” Iluak said, “believes that with the approaching battle with Salamasca that it would be foolish to bind herself to me. She also feels it would be cruel to make me a widower so soon after becoming a husband.” There was an anger behind Iluak’s words that had betrayed his opinion of Katya’s decision.

  Jared held his son in his arms, looking down at the tiny helpless little boy, as Sasha’s hand gripped the hunter’s shoulder with almost painful intensity. The woodsman did not flinch, either at the swordswoman’s clenching hand or at the bewildered, yearning expression on Gabriel’s face. Despite his age, the child seemed to sense that something was wrong. He began to cry, reaching out with his tiny hand to latch on to Jared’s finger with a desperate strength and intensity.

  “He’s got a strong grip,” the hunter said to Sasha, not taking his eyes off of his infant son. “When he gets older it will…,” Jared’s voice stopped, choked up with sorrow and his vision blurred as tears filled his eyes for what seemed the hundredth time. Sasha buried her head in Jared’s shoulder. Her body was wracked with sobs that she did her best to muffle by crying into the cloth of th
e black tob, the traditional dark colored over-robe of the Eastern Kingdom, that the hunter wore. The red-haired woman’s distress only frightened the child more though, and Gabriel began to fully wail.

  Jared pulled their son to his chest, bouncing the boy gently, and tried to whisper comforting words. However, his own sobs made his consolation feeble at best. Still, Gabriel quieted; the mere act of pulling the child closer seemed to reassure the baby that Jared and Sasha would stay with him.

  This only made the hunter feel worse for the impending separation.

  After the last fight with the Ice Queen, Jared had insisted that he join the Illyanders when they confronted Salamasca again. Sasha had of course objected, but the hunter had planted his feet firmly. When Iluak had found Jared, Jugger, and Gabriel making their way back to Tammat, the woodsman had feared the news that the therianthrope was bringing him. Despite the dire tidings of the failed encounter, Jared was elated to hear that Sasha still lived. At that moment, the hunter had made another vow never to leave the swordswoman’s side as long as he continued to draw breath.

  Death shall not part us.

  Sasha’s voice speaking the words of their bonding ritual echoed in Jared’s head even as he had yelled at the red-haired warrior, demanding that he accompany the Illyanders on their next foray against the Ice Queen. Jared had gone along with Gabriel coming on their trip to the Eastern Kingdom. Then, the hunter had agreed to stay behind when they had attacked Salamasca on the butte above the sands of the Aishe. “But, by the Great Mother herself, I refuse to give in again!” he had screamed. “I am tired of being overruled on every single decision that affects this family and it will NOT happen again!” Jared had shot a short scathing look at Katya. Such had been the intensity of the woodsman’s anger that even the sorceress had blanched and looked away.

  Talas had come down on the hunter’s side in the discussion, while Olivia and Katya had remained surprisingly silent. It was Iluak’s unexpected support of the hunter that had finally caused Sasha to relent. The therianthrope admitted that he had felt useless against the Ice Queen and volunteered to watch over Gabriel, hoping to help in some small way. “I will take him to Tammat,” he had said. “If you do not join me in a week, I will return your son to Aeirsga and give him to Sasha’s father. As his grandsire, it will be Branden’s right to decide Gabriel’s future.” Katya had grudgingly given her consent to the plan. The sorceress had been acting oddly maternal towards Gabriel as of late, but the hunter had dismissed it as another aspect of the bond between twins that he would never understand.

  Now had come time for Jared and Sasha to leave Gabriel in Iluak’s care, and the hunter found himself unable to let his son go. He felt another hand on his shoulder and he turned his blurry eyes to find Talas’ weathered face. The priest wore a comforting look.

  “It’s time to go, son,” Talas said, his voice gentle but strong.

  “I…,” Jared voice broke and he coughed. “I can’t,” he said, still holding the cloth-bundled baby to his chest. The hunter didn’t even try to hide the tears that were streaming down his face.

  Talas looked as though he was holding back tears of his own, but his voice never wavered. “If it helps, you should think of it this way,” the old priest said softly, his voice taking on the tone it often did when Talas was acting as a member of the Temple. “You are not abandoning him. You and Sasha will be protecting him from afar even as Iluak takes him to safety.” Talas’ grip tightened on Jared’s shoulder. “By defeating Salamasca, you will be ensuring that the world is safe for him to grow up in. Even if you never see him again, he will know that you gave your lives to save him and the whole world from a great evil. It is a worthy legacy.”

  “I guarantee that he will know your story,” Iluak said softly, placing his hands on Jared and Sasha’s shoulders. “He will know the greatness of his kin and the sacrifices they made.” There was a solemnity to the young therianthrope’s words that belied his age. Iluak was making a promise to Jared and Sasha before the Great Mother. The tone of his voice made it clear that the shape shifter would die before he broke such a vow.

  Jared looked into his son’s blue-gray eyes one last time and placed a gentle kiss on Gabriel’s forehead. “I love you,” he whispered, before handing him to Iluak, who took the child reverently in his arms. Jared turned, pulling Sasha, now unable to speak in her sorrow, close to him as they walked towards the other waiting Illyanders. He never looked back, instead keeping his eyes fixed ahead towards a future that did not have the Ice Queen’s evil in it. Jared prayed to the Great Mother that they would be able to make such a world and that his son would be alive to see it.

  The sound of Gabriel’s renewed crying would echo in Jared’s head for the days to come as he and Sasha made their way through the Aishe.

  Katya watched Jared and Sasha walk away from Iluak, the therianthrope bouncing Gabriel in an attempt to stop the baby from crying. Jugger sat at the young man’s feet, the large dog looking confusedly back and forth between Jared, with whom he had obviously bonded, and a crying Gabriel, whose guardian he had become. The mastiff raised his head to Iluak, looking for some indication of where he was supposed to be. Iluak reached down and scratched the dog behind the ears. Content that he was given the sign he needed, Jugger leaned into the therianthrope, nearly toppling Iluak with his weight.

  Katya felt her eyes moisten but quickly blinked away the tears. Now was not the time to let her resolve waiver. She would not leave Iluak as Sasha was apparently determined to leave Jared. Her mind wandered back to earlier in the morning where she had said her own goodbyes to Iluak.

  “Why won’t you just admit to me how you feel, Tupilek?” The young man held her hand gently but firmly in his own, seemingly set on not letting go until Katya spoke the words he wanted her to say. She felt her determination buckle for a brief moment, before she shored up her resolve with an infusion of pure will.

  “I cannot tell you what isn’t true, Iluak,” she said coldly. Better to hurt him now with a falsehood…, she thought to herself. “I’m not going to lie to you to make you feel better or shore up your shaken manhood.” A lesser man would have winced at such a vitriolic comment, but Iluak showed no reaction, such was his steadfast tenacity. Again, the young sorceress felt her determination wane. If he can take such a wound from me and not react, perhaps…, Katya mentally set her shoulders against such thoughts. She would not give in.

  “I understand after what happened with your mother…,” Iluak began.

  “Don’t you dare bring my mother into this!” Katya yelled, drawing glances from the nearby Easterners. The raven-haired woman ignored the inquiring looks; Iluak pretended not to notice.

  “Your father was left alone,” he said softly. “It’s natural that after such a thing to want to protect yourself. That kind of pain can destroy someone.”

  “I’m not doing it to protect myself, you simpleton!” Katya’s vehemence attracted more looks.

  “Then why are you, Tupilek?” Iluak’s voice was still calm and even.

  I’m doing it to protect you, the sorceress thought. I want to spare you the pain that my father went through; the pain that Sasha is going to put Jared through after we’re gone. These were not the words she said to him however.

  “I’m doing it because I don’t love you,” she stated firmly. “Yes I’ve enjoyed your company, but that’s all it is; all it ever was.”

  “Tupilek,” Iluak said comfortingly as though he was trying to console her. The therianthrope leaned closer.

  “Stop calling me that!” she cried, trying to yank her hand free from his. Instead, Iluak slipped his other hand around her waist, pulled her closer and pressed his lips to hers. For a moment she resisted, but then relaxed into his muscular arms, placing a hand on his chest. The smell of his skin flooded her nostrils and she felt her body weaken, leaning against him. His lips were surprisingly soft, but strong and his tongue….

  Katya pushed away roughly and slapped him hard across the face. Il
uak did not flinch, though his eyes betrayed feelings of pain and loss; exactly what she was trying to spare him. “Listen,” she said more quietly but with just as much venom. “I have to go prepare for my journey. I know it’s a hard thing to swallow, but I have more important things to concern myself about than whether or not you have hurt feelings.” Katya felt her will cracking once more. She needed to go before she said or did anything she, or Iluak, would regret. “Just… just…,” her voice sputtered, emotion threatening to close her throat. She coughed to cover her lapse. “Just grow up a little and quit worrying about your wounded pride. You couldn’t seduce me. I’m sure the world will go on.” Katya turned on her heel and stalked away, the dark cloth of her lightweight robes flowing behind her.

  “I love you, Tupilek,” Iluak said as she walked away. Though he did not call the words after her loudly, they still reached her ears. Katya pretended not to hear him as her vision began to blur with unwept tears. Instead she fought them down again, determined to walk the path she had chosen for herself.

  Jared turned his head away from the onslaught of sand that was threatening to blind him. As much as he covered his nose and mouth, and pulled his head wrap down over his eyes, he could not keep the sand out. As the large ship sailed north and west across the vast expanses of sand, the hunter was still amazed at their mode of travel. When Olivia had said she had bargained with Tepey Omar of Simza for their sand schooner, Jared had thought the scout was joking to relieve the tension from their recent failure against the Ice Queen. After the hunter’s guffaw had earned a scathing look from Olivia and an incredulous look from Tepey Omar, Jared had realized the older woman was completely serious.

  Sirus had told Jared once or twice about sand schooners when the hunter had been a child. Though not large, the ships were very rare and exceedingly expensive. That the Simza sulta owned one spoke of the vast wealth of the tribe. Jared could not fathom what the Illyanders could possibly have that was a worthy trade for the precious vessel. Olivia, knowing the Easterners as well as she did, had struck a remarkable bargain.